Quite a few commercial fishing boats washed up on shore after the tsunamis in Contitucion. This was one near the hospital we worked in conjunction with. The "R" on the side indicates that it's been reviewed searching for survivors.
So many homes and businesses were made from adobe -- basically sticks and mud. You could tell that it was a really charming little city, but the buildings were too weak for the combination of an 8.8 earthquake and maybe as many as six 11-meter tsunamis.
The remains of one family's house, just one wall.
This sign reads "We love you the same Contitucion." It's outside an area where people were living in tents, and above the sign the Chilean flag is flown proudly.
Sights like this were common.
"Conti" is the nickname for Contitucion. This says "With Conti in the heart".
Our director estimated that maybe 80 percent of the town was in ruins.
Every street of downtown looked like this.
You could find the strangest things swept all through the streets in mud, bed posts, aprons, photos, everything you can imagine in a house. This photo is in the black sand that swept into town with the waves.
The cabins where we stayed. The day before I left, this area was being searched for bodies of people who died. There are still between 30-40 disappearances.
This is the beach, just away from our cabins. This was once a thriving beach community with restaurants, hotels, and a discoteque. In the center of this photo is a semi, crumbled like a piece of paper.
So I went to Contitucion for about half a month, briefly leaving Santiago to work as a translator for an international NGO.
Even though so many people were without, struggling, living in tents without clean water, the people of Contitucion were so nice, polite, and calm. As one of the people I was working with remarked, we didn't once hear a Chilean raise their voice.
The south of Chile is known as a very tranquil, relaxed place and this true even in times of catastrophe.
In speaking with people from Contitucion, even though the earthquake and tsunamis happened at 3:30 a.m. they were able to see the waves wash away their town because of the bright full moon that night.
There are trees in Contitucion that are completely brown and dying because they were totally swallowed up into the salt water. There's a popular island where people go to camp, just off shore and everyone camping there was killed when the tsunamis hit. The entire island now is just dying brown trees. Some people say they saw six waves, others say three.
It was so strange to go from business-as-usual Santiago, to a totally devastated city. But even so, they are making every effort to recover.
There are soldiers on the streets, enforcing the law. Prefab schools are being brought in to get kids back into school as soon as possible. That seems to be the most important thing to helping people cope. Getting back into a normal routine.
It was so hard to see "We need water" and "Help please" signs. In speaking with residents, a lot of the aid from NGOs and other donation places was being funneled entirely to the camps for internally displaced people, even though several people were struggling outside of these camps.
Several pipes and drains had burst flooding the streets and many people were without electricity for over a month. Aneya and I were without electricity during the national power outage and it was the most terrifying 40 minutes of our lives.
It was so remarkable and inspiring to see what people can take, and still be so strong and collected. After visit Conti, I am so much more grateful for the things I have. Like electricity, a good, warm place to sleep, and clean water (more on this to come).
-- Lauren
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