Special Edition: Earthquake in Chile
I was just reading an email from a couple that we are friends with you very recently moved back to Chile to live closer to the wife’s family. The next day, the earthquake hit. Fortunately, they are all ok, though the wife is pregnant and is a traumatized state. I feel for all of the people suffering there, but I actually shed tears and said a prayer for her last night, thinking of how she must feel – I truly cannot imagine – and hoping she can calm down and be peaceful soon for that future baby.
Her husband sent out a mass email yesterday, and as I am utterly unfamiliar with the situation, I thought that I would share the story of one person who is right there in it (in French below). The part about the division between the what the rich people and the poor population are enduring is the most powerful:
Here in Chile everyone knows that the earth is susceptible to trembling and there is a word “temblor” for when it occurs feebly, moving the earth, but only so much as to feel bizarre or make us laugh. The real “trembling of the earth” there is another word: Terremoto. IT is a word that is only used for special occasions…
It was 3:30 in the morning Friday night when I woke up. We live on the second story of a 15 story building, and the whole building had just become complete chaos. Everythign moved in every sense. The walls cracked, the floor shook, a man above was screaming “I don’t want to die.” I remember thinking two things “I’ve got to get out of here,” and “It’s like we’re in a war.” I ran out, tipping over, and found myself in the street in my pajamas with 6 million other people of Santiago in a state of surprise and shock.
As everyone knows in life, unfortunately there are Rich and there are Poor. In Chile the poor are represented in other villages than Santiago, and most specifically in Concepion, one of the villages to the south which surrounds Santiago. In Santiago the earthquake was an 8, in Concepion, 8.8. The difference isn’t so big, but in Concepion nothing is constructed as it is in Santiago, so everything there fell. Also, it’s on the ocean, so there was the added terror of the Tsunami. Its absolute chaos there. They don’t have water, electricity, telephones or shelter. The president started a state of martial law to try and keep the pillaging down. We, here in Santiago, went through something traumatic, but there are barely any side effects, or secondary effects. But there, they are all living in the streets and have been for days now, without any of the basic needs. If you have a way to help them, know that they have an urgent and real need (I know that very little real info arrives in other countries)…
