Maranatha Churches Provide Shelter After Peruvian Quake

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In the aftermath of Peru’s August 15 earthquake, church buildings recently constructed by Maranatha volunteers are providing shelter for families who have lost their homes. Five of these church shelters are in areas directly affected by the quake, including in the communities of Cañete, Chincha, Ica, Pisco and Punta Negra.

In the aftermath of Peru’s August 15 earthquake, church buildings recently constructed by Maranatha volunteers are providing shelter for families who have lost their homes. Five of these church shelters are in areas directly affected by the quake, including in the communities of Cañete, Chincha, Ica, Pisco and Punta Negra.

Maranatha Volunteers International has built 87 Adventist churches and seven schools in Peru during the past four years.

“We design and build each structure so it can be used as a community shelter in case of disaster. The Peruvian Union was pleased to have this community service element,” says Darrell Hardy, Maranatha Volunteers International Vice President for Latin America. “The people deserve the best we can provide, so we hold ourselves to strict international building codes that match possible earthquake, wind and water damage for the local area.”

The housing situation in many areas of Peru is inadequate for natural disasters. Though people build with the best they have, their construction materials of discarded plywood, plastic and adobe are seldom fit to meet the strength of earthquakes or hurricanes. The small sturdy churches built by Maranatha, especially in rural settlements, are often the soundest buildings in town.

Carlos Medrano is a church elder at the Parcona Seventh-day Adventist Church in the town of Ica, where the quake’s destruction was the greatest. “We worked with Maranatha and their volunteers to build a new church in 2004. I am so happy that the quake didn’t touch it and that already it is providing shelter for at least ten homeless families.”

An additional 48 families are being cared for in the San Vicente Adventist Church in Cañete and El Carmen Adventist Church close to Chincha.

“The churches built by our brothers at Maranatha were not harmed in any way. They are firm and standing just fine,” says Melchor Ferreyra, Division Secretary for the South American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. “They were formed well with blessings from the hands of thousands of volunteers who helped raise these beautiful sanctuaries here in our territory.”

A much older Seventh-day Adventist church just ten blocks away from the Parcona Church, crumbled during the quake. Though a regular worship service was scheduled for later in the evening, no one was harmed in the collapse and the members are already dreaming of a new worship home.

Maranatha serves primarily in the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America, often building in areas where construction is not regulated. “We are committed to providing high quality buildings that will be safe and will hold up well against the pressures of time, weather, and wear,” says Maranatha’s President Don Noble. “We are especially pleased when our buildings serve as havens in times of natural disasters. This type of construction takes extra expense and effort, but as Christians, we can do no less.”

Maranatha Volunteers International is a non-profit organization that mobilizes volunteers to construct urgently needed buildings all over the world. Visit www.maranatha.org for more information.

Investigation has not uncovered major damage to any of the Maranatha Churches built in Peru.

For more information contact Carrie Purkeypile at 916-920-1900.

Date published: August 17, 2007