Ecuador: Alausí in need of aid and hope after landslide

In the mountain town of Alausí, in Ecuador, the Oblate Sisters of Saint Francis de Sales run a school, though everything has changed since a landslide on 26 March, with Austrian Sr. Klara-Maria Falzberger regularly visiting the town to bring essential goods and hope.

At 4:30 in the morning, Sr. Klara-Maria Falzberger departs from Quito, where she has been living since 1997. Her pickup truck is loaded with groceries, blankets and many other necessities for people affected by the landslide.

The 400-kilometer journey to Alausí, takes eight hours. Up until a few weeks ago, it would have taken her only five hours, but a severe landslide took place on 26 March in Alausí, where the Oblate Sisters of Saint Francis de Sales (the Order to which Sr. Klara-Maria belongs) run a school.

“It was Sunday night, around 9:10 p.m. when one of our teachers from the school in Quito, whose parents live in Alausí, called me in desperation. ‘The mountain has collapsed, and I don’t know what has happened to my family’. I immediately tried to contact my fellow sisters, who said, ‘We don’t know what happened: there was an earthquake, the power went out, and now the people are on the streets, shouting. Everyone is crying and screaming. We can’t see anything; there’s a cloud of dust — we hope nothing has happened to the others! We’re okay...’”.

Leaving was never an option

During her visits, Sr. Klara-Maria tries to distribute goods directly to the people who remained in Alausí. Whatever is “leftover”, is kept at the school. Sr. Klara-Maria and her fellow Sisters are currently no longer making their regular weekly visits from Quito to the mountain village, but they try to maintain a certain regularity in their visits.

Immediately after the landslide, five sisters stayed on in Alausí to take care of the people. At first, it was not possible to live in the school, so they moved to the city of Sibambe, about 30 kilometers away.

Permanently closing the school was never an option, Sr. Klara-Maria says. “What people need is for our sisters to stay with them. We could say that the situation is very dangerous, and that we have to leave because of this: but this is not a possibility. People ask us not to close the school: ‘We cannot even imagine the school not being there! We need you!’ If we were to leave, it would be like betraying all these people...”.

Despair and tears risk turning into indifference

Meanwhile, in Alausí, daily life has somewhat resumed. Many families still do not have a home because theirs is buried under the landslide, explains Sr. Klara-Maria.

“Unfortunately, they are still waiting for the government to sooner or later assign them a new plot of land somewhere. At the end of June, the Ecuadorian government also suspended emergency aid supplies to the victims. Because of this, the local population is starting to rebuild the village themselves as much as possible, as they wait for government assistance to connect Alausí with the surrounding mountain villages. For instance, by removing the collapsed earth to create new roads.”

The Sisters are in Alausí so that people can have someone to talk to or someone to listen to them. Sr. Klara-Maria noticed that families do not talk about what has happened. After the first moment of despair and tears, “an almost inhuman indifference” has set in.

“There is a tendency to minimize: Well, after all, it’s not serious, it could have been worse: we are still alive, and that’s fine’. But if someone ‘from the outside’ arrives and asks questions, then with that person, one can ‘unload’ everything that was kept inside to avoid hurting others”.

At first, the Oblates’ chief focus was to restore daily life rhythms in Alausí. Classes could only be held virtually, but they were used to this from the time of the pandemic. After the landslide, the sisters contacted all the students to ask about their situation: health, home and if they had lost any loved ones.

“No one is without someone they mourn!”

“Nearly everyone is mourning someone. Not always a family member, but perhaps a neighbour a friend, memories… […] Children are in need of some form of distraction, they need someone to talk to; they need to feel that life continues. ‘Even if there were seven or eight deaths in my family, despite the pain, I have to continue with my life’ ... It is not just an intellectual help, it is a completely human support”.

At the end of June 2023, three months after the landslide, rescue efforts came to a halt. Rescuers had found 65 bodies, but Sr. Klara-Maria knows that at least an additional 10 people will remain forever buried under the landslide because Nuevo-Alausí is still buried under 40 meters of dirt.

The possibility of a landslide was predictable as landslides are common in this area. But there had never before been such a massive one. This is why many people thought they would have noticed when the earth began to move, and that they would have had time to escape.

Fear that Alausí will become a ghost town

Immediately after the landslide, many left because their houses had collapsed or simply because they were afraid the mountain might continue to slide. However, in recent months and weeks, many have returned. In the long run, the cost of subletting in nearby villages was too high, and the distance to school or work was too great.

However, after the initial scare following the landslide, Sr. Klara-Maria and her sisters found new hope in the village. On 26 April, one month after the landslide, the flag of Alausí was raised once again on the “Puente Negro”.

“I am with you. Do not be discouraged. The Lord protects you”.

Even though they did not now the kids or the Sisters from Alausí, many students from Quito have sent aid — not just essential goods. Elementary school children from one of the schools have sent letters to the students in Alausí

I myself brought back a sack full of letters from children, teachers, for the Sisters to deliver. Some of the messages read: “I am with you. Do not be discouraged. God protects you’. They are small, tiny thoughts that bring back hope...”

Similar messages were also written on the cans that the Oblate Sisters of Quito brought to Alausí. Immediately after the landslide, the Oblate Sisters of Saint Francis de Sales in Austria also began a fundraising campaign.

But Sr. Klara-Maria knows she can always count on her fellow Sisters, even outside of Ecuador, and their support in times of need.

“I believe that the mutual support we give each other is a light for those who believe they have lost everything. There is great solidarity among the people. It is in these circumstances that one realizes that people help each other.”

Franziska Gömmel
Source: vaticannews.va/en