Shelter for earthquake victims

ACT members in El Salvador, Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Salvadoran Lutheran Church have sent emergency teams to the most affected areas. Yesterday the Lutheran church opened two refugee centers: one in Santa Tecla for 300, another in San Salvador for 3000 people. Food, blankets and mattresses are being distributed to the refugees as they arrive to the centres. ACT members are also carrying out joint actions with other international organizations, such as International Plan and Medicos del Mundo and World Food Program (WFP).

An earthquake of the magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter Scale occurred on January 13 at 11:33 am local time. The most affected area was the city of Santa Tecla in San Salvador’s metropolitan area, where a hillside collapsed and buried 500 houses. National police estimate that 4,692 houses were destroyed and 16,148 damaged. The death toll could rise, because there is little chance to find more survivors under the debris left by the earthquake.

According to Rudelmar Bueno di Fario, the LWF representative in El Salvador, the area near the epicenter of the earthquake in the western part of the country, is completely cut off because all the roads are blocked. Some towns in the area are totally destroyed and people lack food and drinking water. Afterquakes are continuing today and people leave their houses because of the violence of the tremors.

ACT is an alliance comprising about 200 protestant and orthodox churches and aid agencies supporting people in emergencies worldwide. The ACT Coordinating Office is based in Geneva with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF).