Peru Earthquake - one year later

Note: The following appeal is now closed.  You can support our ongoing work by donating to the Canadian Red Cross

 

One year ago, on August 15, 2007, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck Peru killing hundreds and leaving nearly 700,000 people homeless. Following the disaster, the Peruvian Red Cross mobilized its volunteers and reached out to its sister societies for support. The Canadian Red Cross responded immediately.

Thanks to the generous support of the Government of Canada and the Canadian public, Canadian aid worker Jean-Pierre Taschereau was deployed to the area to meet a plane load of Canadian Red Cross supplies that had been pre-positioned in Panama. The 22 tonnes of relief items included blankets, tarpaulins and kitchen sets.

“The Red Cross mobilized hundreds of volunteers, from over a dozen countries, in an all out effort to meet the basic emergency needs of thousands of families affected by this disaster,” recalls Taschereau. “We distributed thousands of tents and emergency shelters, set up water purification and distribution systems, carried out public health campaigns, psychosocial first-aid, and so much more.”

One year later, recovery efforts are ongoing. Over 6,000 temporary shelters have been built to house up to 30,000 people. Water and sanitation teams have been able to provide clean drinking water to 25 communities and thousands of survivors have received psycho-social counselling, medical attention and disaster preparedness information.

With the support of the Government of Canada and generous donations from the Canadian public, Red Cross is supporting the construction of 1,000 permanent residences.

The Red Cross will continue to support the people of Peru affected by this earthquake as they rebuild their lives over the months and years to come.