For most people, 15 seconds of an earthquake is long enough to create a life-long memory. But just as darkness fell on the evening of August 15, the earth heaved and trembled for more than two minutes along the central Peruvian coast, shocking the nine million residents of Lima but leaving catastrophic damage in cities 100 miles south.

News reports said the quake measured a massive 8.0 on the Richter scale. For those at the U.S. Embassy in Lima, it was as close to the "big one" as anyone wanted to get. By sunup on August 16, Embassy Lima was already preparing a team to go to the stricken area to check on the status of American citizens and assess assistance requirements.

Ambassador Michael McKinley, in country only a week and not yet fully credentialed, quickly obtained authorization to tap $100,000 in disaster relief funds and asked a team of embassy officers from the consular and public affairs section, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Military Assistance Advisory Group, the regional security office and the U.S. Navy Medical Research Laboratory in Lima to fly to the Peruvian city of Pisco to check on Americans, carry out a disaster assessment and make recommendations.

Wide Response

Working through well-defined USAID/Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance channels, in the following 30 days more than 50 personnel from the Department of State, USAID/Peru, USAID/OFDA, and the MAAG worked in the affected areas, conducting assessments, coordinating with the Peruvian government and aid organizations, providing emergency medical treatment, delivering relief supplies and assisting Americans.

By August 29, Ambassador McKinley had presented his credentials and could visit the Pisco region. Peru and the international community had responded overwhelmingly to the immediate disaster, moving more than 700 tons of relief supplies by air and thousands of tons more by sea and land. Although the area is recovering quickly from the initial shock, the daunting challenge of rebuilding will require years of coordinated effort. More than 60,000 households were destroyed, more than 500 people were killed and more than 4,000 were injured. More than 200,000 people and hundreds of businesses had their lives and operations disrupted.

Because the coastal highway leading to the area was badly damaged, the Embassy team used a U.S. government aircraft to fly to a Peruvian air force base outside Pisco. Although the base was badly damaged by the quake and subsequent "mini tsunami" and without electricity or water, the runway was still operational. Buildings at the base quickly became the hub for coordinating all relief activity.

The embassy team arrived the day after the earthquake and found the region without electricity or water and its streets filled with rubble. Peruvian President Alan Garcia and more than half of the Peruvian Cabinet were at the air base and already organizing disaster relief.

The embassy team joined this effort, working with Peruvian officials and representatives from major local and international non-governmental organizations to get shelter, blankets and medical help to the victims.

Needs Assessed

USAID Mission Disaster Relief Officer Jessica Jordan, who had previous experience in disaster relief, and Assistant Mission Disaster Relief Officer Steve Olive worked with Peruvian and international NGOs to gauge the immediate and medium-term relief needs and coordinate USAID's response. U.S. Navy Cmdr. John Sanders, of the Naval laboratory in Lima, served as the embassy's on-scene public health specialist and adviser on health needs. By August 18, a USAID/OFDA assessment team led by Phil Gelman, USAID/OFDA's team leader for its Peruvian disaster response, was on the ground, providing expert advice to the embassy and Washington on assistance requirements.

By chance, a group of U.S. military doctors and medical students had been traveling near Pisco and had experienced the devastating quake firsthand. Luckily, none of the group was injured, and the whole group went immediately to downtown Pisco on the morning of August 16 to provide invaluable first-responder care and eyewitness information to the embassy on the damage and medical needs. The embassy's consular team had some of the most challenging jobs, running down sketchy information on almost 300 Americans reportedly in the area. After several days of checking with makeshift medical clinics and morgue staff, consular staff investigated all 300 cases and confirmed that no American had been killed, but several had to be helped to leave the area.

In the month after the quake, the United States provided $3.15 million in humanitarian assistance. USAID/OFDA provided $1.5 million through USAID/Peru to implementing partners, including the Peruvian Red Cross, CARE International, Caritas and World Vision, to support relief efforts. In addition to financial assistance, USAID/OFDA delivered emergency relief commodities via three airlifts to Peru, including four 10,000-liter water bladders, 7,800 10-liter water containers, 500 body bags, 1,100 rolls of plastic sheeting and 15,000 blankets. USAID/OFDA also provided an office support module for the U.N. Disaster Assessment and Coordination team.

Military Help

The U.S. military stepped in immediately after the disaster with medical help, flying in the Southern Command's Field Surgical Team from Honduras and later diverting a previously scheduled 14- member MEDRETE to work in the Pisco area. In the first week after the quake, U.S. military medical teams treated more than 1,500 Peruvians, while the Naval lab in Lima provided a crucially important field medical laboratory to monitor possible outbreaks of the infectious diseases that often follow such disasters. In all, the U.S. Air Force made eight C-130 Hercules flights to the area in four days, delivering the medical teams and their equipment and more than 80 tons of relief supplies.

The U.S. private and non-governmental sectors also provided immediate and important assistance. A nearby U.S.-led consortium for a natural gas shipping terminal project immediately sent earthmoving equipment to Pisco to clear rubble, repair bridges and build bypasses and detours to enable road traffic to restart. U.S. NGOs arrived quickly on the scene to provide shelters and supplies. All told, more than 30 U.S. firms contributed immediate help in Pisco. The August 15 quake challenged the entire embassy team and showed once again that every element of a mission overseas has something valuable to offer in an emergency.

Everyone living in Peru knows there will be more earthquakes, and the next one could be in the capital. The Peruvian government, the embassy and the business community are all taking the Pisco quake as a "dress rehearsal" for what could be even bigger future challenges. This time, the embassy was lucky, but the experience provided an all-too-real disaster test for the mission community. The embassy and U.S. government responded quickly and with much needed-and much appreciated-aid but also gained valuable experience on preparing for an event that could be even worse.