Chile Forum

Futa seems to be in a position to weather this thing, although they will come out tattered. The main issue being dispare, and vultures swooping in. Chaiten, on the other hand is one of the saddest situations in all of this mess. For both places, and the region, the best thing law students, and interested persons could do, is to call, and pester the powers in Santiago to protect these people in the short term by getting livestock relief in immediately to preserve the self-sufficient lifestyle of folks in this area, and to start a campaign of awareness for those who will not be able to return to Chaiten (warning them of unsavory, unfavorable land sharks, protecting the evacuees interests), and in the long term, urging them not to further damage an already threatened ecosystem by installing large-scale dams on pristine (they will be again) rivers.

You can leave your lights on a little longer for less at the expense of losing the beauty of a free-flowing Futaleufu, or Azul, or Baker River, I suppose. You can boost the national exports of mineral wealth. But how much do we do - at what expense to what is left in the world of natural, unspoiled beauty. I have mixed emotions about a road from this area connecting to the north. But then I see the bridges that have been built across small rivlets, and it's not for tourist cars, believe me! You could drive tanks across, two abreast. Is it possible the Austral Highway is being readied for bigger things? I hope not.

Nobody gave a shit about this area of Patagonia until they thought they might find gold, or cheap hydro for the north. Hell, how many Santiagans have even ventured south of Puerto Montt, or Isle Chiloe? It's unconscionable to think that people who have lived, and let live, without the benefits of most of the rest of the country, would now be taken advantage of for the benefit of the rest of the country. That said....

Chaiten is gone, for all practical purposes. That should be first priority and focus for those who will have to completely start all over. But, I'm not short-changing Futa, winter and spring will be difficult. I will say that Futa is already rallying. There are not many people left here right now (40? not counting Carabineros and Bomberos). Folks are scraping off roofs, helping neighbors, feeding left-behind pets, sharing, and generally getting by. The day was sunny until winds blew existing ash from trees and ridges and the day grew gray and hazed. Shop keepers continued to sell on credit even though an emergency bank was set up across from the hospital by Banco Estado, handing out emergency money with no questions asked to folks with no accounts, and doing transfers and withdrawals for those with accounts. Because there are so few left in town, the water trucks aren't making rounds now, but set up a water bladder in the Plaza del Armas for drinking water. Widespread generosity is the only outbreak right now, although some kind of immunizations were being given out at the hospital. I have to check on that, and what it is for. Fire wood, food, and fuel was handed off by those who left, to those who stayed. The Carabineros are feeding local dogs with donated dog food.

I saw a youtube video of loads of pet food being loaded on a plane for the affected areas, so I hope that those who left know that someone is caring about the domestic animals. My neighborhood gaggle of geese, just a week ago numbering 30+, is now down to ten, or so.

All in all, while this is devastating in social, and ecological terms, no one has died as a direct result, and the resilience of the folks here humbles me.

Vicki

V and G,

Puelche talked to regalon and tesoro today and they said they are pulling for you...





Its never as bad as it seems,


p out

Wish I knew how to put a photo in here, cause Max says "Grassy Ass" to Regalon and Tesero! I'll put him on the photo gallery.

We thank them too!

Vicki and Greg

Chuck J 3.0 wrote:
Doom and gloom sells newspapers and keeps people watching TV. Not to minimize the suffering and loss of the residents, I dont mean to do that at all.... but the doom and gloom is overdone, the area will recover in a few years. Nature is like that. The main problem is the government and business entities coming in and raping the place with mining or other ventures while the people are away. Maybe thats a factor, they want to keep the residents out as long as possible to consolidate business control of the area before they let the residents back in.

It's a lot easier for the bad people to come in and rape it in the name of "saving it" when everyone is convinced that the area is lost for decades. It'll be tough for a year or two, but things will recover and be stronger.

Just get those law students in to help people to not get taken advantage of. (ie force selling of land at ridiculous prices)

That really is good news. Our local volcano, Montserrat is spewing an average of 500 tons of SO2 gas daily and often up to as much as 3000 plus tons DAILY. That is what really hurts the vegetation and causes Acid rain etc. and does so much damage to mucous membranes, lungs, eyes etc. And it has been going on for years now. A low sulphur event is the best case scenario at this point.

If you scan through the posts, you will see links to pictures and videos. No shortage if you Google, and visit youtube.

Wow Monkey (backwards), you got your 10+ posts in all in about five minutes after joining!

Vicki

Update from my neck of the woods. We were going to leave, really we
were. The morning of our scheduled departure, I was heartsick, and
to be honest, in tears. That's when our el campo neighbors tracked us
down in town, and ash-dusted, smiling and happy to see us, told us
they were staying "Por que no?!?!" There is a minimal amount of ash
fall in Sector Azul where our place is. Border restrictions are
relaxed for gas or deisel supplies. The sun was shining, the ash
plume wafting away from Futa, and we said, "Why not?"

The bags are packed beside the door, we have ample fuel, food, and
water. So, we will stay, but be ready to go if need be.

Now, on info, and misinfo.....

The bank in Futa is open and fully operating (with it's usual one
teller). Water is on but not for drinking. For that we go to the
center of town for some suspect drinking water that smells like a
public swimming pool. I got some bottled water for drinking. As many
as five semi-trucks have pulled into Futa, and one was hay being
off-loaded at the soccer field. I've seen several farm trucks loaded
with hay also. Another semi-truck was off-loading what appeared to be
large bags of feed, but I couldn't be sure. My favorite gaggle of
geese looked to be down to eight yesterday and they were happy with
the bag of corn I tossed around. Today I gave some more corn to the
owners in hopes the entire flock would not be on supper tables. The
local dogs seem good. Max (our psycho dog) donated his 40+pound of
dog food to his local canine friends. That's another story....

We headed to Argentina today to get more gas for us and neighbors, and
to buy bags of domestic animal feeds since the Carabineros told us we
could now bring animal feed back, as well as fuel. Fuel, it turns out
is fine, animal feed, NOT. So, that was a bit of mis-information!
But, we can go to the municipality and get dog food. I just wanted to
contribute to, not deplete supplies!

The Futa River looks like it's clearing substantially, or is not as
milky...this is on the El Limite side, towards the border, including
around Mitch Sasser's H2O Atacamay area. We will be going out
tomorrow, passing the Rio Espolon, Lago Lancanoa, and Azul and check
those out. Our place sits on the confluence of the Azul and Desague.
We didn't see any fish kills as we stopped along the Futa, but then I
have no idea where, on such a fast moving river they might pile up.

I still don't know what the immunizations are that the hospital is
recommending and giving out. I won't be lining up until I know more
about that.

Roving bands of young men with long, home-made roof sweepers are
menacing the town. Random acts of kindness, fellowship and senses of
humor are rampant. And so it goes....

Vicki

Any word on rio palena or the village of palena? searched news releases and only see ref to futa in that part of region.