A Day At Ground Zero

On Tuesday we visited the city of Chincha, Peru, about 3 hours south of Lima. Chincha is part of the Ground Zero area where last week's 8.0 earthquake did the most damage.

There is devastation everywhere in and around Chincha. The Panamericana Sur highway into Chincha is fractured with thousands of cracks and crevices, making driving slow and dangerous. On the way into Chincha, hundreds of people line the streets, begging for food and holding up signs saying (in Spanish), "Help me!" or "We need help urgently!"

Most of the homes and buildings in the city are made of adobe (mud) brick, and they now are all in ruins. The local hospital looks like someone took a wrecking ball to it. Stop lights and utility poles lie on the ground, snapped in two. There is very little electricity or water in the city or the surrounding area. There were 12 more aftershocks while we were in Chincha, about one every hour. Every time there was a new tremor, the people started screaming and running. There is a sense of desperation everywhere.

But in the midst of this tragedy, FRC Lima brought help and hope. Because of the incredible generosity of all of you at FRC Lima, we were able to donate 1 ton of food, water, clothing, medicine, and other supplies to the earthquake survivors in Chincha. And also because of your generosity, we were able to feed 1,000 survivors in Chincha on Tuesday.

I want to say it again: I am so proud of all of you at FRC Lima. You showed your faith by your works. You served others and loved on others who you may never meet in this life. You didn't just talk the talk. You walked the walk. You served your brothers and sisters in Chincha, and in doing so you served Jesus as well. I know that God is looking down from heaven and saying, "Well done, good and faithful servants!"