PERU - EARTHQUAKE: SITUATION REPORT #4

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 LIMA 002951 SIPDIS AIDAC SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE/WHA FOR WHA/AND, BTHOMAS STATE ALSO PASS TO USAID USAID/W FOR A/AID HFORE USAID/DCHA FOR MHESS, GGOTTLIEB AID/W for DCHA/OFDA DCHA/OFDA FOR KLUU, AFERRARA, ACONVERY, RTHAYER, SBISWAS DCHA/FFP WHAMMINK USAID/LAC FOR AA/LAC, LAC/SA, MKARBELING SAN JOSE FOR TCALLAGHAN NSC for TSHORTLEY, PMARCHAM BRUSSELS FOR USAID PLERNER GENEVA FOR NYKYLOH NEW YORK FOR TMALY USMISSION UN ROME FOR RNEWBERG E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PE XM XR ECON ETRD SENV ENRG USTR SUBJECT: PERU - EARTHQUAKE: SITUATION REPORT #4 REF: A) LIMA 2868 B) LIMA 2897 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY ¶1. (U) Summary. On August 29, U.S. Ambassador McKinley and a team of representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Lima, USAID/Peru, and USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) traveled to Pisco Province to visit earthquake-affected areas. The Ambassador visited Pisco's downtown area and the Nueva Alameda sector, as well as San Andres and San Clemente districts. The Ambassador also met with General Luis Felipe Palomino, Director of the Government of Peru's (GOP) National Civil Defense Institute (INDECI),and visited INDECI's warehouses at the Peruvian Air Force base in Pisco. During the visit, Ambassador McKinley had the opportunity to show three GOP Ministers the general medicine services provided by the Department of Defense's (DOD) Medical Readiness Exercise Team (MEDRETE) in the displaced persons camp in Nueva Alameda. ¶2. (U) Ambassador McKinley and the U.S. Embassy and USAID team found that the main challenges to the ongoing response remain camp management, the provision of shelter, and local authorities' capacity to provide assistance effectively. Throughout the visit, residents expressed gratitude to Ambassador McKinley for the assistance and support provided by the USG and Americans in response to the earthquake. End summary. -------------- Visit of INDECI's Warehouse -------------- ¶3. (SBU) General Palomino received Ambassador McKinley and the U.S. Embassy and USAID team at the Peruvian Air Force base. General Palomino accompanied the team in a tour of INDECI's two warehouses on the base, where relief items are received by air and dispatched for delivery to affected populations. (Note: A separate warehouse in the port of Pisco houses shipments of relief supplies arriving by sea. End note.) Since August 18, the American private company DHL, which was later joined by Procter and Gamble, has supported INDECI's warehouse operations. DHL's Disaster Response Team, which provided logistics assistance during the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina disasters in recent years, has improved the warehouses' organization and is training INDECI's staff to run operations. Prior to DHL's arrival, INDECI and the Peruvian Military ran the warehouses. Because the local government structure was significantly impacted by the earthquake, distribution of relief supplies during the initial days was weak. Disorganization, among other things, prevented INDECI from determining and informing local authorities and relief agencies of the availability of supplies. With DHL's assistance, relief items are now organized by type and INDECI is able to provide accurate information on stocks of items such as rice, milk, fortified biscuits, tuna, and mattresses, which are most needed by the affected population. -------------- Pisco District -------------- LIMA 00002951 002 OF 006 ¶4. (SBU) During a meeting with Ambassador McKinley, the mayor of Pisco, Juan Mendoza Uribe, noteOGKFQZ}Q/7xuComment: INDECI and Pisco's mayor have had confrontations during the past few days. The confrontations stem from INDECI's request that the mayor provide information about needed relief items and distribution targets prior to INDECI dispatches. The issue of how many tents are still needed Zontinues to be contentious. While tents have been distributed to affected families, not all are of the appropriate quality, and, in some cases, two and three families are living in one tent. IOM plans to distribute 12,000 tents, of which 6,000 are scheduled to arrive during th%oD52_QQuZL{W,.e Charity of St. Vincent of Pau are registering people sleeping in the open in Pisco District and providing them with tents and blankets. According to the mayor, fuel for heavy machinery currently used for debris removal is running out and the district might lose some vehicles for cleanup operations as private companies begin to scale down their response to the emergency. Mayor Mendoza Uribe expressed gratitude for the international assistance that has arrived to date in Peru. ¶6. (SBU) The Ambassador also met with representatives of a group of Peruvian, Brazilian, and American private companies - including Peru LNG, Odebrecht, Chicago Bridge and Iron Company - that are providing heavy machinery and personnel to remove rubble in Pisco District. In coordination with district authorities and the Bank of Materials (Banmat),a national institur_~&LQ\QiQQQ^Qn#7QQf6J5Y