I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1760
To authorize emergency disaster assistance for recovery from the earthquakes
of January and February 2001 in the Republic of India and the Republic
of El Salvador, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 8, 2001
Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. LANTOS, Mr.
MCDERMOTT, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. WEXLER, Ms.
SOLIS, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. SHAW, Mr. HONDA, Mr.
GUTIERREZ, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. SERRANO, Ms.
VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. REYES, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr.
HINOJOSA, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. GONZALEZ, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr.
BACA, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. FILNER, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr.
CAPUANO, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. KUCINICH, and Ms. PELOSI) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International
Relations
A BILL
To authorize emergency disaster assistance for recovery from
the earthquakes of January and February 2001 in the
Republic of India and the Republic of El Salvador, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Relief, Community Vi-
talization, and Emergency Readiness in India and El Sal-
vador (RECOVERIES) Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings:
(1) In January and February of 2001, earth-
quakes in the Republic of El Salvador and the Re-
public of India killed more than 20,900 people, in-
jured more than 175,000 people, destroyed or dam-
aged 1,400,000 homes, and left 2,000,000 people
homeless. As many as 22,000,000 people were af-
fected by the earthquakes, amid widespread devasta-
tion to infrastructure and livelihoods.
(2) On January 26, 2001, India’s Republic
Day, the most powerful earthquake in India in 50
years struck the state of Gujarat. To date, 19,739
people have been killed, 167,000 have been injured,
1,112,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged,
600,000 people are homeless, and as many as
20,000,000 people overall have been affected—40
percent of the population of this region. To date,
400 aftershocks, 19 of which qualify as small earth-
quakes, have been reported.
(3)(A) On January 13 and February 13, 2001,
powerful earthquakes struck El Salvador. Other,
smaller earthquakes and more than 5,000 after-
shocks have devastated the country, a nation already
battered by years of civil war and Hurricane Mitch
in 1998.
(B) The combined number of deaths from the
two earthquakes in El Salvador is 1,159, the num-
ber of injuries is 8,519, and the number of destroyed
or damaged homes is 334,866. Nearly 1,600,000
Salvadorans have been affected, almost 1 in every 4
of the country’s population. The equivalent in the
United States would be that the entire populations
of California, Texas, New Jersey, and the District of
Columbia were affected.
(4) The estimated cost of rebuilding El Sal-
vador 
is 
between 
$1,600,000,000 
and
$2,800,000,000. Many public buildings and church-
es, and 1,700 schools (more than one in three in the
country) have been damaged. In some municipalities,
80 to 95 percent of the buildings have been de-
stroyed. More than 640 landslides have occurred,
blocking roads (including the Pan American High-
way) and destroying houses. The start of the rainy
season in early May 2001 will bring more landslides