DISASTER RELIEF
Landslides Plague El Salvador
By Sarah Pate
Operation Blessing International
SAN VICENTE, El Salvador - Today, Erlinda is grateful to be alive.
The 66-year-old grandmother was inside her home when she heard the sound of crashing rocks. Within minutes, a landslide had buried her back patio beneath 6 feet of mud and debris.
“God has saved me three times,” she said, “From the war, the earthquake in 2001 and now, these landslides.”
Heavy rains over the last few days have triggered widespread flooding and mudslides throughout El Salvador, burying communities and killing at least 130 people.
When Operation Blessing disaster relief teams arrived to San Vicente, they found Erlinda and her family using shovels to dig mud from their home.
 According to the mayor of San Vicente, about 5,000 people living in the region have been displaced from their homes and relocated to emergency shelters.
To help supplement relief donations arriving into the devastated area, Operation Blessing teams distributed 5-gallon buckets of dried fruit to families and are coordinating a medical campaign at two relief shelters.
Earlier this week, as part of ongoing partnership with Operation Blessing to bring healthcare to underserved communities, doctors from the Rochester-based Mayo Clinic arrived to El Salvador to conduct medical training and provide free care to patients in hospitals, city clinics, and residents in rural communities.
The Mayo medical team is now changing gears, however, to spend the next few days bringing emergency medical care to hundreds of disaster victims.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help by making an online donation toward OBI's disaster relief efforts. With your support, we can continue to provide emergency relief and recovery. Please make an on-line donation today.
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