Pray for the People of Peru

Over 24-hours have elapsed since the initial reports of a devas-tating earthquake In Peru reached the Internet airwaves. I was sitting in our kitchen with a young Peruvian physician (visiting Portland with his U.S. medical student girlfriend) - when a casual perusal of the Google News web page turned into a marathon run of information gathering (please note: the picture shown in this Blog post is credited to Sergio Urday/European Pressphoto Agency and appeared in the New York Times on-line news source).

Ernesto and I listened to web-casts and phoned family and friends in Lima until we were satisfied that we had gathered enough information to know that what we were seeing and reading on web based news pages was accurate and "real." He and I both prayed that his family and all of our beloved friends in Lima and Peru were safe and unharmed.

Now - one day later - as more news is percolating from the southern Peru cities of Canete, Mala, Ica and Pisco, the true impact of the event is starting to sink-in. For these barren coastal communities, where HBI and the Christ Church Parish of Lake Oswego, Oregon have worked for over 10 years, are some of the poorest communities in Peru. The devastation and destruction they have experienced will be particularly hurt-felt to there economies and the future prosperity of the region.

Most of the reported dead were in the Ica region, which emergency workers said appeared to be the area that was hardest hit. Many people were killed in the rubble of their homes, and some 300 people were in a famous Ica cathedral when it collapsed under the tremendous strain of the immense quake. Many more people were, in a flash of second, made homeless and financially destitute. Emergency workers have said that the overall death toll from the earthquake might be even greater than initial assumed. As many news agencies have pointed out on there Internet news pages - it is too early to tell how "crippling" this tragedy will be to Peru.

In addition to the killed and injured, the Peruvian Center of Emergency Operations for Civil Defense has gone on record as saying that more than 16,500 people have been displaced or otherwise affected by the earthquake. Having spent a significant amount of my time in Peru in this southern corridor of communities, I am particularly impacted to know that this desperately impoverished region has been hit with yet another tragedy. I know that the resourcefulness and dedication of the Peruvian people will allow them to re-build their lives after this tragic event; and, I also know that it seems enormously unfair that an area that has already suffered through so much should have to deal with such a great disaster.

I will pray tonight that the people of Peru know that they are not alone. I will pray that God will bless and comfort these beautiful communities as they only just begin to come to terms with the devastation that has unfolded before them.

Health Bridges International will continue to work with Union Biblica del Peru in the communities of Mala, Asia and Ica - in fact, it appears that our most important work has just begun.