Go forward in time to April 2010.
Now that things have settled down a bit in Chile, I can write about how Saturday's earthquake has affected my family and friends.
First of all, all my family, friends, and people I know are fine. Some material losses, in different degree, affected to many of them, but that's about it. A huge thanks to all the people who one way or another helped me to find a way to communicate with my family and all of those who showed their support and concern. By now, I can communicate directly with all of them without any problems.
For good or bad, one of my sisters was in Viña del Mar on Saturday and Catalina, the youngest, was with my father in Santiago. That means that the quake found my mother alone in Talca, one of the cities that suffered the most with the earthquake. Nothing major happened to her house nor the neighborhood where she lives. The same can't be told about most of downtown Talca. She is still very sensitive about the situation, like most of the people in the area. Sisters didn't manage to travel to Talca until yesterday but, at last, they are all reunited and well communicated with me.
Unfortunately, my great-aunt's house in the downtown of Talca collapsed. She and her family were able to leave the place in time but, as many of the old adobe houses in the area, the house couldn't resist at all. I haven't had further updates on their status but I can imagine their suffering right now.
The same happened with the student-house where Catalina rents a room in Concepción. Since the semester hadn't started yet, only the elderly landlady was there and, according to my sister, she was rescued right in time out of a window before the old house collapsed. We'll need to find a new place for my sister and replace the things she lost, but luckily that's about it. Glad that no one got hurt; at the same time sad for all of those whose luck wasn't the same.
Needless to say, my email at codemonkey.cl is down until further notice, since the server is (or was?) in Talca. You can still reach me through my GNOME or Igalia email addresses, though.
Go backwards in time to February 2010.