The Earthquake.... what a reason to start blogging again!

I kind of let this blog go.... which is silly, because it's been very therapeutic for me during my (gasp!) 2 years of living away from my family, friends and culture in Chile.

Well, "therapeutic" is something in desperate need of right now, so I'm going to give this blogging thing another go.

Matt and I had a fight last Friday night on how to best parent the dogs. I set up the extra bedroom for myself, got Bella settled into her bed next to mine, popped in some ear plugs to block out the Friday night street noise, and went to sleep.

I was woken by my bed shaking, and for some reason I thought in was Bella trying to climb in with me. I yelled at her incoherently and waved my arms around for a few seconds, and the shaking just got stronger. I took out my (amazing) earplugs and realized that we were right in the middle of an earthquake. This was a REAL earthquake, not like those wimpy little rumbles I freaked out over before.

Everyone has been told that the safest place to be in an earthquake is in a door way, right? So, I ran to the door, trying to put on my sweatpants so that if my body was pulled from the rubble, at least I'd be decent. I reached for the door handle, and the earthquake became so strong that I couldn't believe that the house- any house - was still standing. I was literally bouncing off the wall. I knew that standing in the door way would lead to major injury, as the door would be swinging back and forth with incredible force. (Who came up with this door way thing??? Why didn't I think of the threat of swinging doors before???) I wanted to go outside, but I knew that I wouldn't make it. So, I just stayed there, trying futilely to stay upright while bouncing off the wall and thinking that it had lasted so long. It had to stop. Any second, it had to stop.

And it didn't stop.

Ever.

And then it stopped. The house felt like a boat, gently bobbing in the water.

Every car alarm in the universe was going off and it seemed like there were thousands of dogs barking right outside our door. People were screaming in the streets, and I was really scared. Where was Matt?? Why wasn't he yelling for me???

I ran to our room and opened the door, every piece of furniture in that room had fallen over, and Matt was in bed, sending text messages. (It's best to do these things right away, before cell service goes down.) The puppy was under a few overturned wardrobes, but he was in his cage and completely fine. If Bella had been sleeping in her normal spot, she would have been under this pile of furniture. (Therefore, our fight about Bella saved her. Yay, Bella!!)



We didn't know what to do. We didn't know what had happened. Neither of us had been in a major earthquake before, so we had no idea how strong it actually was, and we were fine.... so, how bad could it have been? We had no idea. We just didn't know anything.

At 8:00am we ventured out to see what had happened. There was a lot of damage in our neighborhood. We started talking to our neighbors and realized for the first time what a bid deal this was, and how truly lucky we were.



As we got closer to the plaza, the scene only became worse.



Nearly a whole block right off the plaza was destroyed.



Almost all of the buildings on the plaza, including the church, have suffered severe damage or have collapsed.



The earthquake measured 8.8 on the Richter scale and lasted 3 minutes. This was the 7th strongest earthquake ever recorded. It was 1,000 times stronger than the recent earthquake in Haiti. At least 723 people have died, and hundreds more are still considered missing. Santa Cruz is located just about on the first ring around the center dot. I can't imagine what it would have been like in the many harder hit towns and cities, or those that experienced a tsunami in addition to the quake.



In Santa Cruz, we were without reliable cell phone service until Monday, without water until Tuesday, and without electricity until Wednesday. Many areas of the country still do not have these services restored, while many had them back on Saturday morning.

That said, the Chilean people have handled this catastrophe with incredible poise, composure, and optimism. When we first ventured out at 8:00am, the morning after the quake, our neighbors were already picking up the pieces of their homes. No one was crying, no one panicked. Everyone we spoke to was quietly grateful. They were grateful for what didn't happen to them. Thankful that they still had their families. The local fire station immediately started distributing water and taking donations of food and other supplies which were available to those in need. Everyone was so calm.

I know that this isn't what has been shown on international news. Looting and washed away beach towns make much better stories. I just want the world to know that looting, desperation, and violence, have not been the reality of this tragedy for many Chileans. Most Chileans are helping their compatriots, and they are doing so with grace in the face of incredible hardship.

I've gained so much respect for this country over the past few days. I can't even put it into words.

I know that everyone is all donated out from the disaster in Haiti, but I ask that you please consider contributing to the efforts to rebuild Chile as well. Please contact me if you are interested. I promise that I will put any donations directly into the hands of someone who needs it.

Check this out for an excellent collection of photographs from all over the country.

That's all for now.

Much love,
Allie