[Sca-cooks] OOP and Off Topic Earthquake Relief
Suey
lordhunt at gmail.com
Mon Mar 8 11:55:42 PST 2010
We are getting in a lot of news about what to do in future, which
does not cover wounds of Saturday a week. The more you read the more you
want to cry. A doctor of mine received me today for a check up because
he canceled all his appointments last week to work in emergency. As so
many provincial hospitals fell down in the south, he spent the week
receiving patients in bad condition who were flown into his clinic.
I heard on the radio today that a building collapsed in Concepcion
and five hours later reporters from the major newspaper, the Mercurio in
Santiago, heard people inside screaming for help. A reporter approached
a fireman on the scene who was doing nothing. He said he had no orders
to go in. The same happened in another spot where military trucks were
stopped on a major highway with relief goods, diapers, toilet paper,
water etc. The reporter asked why all those trucks were stopped. The
answer was that the captain was waiting from orders from the commander
of the region!
On the other hand a friend of ours is married to a helicopter pilot
in the armed forces. He flies experts, materials, whatever into
Concepcion daily from Santiago. He has learned that to protect himself
from civilians who run begging toward his helicopter that if he drops
something like a bag of used clothing from me, the people will run for
the bag and let him land safely.
As you can see with the fund raiser last week-end, the Chileans are
more generous then they themselves realized. On every corner on every
street in Santiago there are volunteers asking for organizations like
the Red Cross, even funeral homes. They also attacked the supermarkets.
On Thursday the aisles were empty, there was no soup, no milk, no
bottled water, no diapers, no tp, etc etc because the customers bought
for themselves and managed another cart to send to the needy, which they
paid for and gave to volunteers on the spot. When I got there, there was
only fresh fruit but as I was leaving I spied delivery trucks arriving.
I returned a few hours later and I too helped deplete them of basic
article. Another volunteer approached me this morning showing me a
pamplet for the organization for which she works. I told her no more, my
husband was taking care of those things. She gasped between tears,
- You do not understand - So many people have lost everything! -
More than half the students have not been able to return to school
as the buildings have fallen down. Even the University of Chile is
working on half steam. How many students have lost the breadwinners in
their families?
In short the list is endless.
Suey
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