Earthquake Assessment:PERU

One World Projects’ CEO and founder Phil Smith just returned from Chincha and Pisco, Peru, two of the cities hit hardest by the August 15 earthquake. He was there to assess the damage done to our artisans and workshops, and find the best ways to help the 100,000 people left homeless in the region.

Phil reports that both cities look like a war zones, and the most notable landmarks in each are straw mats have been folded together to create faux huts. In Chincha, Smith booked the last hotel room in town, literally. “One-third of the buildings were standing, one-third were marked with a large X, meaning they were condemned, and one-third were destroyed.” All that is left of Pisco’s central cathedral is four walls amidst of a pile of rubble, a horrific reminder of the nearly 300 people who were buried while attending mass on that fateful Sunday evening.

There are several relief organizations working on the ground, such as Mercy Corps, Oxfam America and CARE. One World Projects has chosen to work with a local group called Manos Amigas (hands joined in friendship), a nonprofit organization that works with individual workshops, groups and associations in Lima and in the Andean highlands to provide training in accounting, business administration, costing, and design, as well as the packaging and shipping of the products. Our donation will help earthquake victims in Huancavelica, one of the poorest villages in Peru, and one that sits a bit further from the coast, and the center of the relief efforts.

Says Smith, “It will be a long time before these people are able to rebuild, and they can’t afford to do it alone.” You can help, either by making a direct donation to one of the organizations listed below, or by shopping for Peruvian products at One World Projects.

Please click below to make a direct donation to one of the relief organizations working on the ground in Peru:

Mercy Corps

Oxfam America

CARE

Best regards,

The Team at One World Projects
info@oneworldprojects.com