Earthquakes, politics, and NYC

El Temblor: Though we are far north of the quake zone, friends and family sent messages hoping we were okay. This assured us that we have not been forgotten though we are far away. This, too, is a quake zone, but there has not been a large one since 1970. Even that was not too bad by the standards of the August 15th quake in Pisco, Ica, Chincha, etc. The pictures on TV and in the papers have shown some of the damage, but no one thought to photograph from the air. That would give a better idea of the incredible destruction and show what must be miles of flattened buildings. The death toll was not as large as some other quakes in Peru, but over 500 is many too many. It is the living, however, who are suffering from thirst, hunger, record cold, and the unbearable loss of family, friends, homes, and livelihood. It is now 12 days later and though some help has arrived, there is still deprivation. This brings us to

Politics: It seems that President Garcia either has been poorly informed or is so concerned with image before truth and caring that he (to our sensibility) downplayed the tragedy and answered looting (people needing food and blankets?) with troops. Did the troops get there before the aid? Obviously it was necessary to consider that real criminals (misnamed "delinquents" here) would take advantage of disaster, but no one seemed to distinguish between people needing goods and criminals. Why weren't the troops and/or police sent with a double mission of help and protection. Neighbors were shown at barricades forming protective groups wielding sticks and pipes to keep the criminals out of their neighborhoods. Troops & police should have been divided into those who worked with rescuers, those who protected neighborhoods, and those who made sure supplies arriving were safe from hijackers and bandits. Instead, Alan Garcia seemed more concerned with guarding businesses (many of which were destroyed anyway) than guarding civilians and getting aid to them. I can say this today as I just received a called from immigration to say that I now have

Peruvian Citizenship: It's been a rough road to this place, but now the bureaucratic agony is ended and I am a dual citizen; US and Peru. Now I can (no, must) vote in Peru. This is an easy procedure, but voting in the US federal elections is next to impossible. The procedure seems to be constructed to keep external citizens from voting at all. Since our US passports must be renewed in October we will see if the American Embassy can show us a simple way. The next step for me in Peru is to get my DNI, or national identity card, and then a Peruvian passport. Then I can return to Peru easily and use my US passport to go to NYC.