Rapid Response Payment Request No. 13/2008
Funds Sent To: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Colombia (IELCO)
Amount Sent: US$ 26,382
Date: 4 June 2008
Details of Response
Emergency: Earthquake in the Central region of Colombia
Date of Emergency: 24 May 2008
Implementing Member: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Colombia (IELCO)
Details of the Emergency
On May 24, 2008, a 5.5 magnitude earthquake hit the central-eastern region of Colombia. The epicenter was located in the municipality of El Calvario, department of Meta (55 km south-east of Bogota). As the quake occurred at a shallow depth of 3.5 km, its effects and aftershocks were particularly strongly felt. Besides El Calvario, the most affected municipalities are Quetame, Puente Quetame and Guayabetal in the department of Cundinamarca.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the earthquake affected 9,000 people, with 65 people injured and 14 deaths. 40 buildings collapsed close to the epicenter.
740 houses are damaged, amongst which 194 will need complete rebuilding, while 376 will have to be partially reconstructed. Some remote communities could not yet be assessed given the difficulty of access.
The Colombian Red Cross is responding by providing health care, food, shelter and medicines. The Army and the police are ensuring security, in particular near the damaged houses to prevent looting. They are also facilitating the access to shelters and the transport to the people in need of the food delivered by the various institutions assisting with this emergency.
Despite all the support given, all the needs are not covered yet, especially in the rural areas where the assistance has not yet reached all the communities. Moreover, it is probably going to take several months until houses get rehabilitated and people can move in again.
Proposed assistance
IELCO is planning to support 100 families (600 persons), 20 in the urban areas of Quetame and Puente Quetame, 80 in the rural area, in the communities of Granadillos, Las Mercedes and Tibrolete Alto. The following items will be distributed: food for 2 months, clothes, plastic sheets, hygiene kits and water containers. Medicine kits will be distributed to 10 community centers.
There will be two distributions of food, one each month, with rice, beans, sugar, coffee, flour, oil, tuna and salt. Clothes and boots will be distributed to the families whose houses have been completely destroyed and who cannot access their belongings. The kits will consist of two coats, four t-shirts and two pairs of boots. Each family will receive a water recipient and a hygiene kit. 25 families, in particular those with children, teenagers and elderly, will benefit from the plastic sheets in order to protect them from the cold weather and the rain.
A list of beneficiaries will be established in coordination with the Local Committee for Emergencies and the local authorities in order to avoid duplication of assistance. The families will be selected according to the following criteria: families whose houses have been completely or partially damaged (they should own these houses); families that have little economic resources and with more than four members. In the urban area, 20 families will be assisted whose houses have been severely damaged and have not received enough assistance to cover the needs of all the family members.
One full time IELCO staff will be responsible to monitor the RRF implementation and the distribution of the emergency items. This person will be assisted by two additional part time staff members, as well as volunteers from the church and the affected population.
The assistance will last two months, until 5 August 2008. IELCO will continue monitoring the situation and should there be a need, an appeal proposal will be submitted to the ACT Coordinating Office in order to assist those families in need of rebuilding their houses.
TOTAL ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE: US$ 26,382
(For the detailed budget, kindly visit the ACT site. Thank you.)
ACTION
The ACT Co-ordinating Office has approved the use of US$ 26,382 towards the budget from its Rapid Response Fund and would be grateful to receive contributions to wholly or partially replenish this payment.
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ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.
The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Police and soldiers guard the entrance to the earthquake-destroyed Juyuan Middle school in Juyuan, Sichuan province June 4, 2008. At least two of the main reported schools that were open and ...
