More on Dichato...

Well Erik pretty much covered what we did in Dichato. What an amazing experience it was! It was really shocking to see the degree of damage still remaining in the town 2 months after the tsunami, and hard to imagine what the people had gone through, and in fact continue to suffer through as they remain in a state of limbo living in tents in the cold weather. The army is building small huts for people for the winter, and we heard that last weekend some were ready for people to move into...so hopefully things have improved somewhat for them. But still...it is hard to imagine that all these families lost everything, their photographs and special memoirs, most importantly, but even the material things that now they will have to buy all over again, and with nothing left to start their businesses in- I really don’t know how they are surviving.

As for the dogs, there are more than I have ever seen in one area! They are everywhere! And most of them are intact males, so there were a lot of fights while we were there. I can’t imagine what is going to happen when the females start coming into heat, because there is nowhere to confine them to protect them from all the males.

So we are going back next weekend. We are making plans right now for teams to spread out to new areas and vaccinate more dogs, and for other teams that know the town better- like Roberto from Dichato, to try and find the puppies that we vaccinated the first time around to give them their booster.

I recently heard that one of the dogs that had confirmed distemper was euthanized by a colleague who was in Dichato last weekend. His symptoms were just too severe, and there were no signs of improvement. This distemper outbreak just adds insult to injury for some of these people that have nothing but their pets for comfort...

I’ve attached a few pictures for you to see, but also encourage you to visit our friend- Carlos Johnson’s website with more photos of us working in Dichato, and also a section on the damage that we saw from the tsunami, and of people living in the camps- they are really amazing photos! www.carlosjvfotos.com/vsf and www.carlosjvfotos.com/dichato

Here we go:

Eating breakfast at Roberto’s family’s house:Dogs hanging out / waiting?? on the dock where the beach front buildings used to be:

Checking dogs over prior to their vaccine:

Roberto Orrego and I working on a cute little cocker:

People arrived from outside the camps with all their dogs:

Dr. Patricia Pérez and Guillermo working together on a particularly difficult dog:

Dichato...used to be a quaint little beachfront tourist town:

Women getting their daily drinking water:

The camps:

This man was delivering mattresses to people in tents, and you can see us working in the background:

Cars piled up in the middle of the street that were destroyed in the tsunami:

The destruction:

But nothing can stop the Chileans from playing soccer!!!

Here we are at the end of a long weekend:

When you see something as beautiful as this little girl, in the midst of such despair and destruction...how could one give up! We’ll let you know how the next trip goes....

Comments from our Volunteer- Erik

Hey, I’m Erik, a volunteer that accompanied the team from VWB/VSF to Dichato to control an outbreak of distemper in this earthquake and tsunami struck town.I’m a Chilean/American/Canadian that’s lived in Chile almost my whole life. I’m a biology student at the Universidad Austral de Chile here in Valdivia and met Guillermo and Elena last year and have kept in contact since then.

They invited me to participate in the trip to Dichato and I didn’t hesitate at the chance to go help in this disaster stuck area. Dichato used to have a population of around six thousand people and after the earthquake and tsunami struck the town it lost approximately 60% of its buildings. Now all the people that didn’t leave the town after their houses were destroyed or washed away by the sea, live in the tents on the hill on higher ground. Most people have dogs. And living in tents, it’s hard to keep your dogs leashed up. So the streets are plagued with dozens of dogs on each corner, most of them with an owner, but loose on the streets. It’s a perfect opportunity for viruses such as Canine Distemper Virus or Canine Parvovirus to get around.

So when VWB/VSF heard of a supposed distemper outbreak they jumped at the opportunity of helping to control it. On Thursday the 22^nd of April, we were on our way north on a 6 hour trip to get to Concepcion where we enjoyed some seismic movements during the night and moved on the next day to get set up in Dichato for the weekend. The team at this moment was comprised of Elena, Guillermo, Paty, Daniela, and me.

Entering Dichato we were welcomed be the devastating scenario of entire street blocks that used to line the sea front stripped to only a couple hollow cement structures and whole house uprooted from their bases and left 2 blocks away by the sea. We later moved up to the hills and to the camps to assess the canine situation. Extremely small sites holding up to 120 tents with tiny pathways in-between them is what we saw. Plus dozens of dogs tromping around loose.

So as soon as we got there a few people came up to ask what we were there for and before long we had people showing up with their dogs on makeshift leashes. Now it was time to take blood, do physicals, vaccinate, and extract as much information about the dog from the owner as possible. We did this to all dogs that were applicable for said things. So to do so we split into two teams. First team was Elena, our vet, Guillermo, our handler, and me, the bookie. The second team was Paty, the vet, and her assistant Daniela.

After the word spread around the neighborhood that we were vaccinating dogs against distemper for free, a small crowd started to form. Late in the afternoon another member of our team shows up from Santiago. It’s Carlos, our professional photographer friend. So by the end of the day we had vaccinated around 40 dogs in our first afternoon. And our second vet Paty and her assistant Daniela have to leave.

Now it was time to go find a place to crash. Thanks to our contact in Dichato, who is from an animal welfare group in a nearby town, we were set up in some rooms in the backyard of a very nice lady’s house, in the low part of Dichato.

Next day we have another member arrive. It’s Javier, our second vet all the way from Valdivia. So now I’ll be working with him and helping with holding veins and getting all the info from the owners. We start working mid morning and wait till the town starts to wake up. We set up in the plaza just outside the camp we were working at yesterday. Once it’s close to noon the people are answering their doors and soon they appear with their dogs to the plaza where we set up. By this time another vet and more volunteers from Concepcion show up to help, and vet from the near town of Tomé.

So know we have 4 teams working with a constant lineup of dogs. We have plenty of work to do and work well into the afternoon before it seems like we have pretty much covered all the dogs in this small area (over 120 dogs vaccinated). Now its time to move down to what’s left of downtown and see if we can find a few dogs around there to vaccinate. We are lucky to be there just as a traditional folklore event is finishing and there is a bunch of people walking around. So soon the people that lived close by hurried up to get their dogs and bring them over for their vaccines.

The day is over and we feel like our team of 5 (Elena, Guillermo, Javier, Carlos, and me) deserve a prize for our effort. And to our good fortune there is a small barbecue in the backyard where we are staying. Living in Chile- it would be a sin to not make good use of a grill. So like good Chileans we enjoy the last hours of the day with a nice barbecue.

Next morning it’s time to find the last location where we will work before we have to be on our way back to Valdivia again. Our reinforcements from Concepcion are back, so we have a good 4 teams working this morning. We work hard until we have to leave and come to a grand total for the 3 days of 200 vaccinated dogs aprox. and 100 blood samples.

This was a tremendously successful trip and personally an amazing experience.

We all got along incredibly well and worked hard for long hours without complaints. I want to thank Elena and Guillermo from VWB/VSF for this awesome opportunity and the great work atmosphere.

We are all planning to go back to Dichato on the 21^st of May to do a check up on the dogs we vaccinated and take blood from and vaccine more dogs if it is possible.

So stayed tuned to read about the next adventures of the VWB TEAM!

2nd Trip to Chaihuin

Once again it has been some time since I wrote. We have been super busy with a number of projects and continuing to help in the earthquake/tsunami affected areas. So I’ll get going on you update right away, and check back shortly for the next update from Erik- our volunteer on our first trip to Dichato where the tsunami hit!

On the weekend of March 27^th, we went out to Chaihuin, Cadillal Alto and Cadillal Bajo again to vaccinate and deworm the community dogs, and to give talks to the dog owners about public health concerns regarding dogs, and the disease risks that free-roaming dogs pose to local wildlife. This time we set up in the local Posta (like a community health centre) in Chaihuin, and then went out to a community centre in Cadillal Alto, and one team went house to house in Cadillal Bajo (because it’s so small!). It was a success, and lots of people were interested in the talks, asked a lot of questions and provoked some interesting discussions.

This time two of the the Policlinico Movil students came with us from UACh, and they helped tons! Here is Lady taking blood from one of the dogs:

And Dr. Alejandro Aleuy from UACh weighing one of the dogs on the nurses scale!

And César giving talks to the farmers in Cadillal Alto:
And of course, our mode of transportation was the boat again:

I think the best thing was going back to the same community, recognizing the people and their dogs, and being able to follow up on some of the things that we saw the first time. The people are so nice, and seem genuinely interested in their animals’ health.

Here’s the group that we went with:

And that night in Chaihuin there was a community gathering that we attended, and got in on some local seafood, and other Chilean goods!

And finally on the last day, this dog that had been following us around all weekend, took a stroll with us down to the beach to watch the sun set....we had a few special moments together!

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!