When Rebuilding is Therapy

By Kai T. Hill

As the sun sets over the community of Bernales, Peru, there's a steady sound of shovels meeting the earth.

A group of residents in this small town are steadfast in digging the foundation for Johana Hernandez's new house. The 41-year-old mother is the first to have a home built through a Catholic Relief Services-supported project that teaches residents who lost their homes to the August 2007 earthquake to rebuild using reinforced adobe bricks.

One by one, residents heap precious soil onto wheelbarrows. Rather than retire from exhaustion, they are persistent—working toward a goal, exchanging pleasantries.

"This project serves as therapy after what we've been through," says 34-year-old Roberto Galindo. In fact, the darkening sky is almost reminiscent of that fateful day one year ago, when they were sent running for their lives.

Bernales, an economically depressed town in the province of Pisco, now sprawling with destroyed homes and shops, was one of the hardest hit by the earthquake—the largest to strike Peru in more than 30 years.

In addition to Pisco, the earthquake had the greatest impact on coastal areas of Ica and southern Lima. Approximately 515 Peruvians lost their lives, more than 1,100 were seriously injured and 80,000 families were left homeless.

An Unexpected Disaster

Peru is known to have occasional earth shudders. What set apart the August 2007 earthquake was its prolonged shaking, almost three minutes.

The powerful tremors started about 6:40 in the evening, minutes after Johana arrived home from picking up her small daughter from school.

"As soon as I got outside [of the house] the wall started collapsing," says Johana, who lives with her husband Santos and three children. "I thought it was going to be a regular earthquake but it got stronger." Her adobe brick home was built 50 years ago and had withstood Peru's storms and occasional tremors, but none like this. It buckled in a matter of minutes.

Residents remember sleeping outdoors in pitch darkness for more than a month. They relied on help from organizations like CRS and our local Church partners, Caritas and the Social Action Commission of the Bishop's Conference (CEAS). Together, we provided food, water, shelter materials, blankets, and cooking and hygiene kits to some 30,000 people.

Nearly a year later, earthquake zones are still blighted. Homes are patched together with blue plastic sheeting in a makeshift fashion.

The Power of Rebuilding

For the last year, CRS Peru and our local partners have been helping communities recover. A variety of reconstruction and shelter projects have been under way to bring a sense of normalcy to communities, especially those that were suffering from economic hardships before the earthquake.

Like Johana's husband, many in Bernales are agricultural workers, earning about 45 dollars a week.

"What an earthquake does is show the great magnitude of poverty in which people live," says Walter Blake, CRS country representative for Peru. "Middle-income people are able to get loans to reconstruct their homes, but poor people have a much harder time."

The brick-making project began in March of 2007 with the help of CEAS, which also promotes empowerment and gender equity. That's why a large percentage of women participate and even supervise operations.

"Traditionally construction was for men. We wanted to change that," says Segundo Rabanal, an engineer for CEAS. Furthermore, he says, women "make better adobes and put more attention into what they are doing."

Over a hundred residents in four towns within Pisco are participating in these two-month-long workshops to learn techniques to reconstruct their homes, reinforcing the corners of the homes with bamboo and using concrete for the foundation. The actual construction time is about a month.

They also learn how to make reinforced adobe bricks. These soil-based bricks have been a part of the community since it came into existence. The process includes mixing straw in with the bricks.

"Adobe bricks…can be recycled, it's practical and it doesn't hurt the environment," says CEAS engineer Jorge Arellano. Besides, they are naturally insulating: "When it's really cold [adobe homes] get hot. When it's really hot you get in and it's cool."

The project helps residents build stronger homes than the ones that were destroyed.

Strength in Numbers

Rebuilding is certainly a team effort. As a group of residents were digging the foundation for Johana's home, another group was preparing the soil for the bricks.

As the work came to a halt, residents gathered to talk about their experiences. Passing crackers and a liter of Inca Cola, a popular local beverage, their comradery is far more remarkable than the backdrop of devastation that surrounds them.

"If you talk to a psychologist for a day you can't forget what happened," Roberto says, "but by being involved in this project you can think about something else."

Our Work in Peru

CRS has worked in Peru since 1954, supporting programs through local partners in the areas of civil society, peacebuilding and human rights, sustainable rural development, microfinance, and emergency relief.

Kai T. Hill is an associate web producer. She works in the Baltimore headquarters and recently traveled with CRS to Peru.