EARTHQUAKEEEEEEE!

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As you all know, on the 27th of February at about 3:30am, an 8.8 earthquake shook Chile. The earthquake triggered a tsunami, which destroyed what was lucky to be standing after the earthquake.The epicenter of the earthquake was in Concepción, a town in the south of Chile (about 10 hours south of Santiago) but that didn't stop us from feeling it in Santiago...

The newspaper at San Francisco State University asked me to write an article on my experience so rather than writing what happened all over again; it's a little long but here it is:

While I was relaxing with a glass of wine and dancing to the sounds of the guitar that a friend picked up an began to play, Santiago, Chile experienced the sixth largest earthquake in history. Suddenly, all of the lights went out and the whole house began to sway from side to side, causing everything to fall from the walls, shelves and tables. It took a second to register what was going on, but once someone yelled "Temblor! Fuerte el temblor... vamos afuera!", the panic began. The shaking was so strong that it was difficult to get one's footing to move to a doorway, hallway or somewhere safe. After our group of friends made it outside of the pitch black house, I was talking with someone as he was trying to call home and check on his parents. Within a second of him taking the phone out of his pocket, someone ran by, grabbed the cell phone out of his hand and continued running. The rest of the group was attempting to call their families and friends but reception was basically nonexistent,: the lack of communication made everyone a little nervous.
Taxies were impossible to flag down so about a half hour after the earth started shaking, I joined the sea of people walking through the streets to check on the state of my apartment. Street lights were shattered, the ground was full of rubble, windows were broken and the sound of sirens was nonstop. Everyone was expecting a long night; cuddled up in blankets outside of their homes in case another earthquake were to follow. While walking through the city the following day, the experience of the earthquake was more apparent in the attitudes of the people and the chaos in the air rather than the damage that had been done to buildings. Every business was closed, ATM machines were out of money, there was no telephone and internet reception and the news was full of images of where the earthquake hit the hardest, Concepción, a town about 200 miles south of Chile's capital. In Santiago, we are becoming accustomed to the strong aftershocks that occur frequently though we have not become accustomed to the horrifying images of damage done from the earthquake and tsunamis that continue to overwhelm the coast of Chile.
Though this is a very hard time for everyone in Chile, the spirit of the capital city is stronger than ever. I receive numerous Facebook messages and emails daily that strive to organize groups of volunteers to help build down south (in which almost everyone I know, including myself, have participated), collect clothing and supplies, or generate new ideas to keep the efforts to help ongoing. Thousands of homes have been destroyed and hundreds of people have died; Chileans have a long road ahead of them but are more than enthusiastic to come together and rebuild the country to be stronger and prouder than before.

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Photos

Church 1
This church used to stand much taller... the top fell during the earthquake. I took this picture a day or two after the earthquake.

Church 2
This is the same church; I took this picture after they had cleaned up the damage but had not yet started repairing it.

Vecina
The neighbor I met outside of my apartment the night of the earthquake. The party stopped when the earthquake started and we all eventually went home. There was no power and debris all over the street. Everyone stayed outside of their apartments cuddled in blankets for hours to make sure there wouldn't be another quake.

Museo Bellas Artes
The beautiful details of many of the old buildings of the city fell apart. This is the backside of the fine arts museum that was closed for a few weeks after the quake.

Museo Bellas Artes
Surprisingly, the majority of the damage in the city happened to be due to new architecture. The majority of old buildings were fine (i.e. my apartment), while the new buildings cracked and fell.

Santiago.March 012
Tons of people stood around the city not knowing what to do with themselves. Nothing was opened, power was out, metro was closed, atms were empty... weird feeling walking through Santiago that week.