One of the last times Guatemala’s Volcán de Fuego erupted, the Quinac family took to their home’s straw roof with shovels by their side. As ash from the volcano began to fall, they pushed it away before it sparked a fire.
After they secured their home, they checked on their field. It was already covered with ash.
“Everything looked gray, and two or three days later, everything was burned,” said Sebastian Quinac, a Guatemala native living in Tucson.
And that event was small compared to the latest eruption, he said.
More than 100 people have died and nearly 200 remain missing since June 3. Nearly 13,000 residents who live on the slopes of the volcano have been evacuated so far. About 5,000 of them are being housed in temporary shelters.
As the recovery operation continues amid ongoing volcanic activity, UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, cites concerns for the more than 1.7 million people now estimated to be affected by what it calls a “humanitarian tragedy.”
To help them, two Tucson groups are organizing efforts to raise funds and meet different needs.
Ixim Ulew, a small group of Guatemala natives that formed in 2005 after Hurricane Stan, met recently to plan a fundraising breakfast, talk about setting up booths at local events and making themselves available to speak at churches or schools about their group and the region affected by the volcano.
Proceeds raised will benefit a Guatemalan organization from the volcano region, called APRODE, formed by deportees whose objective is to improve living conditions so people don’t have a need to migrate. The group is already helping 30 families affected by the eruption, members of the local Guatemalan group said, saying they hope the additional funds can expand efforts.
Ixim Ulew members have no doubt that more people will migrate because of the damage caused by the eruptions. But if through their aid they can help people stay home, that’s important, they said.
There are about 15,000 Guatemalans living in Arizona, between 500 and 600 of them in Tucson. Most are longtime residents, having migrated 20 to 40 years ago.
“I talk with my sisters and nieces and nephews every day and they are devastated,” said Guillermina Xajab, a Tucson resident who grew up in the volcano region. “They had just planted their crops and that’s what they live off. The corn was just starting to grow, and it is now all yellow, it’s dying,” she said.
For many families, the damage to crops means they might not have enough food, since most are subsistence farmers.
The tragedy of the volcano keeps repeating itself, Quinac said. That’s why the group talks about creating a short- and a long-term plan.
“Right now many are receiving food, medicine, but what’s going to happen in the long term?” he asked.
To meet the more immediate needs for such things as filtered water, baby formula and food, members of the Guatemala Acupuncture and Medical Aid Project, a nonprofit based in Tucson, are raising funds through the end of June. They are short about $2,000 of their $5,000 goal.
The money raised will go to Grupo Asociación de Servicios Comunitarios en America Central, a health-promoter training association that works in rural communities.
“It is often the only link to medical care in rural areas,” said Laurie Melrood, board member of the acupuncture group.
The Tucson-based organization is a registered 501c(3) and has been working in several areas of Guatemala since 1994, Melrood said.
One of the biggest needs is trauma support, she said, especially for children.
“Families have been lost in dramatically catastrophic ways,” she said.
“They are in shock, whole communities have been literally destroyed, covered with ash.”
Carlos de Leon, the Guatemalan consul in Tucson, said his office is working with local groups such as Ixim Ulew, whose full name is Guatemalan Committee Land of Corn, in the indigenous language Kaqchikel.
“We can help them coordinate the type of aid they want to offer and for them to decide where they want to send it,” he said. “What matters is that in the end, the help will reach the families who need it.”
