BICA Guatemala

Roberto Alvarez: Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (BNc) — Fifty-one houses of saints were damaged in the Nov. 7 earthquake, and approximately 400 in the church are in need right now, Roberto Alvarez said in the latest newsletter of the Biblical Institute of Central America.

Roberto is an evangelist working from Guatemala City with the BICA ministry.

No one from the church died in the quake, he said, which hit six states, left 52 dead, damaged nearly four thousand houses, and affected 1.2 million.

About 550 Christians live in the affected states, Roberto said.

The 7.4-magnitude quake was felt as far away as Mexico City.

Two Guatemalan churches have sent some aid to the affected areas, Roberto said.

Below is Roberto’s text reproduced from the November BICA newsletter.

Like you know, the last Wednesday, November 7th, the southwest area of the country of Guatemala suffered an earthquake. The states damaged through the earthquake are: Quiche, San Marcos, Chichicastenango, Suchitepequez, Quetzaltenango, and Retalhuleu. It was at 10:37 am. The number of dead people is 52. Thank God, no one of the members of the church died in this earthquake. Right now this part of the country of Guatemala was declared by the government like “land of catastrophe”. It means that the roads are damaged, the food is very low, the houses are risky for living there, and the risk of another earthquake exists. The main physical damage for the population is the destruction of their humble and small houses of adobe. In total, the number of damaged houses are: 3,770 and the number of people affected in the earthquake are 1.2 million. From the side of the Churches of Christ, we have churches in every affected state. The number of members in total are approximately 550. I was having contact with the Elders and leaders of every affected state.

If we can help these brethren (Matthew 25), they need food, clothes, water, materials for rebuilding their houses, like cement, wood, zinc pieces for roof, etc. The church in Pinares and the Downtown were joined the first $680 for sending all that we can to the brethren in that part of the country. Please, please, if you can start a movement for joint financial help for these families and children, it will be a great blessing for them! May the Lord bless your love and generosity!

For more information see the BICA website.

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