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Peru

Peru: Food, shelter top needs for quake survivors

As roads are repaired and communications restored, Catholic Relief Services, in coordination with our local Church partner, Caritas Peru , continues to deliver lifesaving supplies to families affected by the worst earthquake to hit Peru in 30 years.

Last week's powerful 8.0-magnitude earthquake toppled homes, churches and buildings from the temblor's epicenter in the department of Ica to the capital city of Lima , over 100 miles away. More than 85,000 people are now homeless and 35,000 homes have been destroyed.

Our Response

CRS, working closely with local church partner Caritas Peru, immediately responded by providing food, water, shelter, blankets, and cooking and hygiene kits to some 10,000 people in Ica, the region in Peru's southern desert that was hardest hit by the quake.

"The people most affected by the earthquake are some of the poorest to begin with," reports Aaron Skrocki, CRS emergency coordinator in South America.

"The earthquake has taken what was already a difficult situation and made it worse. That is where Catholic Relief Services comes in. We are there to support the local Church helping people get back on their feet and regain their lives as quickly as possible," says Skrocki, also noting how the condition of roads hampered initial relief efforts.

Traveling through Chincha, Ica and Pisco, the three cities nearest the quake's epicenter, Skrocki and a CRS-Caritas assessment team found widespread destruction in the poorer rural areas where homes are made of adobe. Fragile potable water and irrigation systems were destroyed by the tremor. Restoring the systems over the next several months will be critical in allowing people in the area to return to farming the land and tending to their livestock.

"Right now we have to focus on the most immediate needs of the Peruvian people," says Brian Goonan, regional representative for South America . "Once the immediate needs are met, CRS' long-term response will include permanent shelters, continued access to clean water, infrastructure improvements and the recovery and rehabilitation of livelihoods."

Caritas has already set up its main centers of operations in Pisco, Cañete, Ica and Chincha, where hundreds of volunteers are helping with aid distributions and other activities.

CRS, in partnership with Caritas Peru , has been responding to natural disasters in Peru since 1954. In addition to emergency relief, the agency supports programs - credit unions, health education, and agricultural production - that help poor, marginalized communities become self-reliant.

CRS is a member of Caritas Internationalis, a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social service organizations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. Caritas Internationalis is the official humanitarian agency of the global Catholic Church.