This is an urgent request for assistance from our friends in Quispillaccta, Peru. You may have heard about the volcano and earthquake activity that has affected Peru and Ecuador recently. Well, one of the earthquakes that rated close to 5 on the Richter Scale had an epicenter at the hot springs about 500 meters from the center of Quispillaccta!

Luckily, of the people who were injured, all are better except for one child who is still in the hospital. The biggest problem now is that the homes of our wonderful friends suffered major damage. 473 homes were affected:

28 completely collapsed
146 are uninhabitable
299 have serious cracks

The rainy season is coming soon and they are getting desperate, worried that the 299 cracked houses will not protect them and may completely fall apart.

Click image for larger view

These people live off of the land and do not have other sources of income. To completely repair 299 houses and replace the others is not an easy or cheap job. However, they use materials from where they live, meaning earth for the walls, clay for the roofs, and wood for the windows and doors. So the costs are not nearly as high as they would be in many other places in the world.

We are asking everyone out there to please help them collect the small amount of money that will allow them to fix their homes. These are the estimated costs:

Activity	Cost
1. Local construction of the adobe for 473 houses of 7 meters x 7 meters	51,256.00
2. Creation of the clay tiles for 473 houses, 672 per house	31,164.00
3. Transportation of the tiles	4,770.00
4. Wood and other supplements for the roofs and doors (local eucalyptus trees)	-
… 2 Chainsaws	2,620.00
… Fuel	500.00
TOTAL	90,310.00

Our friends will write a report and make copies of their reciepts after they receive support and can begin their work, so you will know exactly how much your support helps themÖ

The people of Quispillaccta have never asked for support from people around the world like this and don't have a bank account set up to receive funds. However, they will do so if we can raise some money to help them. So, The Odyssey is collecting funds for them as quickly as possible.

Please send to:

ATTN: Peru Fund
The Odyssey
650 Townsend Suite 375
San Francisco, CA 94103

This WILL make a difference to the people who would otherwise be left without a home this coming rainy season.