World Vision begins relief efforts

Affected areas The quake’s epicenter was in the Bio Bio region and the seismic movement affected the whole central-south area of the country.  At Maule province, bridges suffered structural damage and governmental authorities were unable to reach the quake’s most devasted areas to determine the actual scope of the tragedy.  Tsunami waves struck several coastal areas of Bio Bio and Maule. Hundreds of people living in the coast fled to the nearby hills. Unfortunately, they completely lost their homes and belongings. Maule and Bio Bio have no basic services such as electricity, portable water, telephone network and Internet. Chile’s main highway suffered severe damage in several parts.  Hospitals from the big cities of Parral and Talca suffered important structural damage. Street riots and supermarket-looting are evident given the desperation of the people to get some food and safe drinking water. Some fires have started, such as in the School of Chemistry at the University of Concepción. Damaged roads and poor airplane access have greatly limited the support of the central government and NGOs such as World Vision. These have intensified social turmoil exacerbated by people´s post traumatic stress due to the constant daily aftershocks. Many families do not want to go back to their homes and prefer to stay in streets and public parks.

World Vision began distributing hundreds of blankets and some water containers to Santiago's earthquake survivors over the weekend as it prepared to start an extensive response in the hardest hit areas south of the capital.

Late Sunday, World Vision flew a team of six relief and logistics experts from Santiago to Concepcion to assess the severity of the damage and to verify the safety of staff and community members that have so far been cut off from communication or road access.

The team will also open a second operations centre in the south of Chile to coordinate with the agency's relief teams in Santiago.

The Christian humanitarian organisation has prepositioned relief supplies in its Santiago warehouse, and plans to purchase additional high-priority supplies including water tanks, water purification tablets, cooking items, hygiene kits, blankets and lanterns.

These items will be rushed to communities in the Concepcion area as soon as air transport can be arranged.

In the five communities just outside Santiago where World Vision is responding, aid workers reported that many houses had collapsed completely, while others were still standing but too damaged for people to safely inhabit.

There was no water or electricity service Sunday.

Children were acting fearful of closed-in areas and hundreds of families were still sleeping on the streets.

Children and families in the Santiago region require food, first aid and hygiene kits, water, water containers, disposable diapers, plastic sheeting, candles, batteries, flashlights, blankets and sleeping bags, staff said.

Survivors also need medical attention, damage evaluations of their homes and psychosocial support for children.

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