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A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*
3:00 P.M. EST Feb. 27, 2010
UMNS image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
United Methodists were scrambling to respond to a massive earthquake
that struck Chile early on Feb. 27 and prompted tsunami warnings across
the Pacific region.
The magnitude 8.8 earthquake, which hit about 60 miles northwest of the
town of Chillán, left nearly 150 people dead, according to news reports,
including at least three people swept into a large wave on an island
400 miles off the coast of Chile. Santiago, the capital, is 200 miles
northeast of the epicenter.
President Michelle Bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe" in
central Chile, and the quake was felt in neighboring countries as far
away as Brazil, according to news reports.
The Rev. Tom Hazelwood, an UMCOR emergency response executive, said the
agency had exchanged e-mails with Juan Salazar, president of Ministerio
Social Metodista in Chile, to offer assistance.
He also was in touch with United Methodist Bishop Mary Ann Swenson of
Los Angeles regarding the tsunami warnings for Hawaii. Swenson is leader
of the denomination’s California Pacific Annual (regional) Conference,
which includes Hawaii.
A tsunami wave could affect Hawaii as early as 4:05 p.m. Eastern time,
according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
The earthquake struck at 3:34 a.m. and reports of damage continued to
come in all day. The force of the earthquake was enough to jolt the
94-year-old mother of the Rev. Oscar Carrasco, a district superintendent
in the United Methodist Northern Illinois Conference, from her bed in
Curacautín.
Joyce Carrasco, Oscar’s wife, reported that they had heard his mother
was OK, but that his sister’s house next door was heavily damaged. Her
mother-in-law is keeping the family focused in prayer and she feels the
family is blessed to be able to be together and prepare a meal. "Thank
goodness for fire wood while Curacautín is isolated. … bridges are out.
There is a tense calm," Carrasco said. "Still waiting to hear more
news."
A United Methodist volunteer-in-mission group from Wisconsin, working in
Chile since Feb. 17, was reported to be safe. The team was doing repair
work at the Agricultural School of La Granja in the town of Nueva
Imperial.
Hazelwood said the Methodist Church in Chile will be better able to
respond to the earthquake because of disaster training that he and
Melissa Crutchfield, an UMCOR colleague, conducted there in October. The
autonomous denomination has some 15,000 members.
About 20 church members, representing different districts, participated
in the three-day disaster preparedness and emergency response training,
which also allowed for networking with local authorities and emergency
response partners.
The plan is to create a humanitarian response system in Chile in
collaboration with UMCOR and the Chilean Oficina Nacional de Emergencia
del Ministerio del Interior. “We have a great relationship with the
people in Chile and the church in Chile,” Hazelwood added.
Hazelwood and Crutchfield had intended to return to Chile in January to
sign a memorandum of understanding with the church, he said, but the
trip was postponed because of the earthquake in Haiti.
Donations to the United Methodist Committee on Relief for emergency
relief work in Chile can be made online.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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