Photos from Peru

A local church in Ica was destroyed by Wednesday's temblor. At least one wall collapsed, along with the ceiling. The building was only a few months old.

In a small community an hour and a half south of Lima, Peruvian Baptist Convention President Pepe Flores looks on, hands clasped tightly, as the local lay pastor exhorts a crowd who had gathered around the research team.

Almost no houses were untouched by the strong quake. Many were not as blessed as this family. Many lost everything. In spite of only having 3 walls standing, many have to remain inside their homes to protect what precious little they have from the roving gangs of looters that have surfaced since the quake.

More Photos from the Quake Zone

Note the drop in the road. This scene was all too common. In some spots the road dropped away; in other places, the damaged part was pushed up.

Life still holds some joy for some, as seen below:

The rule at this feeding station was that you had to contribute to the common pot if you wanted to eat.

The tremors continue; we just had one (8:23, Lima time) that lasted well over four minutes. If we felt it that long and that strong here, imagine what those in Ica and the surrounding areas must have felt!

Pray for Peru!

Damages on Every side: the quake in Peru

If you look carefully, this dear lady on the right is almost stoic in her expression, resigned to the destruction that characterized her home. She stands where her door once stood, looking off at what can only be a memory of her precious few belongings that were buried by Wednesday's quake. She is impervious to the icy wind that bites at her exposed extemities. She is in survival mode.



The young family above stands in the entrance to their house. They lost everything. Everything but their faith. They cling to their life in Christ.

This scene is repeated thirty thousand times all over Ica, Pisco, Chincha, and hundreds of small towns.



Entire communities crumbled under the force of the magnitude 8 earthquake. One community had moved to their location just a few years earlier, having been forced out of their old community by mudslides. Once again they have lost it all: pots and pans were crushed under the load of the collapsing walls. Clothes, buried under mounds of rubble are now useless.

It will take weeks and months to recover from this terrible tragedy. Peruvians have shown themselves to be a resilient people. But this has taken its toll. This has bowed the backs of some of the strongest.

Pray for Peru.

Peru Earthquake - The Team Returns

The Team is back in Lima. They will compile a report and share their strategy in the next few days.

Today they were stuck in lines of cars as much as 12 miles long. There are many sightseers; but there are many up to no good, as well. They spoke with emotion about the danger they sensed while in Ica. They also recognized God was with them.

The team was very frustrated to not be able to give much away. The needs are just too overwhelming.

Give thanks for a safe return.

The Quake in Peru - Saturday afternoon

The team is slowly making its way back to Lima. They are still more than 100 miles away. Traffic is snarled and crawling at the pace of lukewarm tar.

The team was able to visit both Paracas and Pisco, both very hard-hit areas. They will give a better report when phone reception is better, or when they arrive.

Meanwhile, Peru's local paper, El Comercio, reported that they have 20% of basic services restored in Ica, with hopes of reaching 80% by nightfall. Lighted streets and running water will make a significant difference for the survivors.

Saturday morning, part 2

Pam just called in. They did not sleep very much last night. There were two strong shakes, looting, gunfire, whistles, and shouting went on all night long in Ica. The store owners won't open their stores this morning for fear of being looted. The desparate victims loot even more when they see there is nothing available to buy. The cycle must be broken. Pray for order to be restored.

The team is going to try to make it to Paracas, a historical town that is mostly under water now. Situated by the sea, Paracas was innundated during the quake.

The team hopes to be back by "bedtime" tonight.

Peru Earthquake, Saturday Morning

The research/relief team is hard at work. Meanwhile, local newspapers report some 33,200 homes have been destroyed in the Ica/Chincha areas. The destruction is overwhelming. The discrepancies you will read in the death tolls are due to the fact that, until a body has been identified, it is not "officially dead." So the volunteer firemen and other workers have one set of statistics, while the government publishes another set.

No single entity will be able to reach out and make a difference. And, as it is with all major disasters, this won't be fixed overnight. But nations from around the world have responded in compassion, giving all kinds of help.

Looting and raiding continues to be a problem. Local officials are asking for the government to send in the military to control the chaos.

Aftershocks continue to frighten almost everyone who feels them. Even this morning at 1 AM the house was popping, cracking, and shuddering; and we were not among those who suffered damages!

More when the team calls in...

Latest from Ica, Peru

I spoke with the research/relief team about ten minutes ago. They had an answer to prayer in that the school administrators allowed them to bring all vehicles inside the walled school property. They have also allowed them to set up tents inside and to use this place as their initial base of operations.

The team reports that the church building there is in shambles. There have been several thousand dollars of damage to that one structure.

Tomorrow the plan is to give each family of the church a relief package for themselves, as well as one to give to an unsaved family to minister both evangelistically and holistically.

The team thinks they may head back to Lima tomorrow to refit and head out again next week.

Thanks for your continued prayers.

In Ica, Peru

The investigation team is in Ica, Peru. The church that they planned to coordinate distribution efforts with has a building far too damaged to use. The school next door was in better shape and has allowed the church members to offload our supplies there.

The pillagers who ransacked one truck, by the way, only got away with a minimal amount of their blankets and personal hygiene items we had prepared for distribution.

My wife Pam tells me they do not know where they will sleep tonight. They are working out arrangements with church members at this time. They went prepared to sleep on the ground, or in the trucks.

Two words describe Pam's impression of what she has seen so far: devastation and danger. The people are desparate, hungry, thirsty, and very frightened. Pray for all involved.

Quake update

I just spoke with one of the members of the investigation team. They have been stuck on the Pan American Highway for the past 3 hours (approximately). As the traffic finally began moving across a bridge at a town called San Clemente, some people converged upon the trucks. They managed to get the windows open on one of the trucks and took out the supplies the team was taking to Ica.

No one was injured and the team is fine; but your prayers are important!

The pastor from Chincha was able to get one truckload of water delivered to his completely destroyed community. The team rejoices that they have been put in the right places at the right times to be able to minister.

The Quake, part 6

I just spoke with the team. We are pricing tarps for folks to use for coverings/walls. They are stuck outside Pisco, the hardest-hit city. The military has stopped all traffic on the Pan American highway.

In Chincha, an hour north of Pisco, the team was able to buy at least 5 truckloads of water for a neglected area in that city; that area is cut off from the main distribution center in Chincha. A local pastor will be on hand to coordinate the distribution of the water, which will supply that area for as much as 3 days.

Earthquake, part 5

News reports by local television showed large crowds of men and women standing along the highways, rushing any vehicle they thought might be carrying relief items. Vigilante justice is beginning to take over the harder-hit areas. Pray for our caravan of 4 vehicles that are loaded with relief items.

The team had stopped outside one of the hard-hit towns; there they sent in one truck with the adminstrative support leader for our missionaries. He was going to consult with officials and try to get some better indication as to where the team should consider investigating.

The aftershocks still continue at the rate of about one an hour--this, 2 days later.

Thanks for praying!

Earthquake, Part 4

The first report from our team is from Cañete. There is a tremendous lack of potable water. Our team coordinated with them to purchase a truckload of drinking water for the part of Cañete they visited.

This will be the greatest need, no doubt. Where there are wells, the water is very muddy from the constant aftershocks, making it undrinkable.

More as we receive reports...

Earthquake in Peru, part 3

Yesterday was spent checking on outlying areas around Lima where we have ministry sites. About 5 of us assembled at 2 to plan a trip for today to the most devastated areas, all between one hundred and one hundred-fifty miles south of Lima.

The death toll is above 500 now. We have heard of many small villages that are in desperate need of relief. Many villages in the areas most affected were completely leveled, are without running water, and without lights. People are sleeping in the streets; others are afraid of looters and are staying in houses that are structurally unsafe. Our team, which left an hour ago, will determine to what extent we can be involved.

The aftershocks continue. We just had a 30+ second shock of over 5 in the Richter Scale. I thought I was going to have to leave the house.

Pray for Peru!

Earthquake in Peru, part 2

Civil Defense puts the death toll in the cities south of Lima at 337 and climbing. More than 1,000 were injured. The Pan American Highway collapsed 200 kilometers south of Lima. Traffic is snarled and slow through that area.

As Drudge says, "developing..."

Earthquake in Peru

Our supper last night was rudely interrupted by the strongest tremor we have felt in more than 18 years of time in Peru.

Let Quentin Roberts tell the story from downtown Lima:

"We were downtown in the building when the tremors began….the building floor was shaking a lot….we quickly exit the building to meet total chaos on the streets. The streets were moving like water waves. All the people were running out of the discos and buildings. A lot of tension and confusion was in the air. The people were gathering in the streets and obstructing the traffic. We tried unsuccessfully to get a taxi….they were all filled…we finally got a bus and after 2 hours we arrived home safely.

Prayers are needed for the people who live in the buildings downtown…they are afraid to reenter the buildings because they are adobe and very weak."

It was a frightening 2 minutes. News reports claim hundreds have died. Today we will assess our participation in disaster relief in the towns south of Lima. It will be tedious and difficult due to the chaos this has produced.

Pray for Peru!

Who Built Your Walls?

I was supposed to be a part of a wall-dedication yesterday. Yes, you read that right: a wall-dedication. We used human needs funds to build a retaining wall around a community of 350 people. That wall is to protect them from landslides that can occur from seismic activity. The Andes Mountains are known for their frequent tremors. I saw one of those rocks come down the hill one day. It was ugly. The ground shook as the big boulder bounced its way downward. You would have been mortified to have been there. The boulder came to rest against a part of the wall that had been completed. The wall demonstrated it was doing what we constructed it to do.

Before we could build the good wall. We had to tear down the bad wall. There was a wall that was poorly constructed; one that was formed by piling rocks, one on top of the other. Had a boulder come down the steep hillside, that wall would scattered like bowling pins.

It made me think of the walls around us. Some of them are there by the grace of God. He is our fortress. He is our protection. He keeps the big rocks from pounding us. He keeps the enemy at a distance with the walls he sets up.

Sometimes we tear down those walls of protection. We do it through willful disobedience. We do it through rebellion. We do it through anger, grudges, and an unrepentant heart. We actually dig under the foundations to try to escape submission to God. And he lets us do that. He knows that Jesus' true followers will be back; they won't tarry long outside of God's protection.

Sometimes we build our own walls, thinking that we are keeping some things out. The truth is we are keeping too many things in. Those walls become strongholds. They become prisons of our own doing. Imagine the insanity of that! Yet we do it. I never met anyone who has not built up some kind of stronghold in his life. I met plenty who are now free from those strongholds.

Sometimes we are passive in our relationship with Jesus, and we allow his enemy to build walls around us. That is also a stronghold. You have seen those strongholds before. Fear. Doubt. Bitterness. Rage. We may disguise them; but they are there.

Those kinds of walls need tearing down. We need to let the Master Builder go to work and build the protective walls.

Oh, the wall-dedication got put off for a few weeks. That happens in this culture. They forgot to tell me. That also happens in this culture.

In the same way, we can be tempted to put off our homage to Jesus--our worship of the Master Builder. Don't! Thank him every day for his protective walls he has placed around you.

Take a good look at your life. Who built your walls?