Cleaning and rebuilding: Chile needs material
Cleaning and rebuilding: Chile needs material
Pichilemu – Cleaning up the mess, trying to rebuild houses. OM team members are in Pichilemu this week to help out the people that almost lost everything because of the natural disaster that struck Chile last week. After the earthquake, the country is in desperate need for finances to buy building materials.
“Tiring and sad”, are the words Carlos Correa uses to describe the visit he paid to southern Chile last week. The field leader of Operation Mobilisation (OM) in Chile travelled to Talcahuano, a port city that suffered hugely by the earthquake and following tsunami. Carlos and his colleague Yerko Clavero brought some food and water to the area and visited pastors and churches, in order to organize relief work.
This week, team members of OM Chile are already working in the damaged areas, to help the people clean up and get ready for rebuilding. They are helping out in Pichilemu, a city that was hit terribly by the earthquake and following tsunami.
Travelling to and in the south is not easy, Carlos states. “The roads are damaged in different parts of the country and we had to go out of the highway about five times. Bridges are completely destroyed, even two hundred kilometers before the epicenter.”
In Talcahuano, it was terrible to see what the natural disaster has left behind, he says. The centre of the city was inaccessible, because the police had closed it. During their visit, there was a curfew from six o’clock in the evening until noon the next day. “It seems like the city has been bombed and afterwards was hit by the tsunami.” Carlos and Yerko visited a number of people, who all were very sad. “An elderly pastor and his wife were sad too and very nervous, even though their house resisted the earthquake.”
Several organizations are mobilizing people to bring food, clothing and shelter to the Chileans in need. Besides the relief work that is already taking place, OM Chile would like to contribute more to the rebuild of the country. “We would like to receive donations to send to pastors and church leaders. They are helping their members and fellow local residents to rebuild houses and churches.”
OM Chile is, at the moment, working with different pastors and church groups in the area that need provision. “What they mostly need, is material”, Carlos states. “As we talk to the pastors, we realize that they have the people that can help. Builders, brick layers, carpenters and so on. What they lack, is building material.”
Furthermore, in June and July, OM Chile is planning to send work teams to the areas in the south. The rebuild of the country will not be finished in a few weeks. “There’s a lot to be done. Please, keep Chile in your prayers.”
Credit: OM International · © 2010
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