* View the photos here. * Read a Chile field report here. *
July 14, 2010 – Between numerous daily aftershocks still shaking the region, Save The Waves Coalition’s Chilean team of relief workers, carpenters, fishermen, students and teachers are hard at work. The Southern Hemisphere’s wet and cold winter in the wake of the February 27 earthquake and tsunami is complicating matters but much is being accomplished to bring aid to the devastated region.
In the “surf city” of Pichilemu, dozens of fishing families are receiving micro grants from Save The Waves to purchase lost fishing nets, restore boats and boat engines damaged by the tsunami, and rebuild their coastal dwellings. Thousands of dollars in student grants are being distributed to student groups in Pichilemu and other small towns, to assist students’ leadership roles in their community’s recovery from the disaster. Most recently in Pichilemu, Save The Waves helped purchase essential home construction supplies to assist the family of the only local fisherman who lost his life to the tsunami.
In Constitución, one of the hardest hit cities still suffering from major tsunami damages, the winter has slowed reconstruction efforts and taken its toll on survivors. Many coastal residents in Constitución lost all of their belongings, housing and employment to the tsunami, and over half of the town’s buildings collapsed during the earthquake. Due to these challenging conditions, Save The Waves is working closely with the Chilean Army in Constitución. The Army regiment there continues to direct all relief operations in the region due to the magnitude of destruction and weather complications.
Save The Waves coordinator Sergio Pocha Salas recently held an all-day cleanup of beaches by mobilizing the Army’s expertise in Constitución. Together they employed over 50 local residents, using the Army’s tools and heavy machinery to clean two area beaches that were heavily littered with tsunami debris including destroyed homes, vehicles and other waste. A small fishing pier swept away by the tsunami is also being rebuilt, in a unique partnership between Save The Waves and the local Maule River Fishermen’s Syndicate.
Farther South, at the earthquake’s geographic epicenter, a handful of educational community gardens are being planted at refugee camps. These camps consist of simple wooden structures measuring less than 14’ x 14’ to house families. Save The Waves workers are installing permanent roofing and insulation in this housing to help improve winter conditions. An extra elementary school teacher has also been hired in Pelluhue, an area nearly completely destroyed by the direct tsunami hit, in order to provide increased school services to the area’s young students. As a founding partner of the Maule Itata Coastkeeper, Chile’s first member of the Waterkeeper Alliance, Save The Waves is supporting their relief efforts as the local environmental watchdog for coastal water quality.
In the Bio Bio Region, the southernmost area of Save The Waves’ relief efforts, two large greenhouses are being built to foster new community efforts at self sufficiency and to stimulate a new project to grow flowers for sale at regional farmer’s markets, which also create a new form of income for some of the town’s newly unemployed. In this region the remote Colmuyao Shoreline Fishing Syndicate received Save The Waves grants and fishing nets for 27 families to get back to their traditional work harvesting seaweed, rockfish, urchins and more.
Save The Waves extends its sincerest thanks to the many supporters of this Chile relief program in a time of great need.
