On April 16, 2016, a magnitude-7.8 quake struck the coast of Ecuador, the strongest since 1979. Hundreds are dead; hundreds are still missing.
Update, April 22, 2016
CAMA’s Director of Global Disaster Response, Gary Fairchild, is headed to Ecuador next Saturday. He will meet with the president of the C&MA in Ecuador, David Muthre, and Pastor Victor Herrera of the Puembo Church in Quito. Together they are coordinating a network of C&MA urban churches to assist with disaster relief efforts on the coast.
We have received word that one Alliance church has been completely destroyed. One report is that as many as 20 Alliance churches have been affected.
We will be sending $25,000 in the next couple days, but more donations are greatly needed. Pastor Victor is concerned for when the immediate crisis is over and people must restart their livelihoods. This phase of recovery will be critical.
Alliance churches and The Alliance Academy International have opened their doors for donations like rice, oil, beans, sugar, diapers, baby formula, water, tents, blankets, tarps, mosquito nets, and blankets. Donations to the CAMA Disaster Relief Fund will go to both purchasing more emergency supplies and to future rebuilding of homes and churches.
Posted April 18, 2016
David Muthre, president of the C&MA in Ecuador, writes, “There are thousands who have been injured and hundreds who are still missing. As of this morning, there have been 214 aftershocks.
“I ask that in all of our churches of the Ecuador C&MA we join together in prayer from today at 10 PM. That we remain in humbleness, that in all of our services we dedicate ourselves to cry out to God. What has happened to our country is very sad and painful. We are humbled and are praying and collecting funds for those who have lost everything.”
Join these relief efforts by giving to the Disaster Relief Fund.
The C&MA in Ecuador has 152 churches. FATELA, the Alliance Bible Seminary, is located in the coastal, hard-hit city of Guayaquil. Roberto Ferber, FATELA’s National Administrator writes:
“We are fine. Out of fright, a half-hour blackout that started at the beginning of the earthquake I have to wait outside but not much happened. However, the earthquake was felt very strong. But it has been terrible in the rest of the country. This has been the worst experience in my life. I do not remember anything like this in Ecuador; the most affected area was the coast.
In Guayaquil, the overpass of the Americas has collapsed at the height of the U.Laica, opposite the headquarters building. Two cars were crushed and a driver was killed. Many houses have collapsed and there is severe damage to shopping malls and supermarkets. There are debris everywhere.
The worst was in Pedernales, the epicenter of the earthquake. The town was devastated. There we have a FATELA student, but so far he is not responding to phone. We pray that he is okay. Portoviejo has suffered a catastrophe. There are several buildings and many houses that have collapsed, many dead, and infrastructures severely damaged. Whole buildings have succumbed such as the Bank of Manabí, a unit of the IESS, part of the El Paseo shopping center. The city of Manta also reported extensive damage.
Please pray for our country. Damages are still being accessed. The death toll continues to increase. There are thousands of injured and homeless. Many people are still trapped under collapsed buildings. We are receiving news and images by bits and pieces, and that how we are piecing together an image of the actual disaster.”
Please pray:
– For the first responders and the exhausting days ahead
– For those who have lost family and suffered devastation
– For the recovery of those who have been injured
– For Alliance churches, as they help those around them who have been affected by the quake
