Everyone has been discussing the recent earthquake in Chile (below the equator, where we are, and above, where all of you are). Since we have access to a few sources of information, I thought I’d share them with you quickly. I know this comes later (a month after), but this is the first opportunity we’ve had to share anything! Here are the pieces of information I’ve been able to collect based on conversations, and a bit of Internet research:
- Thankfully, we were nowhere near the epicenter of the earthquake. At the time it happened, we were on the Falkland Islands, which are 1270 miles (as the crow flies) away from Concepcion.
- The quake really destroyed infrastructure around Concepcion and Santiago. The airport was shut down for 10 days, and since has been operating out of tents, with limited flights.
- Apparently, the Internet was partly to blame for a slow Chilean response. This comes from the Economist (see the fifth paragraph for details), so I trust it.
- Tourism was hit pretty hard. Since all flights into and out of Santiago were cancelled for 10 days, and there were only limited flights after that, a lot of people coming to Chile in March didn’t go. We actually booked with a tour guide for our trip to Torres del Paine, and heard stories about several groups who had to cancel their trips because they couldn’t get there (more on that when we write about Torres del Paine!).
- We had heard about a lot of damage to Easter Island from a tsunami, but apparently it did not materialize (based on first-person Twitter accounts).
- I just spoke with a woman yesterday who said that many of the roads around Santiago and slightly south (in the Lakes district, near the epicenter) are pretty wrecked, especially for people trying to travel over the Andes. This is a pretty popular route – we took it when we crossed from Santiago to Buenos Aires in November.
That’s everything I’ve heard. Thankfully most of Easter Island was spared. Check out the story about our visit there (in the middle of a tropical storm) if you haven’t read it yet!
