Earthquake in Chile 6

Sunday March 7^th

On Sunday morning we were awakened by the last night watcher at 6am. After a quick hot drink, we headed out to Santa Rosa, and outlying area of Lebú.

When we arrived, there was already a hoard of people from the community lined up with their Red Cross ticket to collect their allotment of food and water!

Everything started out pretty civil, but grew increasingly intense as the food started being handed out. Thank goodness for the army was about all we could think. If they had not been there to keep order, I think there would have been trouble, and things could have gotten out of hand very rapidly.

We announced that in order to try to prevent any outbreaks of disease such as distemper and parvovirus in dogs and to interrupt parasitic cycles we would be vaccinating and de-worming dogs. About 10 minutes later people started showing up at our truck for vaccines with dogs of all sizes, shapes and breeds. There were so many, that we had to limit it to those at highest risk- young puppies between 2 and 6 months, and then if we could get through that age group, we would start with 6-12 months and so on.

We turned a lot of dogs away due to illness. Many had fevers, lethargy, runny eyes and nose, diarrhea, vomiting and other general signs of poor health. The majority of dogs we saw had signs of parasitic diseases that are potentially transmissible to people like mange and ringworm. Most had never been vaccinated or de-wormed before. We got through as many dogs as possible before the army just about threw us in the truck as it was time to get to the next small community of Lebú, and it appeared to us that there was some kind of trouble brewing at the back of the truck…but we don´t know. We got quickly into the truck and closed the doors and windows, with people crowding around the truck hoping to get something more from us…it was intense.

At the next community, it was much the same, but less intense somehow. We met the community at a small public school.

One of the teachers approached me to welcome and thank us for coming to their small community, and then broke down crying in my arms. She said it has been so hard, so much sadness and need. It was hard to hear, and know that there was really not much more that I could do for her, other than listen and hug her. Altogether we vaccinated 63 healthy puppies, and de-wormed a whole bunch more. It was a complete whirlwind of activity and stress, but we got as much done as we could.

We also gave small bags of food to the people who didn´t have any..it was all we could do for the moment. When all 10 tons of food we brought had been distributed, it was time to go. It seemed a drop in the bucket.

There were so many that needed so much more, and there were some that somehow never received their Red Cross ticket for a food box, and there was nothing we could do about it. There was enough for 400 families, and that was it. Our only consolation was that for those people and about 100 dogs, they were all probably sitting down to the first decent meal they had had since the earthquake. There were a few dogs that if exposed to common canine diseases in the next while would be immune, and for those dogs in close contact with owners, they would not be carriers of parasites that could potentially be transmitted to people. That would have to be enough for this weekend. It was time to head back to Valdivia, and begin plans for the next trip.

I have never asked for donations on this blog, but if anyone has a few extra dollars, it goes a much longer way down here than there. We are planning many more trips to the affected areas in the hopes of avoiding disease outbreaks and to help prevent some of these dangerous diseases occurring in people especially while they all are living together in close quarters under unsanitary conditions. Thanks so much!

Earthquake in Chile 5

Saturday March 6^th

4:40 am we arrived at the Red Cross. We all were required to wear a Red Cross tunic and decorate each vehicle with flags and signs identifying ourselves as part of the convey heading out to the coast. We headed out to the highway, and starting seeing signs of damage on the highway right away, minor cracks and heaves in seemingly random spots. We met up with the rest of the convey arriving from the south, at a gas station about an hour outside of Valdivia. We were about 10 trucks in total, about 3 full of food and provisions, one water tanker, and the rest medium to smaller size trucks with equipment, supplies and volunteers.

We headed off together, and only after about 30-40 minutes, the lead truck encountered a broken piece of highway, and had to brake suddenly. Unfortunately, this caused a domino effect down the line- we were almost rear-ended by the semi truck behind us, who slammed on his breaks to avoid hitting us, and was rear-ended by the truck behind him. The driver suffered minor injuries, but the water tanker was done. The whole front end was smashed in, and he had to drain the tank, and wait for help to get back to Valdivia. Rough start....

Off we went again. Driving through Temuco we saw a number of pedestrian overpasses that had collapsed in the earthquake, one had actually fallen on a truck! The trip was long and slow, manoeuvring around damaged areas of the highway, and eventually turning off the highway heading toward the coast to Lebú, about 150 km south of where the earthquake hit the hardest.

We had to stop for gas, and the line-ups were so long, we would have been there for hours had the gas attendants not been kind enough to recognize that we needed to get going, and allowed us to jump the line, and fill up. We crossed a mountain pass, and started getting closer to the coast. Here signs of damage were everywhere-big wide cracks running down the middle of the road, closed portions of highway, broken bridges, damaged houses, and people everywhere- it seemed they were just waiting… when they saw the Red Cross convoy, they ran out, shouting and waving, so happy to see that someone was finally coming to the area with food and supplies. Probably one of the most touching moments was passing a small house, and a family was sitting on the side of the road yelling and waving to us. One of the little boys waved a hand written sign that said “Please help Lebú”.

As we got closer to Lebú, the road got worse, and there were more and more traffic line-ups to detour around sections of severely damaged highway. People were leaving the coast in hoards, packed into cars and trucks loaded with personal belongings.

We squeezed through narrow sections of dirt roads passing lines of vehicles amid clouds of thick dust, finally arriving at the other end, where we saw the sign for Lebú. The area was beautiful, a town set right on the ocean, surrounded by hills covered in thick vegetation. As we started the long descent into town, we saw all the people. Hundreds of small camps dotted the hills and the sides of the road, all shouted and waving for us to stop and give them food. Tents and lean-to´s lined the highway, with makeshift kitchens and living rooms out in the open.

There was a small roadside creek with a huge line-up of people waiting to fill their buckets because there was still no water.

We arrived in town, and went straight to the Red Cross. The army presence was felt immediately, and for that we were thankful because as soon as we arrived, people started coming to the Red Cross begging for us to give them a box of food.

It was all so chaotic, and the potential for riots was growing, so we parked the truck inside the yard of the Red Cross and the army gently herded the people away, as there was a city-wide curfew, and there would be no time that day to distribute any food. It was so sad to see the people loitering outside the gates…one woman was crying. They just wanted a box of food, and we couldn´t give it because the danger of looting and complete anarchy was very high if we gave in.

Everyone just had to wait one more day. We were told to park our truck in the yard, but beside the house next to us, because it was the less likely of the two houses we were parked between, to fall down in an aftershock!

And speaking of aftershocks…we were standing outside discussing our plan for the next day, when one hit. Wow! There was this huge shuddering jolt. The buildings all creaked and shook, and you could see the momentary panic in everyone´s eyes. It was short, but strong...and we realized all of a sudden- here we are in the earthquake/tsunami zone. Shortly after, we assembled to make an evacuation plan in the event of another tsunami..it was sobering.

Before the curfew, we walked through the streets a bit. It was eerie, like a ghost town. The roads were a mess, lots of damage to homes, and the road along the water front was destroyed. The concrete had twisted and buckled into creepy shapes like it was made of rubber, the river in front of the street was nearly dry, and the boats from the ocean had all been pushed up into the river bed with the tsunami, and there they lay, smashed up, lying sideways or upside down, most out of water...it was really disturbing to imagine the force that caused such destruction.

There was one cute little fella that seemed really happy to have the Red Cross building occupied that night. He showed up, and immediately made a bed in a pile of straw right outside the house.

That night we prepared our plan for the following day, packed dog food into smaller bags to distribute to those who had none, and prepared to sleep.

Six of the young Red Cross youths arranged a guard schedule to watch over us all and the equipment while we all slept. Apparently there were a number of violent aftershocks through the night, but the truth is that we were so exhausted, we all slept right through them!

Earthquake in Chile 4

Friday March 5th

We haven’t had much time recently to put an update on the blog as we’ve been busy and out of town. On Friday morning, we went to the Red Cross in Valdivia to see if there was anything we could do to help out. They said that they would call if they needed us. Well, they called that evening, and needed our help loading a transport truck with supplies to take out to a village that had not received any outside help yet, and had apparently been hit with a tsunami minutes after the earthquake. At 9pm we arrived at the Red Cross, and with all their volunteers, we all starting packing boxes out to the truck. There were about 400 prepared boxes to hand out to families and a number of extra boxes with miscellaneous goods, blankets, clothes, diapers, etc. By the time we were finished, the truck was full. Then the president of the Red Cross asked us to come the next morning with them to Lebú, and help out in whatever way possible. We already had some dog and cat food donations and some vaccines and dewormer that we decided to bring to administer if needed. Our intention was to help out where we could, but also to assess the community situation for impending problems in the area of veterinary public health. We had no idea what to expect.

At about 11pm or so, a professor from the university showed up with a dog food donation, and after we were finished packing the truck, he took us to the veterinary hospital to equip us with some essentials for the trip in case of emergency. We arrived home at about 1am, threw together our personal gear, packed our veterinary boxes with whatever we could find, and tried to sleep a bit before the alarm went off at 3:30am. I'll write Saturday's story tomorrow....

You can now donate funds to help support VWB/VSF's work in Chile. Please click here!

Earthquake in Chile 3

Finally the army made it to Concepcion where it sounds like they are starting to restore some sense of order- at least with respect to the looting and violence. There is an 18 hour curfew now. The entire place is a mess, but they are finally bringing some essentials such as water, food, blankets etc into the city. They are moving more buses around the country, but only during the day. Gas is making it slowly into Valdivia but we haven´t been able to fill up yet. Still there is no organized effort to get volunteers into affected areas- it is still too early, but we are waiting to hear if and when they will need us. With regard to helping animals, we haven´t heard much; again it is still too early. There are still aftershocks in the 4´s and 5´s that rock the houses and apartments. Yesterday we learned that officials had made a mistake in the reporting of tsunami warnings- there actually was a high probability that the Chilean coast would be hit and in fact was hit in multiple places, but the Chilean president indicated that because the earthquake had hit on land, there was no risk. Pretty big error! Despite her announcement, we know that people around here still have their bags packed- just in case, and that water did recede on the beach near us, and that the town across the bay from us was evacuated. I guess people knew better after living their entire lives in such a seismically active area. Some things here in Valdivia are returning to normal, although everything still feels surreal, and there is a strange sense of reluctance to get back to work when there is such a disaster going on around us.

Earthquake in Chile 2

Today we went to town to get food and gasoline to make sure we were well stocked...just in case. The line ups in the grocery stores were UNBELIEVABLE!!!! We probably waited over an hour to check out. It seemed that there was plenty in the stores despite the rumours that we are running out of food. There were some shelves empty, but still, plenty for everyone. However, gas is another issue. We couldn´t find any. The gas stations are open, but are only selling diesel now. Today they sent the first two buses from Valdivia to Santiago to see how long it will take to get there. Apparently from Chillan to Santiago, it takes as much as 15 hours, where normally it takes about 5 hours comfortably. I think the worst of it all is the reports coming in about the looting. It is happening everywhere. A friend phoned us this morning to tell us that people were looting the supermarket in Valdivia. It was also on the news about people looting in Concepcion...I guess it´s all over the place. The price of bread has already doubled in Valdivia, and we heard it was at least twice that in Concepcion. Here are a couple of pics from the grocery store today:

Earthquake in Chile

People have been asking us to update them on how we all are here in Chile, and what really happened. First of all, we are all ok! It has been quite an experience, and we are realizing just how lucky we were, especially when we see the destruction that has occurred in some of the other places just north of us and realize that there are so many people still suffering.

We had visitors staying in the house with us who were in Valdivia for a wedding on Saturday of some mutual friends. Friday night, we all went to bed early- it had been a long week. At 3:30 in the morning or so, everything just started shaking like crazy. We jumped out of bed and huddled under the doorway in our bedroom, but then it got more intense, and we thought we should probably make a run for it, and get out of the house. It was hard to get down the stairs with everything moving so much, but we made it, and with our two visitors, we all crammed into the doorway of the front door, so that if anything happened we could either go in or out- whatever seemed safer. It seemed to last forever, but eventually it did stop, and everything was just dead silence. People started coming out of their houses and into the streets. There was no electricity, and no phones, so we had no idea where the epicentre was. There were more aftershocks, so we just stayed close together outside, waiting to see what would happen. Lots of people started leaving in their cars and on foot- presumably in case there was a tsunami as we are only a few blocks from the beach, and in 1960, the worst earthquake ever recorded, was right here in Valdivia, and people are pretty freaked out about earthquakes and tsunami´s.

Anyway, eventually those people who decided to stay, started heading back into their houses, but we were pretty soon back in the doorway when the house started rocking again- not as forcefully as the first one, but enough to make us bolt for protection. The rest of the night was mostly lying awake, feeling the aftershocks, listening to the dogs howling, and ready to bolt if needed. Eventually we all fell into a fitful sleep. In the morning we started trying to make contact with family and friends in other parts of Chile, and bits and pieces of what had happened started filtering through. There were lots of rumours about evacuation, tsunami´s, more earthquakes and so on, but eventually the electricity came back on, and the real horror of what had happened the night before started coming through on the internet. There were no radio stations, and the phone networks were swamped, so communications were intermittent. However, we did manage to get the word out to family, that we were fine, as well as find out that all our family in Chile were also fine- although suffering a ton of damage to their homes, and the cities they live in.

The strange thing was that we were all supposed to go to a wedding that very day! It was walking distance from where we lived, but it seemed such a strange thing to do after the night we had all had, and when we knew so many were suffering. We phoned to find out if it was still on, and they were going to go ahead because most of their friends and family had already arrived from far away, and would not be able to come back in a week or so if they rescheduled. So we went. As I said, it was pretty strange. But it turned out to be about the best thing that any of us could have done. There is really nothing any of us can do to help right now. The highways are blocked, and people in need are completely cut off from the rest of the world. So we decided to celebrate their wedding, and that´s what we did. There were a lot of tears and laughter, moments of happiness, and intense sadness. It was good to be surrounded by friends, and not to be in the house, just waiting for the next aftershock. The wedding was beautiful, and it was a surreal night of bonding.

Now we are all sort of waiting. Last night there were a bunch of aftershocks again, and after one bigger one, the town siren went off at about 1:30am. Shortly after, a truck pulled up in front of our house, and everybody jumped out yelling “Get up, get up!!!” People were running out to see what was going on, and neighbours were bolting into the street with their little children wrapped in blankets. They kept saying we had to get out, into the hills and that a tsunami was coming. Finally a neighbour came out, after having contacted an official in town, saying that it was a fire, and there was no tsunami. Everyone was to go back home. Needless to say, I´m sure most people are not getting much rest around here.

Most of the infrastructure throughout Chile is down, there are warnings and recommendations to suspend all unnecessary travel, the airports closed, all buses going north and south are cancelled, Concepcion is still completely cut off, and towns are starting to ration food as the highways are still not safe, and so food is not being delivered anywhere. People are stockpiling food, water and other resources, gas is rationed to $5.000 pesos ($10.00 Cdn) for each customer, only a few bank machines are working and we just heard that the grocery stores are pretty much cleaned out. Details...we are so lucky to be alive and well and have suffered nothing compared to those in Concepcion, Talca, Santiago, Viña del Mar and surrounding areas. We are trying to find out if there is an organized volunteer movement so that we can go to areas where we are needed, and try help out. We will keep you posted though on whether we go or not, and what happens around here. Right now all we can do is wait. Thanks to so many of you for checking on us.

This is our friends office down the road from ours:


This crack runs way down the sidewalk, and right through the middle of this planter.



This is the costanera in Valdivia that collapsed.