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Letter from Taray 3/7/10
We are finally able to write all our dear friends, family and loved ones -
First of all we want to let you all know that we are fine. What an intense time this has been – we are still in a daze not able to digest what happened last Sunday night, February 28, 2010.
We know you are all so worried. We receive your thoughts and love and concern every moment of every day and that helps us keep moving forward. We know we are not alone.
The most important thing is that we are alive. Traumatized and heartbroken – but physically we are fine and so full of thanks for that.
Here is the brief story:
On Sunday night the small river that flows through the town of Taray, Qesermayu, overflowed in several places and flooded the whole town. It did that last month and caused a lot of damage as well, but this time it was brutal. The force and abundance of the water was brutal and quick – houses collapsed throughout the whole night. 80% of Taray has collapsed, and they are saying that only a few homes will remain standing – and most will not be suitable to live in – including our home. Ten people are dead, mostly families whose homes collapsed on them. They say around 60 are missing. It is tragic.
At around 9:30 pm we noticed the rain and the bells rang. Suni and Roman went outside to see the river, and there were a few townspeople there – the river was up. They informed us that it was clearly a situation of concern, that we should watch the river to see what happens. Within minutes Roman and Suni went went back to check, and this time decided it was necessary to make a decision as to wether we should leave, or if we felt it was not necessary to leave. It was not raining hard, and no one was ringing the bells or sirens of warning, no one was evacuating the town – so it did not feel urgent, but we decided to slowly gather our things if we decided we needed to go to Pisac. Just at that moment the wall beside the meditation hut collapsed and a huge wave of water rushed in – our house was flooded up to our knees within 15 minutes.
We gathered the children and tried to evaluate which way to get out – in the meantime all of the glass windows were breaking and our rugs and furniture were being swept out of the house -
We went to the older part of the house to see if it was better, but it too was flooding – and the whole corner where the tubs were came crashing down and a huge wave of water rushed in with force – both sides of the house were now rivers up to our waist – we thought we had to get out – so we walked out into the dark carrying the kids, to find that our whole wall had collapsed and that there was no sign of high ground that we could reach without being swept away by the river that was now up t our chest. It was a rapid current full of sticks and rocks and debris – our only chance was to get back to the house and go upstairs – and hope the foundation was strong enough to uphold us throughout the night. The electricity was out – the phones down – my last call was to Maria – asking her to please call Gustavo for help – the water was approaching the height of our balcony.
We were like a small island sitting above a full force river raging below us – tearing our things out of the house with rocks and logs thrashing around with loud crashing and banging. We could hear everything collapsing around us – home after home – we sat there all night – wondering if the water would continue to rise – wondering if our home would collapse with the force of the water beating on it – wondering if landslides would cover the whole area – there was nothing to do but wait and sing and pray and stay as calm and as grounded as possible. The kids were amazing – so terrified, yet they maintained calm. and focused. Suni was a true young warrior. So strong. So composed. So focused. Roman was incredible – he made quick, clear decisions and stayed grounded the whole time. It was the most intense night of our lives for sure. So close to death.
At around 5 am William and a few guys made it into the house and told us that the water had lowered significantly and we should get ready to leave the house as soon as it was light- then Sandra and Sandy made it in at 6 am and helped us gather a few things of importance. A whole group of friends rescued us with ropes and ladders. They carried Cleo and the kids out. Gustavo and another group of friends were on the other side of the river that had taken over the entire plaza and helped us to get across with ropes – and we made it out.
Our entire home and garden is chest high or more with mud, rocks and debris – it is a riverbed – our things downstairs were swept away – The house is standing, but took a beating – it is cracking all over – most say we could not repair it, and a few say we have to wait and see – but we know we can not live there anymore – it is too dangerous – and we could not build a wall strong enough to protect us – if the river will take its course there we can not impose to live there -
We are so grateful to our home. Apart from so many cherished memories, it saved our lives.
So we are now trying to figure out step by step how to rebuild our lives -
Many of you are sending us great love and support – we feel this in every moment and are so blessed to have so many amazing people who love us in our lives. In this moment feeling this love is so important – it is fortifying and gives us strength to face our situation. Several of you want to come and help – we think now is not a good time – perhaps in the future when things have calmed down that would be a good plan. Right now it is still raining. The river is still flooding at times, and they are concerned if it rains again, it could flood even stronger. There is a lot of panic in the air in the whole Sacred Valley, including Pisac. The road to Cusco is closed most of the time, the bridge to Pisac is still down and it is just not safe here right now.
With so much help from our friends Winay Taki and from the communities, we have taken all of our things out of the house. There is concern it may collapse, especially if it keeps flooding, which it has done almost every night since Sunday – so we had to get everything out quickly. It is in storage – now we have to organize, clean everything that is covered in mud and throw away things that are not salvageable.
Everyone is asking what they can do. We have given this a lot of thought. Several people have already started to gather funds to send to our family and initiate fundraising events. We have realized that is is in fact the best way to help our family right now. There is no insurance here – and no government support that we know of – and that will be minimal if and when. Also with Machu Picchu being closed and the bridge to Pisac collapsed – you can imagine there is no tourism and nothing is coming in. Support of our family through fundraising will enable us to take the steps to slowly start rebuilding our life as soon as possible – this is what we need to do to provide a sense of place and safety to our family – it will be a long process, but the sooner we can begin the easier this transition will be for all of us. If anyone would like to support our family – please pass the word on that gathering funds is the most effective way for the moment. As soon as we have an idea of how to proceed in other ways, we will let you all know.
We will also support many families in Taray who are close to us. We are not able to take on the larger task of proving support for the whole town. The Cultural Center where the 7th, 8th and 9th grades are being held was also damaged and needs to be rebuilt. If you want to support please use the accounts attached below.
Funds can be sent either to our account in Taos or our account in Cusco. We are attaching both.
Please tell everyone who asks how to help about this fundraising initiative to help us reconstruct our life and cultural projects -
Thank you so much to everyone.
We are so full and love and thanks,
Fielding, Roman, Suni, T’ika and Katari
Peruvian Bank Account Information
Name of bank: Skotiabank
Account number: 780 – 7055856
Account in $US dollars
Account name: Vizcarra N. Edgar or Julia Fielding Wood
SWIFT code: BSUDPEPL
Bank address: Calle Maruri 315 Cusco, PERU
Interbank code: 009 – 425 – 217807055856 – 06
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First Community Bank Taos, New Mexico USA
Savings Account
Account number: 001300733
Name on account: Edgar R. Vizcarra
Routing number: 107001452
Bank phone number: 505 – 758 – 6600
Address of main bank office: P.O. Box 797 Taos, New Mexico 87571-0797
Address on our account: P.O. Box 2979 Taos, New Mexico 87571
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Contributions to Pachamama’s Path are tax deductible. See your tax preparer for details.
Name of Bank: Bank of America
Location: Anastasia Plaza Office, St. Augustine, FL
Name of Account: Pachamama’s Path, Inc.
Account # 8980 0147 9680
Routing # 026 00 9593
On Mar 07 in Peru tagged by kate
Hermanos: No sabia lo que paso con ustedes hasta ahora. Estoy en la India hasta Mayo, pero te ofrezco mi casa en La paz para que tu y tu familia vengan a descansar y quedarse el tiuempo que quieran. Tambien tengo el Centro Allkamari que es muy comodo a 20 minutos de la Paz, donde pueden tener alojam,iento privado para ustedes (fotos en la pag.web).
visame si les interesa.
Un gran abrazo y muchas bendiciones
Miguel