Donation for Pisco Earthquake Victims

April 16-17, 2008

On April 16, 2008, two of our volunteers traveled to the Callao port in Lima. There we met representatives of the cruise ship Star Princess, which was docked in Lima for the day. The ship donated 31 large boxes of clothing, blankets, toys, chocolates, and other supplies to aid victims of last year's earthquake in Pisco. After passing through customs, we took the boxes to the bus terminal and traveled south to Ica.

That night we met four other volunteers who traveled north from Arequipa to Ica with over 1,200 pounds of nonperishable food supplies. The next morning, we rented a truck to take the donations to the nearby city of Pisco. Pisco was almost completely destroyed during the August 15 earthquake, and we found that conditions have not improved much. We estimate that only 20% of the city has been rebuilt. Upon our arrival we found that most residents are still living in tents, temporary one-room prefabricated houses, or homes with walls made of plastic sheets.

One of the few families with an intact house offered us the use of their garage to sort the donations. After spending a few house unpacking the boxes and arranging the food supplies, we began to distribute donations to neighborhood residents. Each family received a bag of food that contained cooking oil, tuna, pasta, lentils, evaporated milk, flour, and rice. We also gave articles of clothing to each family member. The many children present were delighted to receive toys such as jump ropes, marbles, and plastic baby toys, courtesy of Princess Cruises. In total we were able to donate clothing and food to 150 families.