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.
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