TerremotoChile – Chilean Earthquake

I just wanted to give an update on the Chilean earthquake. The epicenter was 70 miles from Concepcion, the city where the mission offices were located. Tome, the city where I served for seven months was one of the closest cities to the epicenter. It is about 60 miles from the epicenter. I have heard from many friends in Santiago, Vina del Mar, and Valpariso who are all okay. They did not have power or water for quite a while but they seem to all have it back within 24 hours of the earthquake. These cities are about 300 miles from the epicenter.

I have tried many many times to contact people in Tome but cell phones nor landlines are working. I am horribly worried for their well being based on the news I have heard and what I know of the geography there. The town next to Tome is reported to be 85% underwater from the tsunami. The town across the bay from Tome (Talcahuano) was confirmed to have had a 2-3 meter tsunami do major damage. I have not been able to verify that Tome was hit by a tsunami but it undoubtedly was.

Above is a picture of Tome that was taken in 1997/1998. I don’t know how well you can distinguish the altitude. The area with white houses and dirt is where I lived. It is a neighborhood built on a very steep slope. I am extremely worried about this neighborhood because I think that the steep slope makes it especially vulnerable in an earthquake. You can see the ocean below. The whole downtown area of the city is just above sea level and if a tsunami hit then houses, a friends apartment building, grocery story, government buildings, etc, etc would have been affected.

Lebu is another pueblito that I am very worried about. It is also low lying on the coast. I have not yet heard from anyone there. I can’t remember how far the house where I lived was from the ocean but I think that it is far enough that it would be safe in case of tsunami, much of the town however would not be. It is also a small town where there would be a lot more houses of adobe then in the larger cities. The adobe homes seem to have been the most dangerous. I’ve heard nothing from Quirihue but it is also a very small town with many adobe homes. It is probably 30-40 miles from the epicenter.

I have heard news from Chillan, the first city I served in. It sounds like everyone in the ward I worked in is safe, however there are some people who have had significant damage to their homes. For some reason Chillan does not seem to be as strongly affected as other cities in the area. It is only 60 miles from the epicenter.

This is a typical adobe building in Quirihue. It has no support and would easily fall in an earthquake. If I remember right this is the house of Jose.

Solange & Jeffeey Nico