Food For The Poor Pleads For Additional Help For Victims Of El Salvador's Second Deadly Quake In A Month

Food for the Poor
Wednesday, 14 February 2001

Deerfield Beach, Fla. (Feb. 14, 2001) - As El Salvador struggles to cope with the devastation of its second deadly earthquake in one month, the international Christian charity FOOD FOR THE POOR (FFP) is again calling on its donors to help provide emergency aid to relieve the impoverished country's continued suffering.

The latest quake struck Tuesday, Feb. 13, killing more than 250 people and injuring more than 2,260. Several thousand homes were destroyed. Death and injury tolls are expected to rise significantly as the full extent of the damage is realized.

The earthquake struck near San Salvador at 8:25 a.m., shortly after the beginning of the first day of the new school year. Among the dead were children and teachers found buried in the rubble of their schools.

The powerful quake, which measured 6.6 on the Richter scale, struck exactly one month to the day after the impoverished Central American country was devastated by a powerful earthquake Jan. 13. That quake, which measured 7.6 on the Richter scale, killed more than 840 and injured more than 4,700.

The latest quake brings El Salvador's total quake death toll to almost 1,100 and the number of injured to almost 7,000. Five villages near the quake's epicenter, San Vicente, are reported to have "disappeared."

Since the Jan. 13 quake, Food For The Poor has rushed more than $18 million in emergency aid to El Salvador. Shipments have included more than $7 million in medical supplies and equipment, as well as food, nutrition bars and drinks, building materials, sheets, sleeping bags, and more. Much more help will be needed to rebuild the country and the lives of its people in light of the latest catastrophe.

The two earthquakes are the deadliest natural catastrophes to strike El Salvador since a massive 1986 quake killed more than 1,500. Before the quakes, the country was still struggling to recover from 1998's devastating Hurricane Mitch and - before the storm - 12 years of civil war in which 75,000 people, many of them peasants, lost their lives.

Damage to many FFP projects was significant to severe. The church of Father David Blanchard, FFP's missionary liaison in the country, was heavily damaged.

But the worst may be yet to come: El Salvador's rainy season, which begins in two months, threatens to wash away hundreds of thousands of additional homes standing on quake-weakened earth.

In addition to gifts for emergency aid, FFP President Robin Mahfood asks donors for their prayers for earthquake victims. "This is truly a case of insult to injury," he lamented. "The Salvadorans have already suffered terribly."

Donations can be made online at the charity's secure Web site at www.foodforthepoor.org or via telephone toll-free at 1-800-282-POOR (7667). All gifts are tax-deductible. Checks should be made payable to Food For The Poor (subject line: El Salvador Earthquake Relief) and mailed to Food For The Poor, 550 SW 12th Ave., Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, att'n: El Salvador Earthquake Relief.

For more information, or to contact Food for the Poor, see their website at: www.foodforthepoor.org