Ecuador (MNN) – On Saturday April 16, a magnitude-7.8
earthquake shook the coast of Ecuador, sending the country into a state
of emergency. It’s the strongest earthquake to hit Ecuador since
1979 and has been the deadliest since March 1987.
(Photo Courtesy USGS)
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, in a report by CNN,
it is too early to tell if the recent earthquakes, which hit Japan just
barely days before the one hitting Ecuador, are related.
However, coastal areas in the west closest to the the epicenter have
been hit the hardest, specifically the coastal Manabi Province, where
most of the fatalities have been. The tourist destination, Pedernales,
is among the cities with the most devastation, with reports that the
whole town has been flattened.
The current number of those injured was last reported at 2,575 and
the death toll has capped at around 280, but it is expected to rise as
rescue teams continue to search for survivors and dig people out of the
rubble.
“In Guayaquil, the largest city, an overpass collapsed on a car killing the driver,” Wayne Pederson says, with Reach Beyond.
For the past 85 years, Reach Beyond has been working in Ecuador,
specifically in the capital city of Quito, to provide Christian
healthcare and radio ministry. Pederson explains tremors were felt in
the neighboring countries of Colombia and Peru. Major tremors were heard
in Quito. Thankfully, little to no damage has been reported in Quito.
“All of our missionaries are safe and accounted for. Our radio
station in Guayaquil, HCJB 2FM, has been able to operate through all of
this time. HCJB AMFM, in Quito, had been broadcasting the emergency
announcements on their frequencies, trying with the government radio
stations to get information to the people,” Pederson explains. The
stations have also been helping listeners locate loved ones as well.
For the time being, all mobile operators are also allowing customers
free text messages in order to assist in finding loved ones in the
Manabi and Esmeraldas provinces.
Currently 10,000 military personnel and 3,500 police officers have
been deployed to the coast, assessing damage and checking out the
hydro-electric dams and the oil pipelines which had been temporarily
shutdown. They are also assisting in search and rescue operations as
well as keeping public order. Airports in Guayaquil had been closed but
are now again open.
(Photo Courtesy and caption by International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’s Photostream via Flicker)
On
April 16 at 6:58pm local time, an earthquake registering 7.8 magnitude
struck off Ecuador’s central coast at a depth of 19 kilometres, causing
widespread damage. The Ecuadorian Red Cross has also mobilized health
teams and hospital units, and deployed a National Disaster Response Team
to carry out a rapid assessment of the humanitarian needs following the
earthquake.
“We haven’t been deployed yet because we’re waiting to hear from the
government. Just what their plan is and how we can fit into that,”
Pederson expresses. “We have personnel prepared to go out into the
coastal areas and move in there with some of our emergency response
crisis management teams.”
But it’s important for Reach Beyond to wait until the government
gives the go-ahead. Otherwise, acting sooner than requested can cause
confusion, and those who want to help may end up in the way.
Furthermore, Reach Beyond has to wait for highways to reopen along with
others methods of getting to the coast.
Yet, as it stands by, Reach Beyond’s hospital, community development,
and emergency response teams are ready to move with food, blankets, and
water as soon as they are asked to do so.
Fortunately, the earthquake will not be affecting Reach Beyond’s
work, specifically with it’s recently announced new program, CHILI.
“We’re still recruiting and getting people ready to come in. That
program starts in September. So right now we’re in the recruitment and
the preparation stage,” Pederson says.
Instead, Pederson believes the earthquake might make people more aware of the needs facing Ecuador.
“The CHILI program is really our attempt to recruit young people for
cross-cultural ministry in Latin America and around the world. And
certainly when something like this happens, it raises the awareness of
the need in these countries for young people to come in and help with
ministries of compassion, community development, and health care,”
Pederson explains.
Participants of the program will enter a two-year program where the
first 6 months are spent in training while the last 18 months are spent
on the field. Individuals will primarily be working in the jungle, where
Reach Beyond has a community development center to recruit, mentor, and
train people to go out into communities of the unreached tribes.
It’s in these areas Reach Beyond brings clean water, latrines, and
helps to build clinics. But that’s not all it brings with them. Reach
Beyond also works to bring human aid and compassion to people in some of
the most remote and poverty stricken areas of Ecuador. It’s an
opportunity to demonstrate the love of Christ with global hands.
Reach Beyond asks for you to pray for the HCJB Media team as it tries
to help those who have lost friends, family, and their homes. The
ministry’s broadcast transmissions are reaching the areas of Ecuador
most affected by the earthquake. Please also pray that Jesus Christ
would be known through situation and for His love and mercy to show.
For more information about the CHILI program, click here!
Source: Mission Network
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