A shipment of water-purification tablets, antibiotics and portable water-purification systems carried by a trio of emergency responders is on its way to Peru's earthquake region.
Mercy Corps' Portland-based Material Aid team solicited the donation from Global Medic, the operational arm of the Canadian charity David McAntony Gibson Foundation.
Global Medic operates a "Rapid Response Team" staffed by police officers, firefighters, and paramedics and other volunteers, and deployed to more than 20 international disasters over the last four years. Mercy Corps has been the conduit for shipments to Lebanon during last summer's Hezbollah-Israeli conflict and to Kenya during an influx of Somali refugees last December.
A three-person advance team is due into Peru's capital, Lima, tonight with pallets of water-purification tablets, antibiotics, and other medicines, and $30,000 worth of portable water-purifying systems. They'll be distributed with the help of Partners in the Americas, which is working as Mercy Corps' on-the-ground partner during the response. Partners' extensive volunteer network will help Mercy Corps funnel aid to the most affected villages.