AN EARTHQUAKE and appalling poverty faced Ramsbottom couple Stephen and Joyce Danks on a recent charity mission to Nicaragua.

Retired Bolton College manager Mr Danks, aged 53, of Holcombe Brook, had been invited to the Central American country by British Executive Service Overseas to work as a voluntary adviser in Leon University's tourism school.

While he was there he was shaken -- but not stirred -- by an earthquake in the town of Granada.

It did not stop him from helping the poverty-stricken people and falling in love with the exotic country.

Mr Danks said: "It was very sad and a real culture shock to see such poverty.

"There was an earthquake near Granada while we were there and the horrific damage from Hurricane Mitch which occurred in 1998 was still very much in evidence everywhere.

"But despite this it is a beautiful country and we were very sad to leave when the assignment ended."

The couple, who have four grown up children between them, found that their six-week stay in the country, one of the poorest in the world, was a real eye opener.

Mr Danks' role, which started in June, was to help students look at ways in which tourism jobs could be developed.

Last year, despite the natural beauty of the jungle-clad Nicaraguan countryside and fabulous coastline on the Caribbean not to mention hundreds of years of Mayan and Conquistador history, less than 500,000 tourists visited the country.

The local tourist board struggles to attract mass tourism -- which could bring in millions of pounds of hard currency -- due to the country's poor infrastructure and its tendency to fall victim to natural disasters.