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Some of the mothers have shared their stories about protecting their children during the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
Over 8,440 families, or a total of 33,752 people, were left homeless as a result of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Ecuador on April 16, causing the collapse of close to 10,000 buildings and homes, while leaving over 15,000 casualties and about US$3 billion in damages.
Some of the victims have been taken in by relatives or volunteers, but the vast majority are in shelters and refuges, where women who suffered hugely due to the devastating quake that flattened thousands of homes, killed hundreds of people and left injured close to 15,000, have found consolation by taking up leadership roles to ensure all runs smoothly.
Some of the families being sheltered in the refuges have brand new additions, like Yohaira Altafuya's family, who welcomed a new daughter to her life the day the earthquake hit.
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Altafuya spoke to El Telegrafo about that fateful day from a refuge in the city of Pedernales, where she is presently residing.
Her daughter was born at 5:45 in the morning, Altafuya was released from the hospital by 9:00 a.m. after a healthy natural birth.
The party that evening to celebrate the newborn's arrival was cut short by the seismic waves that tore the house apart. Six walls fell.
Altafuya said she pounced on top of her newborn, expecting the rest of the walls to come down.
“At that moment, all I could think about was the wall falling on me, but not on my daughter,” she told El Telegrafo.
The wall near Altafuya and her two children stayed up, they survived. Her newborn was appropriately christened Milagros, or Miracles.
She says all she wants now is to spend time with her children and has been so busy that she had not yet taken her newborn to see a doctor yet.
Many buildings from Ecuador's Ministry of Public Health suffered damage in the earthquake, the hospitals in Chone and Bahia were so badly affected that they will have to be completely rebuilt.
But the work of the medical professionals from the ministry continues, who visit directly with patients wherever they now may be.
A doctor with Ministry of Public Health recently visited the refuge where Altafuya is staying, he gave Milagros her first check-up, she's healthy.
“What we do at the Ministry of Public Health is give, above all, preventative attention and care focused on priority groups, such as: children, people with disabilities, pregnant health, and seniors,” Juan Quisanga, Director of Jama-Pedernales Health District, told teleSUR.
“We have a comprehensive approach, with teams of medical professionals, nurses, psychologists, dentists, who go out to the refuges to provide integral care,” said Quisanga.
Marco Espinosa, a psychologist with the Ministry of Public Health, told El Telegrafo that he has found that, in a natural disasters, mothers do not stop to think of themselves but instead “they extend their self-defense capacity to save the lives of their loved ones.”
That was certainly the case with Maria Benitez, who told El Telegrafo that she was injured by a heavy wooden figure that fell on her head as she covered her child during the earthquake.
“I don't care because that could have fallen on my baby,” said Benitez.
“In those moments, nothing else matters to a mother,” said Adelaida Zambrano, who rescued her four children, including her six-year-old son who cannot walk as a result of a disability.
Espinosa warns though that this can carry negative consequences.
“They sometimes cannot sleep, they cannot eat, and in many instances they can seem to be in a bad mood,” said Espinosa.
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He added that healing should not be rushed and these mothers should talk about what happened on April 16 only when they're ready.
Many women, however, have found solace in helping their neighbors by taking up leadership roles inside the shelters and refuges, helping coordinate the daily tasks to keep these micro-communities running smoothly.
They've successfully managed to make a very difficult situation just a little bit easier for everyone.
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