Chile Forum

I can help with more issues in Cauquenes as I have the contacts there. We can perhaps look at some community adopting there and would like to head up that effort since I have such an attachment to the community there. Let me know.

I just want to say thanks to everyone that has donated.

We have received to the Bank of America account another couple thousand dollars.

As soon as we have a chance, we are going to post the current accounting for this operation so far. It does however look like we are going to have some extra funds to target at the new projects. This is besides things like we are still buying gas for aid trucks.

The three nice bite size low cost high impact projects we are targeting right now:

--- fishing nets for the fishermen on isla mocha (getting the quotes)
--- fire stations in the U.S. are donating fire fighting equipment to rebuild destroyed fire stations and put to work all the trained volunteer firefighters. They are having problems with the shipping. We have shipping channels, and I think we can move 1-2 tons of equipment fairly cheaply.
--the wine harvest for small growers around Chile is in danger because there is a shortage of labor to pick. We are working on plan for this.

By the way, we are working on breakdown of what we accomplished each day and photos at this thread: topic4034.html
It is mostly in Spanish at this point, but we are working on translating all of it. Regardless, there are lots and lots of photos there already, and we will have them posted in the gallery as soon as possible. We have over 7.8 GB of photos at this point, so it will take some time.

admin wrote:By the way, we are working on breakdown of what we accomplished each day and photos at this thread: topic4034.html

On the wall behind you it looks like you have fairly decent maps. I've never found what I would consider a real map in Chile. Who's the publisher and where are they found for sale?

Ready for more translations when you are.

A

Not sure. My wife got them from one of the aid agencies we had a meeting with. Our pilot vince was using a WWII map the U.S. government produced. It was still one of the better maps. I hear that google earth updated their sat photos for southern chile finally.

Update on projects:

We got a quote today for about 48,000 pesos for netting. Looks like we should be able to put together sufficient funds to buy nets for Isla mocha.
We are still working on getting quotes for shipping the fire fighting equipment from the States. I think this one should be in the budget also.
The wine growers. Still working on determining the needs relative to what we can do.

With that, I think everyone will forgive us if we disappear for a couple days. We are still working on projects that are in mix right now, but my wife and I were overdue for a vacation before the earthquake struck. Now we are just fried, and need a couple days to clear our head and regroup.

With that, I think everyone will forgive us if we disappear for a couple days. We are still working on projects that are in mix right now, but my wife and I were overdue for a vacation before the earthquake struck. Now we are just fried, and need a couple days to clear our head and regroup.

About time Charles.

Have a good one.

I went to Bank of America in Midtown Manhattan this morning to make my small donation. Man, what a pain in the butt they are. I've been with Chase for about 20 years, through various incarnations. Now, they're not perfect but so far every time I deal with another bank (like Citibank), I am happy to be a chase customer. Well, HSBC seemed OK.

"Do you have your card?" (Why the heck would I need a bank card for a cash deposit?)
"No, I don't, it's not my account".
"Do you know the person's address?"
"No, I don't"
"Can you please put your address then?" (I'm cranky in the morning but really seems pointless. Scribble scribble)
"Here."
"Do you know where this account was opened" (You are kidding me, right?)
"I do not" (Why the heck does that matter?)
While she's fumbling through forms, I add:
"He is in Chile now, I don't know if his address is in the US or Chile."
She pulls out aform saying "This account was opened in Nevada. Next time you need to use the blue form." (Oh, no, not another form!)
She staples two papers together and I am transported back to growing up in what used to be Yugoslavia and all the joys of free socialism, thinking of all the administrative bull, wondering if the US Government is now regulating and running this bank. She hands me a receipt and I'm puzzled "Am I good to go?" It just seemed to me that I was gonna be there for a while, filling out more forms, maybe give a urin sample... "Have a nice day" she smiles.

As I'm walking away she's talking to somebody else, but it's so loud that I'm thinking she is calling me back. Oh boy, she will ask me for a "27 B stroke 6" and I'll be dead! I just keep walking, hoping it will go away, assuming she'll send security after me if they really need me back. Nope, all's well. Whew!

I hope the money gets there. It's not much and it was worth the trouble but boy, am I glad to be a Chase customer!

Atlantis wrote:Ready for more translations when you are.

A

Like wise

Hi all, I''m back in the LA area at the moment, planning to get a few projects moving here before returning to move along on my own El Tabo projects. I was chatting with an architect yesterday and made mention of the fact that I had just returned from Chile. She asked the obvious questions about how my structure had fared and we agreed about the resilience of properly constructed, lightweight wood structures.
I mentioned the types of damage I had seen in the larger concrete structures, and how I doubted that there was any way to repair or save them. I saw that several explosive demolition companies are being brought in from the US to "drop" condemned structures in their own footprint.
She replied that at a certain point, the structures aren't designed to "withstand" a quake, but to stay upright, avoiding the massive losses of life seen in Haiti. A structure that is warped and with rebar sticking out of stresspoints (usually the corners of openings) has done its job in preserving life. It probably can't be repaired.
Anyone want to bet that there will be crews of guys out there in the months to come, with angle grinders and concrete patch, cutting out the exposed bits of rebar and plastering over the cracks? I wouldn't be looking to buy a high rise flat anywhere South of La Serena for a couple of years to come.....

MikieO wrote:Anyone want to bet that there will be crews of guys out there in the months to come, with angle grinders and concrete patch, cutting out the exposed bits of rebar and plastering over the cracks? I wouldn't be looking to buy a high rise flat anywhere South of La Serena for a couple of years to come.....

Yeah that's my fear, are all the buildings that did their job (take the earthquake like a man and not collapse) but got structural damage in the process, going to be called for destruction? My wife walked next to the casino in Viña just after the earthquakes and saw workers plastering and repainting pillars. Move along, nothing to see here? It's hard to know for any building whether proper structural assessment was done and the right call was made. Some buildings in Viña are indeed tagged for destruction, the question is, will some that should manage to fall through the cracks (bad pun)?

O.k. I am back. A bit late tonight, but as soon as I put out a few fires around the office under control, I will have a new game plan, updates, general change of directions for all this.

Welcome back Kotter!

Update:

We at this point sufficient funds left it looks like to complete the aid project to the fishermen on Isla Mocha. Nets and associate equipment will come in at around $2,000 US, but should be sufficient to get about 10-12 boats up and running. Our estimate is that each boat provides income for about 1-3 families directly, and many more indirectly. So you can see how that can make a big impact for a little bit of money, on a very small island. Especially when you consider demand for seafood is not being filled because everyone has damage to the fishing industry.

We are waiting for the fishermen association to get back to us with some final details about the type of nets. I know about as much about fishing nets as I know about basketball nets. Good thing Charles Beasley has been there to back us up with his technical knowledge of all things related to the ocean.

Firefighter equipment project. Sounds like we might be making some progress with LAN Airlines willing to ship the equipment in to the country from the States. Fly LAN people. They really are one of the best airlines out there (and the drinks are still free).

Cauquens wine growers. We are suppose to hear back today from them regarding what exactly is needed in terms of money and labor to harvest the grapes.


Now for the fun stuff.

We were finally contacted by the regional government, and here is the story:

My wife (Zandra on the forum here) got a call from the new regional intendant's office to come to a meeting of all the aid agencies and private organizations so they could determine what has been done and what is currently being worked on.

A bit of background first about the IX region political situation. Most of the regional government is still being appointed because the new government gave priority to filling offices in the 7th and 8th regions. So, there are more than a few problems with the transition locally. Not to mention the government building in Temuco was badly damaged by the earthquake, and then the former regional intendant left the building unguarded in the days following the earthquake allowing the place to be vandalized and robbed of all the office equipment (criminal prosecution is coming down the pipe for the former government officials here in a big way).

So anyway, my wife goes to the meeting. All the heads of the aid agencies ( e.g. red cross, techos para Chile, hogar de cristo) and private institutions (e.g. Mayor University medical school) that we have been working with over the last few weeks were all there. We knew most everyone in the room, because we had been out in the field with all of them, had many meetings, emails, phone conversations. We had all exchanged resources or collaborated on something at some point.

The new head of the region was there running the meeting. Also in attendance was the regional head of ONEMI ( office of emergency management in Chile ) from the last government, as they have not changed that office because of the crisis. The idea was it would be better to keep them in place across the country in the middle of the crisis, and slowly transition in the new people. Good idea in theory, but I think they underestimated just how worthless the last government was.

So he was there. He being basically some old fart that had been sitting on his fat rear for the last 20+ years doing nothing while collecting 3-6 million peso check every month, and was completely clueless about what had already been done in the region or what needed to be done. Basically he was the FEMA of Chile (yes, that is not intended to be descriptive but a cheap shot below the belt).

Everyone goes around the meeting introducing themselves and explaining what they have been doing. My wife stands up to introduce us (i.e. Spencer Global and allchile.net Forum ), tells about what we have been doing, how we have been working with the other aid agencies, talks about some of the organizations that where not invited like the Temuco Flying club. Basically a brief on everything found on the forum and then some. She among other things mentions we are currently working on getting firefighting equipment to the fire departments and working with fire departments in the United States. Do you know what the old fart from ONEMI says?

He says that they will need to allocate money in the new budget to conduct a study about the situation and determine if the fire departments really wants the equipment that is being donated.

Are you kidding me?

My wife says, "we already talked to them. They desperately need the equipment, and we have been in close coordination with them from the start about what they need and don't need."

The guy did the song and dance of, "well I have been doing reconstruction and disaster preparedness for more than 40 years, bla, bla".

The whole room was ready to kill the guy, including the regional intendant that gave the guy the 'you are soooooo fired' look.

The former government got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Hundreds of millions of dollars was funneled in to that one office every year for 20 years, and there was no cookies left in the cookie jar after the earthquake smashed it on the floor. A lot of people are not only going to loose their job, but I hope go to jail.

Almost a month after a major disaster and he had never contacted any of the people in that room. He obviously had never spoken to the fire department in Temuco or anywhere else for that matter either.

My wife was pissssed to no end. She said all you need to do is organize a system of coordination and communication between the people in this room. We don't need a lot of money. We don't need studies. We don't need committees. She even said what you need is just an online forum like this one so all the volunteer agency heads can coordinate efforts and exchange resources. We need to clear out some of the white noise of people that are not contributing to the effort, but just mostly talking. Most of the aid and resources is here in the region already, and there is more volunteers than there are things for them to do (we don't know because there is no central clearinghouse of information).

The ONEMI guy was worried about how everyone was going to get credit for the aid efforts and how they where going to display the logos in a fair manner. Basically, he was fishing for political credit for something he had nothing to do with. Are you frigen kidding me?

In all the thousands of miles traveled over the first weeks, and all the people we have talked to, never ever once did we encounter someone from the ONEMI office. The chilean air force was on every remote runway we landed on (big thanks to those guys), the firefighters where in every little town (even ones that did not have fire departments), hell even the Chilean GOPE ( SWAT TEAMS / Special forces ) where out in remote locations working search and rescue. Never ever the disaster management office. Hell, our total operational budget from forum donations was less than that ONEMI guy's monthly pay check.

My wife finally said,
"I don't have time for this. I have a meeting with a client right now so I can afford to keep doing this. My email is on the registeration sheet. Anyone that wants work together to get something done, can contact me."

With that she left in the middle of the meeting (she really did have another meeting she was late for).

The rest of the organizations were saying and doing basically the same thing. They were all pissed to no end. None of them were looking for credit. Hell, most of them like the universities have million dollar advertising budgets. They don't need the credit. They were just looking for a little bit of organization. They don't even need all that much leadership. We have been working great with everyone in that room for weeks (old fart aside). In fact, surprisingly well. No one has had to trip over anyone else's ego.

Admin Said: our total operational budget from forum donations was less than that ONEMI guy's monthly pay check.

Wow - great update - I hope everybody who has contributed reads that description of the meeting. It speaks for itself -

I personally would like to see a memo authored by all the organizations involved detailing just how uninvolved and ineffective Onemi was during the worst of the aid relief. I would like to see said memo published somewhere, ideally very public, and/or forwarded to the new government, etc. I have doubts as to how effective it would be in terms of replacing people that are no doubt about to be replaced, etc. I'd just like to see it happen and see the general public's response to it.

I'm petty that way

Love Zandra's frankness, btw. Good for her.