Al informe acompaña una petición de solidaridad. Podéis ayudar a Nilton pasando este mensaje a vuestro círculo de amigos y familiares, y/o contribuyendo directamente a financiar la reconstrucción de su hogar (las donaciones deben hacerse al número de cuenta especificado a pie de página). En nombre de Nilton, muchas gracias por adelantado.
AN EARTHQUAKE OF 7.9 HIT THE CITY OF
Hello, my name is Nilton Orlando La Rosa Ramos. I’m from Pisco-Peru, I’m 20 years old and this is my story.
BEFORE THE EARTHQUAKE
First, I want to wish to everyone who reads this story the best life, a life in peace and full of happiness. I also want to tell you that you should appreciate every little thing in this life, because your life can change in just few seconds.
In December 2006 I finished high school. After high school I went on a trip to
THE EARTHQUAKE:
On the 15th of August at
It was getting dark already. All the buses were full and we waited on the highway for 30 minutes. A big truck drove by and the earth started trembling. In the first moment I didn’t notice it. One of the girls told me that the earth was trembling, but I just thought that it was because of the passing truck. Then the earth started trembling more and even stronger and then I knew that it was an earthquake. In total there were three consecutive earthquakes, each one lasting about 35-40 seconds. During the first one I was just calming the girls down, because they were so scared and nervous. The first quake stopped for about 4 seconds, and then the second one started. This one really scared me too, because it was very strong. It was so strong that I started thinking about my mother, my little brothers, and my home. I remember that one of the girls I was with tried to run away. I still don’t know where she wanted to go, but we didn’t let her and we hugged her stronger.
The light of the city was cut, and this made everything even more terrifying, because we couldn’t see anything. All I could do was hear; people from the city screaming, houses falling down, dogs barking, it sounded like Hell. All I could do in this moment was to try to make the girls calm down, but they never stopped screaming. The earthquake stopped for 3 seconds, and then the third one started and was even stronger. That was when I lost control, I was screaming, asking to God to stop all this fury of nature, and to take care of my family. My body just didn’t stop shaking, I was crying so much, screaming, stop!!! please stop!!! , my family!!! O God no, my family!!! the girls were hugging me because I was so scared.
All I could think about was my family. I just couldn’t have peace, I couldn’t calm my self down. I knew that my house structure wasn’t good. It was an old structure, and I knew that it wouldn’t stand through the earthquake and would fall on anybody who was inside. I tried to reach my mother on the phone, but there was no signal. Nobody could communicate with anyone. I had to leave the girls to go look for my family. They asked me what should they do, and I told them to wait until the morning and take the first bus to
I caught a bus to Pisco, but after 45 minutes my bus stopped in a town 35 km away from Pisco and wouldn’t go on. The problem was that no one could keep going because a bridge near Pisco had collapsed. They also said that it was very dangerous because 178 dangerous prisoners has escaped from the jail between Pisco and Chincha, so the people were scared even to walk. I didn’t want to wait until the next day because I really needed to see my family, to be there to help them and take care of them. Luckily I found a taxi taking people to the bridge. The bridge looked very bad, but we were able to walk across. I walked with a group of people for about 2 hours, and I finally arrived in Pisco. I couldn’t see much, because everything was dark and there was almost nobody in the city.
As I approached my house, I was getting very nervous and sad. All of the houses of my neighbors were destroyed. When I finally arrived at my house, it was hard to recognize. I couldn’t stop crying. I was looking for my family in the rubble when a man came up to me and told me to calm down, and that my family was fine, they just ran up to the high land because they were scared of a tsunami. I thanked him for the information but I wondered why he didn’t run up to the high land also. He said, Are you crazy? Do you think that I would go and leave the little that I have left? Later I went to look for my father who lived a few blocks away. He and his girlfriend were there, and my grandparents also. I asked him if he knew where my mom, Mirtha and my brothers Abran, Yomira, Jefferson, Ademir, Gino, Carlos and Laura were. He didn’t know exactly where they were, but he knew that they were fine. I went back to my house with the intention of taking care of the things that were left. I remember that night I slept on the street with some other people who were doing the same thing.
SURVIVING AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE
The next day I woke at
That day we forgot about eating and everything; we were focused on finding a place to sleep, and looking for water and food for the days to come. Luckily help was arriving. I remember that the Red Cross was there bringing provisions, water, and medicine for the people. It was very hard for them to calm the people down and make order, everybody was crazy for water and food. That day they didn’t finish giving all the provisions, because it was just impossible to do it. Later a car from the government was driving around the city telling the people to go to refuge in the stadium of Pisco, because all the help would arrive there. I took my mom and brothers to the stadium, and an organization took our names and gave us water, some food, some tents and some clothes. In total there were 187 families in that stadium, each family consisting of 5 to 6 persons. The night arrived and everything was dark and silent. I was close to falling to sleep when another very strong earthquake of 5.4 hit Pisco. The people turned crazy again, everybody was crying and scared. Luckily, my little brothers always listen to me and believe all of what I say, so I was able to calm them down. That night 3 more earthquakes hit Pisco.
The next day we went to my house and we started cleaning up our land, taking the rubble out. We were one of the first to get our land clean. We continued sleeping at the stadium, and I remember that in some of the nights, some stupid people were coming very late screaming, the sea is coming!!! the sea is coming!!! The whole thing was a lie, a torment, and making the people go crazy. The police were stopping the scared people and informing them that these people were trying to scare them away just to have a chance to steal their belongings. The people were so scared of everything at this point, that they believed anything they heard. A week later the city was being cleaned up, a lot of trucks and tractors were picking up the rubble, demolishing buildings, and the dogs were still finding bodies in the rubble. The city was so dusty and my mom was scared of the outbreak of an epidemic so she decided to take all the kids to my aunt’s house in
RECOVERING: REBUILDING A HOUSE AND REBUILDING LIVES
Three weeks later my mom and brothers returned to Pisco, the city was cleaner but the machines were still working day and night. We definitely couldn’t live in tents anymore, so we start building up our house from wood. We got the wood from an old wooden building at Pisco beach that was supposed to be demolished very soon, but we did it first and got all the wood for free. The Peruvian government gave us $2,000 dollars (
Before the earthquake I was planning and dreaming to travel more, I wanted to have my own house and live by myself, to keep studying, but now everything is very difficult. I’m focused on rebuilding my house and taking care of my little brothers. Fortunately there are tourists arriving in Pisco again, so I have been able to go back to my job as a tour guide. My brother Ademir who is always helping me, is also working hard as a tour operator and together we are building the house, very slowly, but we are doing it. I know that it will take some time for my house and my life to be rebuilt. I know that this may not possible without extra help, but I have faith that if we all work very hard together, we will do it.
My mom and little brother were sleeping in tent that is behind us and I was in another tent behind this one. Right, Yomira
I beg God to not let this type of natural disaster hit other parts of the world. I also want ask to every single person to stop polluting the environment, because the earth is the home for all of us and the home for our future families.
Accountnr: 5401855808 (for germans)
Number of Bank BLZ: 50010517
IBAN: DE64500105175401855808
BIC: INGDDEFF
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