Today we traveled north to Cauquenes to see how the church fared. There were three 6 plus earthquakes during the last hour of driving. It was a surprise to us because we were driving on a bumpy road and never felt a thing.
The destruction we saw today was immense: ceramic roof tiles in piles of rubble, adobe bricks that became dirt and straw again, crooked, cracked, and crumpled walls everywhere. Pastor took us to the house where of one of the members lived. It is a miracle he escaped. All that is left is a pile of rubble.
We visited a family that lives out in the country a few miles from town. Their house looked like it survived from the outside. But inside it was obvious that it was about to fall apart. The whole family is living in a pole barn with a dirt floor where they store their truck. It is open so they were closing it in to use as a house. A tour of their home was especially unnerving after the three quakes a few hours earlier. Their case was very typical; houses that look fine from the outside are cracked and weakened inside. A small tremor could bring them down.
We looked at 3 towns in all, the first is about 40% destroyed, Cauquenes (60k population) is 50%-70% uninhabitable, and the small town of Coronel (2500 pop) is 98% uninhabitable. Many buildings that are still standing will have to be torn down.
We are going to try to raise some funds to buy tarps or plastic so people will have something to put over them. Winter is coming on quickly and cold and rain is on the way. We are very concerned for the conditions that many thousands of people find themselves in.
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