Hands On Disaster Response is now All Hands Volunteers

From September 8, 2007 – January 12, 2008 Hands On worked alongside the people of Pisco and surrounding communities to recover from the massive 8.0 earthquake that hit on August 15, 2007. 535 volunteers came from 30 countries; 120 of whom donated 25 days or more to Project Pisco. Our largest international relief project to date, volunteers gave their time, energy, skills and hearts to an extensive array of projects carried out in the community.

Rubble!
When we first arrived in Pisco all of the streets were filled with rubble to such an extent that nearly every road was blocked by debris and you had to climb over mounds of rubble to get anywhere. From day 1 to day 126, volunteers completed 298 rubble jobs; the progress of the clean up is astounding! These now-cleared lots provided 327 families space to erect temporary shelter or begin to rebuild.

Con Con and Ramadilla Water System
In the farming communities of Con Con and Ramadilla volunteers reconstructed 500 meters of irrigation canal and recreated a water purification system which changes river water to clean drinking water. These projects provide water to crops and safe drinking water to 500 families.

Creating a home
Working with other organizations such as Caritas, the Salvation Army, Un Techo Para Mi Pais, and the local church Camino de Vida, Hands On volunteers constructed a total of 300 temporary modular homes, providing a durable, secure shelter for 300 families who lost their homes in the earthquake.
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We continue to work on an ever-expanding portfolio of projects – schools, rubble, homes, and more! To date 415 volunteers from 29 countries have donated their time, enthusiasm and hard work to helping the people of Peru. Here’s a look at what we’ve been up to:
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After 60 days in Pisco Playa, Hands On Disaster Response (HODR) continues to thrive! Our projects have grown and changed and volunteers continue to pour in, working urgently to assist this community with its continued recovery. Here’s a look at what we’ve accomplished in the past thirty days.
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What fun we had last Saturday! 100 modular homes provided by the Salvation Army arrived in Pisco Pueblo and Hands On Disaster Response volunteers were there to help with the assembly. After the earthquake many Pisco residents found their homes destroyed and the only housing option available was to move into a tented relocation camp. Over the past weeks, HODR volunteers have been working to clear the ruins of the fallen homes and prep the sites for the new structures. The hard work has paid off, as now many of the former camp residents are back on their own property.

Project Pisco is just over one month old, yet Hands On Disaster Response has already established a strong presence and accomplished significant progress in our work here. In four short weeks, we’ve ramped up to an amazing variety of projects, powered by the energy and creativity of 130+ volunteers (60 currently on-site) from 21 different countries.

The former restaurant at 636 Jose Balta has been transformed into a bustling home with rebuilt walls, new bunk beds, and 4 hot-water showers! The volunteer response has demanded that we make our first expansion into the upper level, followed by a space 3 doors down, and most recently the property across the street, which includes a house as well as a large lot perfect for tool storage, tenting, and cricket!

Knock it Down, Scoop it Up
The primary goal of our fieldwork has been to clear a space for the former homeowners. This will allow for placement of an emergency shelter or construction of a transitional home. The work is strenuous and dirty but our volunteers realize the benefit and love it! It’s also a unique opportunity to work side-by-side with the community, hearing their stories, meeting their families, and sharing smiles and laughter. Special thanks to all the volunteers who have stepped up as part of our assessment team, refining our intake process while lining up work for our ravenous rubble crews.

A Day at the Beach
The beachfront community of San Andres was not only damaged by the earthquake but also suffered from a storm surge that devastated the beach and coastal wetlands. HODR volunteers turn out in numbers on a weekly basis to plant palm trees, replace damaged irrigation lines, re-establish a footpath, and clear debris left by the water. Appreciative residents (avian and human) are starting to return and enjoy this beautiful area.

San Andres School (that’s Peru not Philippines)
Many of the schools in the region have been destroyed or damaged by the earthquake. We are currently in the demolition phase of a project at the Abraham Valdelomar School in San Andres. Within a few weeks, we hope to begin construction on preliminary classroom space.

Mt. Clothing (Sorting at Paracas Port)
Working in conjunction with INDECI, the Peruvian national civil defense, our volunteers have been sorting donations stockpiled (actually a mountain of clothes!) at the nearby port in Paracas. It is our goal to install a system of not only organizing the supplies but also helping to facilitate the distribution.

Twister, Anyone?
Our volunteers have also been visiting the local albergue (shelter) and providing “safe space” play activities for children. After we began our own grassroots program at the albergue down the street, we teamed up with UNICEF to help staff their ludotecas at 5 different camps in Pisco. Now volunteers assist the expert staff of the ludotecas as they observe and support the children in their continuing recovery from this event. While it’s a big change of pace from rubble, it’s no simple task – volunteers report being physically tired, emotionally touched, and completely charmed by the children.

UNICEF also has a weekend “2 for 1” program, in which the games and activities involve parents and their children. Our volunteers have been on hand, reaching out to both adults and kids in their healing process.

Back(pack) to School
As the children of Pisco slowly resume classes, many families are scrambling to replace school supplies lost in the disaster. UNICEF mobilized 12,000 backpacks and sets of supplies for different age groups of children, but faced the daunting task of assembling the disparate items into a ready-to-distribute pack. In true Hands On spirit, our volunteers offloaded a semi-truck (lorry) of materials and blasted through 6000 backpacks in four days. A second delivery of 6000 backpacks and supplies will arrive at the end of this week, and we’ll be there to help sort, stuff, and distribute.

HODR Elves
It’s nowhere near Christmas, but the HODR house garden has been transformed into a colourful toy-painting workshop! As part of their variety of programs, UNICEF asked HODR to paint and decorate hundreds of simple wooden block toys. Volunteers demonstrated amazing creativity in the rainbow of trucks, boats, helicopters, and menagerie of animals that have taken over our tables, basking and drying in the sun.

Terre des Hommes
NGO Terre Des Hommes has been doing water/sanitation and food distribution work in the region, and HODR volunteers have been helping. We started the collaboration by assisting the Terre des Hommes technical team break down, transport, and set up a water system at a San Clemente albergue, and also helped to install a latrine at the shelter. Following the success of this project, Terre des Hommes invited us to help them break down and sort food packets for individual families into bulk packages for the ollas communes, or communal kitchens, still feeding large populations in Pisco. The HODR team pounded through tons of food while playing with and entertaining the children at the school where the sorting took place.

Street Teams, Peruvian Style (Pisco Medical Support)
HODR always encourages our volunteers to seek out and develop their own program ideas. A few volunteers with medical backgrounds sought out the devastated San Juan de Dios hospital of Pisco and looked for ways they could help. Our volunteers assisted with checkups at the hospital, and also travelled to local shelters with vaccination and health education teams.

Water of Life (Cañete Irrigation Canal Project)
Last week, a group of 10 HODR volunteers completed a satellite Hands On project in Ramadilla-Con Con, a tiny rural village in the neighbouring province of Cañete. Alongside the local men and women, the team rebuilt a 200m section of irrigation canal. (Read the full report here.) This project is a beautiful collaboration between HODR, Peruvian NGO YCPA, and the municipality of Cañete.

This week, 12 HODR volunteers travelled to Con Con to begin work on the second 300m stretch of canal. Their work is critically important to these families who earn their sole income off of the crops they grow.

Sharing the Love
The victims (our neighbors) have shown an outpouring of love for our hardworking volunteers. It is common for crews of volunteers to not return to our base for lunch, because they are dining on ceviche at the insistence of the family whose home they have been working on! The offers have included not only food but laundry service, accommodations, dinners, and party invitations.

I want to send a very personal and heartfelt “thank-you” to the following group of people. They have been instrumental in helping HODR establish a presence in Pisco, thus helping their own community. My job would have been far more difficult without their kindness:

Thank you Lalo. Lalo took a chance on the idea of having us stay in his restaurant. A beautiful act of kindness and a great start for Project Pisco.
Harold Zevallos , translator/guide and resident of Pisco Playa
Joel Jara Werlem, our first translator/guide
Pilar Castro and Juan Bericat at Posada Hispana
Alejandro and Gypsy at Hostal San Isidro
Paige Reeves

Marc Young
Operations Director
Hands On Disaster Response

Greetings from Cañete! The 15 August 2007 quake not only destroyed homes, it also damaged an irrigation canal which supplies water to the farmers of Cañete. Last week, Andy, Chris, Katie, Kaz, Jeremey, Merlin, Nick, Rachel, Suzi, and I traveled to the village of Ramadilla to rebuild a 200m section of canal. Photos of our work are now online.

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It is almost time to harvest the fruit and it appears the yield for the farmers will be meager. The irrigation canals, which siphon water off the Cañete River to feed the fields, were broken by the recent earthquake. The repairs have been delayed because of the obvious need to focus on housing.

The farmers need water to fatten the crop and yesterday, Project Coordinator Stefanie Chang and 9 other determined Hands On Disaster Response volunteers arrived in Ramadilla, Peru to help. The team will stay in this remote agricultural area for approximately 1 week working on the first phase of rebuilding 500 meters of irrigation canal.

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