Second and third earthquakes prompt further appeal for El Salvador

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Following January’s earthquake in El Salvador (See World Report 358), the country suffered a second quake on February 13 and a third four days later.

Estimates at the time put the death toll from the second quake at 274, with some 2,400 people injured and 2,200 homes destroyed. Bible House in San Salvador suffered further damage to that already caused by aftershocks. The third earthquake sent people running into the streets of the capital in panic.

Pablo González, General Secretary of the Bible Society of El Salvador, asked for prayers “that God will make us feel joy in the midst of the tragedy.” Society staff were among those taking food and Scriptures to communities north of the capital which were devastated by the second earthquake.

In an emergency appeal for El Salvador issued on February 26, the Rev Fergus Macdonald, UBS General Secretary, said that following the first two quakes the Fellowship had provided US$30,000 from the Rapid Response Reserve but less than half that amount had been received to replenish the fund. He said the Bible Society wanted to “saturate El Salvador with 1.5 million Scripture Selections aimed at bringing God’s peace, encouragement and hope to her people.”