Chocos - where sustainable support bears fruit
On 15 August 2007, Peru was shaken by a very strong earthquake that reached 7.9 degrees on the Richter Scale. The disaster, which struck 200 km south of the captial Lima, destroyed large areas alongside the coast, leaving many dead, injured and homeless. Disaster relief concentrated on the densely populated coast – leaving the more distant areas in the Andes struggling for help.
Our organisation in Peru quickly joined the immediate relief efforts by providing medical and emergency aid during the critical first phase of disaster response, However, in the ensuing weeks following the earthquake, Roche Peru decided it would find a way to make a longer lasting difference where it could help most. They soon chose to focus their extended efforts on the remote town of Chocos, high in the Andes. There it was clear that along with the spirit and determination of Chocos itself, only sustainable help would enable the village to re-build.
With Chocos, Roche could provide essential assistance to a small mountain village far away from the capital and unlikely to get help from the official bodies. A real collaboration with sustainable impact would produce long-term improvements on the overall village economy, health and infrastructure. This meant the selection of Chocos by our Roche colleagues met all key criteria and the Chocos project began. Focus was on three main areas: reconstructing the village, resolving the water supply problem and improving health and nutrition.
The Chocos initiative is an ideal example of the Roche Disaster Response Model wherein the company responds only to a potential longer-term sustainable reconstruction project based on the recommendation and initiative of the respective affiliate management. The overall goal was to support not only for the short term, but to change and improve the living standards of a village where our help was evident and highly valued.
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