Three Sisters of Notre Dame who staff the New Ulm Diocese Mission in Guatemala have been reported safe by two other sisters who cabled Good Counsel Academy.

The sisters, who staff missions at Nahaula and Rio Bravo, were reported missing after last week’s earthquake because of “bad communications,” according to Sister Eunice Silkey of Good Counsel.

SISTERS at these missions and two other missions at San Lucas and Potzun apparently did not know how the other missions fared in the earthquake, Sister Eunice said.

First word about the sisters at Potzun came from San Lucas,she said. A San Lucas man passed through Potzun on his way home from Guatemala City after the earthquake and saw that the sisters were safe.

But while San Lucas sisters knew Potzun sisters were safe, the sisters at Potzun had no idea if the other missions were all right, Sister Eunice said.

“The U.S. embassy reported the sisters missing because of bad communications,” Sister Eunice said. “All sisters are fine, though.”

REPORTS from the four missions indicate Potzun was the most severely damaged, Sister Eunice said.

“Practically all the houses are down at Potzun,” sister Eunice said. “The mission buildings were also damaged. The church is completely down.”

The most urgent need right now at Potzun is for water, she said.

“The people have been cut off from water,” Sister Eunice said.”An aqueduct which supplies their water has been destroyed. They are almost desperate for water.”

Sister Eunice said trucks take water to Putzun each day, but the water is rationed out and the people are not getting enough.

RESPONSE to a call for donated food and medical supplies for Guatemala has been most gratifying,Sister Eunice said.

The greatest need is for food and medical supplies, Sister Eunice said. Canned goods and clothing are not needed. Food should be in the form of dried milk, powdered eggs and oatmeal. Money will also be needed to rebuild and repair damages.

Another airlift may take place in a few weeks, Sister Eunice said, but no further action will be taken until Sister Sandra returns with a report of what needs to be done.

THERE HAS been no increase in the death toll of 17,032 for more than 24 hours, officials in Guatemala report. Almost 55,000 were injured and more than a sixth of the country’s 6 million people were left homeless in the quake.

Officials are now turning to longer-range problems such as the wheat harvest, reconstruction of villages and towns and clearance of the highway from Guatemala City to the coast.

No serious outbreaks of disease have been reported and business activity is resuming in Guatemala City.

New Ulm Daily Journal

Feb. 11, 1976