DISCUSS SOME ISSUE OF PERSONAL, LOCAL, NATIONAL, OR INTERNATIONAL CONCERN AND ITS IMPORTANCE TO YOU.
I woke up at 3:34AM the Saturday 27th of February knowing that I should go to the established structural beam of my department. I knew it was an earthquake; I've experienced some before, but really mild ones, none above the 5.5 magnitude. Walking through the hallway with odd difficulty and to hear the raging sound of the earth moving underneath my feet warned me this wasn't as before.
I hold on to the first person I caught who later learned it was my brother. We just stood there in silence the 10 people that were in my apartment at the time and waited for all of it to come to an end. It was difficult to stay on your feet and the sound of everything crashing was discouraging, but there was nothing we could do, just wait the 3 long minutes it lasted.
My father arrived from his nearby house in record time. I will always remember his words: "we now have no idea what the damage is; as the sun comes up we'll witness the destruction". And so it was. That was probably the longest night of my life, as cliché as it sounds. The sun didn't rise up until at least 7:30AM, probably so that the truth my father talked about wouldn't unveil.
What happened then no one would have anticipated. The worst side of our society was exposed. Concepcion, my hometown, was chaotic. People began to loot not only food, but electronic devices and everything their hands could reach. I witnessed as at least 5 supermarkets were robbed by what could only be described as wild animals. "Every man for himself" appeared to be the code those days.
At a weakness moment I thought "why won't we do it to? For being honest we could be deprived of food for many days". My father corrected me as soon as I said those words. We couldn't become like them. We are valuable people and we have intelligence and principles above all. Involution was not an option.
Those weeks were full of an indescribable feeling of uncertainty. First, supermarkets were empty and we didn't know for how long, so we had to ration food. We had sufficient food at my house, but you felt guilty anyway grabbing something to eat. Then, rumors about looters invading houses troubled our thoughts, to the point the men in my neighborhood built an improvised fence and did night patrols for at least 9 days after the earthquake. You could hear gunshots every now and then at dark. And to top it all, aftershocks shook our city vigorously, reaching great magnitudes. We got used to them.
We thought about leaving town, going to Santiago, but there wasn't any fuel for the car anyway, and probably the highway was in awful conditions. We just had to deal with all of it. Later we knew that the normally 5 hour trip to Santiago was taking about 14.
After watching all the commotion people were in despair for some order. No one would ever want to reach those extremes, but armed forces were necessary. We needed them to be on the streets; people called the one radio left on the air and asked for the government to send military forces.
What we didn't know is that in Santiago, the capital, they knew nothing about my city. They had no information at all about Concepcion. No images, no radio emissions, nothing. My family told me later how worried they were about us, because rumors were held upon Concepcion, but there was nothing assured.
Just about four days later army forces were seen on the streets. A curfew was imposed. We had only 6 hours of freedom each day: from 12pm to 6pm. After that we could only stay in our neighborhoods, which encouraged the same odd feelings of being trapped in a chaotic city.
12 days passed without any light and 3 weeks without water. We had to drink water from the pool of my neighbor and only received clean water from the firemen on the second week prior to the catastrophe.
Concepcion was recovering a "normal" state. School classes began about 6 weeks after, which brought the routine back, a needed aspect after days of carrying water around, lighting candles to cook food on a camping kitchen and making endless lines to buy fuel or food. But in spite of this, the feeling of being in a city with no social control at all has been in my mind since those days.
Chile, supposedly, is a civilized country, which, according to statistics, will be a developed country in the coming years. But these economic terms seem nothing when a catastrophe of this scale occurs. Hordes of people looting supermarkets, stores, liquor shops even gymnasiums and not being stopped seemed incredible. What could a couple of guards do about hundreds of people running towards them?
But it wasn't enough for these hungry masses; of course food wasn't what they were looking for exactly. Rumors, which later on turned into facts, warned us armed groups of up to 50 people invaded houses nearby. But, where were the policemen? They simply weren't enough.
The rebels appeared to be more organized at a situation like this than our own government. How was that possible? Living in one of the countries with more earthquakes in the world, the state should have emergency planning, which lacked enormously those days. We did not only suffer an earthquake and tsunami of big magnitudes, but the impact of living in a destructed world of anguish and chaos was like living in one of those apocalyptic movies. We have to learn the lesson and be prepared skillfully for next time. We wouldn't like to see a recreation of the scenes we saw those days.
Watching the bright side of things, I must say I was really proud when I heard in the news my generation being called "the one of internet and solidarity". It is unbelievable how young people moved since the earthquake. We knew poorer people needed help and needed it fast. The organization Un Techo para Chile (A roof for Chile) began campaigns at a record time.
A fundraising named "Chile ayuda a Chile" (Chile helps Chile) had the goal to collect 15 thousand million pesos (about 30 million US Dollars). It gathered 3 times that. By June, 75.000 volunteers, including myself, built 21.000 houses in the most affected areas. Constructions were held every week, and then when university started, every weekend. Many of us lost classes and sacrificed our study time but for one good reason. Watching the family smile as they received their house and their hospitality is priceless, and if I had to make an extra effort to study at night or going exhausted to classes I would do it for the good of my community and the Chilean people in need.
I grew immensely living this massive earthquake, and I'm really thankful about that. It showed me the power of nature, what the lack of organization can do to people, and the most important thing, how awesomely regarding a simple smile can be after a laborious work, teachings that will be impregnated in me for a long time.
I woke up at 3:34AM the Saturday 27th of February knowing that I should go to the established structural beam of my department. I knew it was an earthquake; I've experienced some before, but really mild ones, none above the 5.5 magnitude. Walking through the hallway with odd difficulty and to hear the raging sound of the earth moving underneath my feet warned me this wasn't as before.
I hold on to the first person I caught who later learned it was my brother. We just stood there in silence the 10 people that were in my apartment at the time and waited for all of it to come to an end. It was difficult to stay on your feet and the sound of everything crashing was discouraging, but there was nothing we could do, just wait the 3 long minutes it lasted.
My father arrived from his nearby house in record time. I will always remember his words: "we now have no idea what the damage is; as the sun comes up we'll witness the destruction". And so it was. That was probably the longest night of my life, as cliché as it sounds. The sun didn't rise up until at least 7:30AM, probably so that the truth my father talked about wouldn't unveil.
What happened then no one would have anticipated. The worst side of our society was exposed. Concepcion, my hometown, was chaotic. People began to loot not only food, but electronic devices and everything their hands could reach. I witnessed as at least 5 supermarkets were robbed by what could only be described as wild animals. "Every man for himself" appeared to be the code those days.
At a weakness moment I thought "why won't we do it to? For being honest we could be deprived of food for many days". My father corrected me as soon as I said those words. We couldn't become like them. We are valuable people and we have intelligence and principles above all. Involution was not an option.
Those weeks were full of an indescribable feeling of uncertainty. First, supermarkets were empty and we didn't know for how long, so we had to ration food. We had sufficient food at my house, but you felt guilty anyway grabbing something to eat. Then, rumors about looters invading houses troubled our thoughts, to the point the men in my neighborhood built an improvised fence and did night patrols for at least 9 days after the earthquake. You could hear gunshots every now and then at dark. And to top it all, aftershocks shook our city vigorously, reaching great magnitudes. We got used to them.
We thought about leaving town, going to Santiago, but there wasn't any fuel for the car anyway, and probably the highway was in awful conditions. We just had to deal with all of it. Later we knew that the normally 5 hour trip to Santiago was taking about 14.
After watching all the commotion people were in despair for some order. No one would ever want to reach those extremes, but armed forces were necessary. We needed them to be on the streets; people called the one radio left on the air and asked for the government to send military forces.
What we didn't know is that in Santiago, the capital, they knew nothing about my city. They had no information at all about Concepcion. No images, no radio emissions, nothing. My family told me later how worried they were about us, because rumors were held upon Concepcion, but there was nothing assured.
Just about four days later army forces were seen on the streets. A curfew was imposed. We had only 6 hours of freedom each day: from 12pm to 6pm. After that we could only stay in our neighborhoods, which encouraged the same odd feelings of being trapped in a chaotic city.
12 days passed without any light and 3 weeks without water. We had to drink water from the pool of my neighbor and only received clean water from the firemen on the second week prior to the catastrophe.
Concepcion was recovering a "normal" state. School classes began about 6 weeks after, which brought the routine back, a needed aspect after days of carrying water around, lighting candles to cook food on a camping kitchen and making endless lines to buy fuel or food. But in spite of this, the feeling of being in a city with no social control at all has been in my mind since those days.
Chile, supposedly, is a civilized country, which, according to statistics, will be a developed country in the coming years. But these economic terms seem nothing when a catastrophe of this scale occurs. Hordes of people looting supermarkets, stores, liquor shops even gymnasiums and not being stopped seemed incredible. What could a couple of guards do about hundreds of people running towards them?
But it wasn't enough for these hungry masses; of course food wasn't what they were looking for exactly. Rumors, which later on turned into facts, warned us armed groups of up to 50 people invaded houses nearby. But, where were the policemen? They simply weren't enough.
The rebels appeared to be more organized at a situation like this than our own government. How was that possible? Living in one of the countries with more earthquakes in the world, the state should have emergency planning, which lacked enormously those days. We did not only suffer an earthquake and tsunami of big magnitudes, but the impact of living in a destructed world of anguish and chaos was like living in one of those apocalyptic movies. We have to learn the lesson and be prepared skillfully for next time. We wouldn't like to see a recreation of the scenes we saw those days.
Watching the bright side of things, I must say I was really proud when I heard in the news my generation being called "the one of internet and solidarity". It is unbelievable how young people moved since the earthquake. We knew poorer people needed help and needed it fast. The organization Un Techo para Chile (A roof for Chile) began campaigns at a record time.
A fundraising named "Chile ayuda a Chile" (Chile helps Chile) had the goal to collect 15 thousand million pesos (about 30 million US Dollars). It gathered 3 times that. By June, 75.000 volunteers, including myself, built 21.000 houses in the most affected areas. Constructions were held every week, and then when university started, every weekend. Many of us lost classes and sacrificed our study time but for one good reason. Watching the family smile as they received their house and their hospitality is priceless, and if I had to make an extra effort to study at night or going exhausted to classes I would do it for the good of my community and the Chilean people in need.
I grew immensely living this massive earthquake, and I'm really thankful about that. It showed me the power of nature, what the lack of organization can do to people, and the most important thing, how awesomely regarding a simple smile can be after a laborious work, teachings that will be impregnated in me for a long time.
