NOTICIAS

NEWS

COMUNIDAD LATINOAMERICANA DE MINISTERIOS EVANGELICOS

Communiix/ ofLatin American Evangelical Ministries

Apartado 1307 San Jose, Costa Rica, C.A. Cable: LATMERCAM Tel. 21-56--22

1973-2

for immediate release

SAN JOS, Costa Rica, January k The massive earthquake which

leveled the center of Managua, capital city of neighboring Nicaragua,

in the early hours of December 23t caused the known deaths of only

three evangelical Christians among the estimated 10,000 to 12,000

dead. It destroyed homes, churches, the large Baptist Hospital and

the studio facilities of the evangelical radio station, according to

first reports reaching this country.

Costa Rican Christians, as well as others around the world, began

relief efforts immediately for the approximately 330^000 persons left

homeless. Medical personnel and relief supplies were on their way

northward from San Jose by air and via the Inter-American highway

within hours of receiving news of the disaster.

Dr. Arturo Cabezas, chief medic of the Bible Hospital in San JosI,

flew to Managua with medical supplies and equipment early in the

morning. He went in response to a ham radio call from his colleague,

Dr. Gustavo Parajon of Managua's Baptist Hospital, whose facilities

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MIEMBROS/A/A/B/?^;MISION LATINOAMERICANA DE MEXICO . LATIN AMERICA MISSION, INC. (USA) LATIN AMERICA MISSION (CANADA) INC.SEMINAR! BIBLICO LATINOAMERICANO EDITORIAL CARIBE MINISTERIO AL MUNDO ESTUDIANTIL EVANGELISM AFOND

FEDERACION DE ASOCIACIONES EVANGELICAS DE COSTA RICA FEDERACION COLOMBIANA DE MINISTERIOS EVANGELICOS

1973-2 MANAGUA DISASTER -2-

were totally unusable following the quake.

"The upper two floors of the four-story hospital collapsed," Cabezas

explained, "causing the death of several persons and injuring many more,some of whom died later."

From the Goodwill Caravan headquarters in Costa Rica, daily microbus

trips shuttled food supplies rice, beans, powdered milk, sugar

directly to Nicaragua, under the supervision of Caravan Nurse Lillian

Jimenez, the only Caravan staff person on the scene in San Jos at themoment of the disaster. Evangelical Grocer Antonio Cuadra rounded up

the grain and dispatched it to the Costa Rican town of Canas, a short

drive from the Nicaraguan border. Microbuses were used in preference

to large trucks. Caravan people explained, to facilitate rapid border

crossings, without the possibility of delays in getting the food directly

to evangelical believers and others in need, or of confiscation of entire

cargoes and consequent delay.

One Nicaraguan woman told Caravan workers she had spent four hours

in a food line set up by the government only to be disappointed, and

had subsequently spent more hours in other lines without ever receiving

food, "You were sent by God to meet our needs," she told them.

In Managua itself. Dr. Parajdn and his staff were working with theirpatients under a large spreading tree on the hospital grounds, treating

earthquake victims, when Jos6 Antonio Morales, a Costa Rican pastor early

on the scene, asked him if he had suffered personal loss in the catas

trophe^ "Yes^ my younger brother, who just graduated from law school,was killed in the house by a falling wall," the doctor quietly responded

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1973-2 MANAGUA DISASTER -3-

as he went right on working He and other medics delivered babies behind

a screen, under the great treeo Dr Cabezas and a Salvadorean doctor

relieved the Nicaraguan doctors the first night, treating the scores of

injured being brought ino

Fires raged uncontrollably in the heart of Managua, as water mains

were disrupted and all electric power was out. The stench from decom

posing bodies trapped in the rubble of sweltering Managua soon became

unbearable. Looting of homes and stores was reported. Martial law

was declared and the inhabitants of 600 city blocks were ordered to

evacuate their homes. Doctors feared the possibility of major epidemicssuch as typhoid and cholera. Streams of refugees reminiscent of war

scenes crowded the highways on foot, on bicycles, oxcarts and horse-

drawn carts, and in the few motor vehicles in circulation. Demolition

teams moved into the fenced-off 600 blocks to complete the leveling of

remaining buildings.

Jorge Arr6liga, manager of Managua's indigenously operated Christian

radio station YNOL, said, "Our studios were destroyed in the earthquake

because they were located in a building in the heart of the city, but

the transmitter building and tower were not heavily damaged." The

transmitter site is several miles outside of town. Not one major radio

station in Managua remained in operation.

YNOL had its beginning just over ten years ago when David Solt of

the Latin America Mission and the late Jim Houk of the Central American

Mission teamed up to build the station in response to pleas from

Nicaraguan Christians for an evangelical radio voice they could operate

and maintain.

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1973-2 MANAGUA DISASTER -k-

"We surely would like to get back on the air soon, to transmit messages

to help locate missing persons," Arroliga saido Representatives of Church

World Service, visiting San Jose and Managua just days after the disaster,pledged I3OOO in immediate help to get the station on the air Communi

cations Engineer Bob Remington of the Latin America Mission and DIA made

ready to take charge of repairs and replacement.

"All the churches in the center of Managua have been destroyed," said

YNOL manager Arr6liga. "It's really pathetic to see Christians unable

to meet together except in the streets." Arroliga's own family is camp

ing in the patio of their damaged house on Managua's outskirts.

Managua faces a long, hard, uncertain future. The emergency period

will undoubtedly last at least six months, during which jobs will beextremely scarce, all food supplies will have to be brought in, and the

350000 evacuees cared for in tent villages and other temporary quarters.

The earthquake followed on the heels of a severe drought in Central

America, which found the country practically without basic grain

supplies. Officials talk of completely relocating the city, away from

the geological faults which have caused disaster in Managua before, but

none to compare with the one of December 23, 1972.

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