MTW Responds to Peru Earthquake
The 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Peru in August devastated an already poverty-stricken land, leveling buildings and covering the landscape with inches of chalky dust.
“We saw people wandering the streets, just looking lost,” said Mark Thompson, who traveled to Peru days after the quake with a disaster response team from Mission to the World (MTW). “It looked like a bomb had gone off—all of the city’s buildings had turned to powder.”
“We saw people wandering the streets, just looking lost,” said Mark Thompson, who traveled to Peru days after the quake with a disaster response team from Mission to the World (MTW). “It looked like a bomb had gone off—all of the city’s buildings had turned to powder.”
More than 550 Peruvians were killed, and some 80,000 were affected by the disaster—with more than 85 percent of inhabitants in Pisco, the epicenter of the quake, losing their homes.
At the invitation of a local church and in concert with MTW missionaries on the ground, the MTW disaster response assessment team (comprised of an engineer, crisis counselor, firefighter, and project administrator), determined that MTW could assist in the crisis by sending a number of short-term volunteer teams over the next three to four months to do reconstruction, crisis counseling, and medical outreach.
“It’s winter in Peru right now, and we saw one older woman living in a VW bug with her two grandkids,” said Thompson, who serves as a senior project administrator with MTW’s Two-Week Department. “It was apparent that the parents had been killed by the earthquake.”
Through its disaster relief efforts, MTW hopes to assist the local church and local MTW missionaries in making contacts and establishing long-term relationships with victims of the quake, which may eventually result in additional church planting in the area.
“We’re especially trying to aid those in outlying areas who aren’t getting help,” said Thompson.
To learn more about MTW’s Disaster Response Department, and its efforts in Peru, visit www.mtw.org.
At the invitation of a local church and in concert with MTW missionaries on the ground, the MTW disaster response assessment team (comprised of an engineer, crisis counselor, firefighter, and project administrator), determined that MTW could assist in the crisis by sending a number of short-term volunteer teams over the next three to four months to do reconstruction, crisis counseling, and medical outreach.
“It’s winter in Peru right now, and we saw one older woman living in a VW bug with her two grandkids,” said Thompson, who serves as a senior project administrator with MTW’s Two-Week Department. “It was apparent that the parents had been killed by the earthquake.”
Through its disaster relief efforts, MTW hopes to assist the local church and local MTW missionaries in making contacts and establishing long-term relationships with victims of the quake, which may eventually result in additional church planting in the area.
“We’re especially trying to aid those in outlying areas who aren’t getting help,” said Thompson.
To learn more about MTW’s Disaster Response Department, and its efforts in Peru, visit www.mtw.org.
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