 "Photo: Andres Aldea, Red Cross worker")
For many Americans, the recent earthquake in Chile was little more than a blip during the evening news, but for some Cal Poly students, it was far more personal.
Karina Ortiz Villa is a Chilean student at Cal Poly whose family was directly affected by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake on Feb. 27. Three of her family members went missing for three days after the quake hit and were only found after a phone connection was re-established.
Her hometown, Concepcion, is the biggest city near the epicenter and suffered massive structural damage.
“Schools are down, buildings are down, and houses collapsed,” said Karina Ortiz Villa, a first-year philosophy student.
“It looks like a war zone,” her uncle told her.
Darlene Peceimer, a fourth-year Spanish student, also lost contact with her family in Santiago, Chile, which is located 200 miles from the epicenter. She was unable to contact her family for 12 to 13 hours following the earthquake.
“My aunt said that the earthquake felt as if you were in the ocean, riding the waves … it was so powerful she could barely get out of bed to stand inside the door frame,” said Peceimer.
Ortiz Villa is helping organize fundraisers with several organizations on campus to bring aid to the survivors of the Chilean earthquake. She is a member of Students Demand for Equality and Education or DEPIE and is raising awareness and fundraising for the Chilean earthquake survivors with the help of other organizations including Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, the Mexican American Student Association, and the Gender, Ethnic, and Multicultural Studies Department. She hopes that the fundraisers will generate money for immediate supplies.
The residents of Concepcion have complained about the lack of food and water in the city after the quake.
“People in Chile are comparing ONEMI’s (Natural Office of Emergency of the Interior Ministry) response to the earthquake in the same way that FEMA responded to Hurricane Katrina,” said Ortiz Villa.
Hard-hit towns such as Concepcion had to deal with security concerns. Looters and people desperate for essentials such as food, water, toilet paper, and gasoline ransacked most markets in the area prompting authorities to send troops and impose an overnight curfew in the city.
“No curfew has been set since the ‘70s and ‘80s,” said Ortiz Villa.
The earthquake was registered as the fifth-largest earthquake recorded since 1900 according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The earthquake was followed by 30-foot-high tsunamis that destroyed the coastal areas of Chile.
David Berry, professor of Geology at Cal Poly, said an earthquake of an 8.8 magnitude would cause destruction to an area, such as Cal Poly campus. However, he doubts if any buildings would collapse.
“The more modern buildings have been engineered that an 8.0 earthquake in mind and older buildings have been retrofitted [strengthened],” said Berry.
Berry said it is unlikely that the Haiti earthquake and the earthquake in Chile are related.
“There is no correlation [because] they occurred on different fault systems,” he said.
Cal Poly has an active fault that runs through campus, but according to Berry an earthquake along the fault would not cause much destruction. However he does stress the importance of being prepared for a big earthquake.
The World Health Organization said as communications improve, the reports of deaths would rise.
It also noted access to health services for the survivors would be a major challenge and that the people most at risk were the indigenous people living in adobe homes.
The Rincon Chileno restaurant in Los Angeles is donating food to be sold on campus to help fundraise for the victims of the Chilean earthquake in the near future.
Ortiz Villa urges students to join her in her efforts to bring aid to the ravaged country.
“A Starbucks hot chocolate is about three dollars but those three dollars could make a difference if it was donated to the Red Cross,” Ortiz Villa said. “It’s the best way to help out.”
Reach the authors at: news@thepolypost.com
Be the first to comment on this article!