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Last week’s 8.0-magnitude earthquake in Peru
flattened buildings and killed hundreds of citizens, but La Oroya was
mostly spared from disaster, says Sister Mila Díaz Solano. Díaz Solano, who was
featured in a recent article about a deadly lead smelter in La Oroya [see
Amanda Robert, “Sisters to the rescue,” Aug. 2], says that
mountains surrounding the small city saved its people from the
quake’s most violent tremors but adds that their fellow Dominican
sisters in Lima — 90 miles from the disaster’s epicenter
— were not able to escape the shocking experience. “All my sisters and their
families are good, but there are a lot of material damage and panic because
the earth is continuing [to move],” Sister Mila says. The Aug. 15 earthquake killed more than
500 throughout the country, according to Associated Press reports, and
severely damaged coastal cities south of Lima, including Chincha, Ica,
Canete, and Pisco.
Contact Amanda Robert at arobert@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Aug 16-22, 2007.
