On February 27, at about 3:30am local time a magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit the moderately populated region of Bio-Bio, Chile. The epicenter of the tremor was located 56 miles north-northeast of the Chilean town of Concepcion in the south of the country.

On Tuesday, March 2, The International Federation of the Red Cross made a preliminary emergency appeal of $6.4 million to all Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in order to assist the Chilean Red Cross. The American Red Cross is accepting donations in response to this appeal. This includes Chile-designated donations through www.redcross.org, through calls to 1-800-REDCROSS, and by texting “Chile” to 90999. People can also call 1-800-257-7575 to make a donation in Spanish.

Preliminary information from Chile:

• Two main affected regions: Bio-Bio and Maule (rural, moderately populated areas with little or no access by road)·
• Communications are very limited
• Airport in Santiago is closed.
• A tsunami wave has struck an un-inhabited island off Chile
• Transbank is operating at minimal capacity because of power outages.
• All mass public events are suspended for 72 hours, including concerts, the wine festival, and seminars.
• Damage reports continue coming in: Juan Pablo bridge is suspended from transit pending evaluation, San Felipe is registering “serious damages”, bridges are out to Yoyeo, Stgo Airport is closed due to damage to the control tower and main terminal.
• The Chilean Red Cross has extensive experience responding to earthquakes and other disasters. They immediately activated their disaster teams following Saturday’s massive earthquake and continue to work in close coordination with the government’s National Emergency Office.
• The Chilean Red Cross is advising people to get prepared now for the coming days.

Immediate Needs:

• Search and Rescue
• Disaster Assessments

How You Can Help:

People can help the victims of countless crises like the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti, around the world each year, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need.

The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation by either contacting 1-800-Red-Cross or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish), or mailing your donation with the designation to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washinton D.C. 20013 or to your local American Red Cross chapter.  Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting International Response Fund. 

American Red Cross Actions:

• Internationally, the American Red Cross provides assistance at the request of the Red Cross in that country and at this point the Chilean Red Cross has not asked for additional international support.  We stand ready to provide additional assistance to the Chilean Red Cross should they need it.
• The American Red Cross has increasing the initial pledge to $250,000for relief operations in Chile and stands ready to mobilize additional support, including releif supplies, trained personnel and additional financial assistance.
• The Red Cross global network has dispatched a regional disaster specialist to Santiago, the Chilean capital.  In addition, regional Red Cross disaster teams in latin America have been alerted, and one team is enroute to Chile. This latter includes an American red Cross disaster expert based in Panama.

Safe & Well

Those who would like to get in contact with family in Chile are encouraged to register on line through the Red Cross Safe and Well Program.

To ask for or provide information about US citizens in Chile, contact the U.S. State Department at 1-888-407-4747.

Chile Disaster Information

Chile is a country prone to earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions. In 1960, Chile was hit by a 9.5 magnitude quake which devastated the south-central city of Valdivia, killing 1,655 people and sending a tsunami which battered Easter Island 2,300 miles off Chile’s Pacific seaboard and continued as far as Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines. There was a 7.7 quake in 2007, in a rural area, with two deaths reported.

The Chilean Red Cross is a member of the Chilean government’s emergency response group, which is leading the emergency operations. Outside of disasters their main focus is usually on health, especially in the area of blood donations, first aid, mother and child health and the elderly. The Chilean Red Cross also promotes the implementation of a national emergency health program and has trained emergency health volunteers throughout the country.

Follow the Chilean Red Cross on Twitter (in Spanish): http://twitter.com/CruzRojainforma

American Red Cross Spokespeople Available for Interviews

• Call or e-mail Eric Porterfield at 202-701-3309 or porterfielde@usa.redcross.org to setup interviews.
• Tracy Reines, Director of International Response, Washington, DC
• Eric Baranick, Regional Representative for South America, Lima, Peru (English & Spanish)
• Steve McAndrew, disaster volunteer in Port-au-Prince, Haiti (leading Haiti earthquake response)

Tags: Chilean Earthquake

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 27th, 2010 at 11:54 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.