Chile Forum

My partner's company, Sinquiver, have just sent food and aid to the south and they have a water purification unit that is capable of supplying drinking water to 20,000 people. However, in order to run it they need a 100 kVa generator. If anyone can help with this please let me know so that this can be sent to the people who have no water supply. thank you.

Falabella is running a donation drive- you pay $5000pesos for a box of food and they donate one too. So two boxes of food being sent on- it is all the little things I guess

Chile Oceanography Chief Sacked.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/chile/7380673/Chile-sacks-oceanography-chief-over-failure-to-issue-tsunami-warnings.html

Well, it is the end of day whatever... and the start of day whatever....but it was a very very good day whatever. I hope we have many more like it and better.

In fact, it was the best day yet. Our allchile.net plane landed a doctor and aid on the ground in the town of Tirua on the coast about 40 min west of Temuco.

We are just getting started. In the morning, we are setting out on a full day in the worse hit areas of the 8th region. We have been asked to do recon on some landing strips that have not been checked yet. Vince our pilot tells us that is some of the most dangerous flying, because it is extrema low level flying to examin the runway condition and you still never know until you put your wheels down. I seen vince fly today. He is good. Really good.

Actually he let me fly today for a few mins while he jotted down some notes. I said, "no problem I have flown in flight simulators before".

I let a long pause go by and then said, "I was not any good at them".

The plane erupted with laughter, but vince thought it might be better if he took the controls back anyway. That was likly a good idea.

We bought our first tank of gas, we are all ready to roll in the morning.

One thing really made me angry today however.

There is only 70 people working in the office of disaster coordination for the government in Santiago. 70 of them. None of them have sat phones.

That is not the scandal. That is not the problem. Brace yourself for this.

There is exactly 1 person working in the Concepción office.

Basically, essentially, the allchile.net forum members, combined with our staff at Spencer global, our Volunteers, are larger than the government office of disaster relief working in Chile.

Well, at least we don't have to wait for the election to replace them. Hopefully the next government gets their act together. We are just praying that the transition does not in itself cost lives as people that before would be disorientated by trying to find their desk the first day now often times don't have a desk to find.

Does not matter. The allchile.net office of disaster relief is open. We got a lot of work to do. Not just now, but for years to come.

Might not be the priority right now to look for scapegoats, but I was just reading El Mercurio, where they are doing some analysis of the tsunami warning sequence of events and confusion. Makes very interesting reading if your Spanish is up to it, http://www.emol.com, the article is called "SHOA y Onemi: Seis horas de errores y confusión post terremoto" (the link doesn't copy well), and the part that got me was that the SHOA duty officer at the time of the quake didn't speak English, so he couldn't communicate with the PTWC scientist who called to confirm reception of the tsunami warning. Sounds like a new broom is desperately needed somewhere

Living in campo in the Curico area and having just lived through this past week, my husband and I started a list for ourselves on "how to be better prepared" for such an event in the future.

Of course this list may not apply to apartment dwellers in the same way it might to those who have a house, but at least it is a starting point. One thing is for sure ... we all need to think about (and make some preparations for) how we should react if this happens again ... and to us!

Here's our list (in progress)

1. Know where your closest safe exit is: where possible, getting out of the building is your first best way of surviving an earthquake. Apparently standing under doorframes or hiding under tables is a very poor substitute for getting the hell outta there, as Gloria put it!

2. Have a plan for outdoor survival. Know where to go and how to remain there safely. Your garden, a park, a neighbouring open lot, etc. Away from buildings is best.

3. Where possible, have warm clothing and a blanket, a flashlight with batteries, a Swiss Army knife or similar tool, and a sealed bottle of water in a small bag close to your "safe exit", or in your car if it is feasible. If you are an ex-pat, perhaps a national flag to identify your whereabouts to searchers. (see #6)

3a. By chance we had all our camping gear stored in to a large bag that we were able to get to after the quake hit, so we were extremely lucky to have tents, sleeping bags and even cooking equipment available from word go. Even a tiny pup tent is better than sleeping out in the open. We also had a SW/FM radio with a crank, so were able to get news fairly quickly. If you live in a remote area, this is vital.
Have one or two 5 litre water bottles outside where you can get to them so you will have something to fill if water is available.

4. Scan all your important documents (passport/ID card numbers, even credit card numbers,, health insurance docs, important phone numbers and email addresses and keep copies on the net - in a discreetly named file in your email is one reasonably safe place.) If you must keep the originals at home, invest in a small safe .. available inexpensively from Easy or Sodimac. They will stand a better chance of survival if sealed tightly in steel!

5. Have a plan as to how you can contact family and friends immediately after the event, so you are not counted as missing. We were amazed to find that we could use our cellphone immediately after the quake, but not later on in the day. Our only cell/internet signal has alwaysbeen on the river bank so we were already set up for "outdoor communication"!

6. If you are an ex-pat, register with your embassy. Who knows, they may even put your tax dollars to work for you, for once!

7.Never allow your vehicle to be "running on empty" ... try to always have a "bidon" of gasoline available in an accessible place. And for the same reason, try never to be "flat outta cash" ... only "effectivo" works after such a disaster.

8. Keep candles and oil lamps with extra kerosene and MATCHES on hand at all times

9. Don't wait for your gas balloon to run out before you refill it - a spare full one is an even better idea.

10. Tho' our first priority is to our family, friends and neighbours, remember pets will need to be fed and cared for .

I realize that this is somewhat "pie in the sky" but certainly just being aware of what mattered most after initially surviving the quake, and keeping this in mind may mean that we will be better prepared in our daily normal lives to "make it through the next one", if and whenever it may be.

I certainly don't want to live in fear, or think that everyday may be our last, but a few basic preparations and habits in our daily lives may even serve to reassure ourselves that we can continue to enjoy living in this beautiful country.

My apologies to anyone who may find this superficial or somehow tasteless given the number of people who have lost everything and who can in no way benefit from this - but for those like us who miraculously survived with ourselves and our loved ones intact and still have a roof over our heads ... we all need to consider how to deal with any other natural disaster that fate may throw at us.

Just another quick thought about finding drinking water after an disaster: when we were in Africa we safely drank water straight out of the Zambezi river after treating it with a MIOX water purifier. Very quck and simple to use. It might be something to consider having in that "Evac Kit" that we are all talking about right now. I am not sure if I am allowed to post a link to Mountain Equipment Coop for more info on this and other types of water purifiers. http://www.mec.ca

I looked at your link and this seems a useful gadget for travellers in general. The problem is that it's too expensive ($100) and uncommon to supply to people in large numbers. It also requires batteries. Basically it electrolyzes salt water to produce something like bleach in the drinking water. That's probably safer and more accurate than using household bleach, but that's a luxury we don't have here.

I think your list of things to prepare is good and not pie in the sky at all. It's funny though how the advice varies on where to go in an earthquake ... in the past, going outside was the #1 thing to avoid, because of things falling from the roof or nearby etc. Seems like there is no hard-and-fast rule and one should apply common sense based on one's particular surroundings.

James.

jehturner wrote:… It's funny though how the advice varies on where to go in an earthquake ... in the past, going outside was the #1 thing to avoid, because of things falling from the roof or nearby etc. Seems like there is no hard-and-fast rule and one should apply common sense based on one's particular surroundings.

James.

Very good summation. My landlady hairline fractured her ankle BECAUSE she ran out of her seventh floor departamento into the dark during/right after the shake. One does not know what the condition of the stairwell is in the dark especially when everything is moving and one may very well be better off doing the triangle of life deal within your departamento. But again, it depends. Common sense indicates that since the departamento I live in was one of the only condos built in the area (14 years ago) at the epicenter of the last great central Chile quake of 1985, that the oversight during design and construction was undoubtedly tight.

We had an emergency condo meeting on Friday so that the admin and hired engineer could inform everyone on the status of the building after this quake (8.3 localized). Not one broken window, no sign of any structural damage and that the building insurance would cover any if found in the next days of detailed review. And my landlady complained about other residents leaving their kids toys and tricycles in the public passageways and stairwells.

I would add, if the structure is sound and intact, FILL YOUR TUBS, POTS AND PANS IMMEDIATELY BEFORE WATER PRESSURE IS LOST. This one act saved me the anxiety everyone else went through when water pressure was lost around 12 pm that day.

Also have a bucket to flush the toilet. Half a bucket flushes the toilet.

eeuunikkeiexpat wrote:Also have a bucket to flush the toilet. Half a bucket flushes the toilet.

Le sigh. I am intimately acquainted with the necessity of the bucket for the toilet. We just got our water back yesterday. We have a few buckets now

To add to SusieDillon's list of things for your emergency kit, I posted about it in the Survival Guide thread, but the Hesperian Foundation sells and offers as a free download, a publication called "Where there is no Doctor" which is basically a health bible/ third world medical manual. It's chock full of practical advice on what to do when the Hospital just isn't an option. It's offered in a few languages. I've been meaning to get myself a couple more copies as my English one got stolen and I ended up giving away my Spanish copy a while back.

My Command Center for 6 Days (more than 1 day without water and over 6 days without power)

I just noticed the splash at the bottom of this (and other) page(s).

"Need help in Chile?" [call] "Spencer Global"

Charles is sure doing that, in spades. Go, man!

Audio13, thanks for the download tip, been there and done it now.
http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download_wtnd.php
Sorry to hear you had a bucket list going all week!

No problem, Mike. It's a great little manual, a concise and practical thing to have in any situation. I really love that they make it available to everyone and in multiple languages.