….the continuing story.
We thought we landed safely, and even thought we had found a great house to stay in with a Brazilian family. Happy to see my brother Marc, to have had the journeys go well, and overjoyed at the sight of a proper bed, we certainly thought things looked normal.
Unfortunately, Ness decided to ‘ask’ that we be able to feel what an earthquake felt like, “Just a small one”, she said as I rolled my eyes.
I told her I would shake her bed for her in the middle of the night. But I never ended up needing to do that. Starting the evening of the 9th we felt a few small tremors, and honestly, we were thinking it was kind of cool. In the morning Marc mentions that there have been warnings that an earthquake would hit that day. I though, “Okay”. At 11.30, sitting on the top of our bunk bed with headphones in, I quickly realized what he actually meant.
A 7.2 quake hit just 40km north of Pichilemu, and caught us quite by surprise, my bunk bed shaking uncontrollably as I decided it might be a good idea to head downstairs and out the door as bottles fell off the dresser and books off the shelf.
We were not terribly frightened, just thought it an interesting experience as one is liable to do with anything that is experienced for the first time.
The villagers were much less excited. In fact, many nervously started racing up the hill behind our house either by foot or by car within a minute of the quake hitting. All of Pichilemu was heading for high ground as there was a high chance of a tsunami hitting. An old woman walked by completely out of breath, trying to get her phone to work so she could reach her family. Cars skidded in the dirt, revving up there engines nervously has they tried to get up the hill. Women were crying, the recent trauma of one week ago still fresh in their minds. This was no joke.
As we are staying with my brother who is part of YWAM, we ended up having to set up half-tent on the base grounds next to a campfire that night with fellow YWAMers. The base is situated on high ground and some of the most solid ground in the area in case of earthquakes. Although we didn’t not particularly enjoy another night of sleeping in our clothes after much traveling the previous days, along with chilly night air and many people staying up late talking around us, we survived quite well.
The villagers (or ‘campecinos’), dragged their tents, mattresses, sleeping bags one and all up the hill behind the base. We went for a look around, and certainly their situation was much less comfortable. Little children, elderly people with oxygen tanks, and young gangs were all mixed on the same grounds. The military had already installed a convoy to the area.
In such a moment, our foremost thought was how odd it was that we consciously chose to come to Chile at this time, while there people would give anything to not be here right now. Such a paradox of the luxury of choosing a lifestyle versus learning to cope with the life given you.
Pichilemu has fared well so far with the quake, with electricity slowly coming back, a few stores opening, and no visible damage as far as we can tell on the streets. News on how other villages have fared is still not clear.
There are predictions of yet another quake, this time closer to 8.0 on the richter scale, hitting near Pichilemu in the coming days. How it will go, we don’t know! But we do regularly count the seconds as yet another tremor shakes the earth beneath.
Ahh what an adventure indeed! Thankfully we are safe. As for those that have or will fare worse in the midst of this, again, it is those that our hearts go out to and we hope we can mean something for them in this time in any way. Some basic relief work has been set up, but it is a far from a coherent system through which relief teams and significant help can be channeled. Thus that unfortunately is still a story in development.