Mission World - May, 2010
30.04.2010
A country where the earth moves
Fr Dan Harding writes from Santiago that it is only now that the true picture of damage from the tsunamiis becoming clearer. Many coastal fishing and holiday resort towns have been completely destroyed by the giant waves.
The Catholic Church has suffered severely. The Cardinal Archbishop of Santiago, Francisco Javier Errazuriz, issued a Pastoral Letter to be read out at all Sunday Masses. The opening words are, “Our Diocese has never lived through an earthquake so long and so violent, that would cause so much worry and so much anguish in so many people, above all because of the threat of death, of irreparable damage and destruction.”
The Cardinal also said that while we recognize that God has given us a beautiful country, we have to acknowledge that we live in a country where the earth moves.
In the six dioceses south of Santiago in the earthquake zone, Rancagua, Talca, Linares, Chillan, Los Angeles and Concepcion, it is calculated that 80% of all church buildings have been severely damaged. In the diocese of Rancagua alone, 65 parish churches and over 700 chapels have been destroyed. In the diocese of Talca, 14 parish churches have irreparable damage and 18 with severe damage.
Fr Dan adds, “The Colum
ban Missionary Society in Chile is well organized in trying to help the victims. In addition to participating in all of our parishes in the weekend Caritas Chile campaign, we have decided to help three specific parishes that have been destroyed - Pencahue and Parral destroyed by the earthquake and Vichuaquen destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami. We will be trying to deliver food and clothing to these places in the short term and helping them get on their feet again in the medium term.”
Fr Chris Saenz wrote to The Far East, “I had worked six years in southern Chile and I knew the affected areas and many people who lived there. My godson’s family lives in Coronel which is about 20 miles south of Concepcion. I feared the worst because of Chile’s history with terrible earthquakes. The place where I worked, Puerto Saavedra, holds in its memory the 1960 earthquake of 9.5 magnitude which produced a tsunami that nearly destroyed the entire town. Year’s later people still lived with post-traumatic shock of that earthquake.
Any tremors caused people to shake, break out in tears and run to the hills.
I received word from my friends over Facebook about how they were struggling to bring normality back into their lives and trying to re-establish order. Communities organized to protect their neighbour’s homes from looters and shared food resources.
Some communities have set up a common food pantry and soup kitchen to help one another. As Oscar, my godson’s father, said, “Compadre, alone we might lack many things but together we lack nothing.” Over the next few days I was greatly pleased to hear a prison in Santiago donated a day of its food rations to those who needed it the most.”
In natural disasters, people react differently. One never ceases to be surprised by the
faith of people, many of whom have lost everything. It’s common to hear victims say that everything now depends on God, that only He knows what will happen and that their lives are in His hands.
Please continue to pray for Chile and the victims of this terrible tragedy.
