Support Disaster Relief in Chile

Help the people of Chile. At the store yesterday I saw so many relief ads for Haiti, which I find truly wonderful and they definitely need continued support, but I think Chile has been overshadowed by all of the other worldwide disasters going on abroad. My sister, who has been living and teaching English in South America this past year, was just in Chile a week before the earthquake. Thankfully, she returned safely to Peru where she has worked. But many others have not been as fortunate. Although many more people have perished in other catastrophes, this 8.8 quake will still most probably be considered one of the top ten strongest earthquakes ever recorded on the Richter scale.

On television they showed footage of Santiago’s international airport completely wreaked, and aside from a few military and government flights there the entire terminal remains unable to get civilians in or out. Much of the county’s transportation infrastructure has completely, and in many places literally, collapsed. Bridges, roadways, and rail tracks. One reporter on TV explained that the devastation has reached so far across Chile that trips even from one city to the other have proven almost impossible. A normal car ride from the city of Concepción to the capital at Santiago would usually take about 3 hours, but now with so few roads left only a lucky few can manage the trip and they each have reported that it took them over 12 hours to make the once routine journey.


Even now Chile continues to receive multiple 5+ level aftershocks on the Richter scale. People don’t have food, or clean water, or even a safe place to sleep. You can look online for ways to help send relief to Chile in their time of need. Obviously, we’ve all got our own lives and difficulties to handle, but anything from money to food to prayers does make a difference. Thank you.