Flood Relief for eco-project in Machupicchu, Peru

[English traduction below...]

Hola Amigos.

Mi nombre es Erwin y voy a hablarles porque estoy pidiendo apoyo para nuestro proyecto Los Jardines de Mandor, recientemente hemos sufrido un desastre natural que ha puesto en riesgo nuestras vidas y tambien nuestro proyecto, por favor dejame contarles nuestra historia.

Mi madre, Nelly Alagón es una mujer peruana de 59 años que heredó un terreno muy grande cerca de Machupicchu, para muchos ésto puede parecer una bendición o una fortuna, sin embargo desde que mis abuelos llegaron a éste predio todo fue más difícil de lo que nadie puede imaginar. 
A pesar de todas las dificultades, Nelly nunca se rindió e invirtió todos sus esfuerzos en hacer posible su proyecto ecológico: Los Jardines de Mandor. 

Aquí se han reforestado miles de árboles, se han cultivado miles de arbustos y herbáceas que hoy son el hogar de cientos de especies de fauna nativa. Nuestros visitantes pueden disfrutar de los resultados de los esfuerzos de la conservación. Para ellos se ha construido un lindo sendero que atraviesa los jardines botánicos y el bosque nativo. Todo esto fue construido sin el apoyo de ninguna organización o institución, toda la familia hemos hecho posible que esto funcione y genere sus propios recursos económicos para poder pagar y dar alimentación a los trabajadores que nos ayudan.

Lamentablemente, cada año las inundaciones nos amenazan. En 2005 una inundación rápida destruyó grandes porciones de bosque nativo, destruyó puentes, instalaciones de agua, senderos, jardines, cultivos y cubrió de lodo la vivienda donde Nelly y mi abuela Angélica vivían, viéndose obligadas a escapar rápidamente. Mi abuela Angélica sufrió lesiones severas que 3 meses más tarde su cuerpo no pudo soportar. A pesar de lo traumático que esto fue, Nelly siguió adelante, reconstruyó los daños y continuó desarrollando este parque. Son más de 20 años que ella lleva trabajando en ésto, sin descanso.

Los últimos 14 años se estuvo invirtiendo mucho mejorando todo, los servicios, el parque, se mejoró el abastecimiento de agua y hasta construimos una pequeña hidroeléctrica pues la energía eléctrica nos hacía mucha falta. Mi madre nunca olvidó prestar atención al río y cada año hacía obras de limpieza y contención de riberas, el año pasado unimos todos nuestros esfuerzos por reforzar la ribera para evitar desbordes y protegernos de una inundación que ya se veía llegar.

Sorpresivamente en marzo de este año una fuerte inundación de magnitud similar a la de 2005 trajo abajo todo el trabajo que por años estuvimos desarrollando y amenazó con llegar a nuestro hogar. Una vez más el río se llevó puentes, senderos, miradores, se llevó todos los muros de contención, se llevó los acueductos para la energía eléctrica y los de agua potable, nos dejó en la nada. 

Esa noche la vida de nosotros se puso en riesgo y siento mucha tristeza de no haber invertido en prevención antes, pero fue justamente por falta de fondos porque es muy costoso.

No quiero que vuelva a pasar, no quiero que la vida de mi hermano, mi mamá, la gente que nos visita, la gente que nos apoya se ponga en riesgo otra vez.
No quiero que este proyecto y los años que venimos trabajando en él se terminen aquí. Nosotros tenemos mucho más que dar por el planeta, por nuestros vecinos y hermanos campesinos, por la humanidad.

Ahora es temporada seca y sólo por unos meses. Tenemos poco tiempo para actuar. No sabemos que puede pasar la próxima temporada de lluvias.
He conseguido el apoyo de un especialista que hará una evaluación de los riesgos y con él escribiremos las estrategias para mitigar los riesgos de inundaciones. Para hacer esta evaluación él necesita tener acceso a toda la ribera del río, para identificar los bloqueos y programar la limpieza de los puntos de riesgo críticos. Además necesita un software de mapeo 3D cuya licencia también es muy costosa.

Una vez identificados los puntos de riesgo se procederá a limpiar y desbloquear el río. El camino a lo largo del río hará posible a los trabajadores llegar a estos puntos con facilidad. Estas obras de prevención se harán inmediatamente y después cada año cuando las condiciones climáticas permitan la seguridad del trabajo. 

Aunque haga falta reconstruir nuevamente los jardines y senderos que quedaron destruidos, quiero enfocar todos estos fondos en prevenir que esto ocurra de nuevo.

Gracias a nuestro ingenio y la rápida acción encabezada por mi hermano y mi madre se ha conseguido rehabilitar, aunque de manera provisional, el abastecimiento de agua, suministro de energía eléctrica y el sendero por los jardines. Ésto nos permite volver a abrir al público y seguir dándole empleo a nuestro personal que confía en nuestra capacidad para poder pagarles aunque la situación sea difícil.

En verdad hay muchas cosas que hacer, todo tipo de apoyo será bien recibido. Por favor no duden en contactarse conmigo para saber más, si crees que puedes ayudarnos de alguna manera por favor no dudes en hacerlo.
 
Erwin, Los Jardines de Mandor


============ english translation========

Hello friends.

My name is Erwin and I am going to talk to you why I am asking for support for our project Los Jardines de Mandor. Recently we have suffered a flashflood that has threatened our lives and our project. Please let me tell you our history.

My mother, Nelly Alagón is a Peruvian woman of 59 years who inherited a very large land near Machupicchu, for many this may seem a blessing or a fortune, however since my grandparents came to this property everything was more difficult than nobody can imagine.
In spite of all the difficulties, Nelly never gave up and invested all her efforts in making possible her ecological project: The Gardens of Mandor.

Thousands of trees have been reforested here, thousands of shrubs and herbaceous plants have been cultivated that today are home to hundreds of species of native fauna. Our visitors can enjoy the results of conservation efforts. For them a nice path has been built that crosses the botanical gardens and the native forest. All this was built without the support of any organization or institution, the whole family have made it possible for this to work and generate their own economic resources to be able to pay and feed the workers who help us.

Unfortunately, every year the floods threaten us. In 2005 a flash-flood destroyed large portions of native forest, destroyed bridges, water facilities, trails, gardens, crops and mud covered the house where Nelly and my grandmother Angélica lived, being forced to escape quickly. My grandmother Angelica suffered severe injuries that 3 months later her body could not stand. Despite how traumatic this was, Nelly went ahead, rebuilt the damage and continued to develop this park. It is more than 20 years that she has been working on this, without rest.

The last 14 years we have been investing a lot improving everything, the services, the park, the water supply was improved and we even built a micro hydroelectric power plant because the electric power was much needed. My mother never forgot to pay attention to the river and every year she excecuted cleaning works of river banks, last year we joined all our efforts to strengthen the river bank to avoid overflows and protect us from a flood that was already being seen.

Surprisingly, in March of this year, a flood of magnitude similar to that of 2005 brought down all the work that we were developing for years and threatened to reach our home. Once again the river took bridges, paths, viewpoints, took all the retaining walls, took the aqueducts for electricity and drinking water, left us in the nothingness.

That night our lives were put at risk and I feel very sad that I did not invest in prevention before, but it was precisely because of lack of funds because it is very expensive.

I do not want it to happen again, I do not want the life of my brother, my mother, the people who visit us, the people who support us to put themselves at risk again.
I do not want this project and the years we have been working on it to end here. We have much more to give for the planet, for our neighbors and peasant brothers, for humanity.

Now it is dry season and only for a few months. We have little time to act. We do not know what can happen next rainy season.
I have obtained the support of a specialist who will make an assessment of the risks and with it we will write the strategies to mitigate the risks of floods. To make this assessment he needs to have access to the entire river bank, to identify the blockages and schedule the cleaning of the critical risk points. In addition we need a licence for 3D mapping software which is also very expensive.

Once the risk points have been identified, the river will be cleaned and unblocked. The road along the river will make it possible for workers to reach these points with ease. These prevention works will be done immediately and later every year when the climatic conditions allow the safety of the work.

Although it is necessary to rebuild the gardens and trails that were destroyed, I want to focus all these funds on preventing this from happening again.
Thanks to our ingenuity and the rapid action led by my brother and my mother, it has been possible to rehabilitate, albeit provisionally, the water supply, electricity supply and the path through the gardens. This allows us to reopen to the public and continue giving employment to our staff who trust in our ability to pay them even if the situation is difficult.

There are many things to do, all kinds of support will be well appreciated. Please do not hesitate to contact me to know more, if you think you can help us in any way please do not hesitate to do so.

Thank you.

Erwin, Los Jardines de Mandor


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Narration of The Facts

The night of the 23rd of March a flash-flood affected our property. Fortunately the flood did not reach our house, therefore ourselves and our workers remained safe.

However as a consequence of the disaster our water source and electricity lines were destroyed. Without these utilities, we were in the obligation to close the Restaurant and B&B and cancel our future reservations. The lack of work left our members of staff with no other choice than to quit their jobs.

The damages caused by the floods are severe. They swept away the bridges, paths, viewpoints, terraces, river retaining walls, extensive green areas of reforested and native rainforest and ornamental plants. Sadly we also had to close the botanical gardens.

Our family is going through a very difficult time and needs your support.  The flood has caused a loss of more than 100,000 USD to the property. My mother has just realised that she is incapable of repaying her loan without any income. Currently left without, even minimal support from government or municipal sources, she is unable to fix even the essentials to re-open the botanical gardens, our main source of income. Moreover the tourist season is coming up very soon and if funding is not secured she will lose her chance to bounce back from the disaster.

After investing 20 years of her life for this project, without stopping, never taking a single vacation, she is desperate and very saddened by this situation.

All together we can help her and my family, little by little as she did at the start, every donation is important for us even the smallest, and we all together will make her dream to rebuild from the disaster come true.

Funds raised through this campaign will cover basic reparations for us to re-open the botanical garden, we will keep looking for funds after this first campaign to fully recover from the disaster.

For more details about the losses and information about how the donations are going to be used please feel free to contact me, Erwin through what'sapp +51 940188155.

Thanks folks, please spread the word, I am hopeful that with your help we won't let this project end yet.

Erwin, Los Jardines de Mandor

This viewpoint built +4 m above the level of the river was damaged, it is now rendered useless. 

Train tracks and walk from Hidroelectrica to Machupicchu, just 100m away from our house. Picture to realize the magnitude of the disaster.

My brother Franco, working for immediate reconstruction of water pipes for electricity and water supply, these reparations are provisional.