Filipino Families of Skokie

“The earthquake, which struck at 3:34 a.m., triggered a tidal wave that was more than 30 feet high in places and which swept more than a mile inland. While some people reached high ground, others were washed away. Cars were left piled on top of houses”- Fr. Waldo Alfaro, Head, Caritas Linares

The Catholic News Service (CNS) reported on Caritas’ efforts to reach survivors in the city of Linares, 300 km south of Santiago, capital of Chile after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit the region.

CNS quoted Father Waldo Alfaro, head of the Caritas Chile office in Linares,”The entire coast was hard-hit, but this is an area where the poorest rural residents live,” Father Alfaro said. “Aid is not reaching them because these are very small villages.”

Three trucks left Linares early March 2 to distribute supplies, especially food and water, to residents of far-flung villages in the farming region. The greatest need is for milk, water, food, fuel and cots for victims, as well as assistance in rebuilding houses that collapsed in the quake, Father Alfaro said.

The adobe houses common in the poorest rural regions “are the ones that collapsed,” he said. The Linares office of Caritas, the church’s social assistance agency, is compiling an inventory of damaged and destroyed homes.

Meanwhile, buckled and cracked highways complicated aid distribution.”Roads are passable, but dangerous,” Father Alfaro said.

The national government is sending aid to the region by ship to bypass the buckled roads, damaged bridges and crowds of people who swarm vehicles arriving in urban areas, he said.

Between 30 and 40 churches and chapels in the Linares Diocese were badly damaged or destroyed, along with two orphanages. In coastal villages, churches that remain standing have been turned into makeshift morgues.

In the United States, Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, offered prayers for earthquake victims in a March 1 letter to Bishop Goic.

“I write to assure you of my prayers and those of my brother bishops in the United States for all who have been affected by this tragedy,” Cardinal George wrote. “I assure you also of our prayers for the church and for our brother bishops of Chile.”

He told Bishop Goic that Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishop’s international relief and development agency, “stands ready to be of assistance to you and your Caritas groups as they work to alleviate the suffering caused by the earthquake.”

The Catholic Relief services will be supporting the relief efforts of the local Catholic Church through Caritas Chile, the social service arm of the Catholic Church in Chile, which is responding with food and other assistance.

“We ask all to give their prayers and support to the people of Chile at this difficult time,” said CRS President Ken Hackett. “It must be remembered that Chile was one of the first countries to give help to Haitians in their suffering.”

CRS will assist Caritas Chile with donations and has offered expertise. “The magnitude and depth of the catastrophe which has affected the poorest regions of the country will require the support of Caritas members in Latin America and worldwide,” said Caritas Chile Director Lorenzo Figueroa. “Above all, hope is needed among our suffering people.”

Donation to Catholic Relief Services is accepted through its website: http://crs.org/chile/maule-quake.cfm.

Donate by phone:

Call  1-800-736-3467
Please call between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Or you can mail  your donations to:

Catholic Relief Services
3525 South Lake Park Avenue
Chicago, IL 60653-1402

For more information contact the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Catholic Relief Services Office at 312-534-8367. If you are not within the Chicagoland area or not in the U.S., you may call your local parish for information.

Here are some video clips from YouTube during and immediately after the disaster. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. May God bless you.

photo source: Reuters/Victor Ruiz Caballero, article sources: CNS and CRS