TITLE: Emergency Action Alert for Salvadoran Earthquake

AUTHOR:

ORG: CISPES

DATE: January 15, 2001

Massive earthquake devastates El Salvador. Emergency relief and political pressure for reconstruction are vital On Saturday, January 13th at about mid-day El Salvador was devastated by a massive earthquake of magnitude 7.6. It has left death, destruction, and misery. As of today, January 15th, there are at least 400 dead, thousands injured, and tens of thousands homeless. Given that at least 1,200 people are still trapped in the Las Colinas housing development in the city of Santa Tecla, outside San Salvador the death toll will mount. The mayor of Santa Tecla, Oscar Ortiz, speaks of 3,000 people trapped in debris. This earthquake is worse than the last major quake to strike El Salvador, which left 1,500 dead, 8.000 injured, and tens of thousands displaced in October of 1986. We are currently trying to contact our staff in El Salvador to obtain more information. Outside of metropolitan San Salvador, reports of the quake are just filtering in, as the quake has disrupted communication and travel outside of San Salvador. We have reports that the municipalities of Berlin, San Agustin, and other areas in the department of Usulutan; the department of San Vicente; Armenia in Sonsonate, and Comasagua in La Libertad among others are all heavily devastated. A further update on the situation will soon follow, but the increased implementation of neoliberal policies, including the January 1st implementation of dollarization in El Salvador only exacerbates the misery of Salvadorans affected by the disaster. The two most important actions we can take are emergency relief fundraising and political pressure. * Emergency fundraising for relief in El Salvador is vital. Donations of money are very important. Money to purchase relief supplies and medicines in El Salvador are needed urgently. Funds you can raise and send to CISPES will get to El Salvador and to the affected communities more quickly than relief supplies. * Please make your tax-deductible checks payable to "CISPES Education Fund" and mail to CISPES, PO Box 1801, New York, NY 10159. Please put "earthquake relief" in the memo. One hundred percent of the funds raised will go directly to affected communities and organizations that work with them. * Call your local newspapers papers and radio and television stations and ask them to run a public service spot (PSA) requesting funds for emergency relief. Use the address listed above for where people can send funds. * Organize an emergency fundraising event like a dinner, dance, raffle, or other event to raise funds. Make contact with Salvadoran community groups and Salvadoran solidarity groups (CISPES, Sister Cities, and SHARE) to organize such events. * Make contacts with local progressive media outlets and start talking about how this natural disaster's effects are increased by the neoliberal policies being implemented by the Salvadoran government and promoted and developed by multilateral institutions like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Inter-American Development Bank. We will have some background and analysis pieces out soon that you can use. It is also vital that we start political pressure now with the U.S. government and congress. The Christian Democratic (PDC) government in power in 1986 during the last large earthquake corruptly mismanaged large sums of the international relief aid, and many of funds went into the pockets of government supporters. After tropical storm Mitch devastated El Salvador in November 1998 the communities most affected did not immediately receive aid and then they were excluded from the ARENA government's first national reconstruction plan. There was a sustained struggle and mobilization by the communities and organizations that worked with them to taken into account in the government's reconstruction plan. After the March, 1999 presidential elections it was revealed that the ARENA government used over a million dollars of funds destine for Mitch reconstruction to buy the votes of thousands of ex-paramilitary civil patrols for Francisco Flores, the current Salvadoran president. There is great concern that the ARENA government will politicize the huge of amounts of international relief and reconstruction aid that will flow into El Salvador. The Salvadoran government's initial reconstruction plans after Mitch included development projects in areas untouched by the disaster. There is fear that this will happen again with earthquake relief and reconstruction aid. This is especially true as the National Association of Private Enterprise (ANEP) is coordinating the relief efforts. Roberto Murray Meza, a possible ARENA party presidential candidate in 2004 is in charge of these efforts. ARENA has suffered badly in the last year, with its bad showing in the 2000 municipal and legislative elections and with the recent unpopular implementation of dollarization. Because of this, social movement organizations and the FMLN are afraid aid will be politicized to promote Murray Meza as a presidential candidate. In terms of immediate political pressure we are asking the following: * Call the United States Agency of International for International Development and contact Carl Leonard, Acting Administrator for Latin American and Caribbean Affairs. See sample letter below. Phone: 202-712-4800 Fax: 202-2216-3455 E-mail: "mailto:cleonard@us.aid.gov". The following are issues to be raised: * The United States government has an obligation to provide a large amount of relief and reconstruction aid for this disaster, especially after its funding the 12-year civil war at the cost of $6 billion. * All aid for relief and reconstruction sent must channeled through a coalition of Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the affected communities, local/municipal governments, and the Salvadoran government. Affective communities and organizations that work with them must also play an active role in the development of all reconstruction plans * The Salvadoran government must not politicize international aid that arrives for earthquake relief and reconstruction. as happen after the 1986 earthquake and Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Please also call the Congressional Switchboard at 202-225-3121 and ask to speak with your Congressional representatives and Senators. Ask that they contact Carl Leonard at USAID and convey to him the above demands. Committee In Solidarity With The People Of El Salvador, National Office: 19 West 21st St., New York, NY 10010 Phone: 212-229-1290 o FAX: 212-645-7280 E-mail: cispesnatl@people-link.net Sample letter to Carl Leonard or fax it to : 202-2216-3455   Mr. Carl Leonard Acting Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean United States Agency for International Development Washington, D.C. January 15, 2001 Dear Mr. Leonard: I am writing to you about the massive earthquake that hit El Salvador on January 13th. As you know, the disaster is the worst to hit El Salvador in decades. When the final toll is taken, thousands of Salvadorans will be dead, and tens of thousands injured and displaced. Tens of thousands of houses have been destroyed. El Salvador's public health care system, which has been denied adequate supplies of medicines by the central government, was devastated, with various hospitals seriously damaged. El Salvador will have huge necessities in terms of financial support for relief and the reconstruction process. The U.S. has a responsibility to contribute large amounts to these endeavors. If we spent $6 billion to wage a war for 12 years in El Salvador, we now have the moral obligation to help El Salvador rebuild itself. I ask that you do all that is possible to obtain the needed funds for the relief and reconstruction processes in El Salvador. As someone who has closely followed the situation El Salvador I am aware that past and current Salvadoran governments have misused and politicized international aid that has arrived for disasters. This is especially true of the funds that arrived for the 1986 earthquake and after Hurricane Mitch in 1998. When international funds that arrived in El Salvador for post-Mitch reconstruction are used for vote buying in the 1999 campaign of current president Francisco Flores we must be alarmed. I urge you to contact the Salvadoran government and President Flores and tell them that no U.S. funds that arrive for relief and reconstruction can be politicized. They must be distributed equally to the communities most affected by the earthquake. Given that the first draft of the Salvadoran government's post Mitch reconstruction plan included areas untouched by the disaster, I urge you to clearly tell the Salvadoran government that communities affected by the earthquake, the governments of the municipalities where they are located, and non-governmental organizations that work with them have a key role in developing reconstruction plans. I will also be communicating with my Congressional representatives and Senators. Thank you for your concern and prompt actions. Sincerely yours, END top