Vamos Chile!

This is so beautiful! Every morning now, I get up and start phoning family and friends in Chile to know how things are going, and check the news hoping to find things are a little bit better... Well, they are. Help is slowly getting to the areas that most need it. Roads are in better shape, and food and water are being delivered...
But also, people from the north of Chile are getting organized, and helping in any way they can. How? With a soccer match! La Serena and Coquimbo teams made 8 million pesos yesterday!!! And all that money is going to the Teleton "Chile ayuda a Chile". This is so beautiful!
So, what is the idea? They are playing soccer, matches which they call "amistosos" (friendly), and then asking people for donations, either money or food, and all that goes to the people from the south... Vamos Chile! Vamos Vancouver! You can also help... If you don't know how... Call the Chilean consulate in Vancouver...

Best news!

This Chilean is probably the only one able to unite Chile in all this chaos. He is known as Don Francisco. He will be arriving in Chile today, after a 20 hour flight. He has organized a Teleton called "Chile ayuda a Chile" (Chile helping Chile). Its main objective: to raise $15 thousand million pesos to help the people affected by the earthquake.
The program will be a 24 hour TV program where local and worldwide stars will participate. This is the time to help.
Vamos Chile!

Most people lost their houses...

This man is inspecting what was left of his home... They don't have access to food or water. If you can help, please, do it now contacting the Chilean consulate in Vancouver...

Help needed...

People from the south of Chile, with a sign that reads: "We need help. There are children. Please!" Basic problem: food and water. These people are by a road mostly used by the press and the armed forces.
I received news from my niece Jimena, from Concepcion, today. She is in the street with 2 children, lost her house. Her feelings are that they were abandoned by the government. Just today, they received water, and a bag with 4 things to eat. Since the earthquake, Saturday early morning, they didn't know what to do. Not able to rescue anything from their house because of the aftershocks. The kids vomiting because the water they could get makes them sick...
Chile needs help...
There are lots of ways of helping.
As usual, through the Red Cross
And you can also find out more ways of helping at the Chilean Consulate in Vancouver.
Thank you so much to all those people that are praying for Chile. Everything counts...

Muddy shoes...

When I read the news from Chile, looking for information, I find a lot of people from Santiago commenting on the earthquake, tsunami, and looting... They can do this because they have access to electricity and computers, so they have a voice. The worst part of it: they are not commenting, but fighting, bringing politics into the tragedy. each party have something nasty to say about the other... And the looting? They are horrified by the looting, ashamed of what the foreign press might think of us...

I cannot judge... to judge these people I would have to be in their muddy shoes...

Proud to be Chilean!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...

The Good: A 12 year old girl saved the life of many of the people from Juan Fernández Island, 600 kms off the Chilean coast. Martina Maturana learned about the earthquake from her grandfather in Valparaíso. She felt a slight tremor, and her father phoned Valparaiso just to learn that there had been a powerful earthquake. When Martina heard this, she run to a central plaza of Robinson Crusoe Island, and rang a gong, which was the emergency alarm for the people in the island.
The signal awoke many people, who at the same time began ringing bells and so everybody could flee to higher land, minutes before a giant wave destroyed most of the area. Because of Martina's action, about 700 people were saved. The numbers show 8 deaths and 13 unaccounted for, and nothing left of the town site.

The Bad: The Chilean Navy made a mistake when initially discounting the possibility of a tsunami on the south coast of Chile after the earthquake. In a public declaration it was admitted that the Navy "made a mistake by not issuing a tsunami alert". Immediately after the earthquake, the president Michelle Bachelet discounted the threat of a tsunami and told everybody to remain calm in their homes...

In spite of that, many people ran to the hills and saved their lives. Tragically, many elderly people couldn't make it out of the devastated areas.

The Ugly: The looting in Concepcion. Scary. There are so many facets to the issue of looting. In some cases, I have seen pictures of women taking diapers and powder milk, presumably for their children... but on the other hand, seen pictures of people taking TVs and washing machines... In some areas, residents have got together to defend their neighbourhoods... You have to remember, too, that there are lots of criminals that escaped when the prisons collapsed. And then again, Concepcion was not receiving the help they needed so much. They don't have water, electric power or communications.

Now the armed forces are trying to reestablish order, and guard food stores and other businesses. Stores tried to distribute food, but it was very chaotic because as days go by people get more desperate for necessities... It's a very sad and complex situation...

More photos...

Today I finally had news about my brothers. They are all right, as well as their families. I haven't been able to talk to them because communications are still a big issue there. I haven't heard from my niece who lives in Concepcion, though...

The south of Chile is still struggling for water and food. No electricity yet.

A friend of mine, who has her family in Constitucion, send me an article from one of the Chilean newspapers and it says than half of the 700 people dead are from this city.

Constitución is located in the VII Región. Yesterday, all the bodies found floating in that area were taken to a gym that was been used as an improvised mortuary building, for people to go and recognise them. Every half and hour there were 2 or 3 dead bodies coming to the building.

Isla Orrego, in front of Constitución, is another point of concern because the night of the earthquake, there were about 500 people camping. Most of them haven't been found...