The Villages Daily Sun

THE VILLAGES — Members of the Chapel of Christian Faith were relieved to hear that Eric VanPelt was safe.

“The parents have contacted us and they are doing all right,” said Margaret Rostron, chairwoman of the missionary committee.

VanPelt was added in early March to the list of missionaries supported by the church, but members became concerned after a massive earthquake shook parts of Peru. He’s been in Arequipa since 2000, working at a camp to help people in San Luis.

“It’s a very large city, but the earthquake sent the force southeast, not in his area,” said Joanne VanPelt, Eric’s mother.

At least 337 people have died as the result of the violent earthquake Wednesday. The quake that reached 7.9 on the Richter scale reportedly injured more than 827 people.

When Ricardo Soriano of Ocala learned an earthquake hit his hometown of Lima, Peru, he panicked.

“I was so worried about my father, who is 91, and my mother, who is 86,” said Soriano. “They usually go outside to drink coffee.”

Soriano, who owns the Cozco Handcrafts store in The Villages, was relieved to learn that his family is fine. A moment of fright seized him, however, when he called home at midnight Thursday and the phones were down.

But Soriano said the damage was worse in the southern Peruvian locales of Lima, Ica and Pisco, which are older cities with older buildings.

“Downtown, the houses are made of adobe with very wide walls or quinch, which is almost like bamboo,” he said. “Those materials collapse easier.”

Soriano’s family members related the “wave-like” conditions of the roads and the dangerous waves coming from the ocean.

“My mother told me in Ica there was a church full of people that had collapsed during the earthquake,” he said. “It’s scary to think about.”

Soriano moved to Florida from Peru in 1999 to open a store in Melbourne.

Azia Li Forrest is a reporter with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9069, or azia.forrest@thevillagesmedia.com.