House
installing siding
at completion
party
 |
measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale. It was the 5th largest
quake ever to strike a populated area and it cause major
destruction in a country still on it?s knees from the 12 year
long civil war, which ended in 1992.
Thousands of people who had very little lost even that,
including their homes, which crumbled and fell around
them. There were a number of cruising boats from
Canada, Europe and the United States in Barillas Marina
during the earthquake. The cruisers wanted to help the
local people in some way and they were told of a village in
the mountains that had been destroyed by the quake, but
wasn?t receiving any aid from the major relief agencies.
The news spread and soon boats started to arrive with
relief goods, clothes, canned foods and most importantly,
cruisers with time and energy. In the first year the cruisers
and villagers built 12 homes at the village of Hacienda
Lourdes housing 12 families who had been sheltering in
rusting tin shacks. The project did not end there. Another 6
houses have been completed this year and at present the
project is being led by Dennis Johnson on the yacht ?Knee
Deep?.
Unlike the traditional adobe style houses that were
destroyed in the quake, these homes are built with a
simple, welded steel-frame, clad with weatherproof cement
board. The first lot of houses survived undamaged when
another small earthquake struck in early 2002.
The homes have three rooms, an earth floor, no plumbing,
but they are a luxurious advance on the makeshift shacks
these families have been living in since the disaster. They
cost a little over $2,000 each to build. The cruisers and
the villagers provide all the labor. The mayor of the nearby
town of Santiago de Maria lent the project a welding
machine and a generator, many cruisers donated power
tools. Barillas Marina Club provides crucial support in the
form of a van, which is used to travel to and from the
village. Juan Wright, the founder of Barillas Marina has
raised thousands of dollars by auctioning rides in his
airplane of the surrounding area and many other generous
donations. The rest of the money has come from
contributions from concerned people around the world.
The second phase is complete. We were able to help finish
the 6th house and putting the finishing touches on all the
other houses. Installing rain gutters (very important for
water collection), adding retaining walls to prevent
mudslides and many other little projects.
For us it has been a very rewarding experience to be able
to help people who have so little. The last family to move
into house #6 was so excited one would have thought they
were moving into a mansion in Beverly Hills.
