Caring for Colombia

kc dyer
6 hours ago
3 min read

Community support after a devastating earthquake

SOS Colombia donation portal, courtesy Colombian Canadian Association of BC.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 struck the western part of Colombia earlier this month, killing at least 321 people, injuring more than 4,600, and leaving many others missing. The earthquake was felt across much of western and central Colombia and caused extensive damage across the nation.

Lions Bay resident Maria Adelaida Escobar Trujillo hails from Colombia, and since the disaster on August 10 has been working to find the best way Canadians can help Colombians struggling in the aftermath.

Escobar Trujillo says she has been in touch with the Colombian Consulate in an effort to gather as much reliable information as possible. She has also been in touch with the Colombian Association in BC in order to support its efforts to find the best way to channel assistance from here.

"One of the most important things they have explained to us is that, for people in BC, financial donations are currently the most effective way to help," Escobar Trujillo says, adding that transporting even essential items as non-perishable food, powdered milk for children and essential medicine to Colombia is extremely difficult and expensive.

"Therefore, the organizations and authorities we have spoken with are encouraging monetary donations rather than collecting physical supplies."

"The scale of the disaster is enormous," she says. "The earthquake has affected a very large part of western Colombia, including some of the country's most vulnerable and remote communities. Tens of thousands of families have been affected, many have lost their homes completely, and homes, hospitals, schools, community centres, roads, water and electricity systems have been damaged."

Dozens of the most remote communities continue to be very difficult to reach, and many isolated and Indigenous people have faced disruptions in basic services and communication systems.

Escobar Trujillo is the author of 'Cartographies of the Woods', a collection that explores her experiences in and around the woods here in Lions Bay and in her homeland of Columbia. The stories are filled with Escobar Trujillo's wildlife encounters with eagles and bears, hawks and coyotes, and she is deeply concerned for the welfare of the many animals that have also been displaced as a result of the earthquake.

She is determined to raise awareness of the extent of the need in Colombia, and to point interested Canadians toward reliable organizations that are working to help.

"The organizations we have identified so far as reliable options include the Banco de Alimentos de Colombia, the Colombian and International Red Cross, and Direct Relief. (Links go directly to donation portals.)

Some members of the Colombian Association in BC have also been working to identify smaller local initiatives where donations can reach specific communities directly. The SOS fundraiser (pictured above) is the result.

"Their idea is to support small, already-established local organizations that have a proven history of working in the affected territories," says Escobar Trujillo. "Rather than concentrating all the donations in one large organization, they want to diversify the aid and make sure that some of it reaches smaller organizations that are already on the ground and know the communities they serve."

She notes that the group has identified 10 organizations, with an initial plan to provide $300 to $500 to each organization.

"In Colombia, $350 is roughly equivalent to half a monthly minimum wage, so even a relatively small donation can make a meaningful difference for these organizations and the families they are supporting."

She notes that their long-term goal is much more ambitious, as they hope to raise $50,000 this year through a number of fundraising events, but for now, the focus is on addressing the most immediate and basic needs.

The extent of the damage across Colombia points to a long period of rebuilding, and Escobar Trujillo has plans to support the association's efforts to fundraise for these ongoing costs. But for the present, she is hoping her neighbours and friends in Lions Bay, and across Canada will reach out a helping hand to those smaller, community-based efforts in Colombia that need support.

She says she is proud to say that small contributions are already being sent to needy communities and hopes Canadians will continue to share their generosity with this stricken region.

"Everything helps."