mi chilito lindo

What a freaking day; as crazy as it sounds i had a flashback to 9/11 ... waking up to seeing a place you love in pieces.

The crazy thing is that i knew about the earthquake at around 3am ET. I was trying to fall asleep and in my groggy state, i sleepily went to facebook on my phone and lo and behold, found a link posted saying that an earthquake had hit chile.

i got up and put cnn and there was nothing on. i searched online but all i knew was that an earthquake had hit ... i knew the magnitude and the general area but that's it. all that was said was that santiago "felt it". i quickly sent my cousin in puerto montt [a town further south and therefore closer to the epicenter] a message saying i hope she was ok.

i thought about calling my parents but decided not to scare them at 4am ... besides, my dad wakes up super early every day so by 5am he knew when he put on tvChile. i got a few hours sleep and woke up around 9 to calls, emails, texts, bbms, and facebook messages with people asking me how my family was. that's when i turned on the tv and saw what i had not been able to at 4am.

i saw that one of my cousins had [geniously] thought enough to try to get on fb and he wrote to my mom and i. one side of the family partially accounted for but no word from my moms side. i called home to my mom crying. it took hours but at around noon we were finally able to get in contact with her side; everyone ok ... scared beyond belief but ok. now all that's missing is my cousin and some of my moms friends, including her best friend ie my "aunt". i'm certain they're ok, just without electricity, but the uncertainty of it all is the scary part.

chris came over to keep me company for a few and as we watched the endless news reports, we sat in awe on how the chilean government was handling this disaster. totally calm and kept together. is this a disaster, yes. do we need money, yes. but we dont need donations until we see how much damage is done because we have a special fund for events like these.

you see, chile is no stranger to this. earthquakes aren't non-heard of events [although something this large hasn't been felt in YEARS]. buildings are built up to code [so much so that i saw that if a building fell because it wasn't up to standards, they will be dealt with accordingly], emergency teams are trained, systems on how to deal with an earthquake are in place, funds are set aside.

is this a disaster yes ... 2 million people are affected in some way. they either lost everything they owned or are dealing without basic ammenities like water and electricity. it's the end of summer. it's hot. there's been more than 30 aftershocks. and by aftershocks i mean things measuring more than 6.0 ... and i don't know how horrible this might sound, but while any death is tragic ... for the magnitude of this quake, to have a current death toll of under 300 is unheard of.

sigh

what a mess. as emotionally draining as it was, i didn't cry. and honestly the few times i did tear up, it was at the outpouring of support that i got. i received phone calls from people i rarely talk to, but they thought of me. i got hundreds of messages via phone, facebook, and email. i thank every single person who thought of me, from my bestest who came to keep my company, to my tashy who was ready to jump on a train from VA, to everyone who took 2 seconds to contact me to see if everything was ok. it means a lot to me and my family, who was on facebook seeing all of this.

for news, search banks, and to donate:

http://www.google.com/relief/chileearthquake/
https://www.habitat.org/cd/giving/donate.aspx?link=252

Red Cross


please keep chile in your prayers.