They are among the many Pisco residents who live amid rubble, dust and a daily dose of nerve-wracking aftershocks, uncertain of what the future holds for them since Wednesday's 8.0-magnitude earthquake left them homeless.

Until the temblor brought down their adobe home, 18 members of the Gutierrez family lived happily at 425 Calle San Francisco, a modest five-room, single-floor house with bright blue walls near the town's main square.

While the 10 children were sent to live with other relatives, the eight adults stayed in Pisco, sleeping outdoors on cold nights during which temperatures drop to 10 degrees Celsius.

The home had been owned by the family since the great-grandfather of Felipe Gutierrez Martinez, 82, moved to Pisco to work in nearby farms a century ago.

Now Gutierrez and his wife of 59 years, Alejandrina, hope the government will help them rebuild the home in which they lived with their three sons, three daughters-in-law and 10 grandchildren.

While more than 300 people perished in the earthquake in Pisco alone, the Gutierrez family was fortunate to not lose anyone.

Only the grandparents were at home that tragic night, when they were saved by visiting friends who rushed them to the tiny courtyard as the home was coming down. The children and their parents were coming home from school and work, and were not hit by crumbling homes while walking on the streets.

"Here is the spot that saved me," Felipe Gutierrez said, pointing to a corner surrounded by a broken oven, bicycles split in half and a dresser crushed by bricks.

The family elders now spend their days sitting on plastic chairs in front of the ruins, chatting with neighbors while wearing masks to avoid breathing the dirt particles floating all over town.

Their daughter-in-law Carmen, 37, cooks beans over wood fires and grills onions and garlic on a skillet.

Their three sons, Luis, Juan and Carlo, all farmers like their dad, have been removing adobe bricks to make space in the roofless house for tents that they hope will arrive soon.

"We will get them if we are lucky," said Alejandrina, 75.

While the women and grandparents sleep in mattresses, the three sons sleep on chairs and rotate guard shifts every two hours to prevent marauding thieves from stealing their chickens or ducks, which the family will eat once they finish their bean supplies.

"We have to look after the few belongings we have left," said Juan, 38.

The children were sent to live with relatives for now as they were terrified by the aftershocks. Their parents were also concerned for their health due to the high amount of dust and lack of clean water.

But the family has no plans to move out of Pisco. They hope to one day rebuild a sturdier home, with a fresh new coat of blue paint, on the property that has been in the Gutierrez family name for 100 years.

"We love Pisco so much," said Carlo, 28. "For that reason were don't want to be far from our town."

Felipe said he is too old to move away. Besides, he wants his sons to inherit his house.

"I will die under my own terms, in my house," Felipe said. Pointing to the cemetery just a block away from his house, he added, "when I am gone, the house will go to my children."

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