Southern Baptist missionaries living in El Salvador were unharmed during the powerful earthquake that left the city of San Salvador in shambles with 1,300 homeless and a death toll of 400.
According to International Mission Board officials, missionaries Mark and Pam Grumbles along with their two children, Annie and Drew, were not harmed during the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the city at 11:35 a.m. Jan 13.
An e-mail from the Grumbleses was received Jan. 14 relaying their safety and a description of the aftermath of the quake’s destruction.
It read in part, “The earthquake happened yesterday but we are still jittery today. The house was shaking and things were falling out of the cabinets and off the shelves. Glasses and cups, knickknacks and other minor things were breaking. The earthquake lasted for 50 seconds. We were literally afraid that the house would fall. We are continuing to have strong aftershocks today (Sunday).
“The epicenter was in the ocean off the coast near San Salvador. One entire housing development was buried under a landslide. More than 200 houses were completely buried. In other areas adobe houses have been demolished. Rescue efforts continue and many sleep in the open air tonight as the aftershocks continue,” the e-mail said.
Using Southern Baptist emergency funds, Grumbles, along with a layman in San Salvador began delivering tarpaulins to families left without shelter after the quake.
A massive mudslide engulfed as many as 500 middle-class houses in the Santa Tecla suburb of San Salvador.
Survivors in neighboring towns were left without food and water after roads were blocked or swept away by landslides.
The quake was felt across El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras and as far north as Mexico City.
Up to 500 aftershocks, some of them powerful, hampered the efforts of hundreds of emergency workers and volunteers.
Foreign aid began flowing immediately into Venezuela, and relief experts felt most people’s immediate needs for food and water would be met, according to news reports.
Southern Baptists will send a four-person evaluation team into the country Jan. 22, according to Jim Brown, human needs consultant for IMB. The team expects to bring back recommendations for long-term projects such as rebuilding church buildings and cleaning up homes and neighborhoods.
The $5,000 in emergency funds sent immediately to missionaries would soon be exhausted, Brown said. Requests for further assistance are expected.
“Baptist churches in the towns of Santiago de Maria and Berlin had opened their kitchens to feed neighbors who needed help,” Brown said.
Emphasizing the need for prayer, Pam Grumbles stated, “Continue to pray as we evaluate how to participate in relief efforts and minister to human and spiritual needs.”
Specific ways Southern Baptist volunteers may be able to help in El Salvador will be outlined after the IMB evaluation team returns to the United States Jan. 25, Brown added.
Contributions toward the relief efforts can be sent to: International Mission Board, General Relief Fund — El Salvador Earthquake, P.O. Box 7676, Richmond, VA 23230.
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