Boston-area Colombians mobilize to support earthquake relief efforts
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Rescue workers next to the fallen Vanessa building in Cali, Colombia, on Aug. 18. Photo: Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP via Getty Images
Boston-area Colombians are raising funds and collecting supplies to support relief efforts after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake rocked the Latin American nation.
The big picture: Massachusetts is home to an estimated 42,000 residents, the nation’s sixth-largest Colombian population.
- East Boston is unofficially considered New England’s “Little Colombia.”
Catch up quick: The Aug. 10 earthquake that hit western Colombia has killed over 300 people and destroyed 29,000 homes.
- The epicenter was the Chocó region, one of the poorest in the nation, while cities like Cali and Pereira were also hit.
- The disaster comes weeks after Venezuela was hit with a pair of deadly earthquakes, rattling Boston-area residents of Venezuelan descent.
State of play: The Global Empowerment Mission Latin America, based in Florida, partnered with a group of New Englanders of Colombian descent to host earthquake donation drives.
- The next one is 10am-7pm Saturday on the Boston Common near the baseball field.
- GEM is collecting tents and other shelter-related items, personal hygiene products and baby supplies. (The drive won't accept water, food or clothes.)
- The coalition plans to collect donations until mid-September, says Mariana Salazar, a New Hampshire resident working with GEM.
What they're saying: "The world recently just saw that in the waves of yellow that would crowd the streets of any city that the Colombia soccer team played in," says Amanda Elyssa Ruiz, a postdoctoral fellow at MIT working with Salazar and GEM.
- "I think similarly we come together in times of need, not just celebration."
Meanwhile, The New England Association for Colombian Children (NEACOL) is fundraising for emergency shelter, clean water, food packages and other supplies to help children and their families in western Colombia.
- NEACOL, with support from The Boston Foundation’s Latino Equity Fund, has committed up to $20,000 in matching funds.
- So far, the nonprofit has raised $23,862 of its $25,000 goal.
Un Papayera en Boston, a traditional Colombian brass band that performs across the city, announced a benefits concert on Aug. 27 at La Fabrica Central in Cambridge.
- The proceeds from the tickets, which cost $25, will go to NEACOL.
- "It will be a night of Colombian music, community and solidarity, an opportunity to find each other, celebrate our roots and, above all, help our country from Boston," the event website states.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include comments from Amanda Elyssa Ruiz.