As you know, the situation here in El Salvador is very tragic.We still do not know the full extent of the disaster, but its clear that the losses are greater than those we had during the Civil War, the 1986 earthquake, or Hurricane Mitch. Its even possible that they are greater than all three of those disasters combined. Fortunately, none of our friends or companions were gravely injured or killed, nor were any family members that I know of. It has really affected us to see how some of our friends lost everything they had.
---Arístides Valencia
Report #4 on
the Post-Earthquake Situation
In the Bajo
Lempa - Bay of Jiquilisco
By the
Coordinadora del Bajo Lempa - Mangrove Association
January 23,
2001
Damage
Evaluation
El Salvador's
Pacific coast particularly felt the quake on January 13th.
The departments most affected were Usulután, La Libertad, San Vicente, La
Paz, and Sonsonate.
Fortunately, we have not recorded any
deaths in the communities of the Bajo Lempa to date.
However, we estimate the damages -- especially to homes -- in the millions. Presently, we have counted 2,200 uninhabitable
homes in 47 communities, which represents just a percentage of the damages. [Eight shrimp farms have also suffered damages of
differing magnitudes. A total of 86
communities participate in the Coordinadora. Not
all had presented information by the time of this report.]
Emergency
Activities Undertaken
The Local
Emergency Committee immediately went into action following the earthquake, undertaking the
following activities.
RESCUE: The first actions were rescue. As no one died, and only a few were physically
harmed, this activity concluded quickly.
DAMAGE
EVALUATION: Members of the Coordinadora
undertook the evaluation in each of their communities.
SHELTER: All of the people affected by the earthquake are
trying to construct emergency shelters in their own communities. Large sheets of plastic have been
distributed to assist. In the most affected
area, San Marcos Lempa, tents were erected. The
need for shelter remains great.
WATER: Potable water is now the primary need in the area. We are organizing water distribution with the
Jiquilisco mayor's office. Above all, we
need to repair the potable water pump in San Hilario.
Once it works again, we can possibly use it to supply water to other
communities in the Bajo Lempa. We have hired
private trucks with water tanks, but we need money to pay for them. Finally, some communities need cisterns to store
safe water.
FOOD: Communities have organized cooking groups with the
objective of maintaining food hygiene. We
have few resources available presently to assist in this effort, however. For that reason, supplying food remains an
important short-term need. Crop cultivation
needs to be undertaken immediately to avoid shortages.
Evaluation
of the Situation and the Damages
Fortunately, the
communities of the Bajo Lempa have suffered no loss of life. However, we have confirmed that 2,200 homes are
uninhabitable - with 640 having collapsed completely, causing the loss of all those
families' belongings. The social service
infrastructure was severely damaged, including schools, health clinics, and community
centers. We still await the arrival of
authorities to evaluate the losses to these social service centers. The shrimp producers in Salinas del Potrero and
Salinas de Sisiguayo lost everything.
Roads,
Communications, Water, and Electricity
We have easy
access to all communities, with no apparent damage to roads. Electricity was restored about twelve hours after
the quake. The blackout delayed the full
activation of the Local Emergency Committee's Early Alert System. Once energy returned, however, it went into full
action. The country's cellular phone system
collapsed and has still not completely recovered.
Most communities
do not have potable water service, drawing their water from wells. Many communities lost their wells, making water
one of the most urgent needs in the region. To
resolve the problem, we mobilized trucks with water tanks to supply the communities.
Assistance
Received
In terms of
government help, only the Spanish Embassy has sent assistance to the region: food for 500 people which were distributed to
communities in San Marcos Lempa canton.
Families and
organizations have contributed an undetermined, but limited, amount of assistance. This includes $63,400 from the FSSCA for
reconstruction, relief, and disease prevention.
The
Salvadoran Government's Actions
As of January
18, no government representative had visited the Municipal offices in Jiquilisco, much
less the communities in the region. The
governor of Usulután department, who lives in Usulután city and is the coordinator of
the Departmental Emergency Committee, is only helping municipalities in the north of the
department. We have received no help from the
central government to date.
The
Housing Problem in the Bajo Lempa and Bay of Jiquilisco
Following
Hurricane Mitch, in November 1998, new home designs have appeared in the region. Some of these meet disaster prevention standards,
built to withstand flooding. Of the 6,400
families that live in the region, 2,200 live in these newly designed homes - very few of
which were damaged. 500 additional families
had homes built with flood-resistant materials but not meeting earthquake-proof standards: many of these homes were damaged or destroyed. The remaining homes in the region were made of
adobe, wood, and other fragile and temporary materials.
Most adobe and wattle & daub homes were destroyed.
REPORT #3 ON
THE POST-EARTHQUAKE SITUATION
IN THE BAJO
LEMPA AND BAY OF JIQUILISCO
Thursday,
January 18, 2001
By the
Coordinadora del Bajo Lempa
Evolution
of the Emergency
There have been no new aftershocks since yesterday.
This has allowed everyone to relax. The
organization of community committees continues.
The Cooridnadora's Local Emergency Committee has worked together with the Emergency
Municipal Committee to provide families with plastic sheets for shelter and potable water
(although distribution problems continue, and on Wednesday we had still not been able to
provide some communities with water).
The kitchen in Ciudad Romero continues preparing food. The Coordinadora has given small packets of food
to the Local Groups of Bahia, Buena Vista, and Salinas del Potrero. Today we will deliver food to 500 families in San
Marcos Lempa with help from ACSUR Las Segovias and the Spanish Embassy.
In health, we visited some communities to evaluate the state of water cleanliness. To date, there have been no outbreaks of epidemic
illness in the region, though the risk remains high.
The
Situation of Government Assistance
To date, the government has not shown that it has the capacity to distribute the
aid it has received. People are denouncing
this in different parts of the country. In
the Bajo Lempa - Bay of Jiquilisco, the government has neither delivered aid nor visited.
Other
Assistance Organizations
Three groups have offered their services supplying food to the Municipal Emergency
Committee: the World Food Program, the Red
Cross, and Help in Action. To date, there has
been no delivery of food.
Damage
Evaluation
To date, we have completed censuses in 47 of the Coordinadora's member communities. The total number of families that were victims is
2,639, losing their homes and belongings (valued at $4.5 million dollars). The loss in the productive sector is principally
concentrated in the seven shrimp cooperatives. A
total of 273 acres of shrimp farms, representing 20 ponds, have been rendered useless.
REPORT #2 ON
THE POST-EARTHQUAKE SITUATION
IN THE BAJO
LEMPA - BAY OF JIQUILISCO
By the
Coordinadora - Mangrove Association
January 16,
2001
The
Present Situation
On Monday, January 15, the Jiquilico Municipal Emergency Committee met to examine
the situation in the rural communities. It
agreed to carry out an evaluation of damages throughout the municipality, with the
Coordinadora helping out in its region. It
also agreed to begin with the most urgent activities immediately, coordinating the
activities of all participating institutions. Today,
the principal emergency work has been directed towards resolving the need for water,
cooked food, and shelter.
Water
Four water tanks have been placed in 4 communities (6 already had tanks). We still need four more water tanks. The Red Cross is helping to provide water. We have hired water trucks to distribute the water
(we urgently need money to cover this cost).
Cooked
Food
We have set up a collective kitchen in Ciudad Romero where we are preparing food
and sending it to other communities, principally San Marcos Lempa, Las Mesas, and
Babilonia. We are paying private contractors
to transport the food. Our food reserve has
practically run out today, and we are seeking assistance to provide additional food.
Shelter
Most families have chosen to stay in their homes and on their land. Only people in La Babilonia needed shelter,
because the dike was destroyed. We have
spoken with the Highway Contractor, and have hired heavy machinery to rebuild the dike,
with the help of the Jiquilisco Municipal Government.
Therefore, the community is staying in the shelter for now.
We are drawing up a list of individual family needs in order to supply each
community's shelter.
Medicine
Yesterday, in the Municipal Emergency Committee meeting, the Jiquilisco hospital
and the regional health clinics announced that they have almost no medical supplies left. They have asked the Coordinadora for help with
this.
For that reason we have included urgently needed medicines in the list of supplies
that we need.
Homes
The primary need during the reconstruction phase is directed towards building
homes. [With 20 of 86 communities reporting,
we have counted 600 homes that need to be rebuilt at a cost of approximately $2,400 each
at a total of approximately $1.5 million dollars.]
Preliminary
Budget of Immediate Emergency Needs
[* Please note that this budget was prepared with
reports from 20 of 86 communities. We
estimate total relief needs at $200,000.]