terremoto

As most of you know, Chile suffered a 8.8 magnitude early Saturday morning. The epicenter was located in Concepcion (about 5 hours southwest of Santiago) and there have been 1.5 million rendered homeless thus far. The death toll is currently at roughly 800 people and it is expected to rise. This earthquake was the 7th most powerful in history. Although Chile is no stranger to earthquakes Bachelet expects the road to recovery to be at least three to four years. The biggest damages were in rural areas of Chile--most of the infrastructures have been totally destroyed. It has been a very sobering experience..I was lucky enough to be at home in bed with my housemates and none of us were hurt. We had some damage to the plaster on the ceiling and I have pretty big cracks in my wall but our house is made from adobe which is generally pretty strong.

the chunk of dry wall from our roof post-quake

my wall in my bedroom

Chile has been adamant about being strong and working together to recover. The slogan Chile Ayuda a Chile (Chile helps Chile) is significant because it indicates the strength of the people. It's been a crazy experience to see the aftermath of everything. It's been a difficult road but I feel so thankful for everything.

Here's some more photos of the damages around Santiago:

a church on Providencia 

Museum Bellas Artes

A map of the quake via BBC

Besos a todas as usual. Love Love Love!