Media contact in Peru: Allen Clinton, +1 404-457-4635 (cell) / clinton@care.org

LIMA, Peru (Aug. 21, 2007) - In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Peru, the international poverty-fighting organization CARE reports it has distributed relief supplies to approximately 1,900 families (9,500 people) in the hardest hit communities located north of Pisco, where most relief efforts have been focused. Additionally, two medical teams supported by the CARE-managed Global Fund in Peru have been dispatched to Pisco, Ica, Chincha and Canete to check on health conditions of people affected by HIV, AIDS and Tuberculosis.

Relief distribution update

The latest numbers indicate there are 35,568 families directly affected, approximately 503 deaths and 1042 injured as a result of the quake. While most relief efforts are focused on distributions in the larger town of Pisco, CARE is targeting its response efforts in smaller communities that also have been equally devastated including Chincha Baja, Tambo de Mora, Pueblo Nuevo, El Carmen and Afro-Peruvian communities in Canete. Supplies include tents, food, water and flashlights.

"There are still communities outside of Pisco that are in need of aid," says Milo Stanojevich, CARE director in Peru, who was in Tambo de Mora and Canete yesterday. "While suffering is still going on, it's important to sustain and expand relief efforts to reach more communities outside larger towns. This must be done in a coordinated effort in order to really help get people's lives back together."

Stanojevich also notes that the earthquake occurred in the middle of the school year. As most schools have been destroyed or are structurally unstable, plans must be worked out for a temporary solution to secure a safe space for kids to resume their classes. "If not," he says, "kids may loose a school year if something isn't done about it soon."

Health update

According to Virginia Baffigo, coordinator for the Global Fund program for CARE Peru, the Global Fund is supporting the Ministry of Health to send two professional medical teams to earthquake affected areas to check on conditions of people living with HIV and AIDS, as well as patients living with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and meet with commercial sex workers. The medical teams have been dispatched to Pisco, Ica, Chincha and Canete, working in coordination with the Regional Hospital in Ica. They will distribute Anti-Retroviral medicine to those in short supply as well as condoms.

"The teams have been sent to verify health conditions of people in earthquake-affected areas who have HIV and TB," says Baffigo, who is based in Lima. "Our primary goal is to help ensure that patients continue to take their medications so that the microorganisms don't become resistant to the point that the anti-retroviral medicines no longer have therapeutic value."

About CARE in Peru: CARE began work in Peru in 1970 following a 42-second earthquake that killed 50,000 people and left 600,000 survivors in desperate need of food, clothing and shelter. Since then, CARE has expanded its programs in Peru to support long-term development needs and empower marginalized women through programs including health, education and microfinance. CARE projects in Peru benefit more than 500,000 of the poorest people in the country.