Preparation Saved Lives in the Chilean Earthquake

One of the strongest earthquakes on record shook central Chile on February 27. The disaster killed more than 700 people, caused extensive damage, and affected an estimated 2 million people.

Sam Martland, who is board chair at the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Terre Haute, Indiana, and assistant professor of history and Latin American studies at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, was in Santiago, the Chilean capital, when the earthquake struck. He and his family are fine; Santiago was not as severely damaged as other cities, namely Concepción. Martland reports that his friends in other areas have had homes and workplaces destroyed.

Martland shared his observations in the aftermath of the quake in an e-mail to a colleague. "[S]everal events in the last few days show the importance of a prepared citizenry," Martland says. "When the navy mistakenly said there would be no tsunami, many people headed for the hills anyway because the harbormasters and police and regular folks knew that was what to do after an earthquake.

"There are many people trained in rescues who live in the affected areas because Chile has highly trained volunteer firefighters (men and women) even in big cities, so the fire departments are large. One neighborhood in Concepción is drinking from a well that an older resident dug after the earthquake of 1960."

Martland has observed, and also been involved in, the kinds of impromptu relief efforts that always arise after a disaster. "Aid is slow getting to many smaller towns and certain neighborhoods, so people are on their own resources for a while. Some friends in Santiago are getting up a supply mission to a hospital . . . in the affected area — getting a list of needs and collecting money, partly from friends in the U.S. — a well-organized unofficial effort."