PERU SHIPMENT

On September 24, a forty-foot sea container with seven tons of medical relief supplies, valued at $109,000, left Los Angeles for coastal areas south of the capital city of  Lima, Peru.  The 8.0 earthquake on August 15 killed over 500 people, injured 1,100 and destroyed 60,000 homes, leaving 40,000 families homeless and an additional 31,000 otherwise affected.

Our distribution partner is VIDA Peru, a Peruvian relief agency that supports nonprofit health facilities and hospitals throughout the country that are treating the injured. We partnered with VIDA Peru after another devastating earthquake in southern Peru in 2001. Following that disaster, Operation USA rebuilt five rural school buildings and provided training for teachers to identify and respond to children suffering psychological trauma from the disaster, all through Peruvian nonprofit agencies.

Operation USA is asking for financial support from individuals, companies, and foundations for the rehabilitation phase of our disaster response to supplement the $80,000 already received. Our goal is a fund of at least $250,000 to undertake reconstruction of community buildings, health clinics, water and sanitation projects, income generation, psychological services and community organizing activities.

09/2007