earthquake update

in the last 10 and a half months i´ve been in costa rica (ah!), there´s been a number of floods and natural disasters hitting several towns here. they have all been nightmares for the people in those towns, but nothing on a huge scale. until a week and a half ago... on january 8th, around 1:30pm, a 6.2 degree earthquake hit here. the epicenter was not too close to me, gracias a dios, but it hit a number of small rural towns near volcan poas. towns called cinchona and san miguel de sarapique, for example, have been literally whiped off the map. it´s been a huge disaster here, killing a lot of people and displacing more than a thousand others. the towns were completely destroyed, highways ripped apart - picture new orleans style on a smaller scale, obviously. it´s been a big problem getting a lot of the bodies out since, every day, replication quakes are hitting. the point is, there are still rescue crews from here and colombia looking for bodies and trying to get people out of buses and cars, houses and restaurantes, and so on. but it looks like there are going to be a lot of bodies that will never get rescued since it´s so dangerous for the rescue teams to get into these little towns.
each day, the news here shows interviews of survivors - how they got our of the quake alive and what happened to their families, friends, homes, etc. almost everyone who got out is missing family members or friends who weren´t as lucky. these survivors are living in tents, eating out of meal lines, and wearing on their backs their only posessions.
it´s been hard for everyone here to hear about these stories each day. we feel lucky that we´re all ok and our town, families and friends are not hurt, mostly, but its a helpless feeling. as many of us felt with new orleans, and i imagine many are feeling in israel, its hard to be so close to the destruction and not do anything. but its just not safe to go to these displacement camps yet. the quakes are still hitting each day.
the women´s group that i´ve been working with in my town and i agreed to atleast do a collection drive in my town. the many committees and organizations in my town are great but often get carried away with their own projects and forget to think. so i was able to get the women to agree to do the collection since no one else in my town was doing one. we went literally door to door on thursday and friday, put collection boxes in the local store, and so on. today i was able to deposit close to 400 dollars in the fund for the earthquake victims and on monday, we will be dropping off dozens and dozens of bags of clothing, food, and household items to the red cross. even though my town is relatively poor, it was nice to know that everyone was willing and ready to help, even if it was just with a dollar or a can of tuna.

otherwise, im happy and healthy here. things are going well job-wise, too. hope everyone at home is doing well!