Blogs from Pisco, Ica, Peru, South America - page 5

Indeed, Ica is now well and truly finished. It's done. 86 or so woven cane classrooms constructed, touched up, demolished (not the ones we built...obviously) and rebuilt in the capital of the region. The place the Governor lives. The place that received 10 million soles out of 20 million for reconstruction, when Pisco received 5 million and Chincha 3 million. And do you know why it was such a fun five weeks down there? Because it was hardly affected by the earthquake so the bars and restaurants and water system and swimming pools were all working perfectly. That said, the larger buildings were pretty badly damaged (though not fallen down...unlike Pisco and Chincha) - schools, churches - so it wasn't all in vain. It appears that the governor of Ica Province has had a little argument ... read more

this is a short one this time.... for those of you who are involved in hands on disaster response (HODR) and have been following the news lately, you are aware a devastating cyclone (Sidr) hit the impoverished country nearly one month ago, ruining what little infrastructure the country already had, taking the lives of thousands of livestock and affecting millions of people in terms of loosing their livelihood, harvests and crops. no bueno?! didn't hear about it? yeah, well, even though it was one of the worst disasters to hit bangladesh in the past decade and a half, it didn't seem to get much "air time." they never do. that's why we are here. to try and make a difference in whatever way we can. disasters are happening at such a rapid pace these days, no ... read more

After the earthquake We caught a bus from Lima to Pisco and watched Highlander in Spanish on route. A taxi took us to our hotel in Pisco, a city devastated by a huge earthquake back in August. It was incredibly sad to see so many demolished buildings and only half of people´s homes left standing. Lots of people seemed to be living in pre-fabricated houses provided as temporary housing, but they were just glorified sheds. Still they looked more comfortable than the makeshift shanty houses and dusty tents inhabited by others. We only walked around the centre for a short while, the church was a bit sad, because only the two pillars remained, and a huge piece of tarpulin had been erected to shelter the congregation from the sun or rain. Ricardo advised us to stay ... read more

On vous a donné l'habitude de doter ce blog de belles photos, de visites touristiques, de paisibilité. De vous faire part de nos petits moments de bonheur que nous vivons en Amérique du Sud. Mais cette page sera un peu différente. Ce que nous avons à vous partager, c'est de la désolation: Suite au séisme d'environ 8 sur l'échelle de Richter survenu le 15 août dernier, la ville est complètement démolie, des bâtiments écroulés, d'autres qui attendent d'être abattus, et les gens peinent à s'en remettre. À voir l'état des choses, Pisco aura besoin de plusieurs années pour se relever. Au coeur de la jadis capitale de la boisson nationale, à quelques kilomètres de fabuleux parcs nationaux et d'îles stupéfiantes, Pisco, 85 000 habitants (aprox.), ressemble maintenant à un terrain de guerre, où personne n'y a ... read more

Last weekend, all of the students from UVa (seven including myself) and some peruvian friends decided to spend the long weekend helping with earthquake relief in the areas hit hard. We volunteered through a program called "Un Techo Para Mi Pais" (check it out here: www.untechoparamipais.org). We spent Friday shopping for gloves and food. There is still no running water or power in most places, so we had to bring all of our food and water with us. We stayed for three nights at the Pisco airport in tents and sleeping bags. We met at a park in Lima on Friday night and departed for Pisco (about 3 hours after the scheduled time, as most things go in Peru). We arrived at the airport around 3am and set up our tents and crashed immediately. Saturday morning, ... read more