I wanted to thank all of you for all the emails expressing concern for us and for Francisco´s family. Not all of you were aware that Francisco and I, by chance, are here in Chile on vacation now. So first things first, if you haven´t heard already, we are fine, and also all of Francisco´s family are fine, though some with significant material loss. It happened that Francisco and I were staying with friends at a lake in the south of Chile, actually not far from the epicenter. It was pretty scary, as it was strong (reported at 8.5 in Santiago and over 9 near the epicenter) and lasted long, 3 minutes of earthquake in the initial shock. Aftershocks have lessened now, but were continuous for the first couple of days. We counted around 15 to 20 per minute, sometimes also very strong. Power went down everywhere and is still down here in Santiago. Communications were initially very intermittent, then went down completely, but we did manage to get one phone connection and one email out before they went down. We realized that it would not be advisable to try to travel immediately after the quake, but by Monday had figured out a route by which we could return to Santiago. So we were incommunicado until we got to Santiago yesterday.
The damage and destruction here in Chile is quite variable depending on location. Loss of life appears to be significantly less than what was experienced in Haiti (over 700 officially reported so far), but may grow as more is known. The high standard of building codes in Chile seems to have averted what would otherwise have been catastrophic loss of life given the magnitude of the earthquake. This is not true for the older structures of adobe, and thus, as usual, it is the poor people who have suffered the worst. In addition, the quake was followed by a catastrophic tsunami up and down the central coast of Chile, which had a devastating effect on the coastal towns. The cities of Concepcion and Constitucion have been particularly hard hit, as well as all the smaller fishing villages. The place where we were staying was near a small town called Llico, which we had just visited the day before. The entire fishing fleet and areas near the river and coast were wiped out, and we heard reports from many individuals that they or their family members had lost everything, including their houses. Once again, experience was on their side as common knowledge is to flee from the sea after a quake, so it appears loss of life was low, thank God. Maria Cristina Uribe, Francisco´s cousin who was just in Los Alamos last October, lives in Constitucion and her house experienced extensive damage. She managed to escape to the hills before the tsunami hit 50 minutes after the first shock. She found that in her house the water level reached to about 5 feet and now the mud left behind is at least one foot deep, in addition to the quake damage. We know that she is safe now, staying with friends, though communication to Constitucion continues to be very difficult, so we have not been able to speak to her directly.
From what I have been able to find out, the Chilean government has an organized emergency relief effort which has been launched, and the Navy has shipments of food, clothing, and medical supplies that will be leaving Santiago for the areas most effected today. The information I have so far on organized charitable relief efforts are through the Red Cross and the Catholic Relief Services, which in Chile is known as Caritas, Chile. Caritas Chile has set up a checking account at the Banco Santander Chile (details below) which is receiving direct deposits for this purpose, and they say that all funds will be sent to the Maule and Bio Bio regions, which are the most effected. I think this is the best way to get contributions most quickly and effectively to those most in need.
Banco Santander Chile
Account # 0-082-18-00080-1
RUT 70.020.800-1
I have not tried to make a deposit via this route myself yet, so am not quite sure of the logistics at the moment. If there is any difficulty, I bet the Catholic Relief Services USA can help.
You can also get more information on Caritas Chile at:
http://www.caritaschile.org/portal/information/index.php?idinfo=1767
Thanks, God Bless, and our love to all,
Francisco and Cheryl