Giancilo Vergel, 22, struggled to finish a final exam at Brigham Young University Wednesday after receiving news of the 8.0 magnitude earthquake that devastated his Peruvian homeland.

"I was really, really scared," said Vergel, whose parents live in Lima. "I tried to call to Lima. There was no answer."

Vergel unsuccessfully tried several times to reach his parents, an experience several Utahns with loved ones in Peru reported as calls were unable to get through or were dropped. Finally, Vergel's parents called him. They were safe.

Late Thursday, LDS Church officials were still trying to assess the impact of Wednesday night's earthquake on their members and property holdings in the Ica region south of Lima, Peru, where government officials have declared a state of emergency.

Church spokesman Scott Trotter said the church is working with Peru's Civil Defense Agency and plans to provide 10,000 blankets and other emergency response supplies like tents and basic camping equipment.

Meanwhile, members of the Utah Peruvian community banded together to collect financial donations at Wells Fargo Bank branches under the Peru Relief Effort account, in coordination with the Peruvian consulate. There are also donation sites along the Wasatch Front for items such as bottled water, warm clothing and sleeping bags.

"Your prayers are welcome, and your good wishes for our brothers and sisters in Peru," said Alberto Puretas of Orem said at a press conference.

As to whether any LDS members in the affected region had been injured or killed, he said local church leaders on the ground were still trying to assess the situation. Church officials said earlier that all missionaries were safe and that there had been little or no damage to the LDS temple and the Missionary Training Center, both located in Lima.

The church has more than 430,000 members, 735 congregations and seven missions in Peru.

Meanwhile, several LDS families with missionaries in the affected region contacted each other, trying to get any word about their children.

Eileen Swenson of Sandy, whose son, Steven, is serving in Ica, Peru — one of the areas identified as being hardest hit by the quake — said Thursday she had heard only briefly from her son before the line went dead. She said she had contacted the mission office in Peru and missionaries in Ica had been out clearing rubble all day. An e-mail forwarded from another missionary, Elder Jacob Frietz, read in part, "I don't have much time. ... We were hit hard here ... with this huge earthquake. There were a lot of deaths but not here — a lot in Ica, Chincha, Pisco and Canete." Elder Frietz wrote that he was teaching a lesson at the time of the quake, "explaining the Plan of Salvation ... when we were talking the Earth started shaking."