I was born in England of a British father and a Chilean mother. At the age of 13 we went to live in Chile where I stayed for 15 years before returning to London in search of work opportunities. My parents and brother still live in Chile.

Early Saturday morning i was woken with the news of the Chilean Earthquake and will desperately trying to contact my family I searched for information on the internet. My Mum got through a couple of hours later and was able to let me know the whole family was fine. We later lost contact and I didn't hear directly from them until Monday evening (phone lines are cut off and mobile communication is poor at best, they also had no power or water). On Monday I was able to get more information of the state of things. Apparently in Chicureo where they live on the outskirts of Santiago the quake was felt harder than in central Santiago. Although the damage they suffered was far less than that perceived down south it was substatially more than most houses in Santiago.

Today I received an email from my Dad with his accounts of the disaster along with videos and photos of the aftermath...

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The Big One 8.5 plus

It was early Saturday morning when I heard the words – earthquake!! Normally when Jesus says this I would turn over and go to sleep but the bed seemed to be moving – maybe it’s a big one – what to do – stand under a doorframe. I decided this was not what I wanted to do. Unsure of the dress code for such an occasion I rushed outside naked – Jesus decided a dressing gown was more appropriate and casually took one from the wardrobe. We stumbled out a few yards from the house. The ground was undulating and we clung together to remain standing. A large flash of light caught our attention. The pool took on the appearance of waves on the rocks, splashing 8 feet in the air. What seemed like hours later the earthquake stopped – we heard a large explosion some distance away. Wow that was scary – where’s the puppy? We went indoors to get the torch walking over broken ornaments, bottles etc. Then outside looking for the dog. The front gate had opened – had he gone into the road? – we searched for some time but without luck. I then remembered one of the important things to do – turn off the gas. The water heater lay on its side amid a tangle of pipes, flames trying to heat the contents – off went the gas from the tank.

We were unable to contact Matthew and Roma who were at the beach attending the Viña festival (were they still at the show?). We went back to bed perchance to sleep. No chance. The land phone starting working and we heard from the family in Chile. Still unable to contact Matthew. Called a very worried Christopher in England and let him know we were OK. They hadn’t heard from Niko’s family. We managed to talk to them and called England again to let them know everybody was OK. Still dark and Matthew rang at last, they had left the show before the quake began and were at the hotel a bit scared but in good shape. Called Christopher again to let him know but he told us there was a tsunami warning. Contacted Matthew but the hotel was on a hill so no problems there. Shortly afterwards the phones stopped working.

We rose at first light – the puppy was outside the door wagging its tail (Hurray, we thought we had lost him!!). A big black plume of smoke was rising from the distance looking like a black atomic bomb. Later in the day this smoke covered the whole sky shutting out the sun.

Still shocked in bed, we began to think how were we going to have our cup of tea. No problems, we thought, we’ll use the BBQ but, where is it? It was not where it normally stands, it was lying behind the garden table (naturally). However, we realized that we could use the gas for the stove as it feeds separately to the water heater.

The tour of the house began. The first thing I saw was David and Katy smiling up at us from the floor, through a broken picture frame. TV tables had moved but the TV’s had not fallen – not so lucky a big pot plant. Lamps had fallen; a large one over the dining room table had descended onto the table but fell on some books and did little damage except to itself. The china cabinet glass door had fallen to the floor, the glass unbroken – not so lucky the china and cut glass contents. My fancy whiskey glass was the only content left standing. Moving into the kitchen we saw that the whiskey bottle was not so lucky. Chaos, luckily the dishwasher was full which saved some of our crockery. Many contents had emptied themselves on the floor. Liquors, olive oil, olives, pickles, corn flour, spices, an exploded coke bottle, wine, whiskey, crockery and fancy plaques from the wall.

Outside the kitchen part of the carport wall had collapsed missing my car by a few inches – divine thanks! The shed – I have a lot of old school lockers, without doors, full of everything you could imagine – with paint, tins, etc on top was a war zone. The lockers on one side of the shed had fallen down emptying their contents and spilling paint – not good, still working on it! The well room – we have had so much trouble with the pumps, continually repairing something over the past couple of months – I didn’t want to look inside – wow it looks OK - fingers crossed for when we get the electricity back.

No electric still (Tues night), therefore no water, also no Internet and after a few hours early Sat no telephone no cell phone. Total isolation and change of life style and immediate expectations initially proved very stressful. Some parts of Santiago are back to normal but not us yet.

On Sunday we went in search of a public phone. The local Supermarket was closed (when I went there on Monday I saw why, because many of the shelves were empty) and we discovered that our neighbourhood has no public phones. Off we went to the next town. The local church front had fallen down, a pedestrian walkway over the motorway was destroyed and 2 others were damaged. We reached a pay phone – very modern looking which didn’t work. A taxi driver told us there was one they use further down which only takes old, large coins, this worked perfectly (old is good). Contact was made with family, (Matthew was still asleep back in Santiago at Roma’s).

Back to the clearing up. Upstairs one monitor was on the floor broken, another on the floor seemingly undamaged and a third hanging precariously over the table by its cables. Book shelves had taken a hit and pictures were crooked or fallen down. The book shelves in my wardrobe were on the floor. Not all cupboards have been opened yet, we are concentrating on visible problems.

Current status:

·     no electricity we are thinking of borrowing a generator

·     no water. The water from the well tank is running low.

·     The swimming pool, which is our current shower (glad it’s not winter), is getting low and, because there is no filter, is full of ants, etc.

·     No telephone, no internet, no TV, only the old fashioned pastimes.

·     We sit in the car to hear the radio news and listen to music

·     Freezer has unfrozen, contents have defrosted

·     Went to town to charge everything chargeable, my battery is still a little low.

·     Not worried about the numerous 3.5’s we’ve had since the big one

Our original depression has lifted and it’s back to work tomorrow. The house is now clean and almost back to normal. Happy to be here. How is the rain your end?

Memo to myself: must wash my hair and shave (but how??) What about my finger nails? Need a manicure… :)

Love from the Gringo in Chile