Ministry's Hospital, Personnel Responding to Many Victims
Contact: Darin Campbell,
512-785-8350
QUITO, Ecuador, April 20, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- Reach Beyond, a Colorado-based media and medical outreach ministry with broadcasting facilities and a hospital in Ecuador, will dispatch crews to help care for some of the 2,500 people hurt during last weekend's devastating quake. More than 410 people are confirmed dead, but this total is expected to rise in the coming days.
Photo: Buildings and roads in Pedernales, Ecuador, were destroyed by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake this weekend. Photo supplied by La Hora
The initial crew, comprising four Quito-based physicians, is expected to arrive today at a local healthcare facility, Hospital Juan Carlos Guasti in the coastal city of Atacames. "The hospital is receiving a lot of trauma patients," said Reach Beyond missionary Hermann Schirmacher, a veteran of disaster response trips to Ecuador in 2008 and Haiti in 2010.
"We are organizing relief missions as quickly as we can," said Steve Johnson, communications director of Reach Beyond in Colorado Springs. "Roads were destroyed and communications equipment has been badly damaged in many areas, making it difficult to find out where help is most needed."
Dr. Jack Peña, an orthopedic surgeon, is accompanying the team that also includes emergency physician Dr. Hugo Espejo and family physicians Drs. Steve Nelson and Joe Martin. After attending to trauma patients at Atacames, the team plans to move to Ecuadorian communities farther down the coast toward the quake's epicenter, including hard-hit Muisne. Future teams will also travel to Manta and Esmeraldas.
Reach Beyond's 76-bed Hospital Vozandes-Quito in the capital city was undamaged by the quake and is also receiving patients being airlifted by the Ecuadorian government from coastal towns and cities.
Reach Beyond's ministry workers throughout the country confirmed that they are safe, though they are concerned for the quake victims. "We are praying that the ground will stop trembling and that people who survived can receive help that they need," said one worker. Quichua radio programmer Franklin Ruchi learned today that five members of his wife's family perished in hard-hit Pedernales.
Meanwhile, the ministry's local radio stations and repeaters in Ecuador—seven in all, including three in the quake zone—are broadcasting a message of hope to the traumatized population.
"Our repeater in Portoviejo, which is a place that suffered a lot of damage, is on the air and we have a listener who has confirmed that," said engineer Geoff Kooistra. "We have linked to all government notifications and have done our own special live programming a few times, giving news updates and praying for the situation and offering messages of hope from the Bible. We've also interacted with our listeners through Facebook, Twitter and SMS."
Donations to help recovery efforts can be made at reachbeyond.org/ecuadorrelief?c=DM-EMR4. Reach Beyond (www.reachbeyond.org) of Colorado Springs, Colo., uses media and medical technology to minister in difficult-to-reach places and with people groups around the world.
To schedule an interview with key leaders, contact Darin Campbell @ (512) 785-8350 or dcampbell@inchristcommunications.com.
