Tuesday 21 August 2007

Feeling very small

This morning I woke up terrified when an aeroplane flew overhead because I mistook the vibrations for an earthquake. After the earthquake in Lima last Wednesday, traffic rumbling by or even the vibration or my mobile phone keep making me jump...

It was my first earthquake and was pretty scary even though I was in the nice part of Lima where buildings are built to withstand earthquakes. In Miraflores, after 2 minutes of quaking we were all basically OK – people shaken rather than hurt, a few broken windows, possessions and damaged roofs.

For thousands of people elsewhere in the country it was devastating. It was 7.9 on the Richter scale and left over 500 people dead, 1500 injured and 35,000 buildings destroyed. As always the poorest suffered most, with flimsy adobe or makeshift housing collapsing and people being left out in the cold with no power, water or communications. Aid efforts are underway but reconstruction will take a long time.

Everyone I know in Peru is fine but when I left at the end of last week people in Lima still could not get in touch with their families in the worst-hit areas.

It was one of those experiences which makes you feel very small, insignificant and vulnerable- and it makes you reevaluate what's important. In the mayhem and stress immediately after the earthquake in Lima, everyone’s top priority was getting in touch with loved ones. The day after there was an atmosphere of fear mixed with relief and on the streets a real sense of solidarity - a wierd friendliness amongst strangers that comes from having survived something together.

If anyone wants to donate to relief efforts, the Peruvian consulate in London has details.

Tuesday 7 August 2007

Adjusting to Lima




The sky is not always grey… hard to believe in Lima at this time of year. I’ve been here a week and the fog has been constant. It’s hard to imagine months on end of this whiteness…

Going from sunshine to fog is not the only thing that takes some getting used to in the journey from Quito to Lima. If inequality is striking in Quito, in Lima it is overwhelming. The shiny wealthy districts of Lima and the ‘pueblos jovenes’ are like different worlds. The ‘young towns’ are the areas on the outskirts which for decades have been established by a flood of migrants (fleeing terrorism or rural poverty) who squat the land and set up rudimentary shelters. Then, if they manage to stay, begin turning them into new neighbourhoods and with streets, brick houses and eventually water and electricity. Parts of Miraflores (rich neighbourhood in the centre) feel like Milan or some other wealthy European city.




It really hit me one lunch time when I was sitting in Miraflores in a trendy wholefood organic vegetarian restaurant which wouldn’t be out of place in London, eating a US$ 7 lunch and sitting under a ludicrous patio heater, whilst reading statistics saying that over half the population in the country is classified as poor (living on less than $2 a day). Only 15% of the economically active population have adequate employment according to the UN…etc.

Politically things also seem pretty grey here. In Ecuador there is a lot of political optimism at the moment. The new left wing President Rafael Correa still has high opinion poll rating and is living up to some of his manifesto promises. NGOs and social movements are working to prepare candidates and proposals for a new assembly which is to rewrite the countries constitution. And there is some hope that it could change things for the better

In Peru on the other hand, the president Alan Garcia’s popularity has plummeted. For the last 4 months protests have overtaken the country. The economy is booming but the wealth is not trickling down to the people who need it and many seem to feel that the president’s priorities lie with the demands of foreign mining companies, the armed forces, the USA, and the market rather than the poor.

The government is pushing ahead with measures which favour extractive industries and foreign companies at the expense of local communities and NGOS also fear that he is trying to restrict the power of civil society and clamp down on opposition. For example a new law requires NGOS to register with a body which has the power to shut down those which are not working towards ‘the goals of the government’. NGOs say this violates the constitution including in respect of the right to freedom of expression and association. There is also a new and frightening amendment to the Penal Code which gives the armed forces and national police impunity from criminal prosecution if they cause injury and death in the performance of their duties.

Lets hope that the sky is not always grey…