The ground shook
On the evening of Saturday, April 16th the ground shook below the ecuadorian coast. An earthquake had struck, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale. So far, there are over 525 casualties and this number is expected to rise. Over 2600 people are injured, 150,000 affected of which 6000 are pregnant women. Entire towns destroyed and countless people have been left homeless.
We recieved a phone call on Sunday morning, Dr. Robert Fuller was on the line. “I just read on the news about the earthquake. How bad is it?” he asked. At the moment we still did not know much about the impact, but “things are looking very very bad” we told him. Dr. Fuller inmediately started making arrangements to get into the first airplane he could to get to Ecuador.
An organization of over 256 people was quickly formed to help with the preparations of Dr. Fuller´s arrival. Dr. Robert Fuller is chief of service in the UConn Health Center Emergency Department, he has been named one of the Connecticut Hospital Association’s 2010 “Healthcare Heroes.” Fuller was one of 10 Connecticut health care professionals recognized for their work both in their field and in the community at large. He was among the first physicians to arrive in Port-au-Prince on a mission with the International Medical Corps following the earthquake that devastated Haiti in January 2010. He is one of two physicians to be presented with Healthcare Hero Awards at the CHA’s annual meeting. Basically, he is a modern day superhero.
48 hours later Dr. Fuller landed in Guayaquil. During this time, the team had worked very hard to help with everything he needed to work on an emergency of this nature, which is his specialty. By the time he arrived to Teatro Sánchez Aguilar (the local theatre were we had stablished our headquarters) we had the following:
- Flyers and a webpage with the items required by Doctor Fuller and our information.
- National and International donations accounts.
- Transportation and security to the locations that needed our help.
- Accomodations in Manta for the team to sleep.
- Over $11000 worth of donated medicine, food and items needed by the victims.
Part of the team left Guayaquil wednesday morning. They headed to Manta, a city badly hit by the earthquake. They are there right now and they need all the help they can get. Please help our cause and donate to this campaign, no matter how big or small your donation is, every dollar counts and will make a difference in someone’s life. All the proceeds will go towards attending the most urgent needs and rebuilding the lives of those affected. Know that by donating to our cause, or simply to sharing this site so someone else can donate, you will save someone’s life. We don’t have the words to express how grateful we are.
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