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Dear Friends:

Thank you for your kind messages.

We are all well, almost zero damage in our homes (Santiago and Algarrobo), - the odd standing lamp broken - nothing structural.

For the country it has been another shocking natural catastrophe. Chile is a country prone to volcanic eruptions, tremors and quakes, the last major quake in 1985. But since then Tocopilla and the eruption of the Chaiten Volcano.

We were awakened by the first tentative tremors, which is usually all that happens. This time the intensity increased,the shaking became more violent. I switched on the bedside lamp and immediately it went out,- no electricity. We groped our way to the front door as the shaking increased, and the noise rose to a crescendo which prevented verbal communication ...

Panic.. and the utter impossibility of doing anything.... it lasted some three minutes, which is a long time in the pitch dark and with the prospect of being buried under rubble. We were horrified by the length of the event and by the deafening rattling. If it continued the house would surely collapse. And what of the children and all the apartment buildings in the city....?

And then it diminished in intensity and stopped. But for how long?

Marina was terrified but being a lady I noticed, once we found the torch, that she seemed fully dressed!

I called Denis....no answer on the land line but it rang normally. No connection with the celular. Julia managed to speak a few words to Julita,- she and the family all right. Then the celular phone also went dead. No further communication.

We joined the Herrera neighbours in the passage. They were driving their car out from under the garage roof. Sensible measure which we copied. The moon was full. A beautiful night. But like most people we sleep with the curtains closed. 

By torch-light it seemed that the house had suffered scarcely at all, an impression confirmed at daybreak. What extraordinary good fortune.

I dressed and drove to see Denis and family.

No damage to the road system and only the odd debris from street lights.

No apparent damage to buildings.

Denis reached me on my celular as I arrived at his house,- the only call I have received since the earthquake. All was well. To Julita. All in order. Baby Nicolás sleeping placidly. With Rodrigo we drove to the apartment of Carlos and Cristina where I waited listening to the car radio while Rodrigo climbed to the 15th floor to find the flat in considerable disarray, but apparently no structural damage. On the radio lots of disparate information. 8,5, 8.9 on the Richter scale, epicentre in the Concepcion area, fortunately not many fatal casualities....To Eliana in Los Leones. All relatively well.

Home and to bed with a feeling of helplessness. The radio messages from the authorities asked us to refrain from moving unnecessarily....

The strange aspect is that we lunch on Saturday as usual on the terrace in the knowledge that we are close to a tragedy of large dimensions.

That evening my walk took me past the Maturana´s flat and I called in. As Alberto, the former head of ONEMI, the national emergency service, barbecued sausages for his family´s Sunday evening meal a grandson played Georgia on the piano, correctly harmonized as is to be expected with such a musical grandfather. Alberto told me that he had detected on the internet early on Saturday morning as events developped that the seismic information from the U.S.A regarding the epicentre and the risk of reactions in the Ocean diverged from what the authorities here were broadcasting. (Confirmed by Tony Povilitis). People on the coast in the Maule area north of Concepcion were in danger from subsequent movements in the ocean and had not been adequately warned. Whatever has happened there is now history and we will soon learn details...This was confirmed minutes later on the news by the Minister of Defence (a colleague of Denis in the reserve) who said succinctly that the Naval Authorities has misinterpreted the information!....of which we shall hear more.

Internet and television have not been interrupted, the same for our utilities in this area of the city.

The situation elsewhere is different. The death roll increases hourly. Thousands of people, principally in the south, are living outside their collapsed homes or have moved to higher ground inland. 

Events in the affected area were soon getting out of control. Supermarkets have been sacked. The provinces of Maule and Concepcion are under martial law since Sunday evening ( people are asking “why not immediately....?”) and the armed forces are now ´collaborating´with the civil authorities. (This is a change of direction, a positive one. The authorities omitted to enlist the invaluable assistance of the army after the quake in Tocopilla three years ago, perhaps for political reasons, and to the detriment of the salvage measure for the city and its inhabitants).

Here in the Santiago area we are fortunate to be safe and sound when people in the south have suffered personal tragedies and many have suffered the loss of their homes and possessins. The industrial area north of Santiago has suffered considerable damage, including INTERCOS and KENKAN.

Off to the canning plant to see the situation there.

And life goes on. Schools will be closed this week at least. So perhaps we shall take the grandchildren to Las Dichas....