Chilean Mennonite mission team rallies to assist battered country

Eastern Mennonite Missions

Email to a Friend

When the massive 8.8 earthquake struck the central western coast of Chile early Feb.27, Dustin and Sarah Gingrich, workers with Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM), said it felt like they were "riding waves" as their house swayed from side to side for 2-3 minute in Puerto Montt, Chile.

In another part of the city, EMM teammates Michael and Nancy Hostetter and their four children woke with a start as their three-story home "swayed like a ship at sea."

Further south on the island of Chiloe, another EMM couple, Travis and Bekii Kisamore, ran outside as the ground beneath their feet felt more like "a boat on rough waters."

When Steve Shank, EMM's representative to the Americas, learned of the quake at 6 a.m., he immediately tried to contact the mission team. He was unable to reach the Hostetters and Gingrichs because electrical services to Puerto Montt had been disrupted by the quake. But he was able to connect with Kisamores, who then reached the other families via a local cell phone connection.

The hardest hit area was around Concepcion, approximately 380 miles north of Puerto Montt. The earthquake, which was 500 times stronger than the one that struck Haiti, was the fifth strongest earthquake ever recorded, Shank said.

“The area in and around Concepcion has been devastated,” Shank said. “Buildings have collapsed, roads are broken up, and bridges are out. Fuel and water shortages are big problems.”

"In southern Chile fuel is being rationed and there is a definite shortage of food and supplies," said Sarah Gingrich. "Chile is in a crisis right now. Convoys carrying fuel have been hijacked and there's been a lot of looting in some areas. There is widespread panic because people don’t feel safe."

Gingrich said the government has declared martial law and has sent in troops to some of the areas hardest hit. "But most Chileans want to help other Chileans, and it is heartening to see how even with severe shortages people are helping and giving to others."

A tsunami hit the central coastal area of Chile hard, and the extent of the devastation is still unknown, Gingrich said. Many of the villages haven’t yet been reached due to roads being out and the shortage of fuel for travel. "I hear there are many people still unaccounted for."

"We are grateful to hear that our EMM team is all okay, and we are currently exploring ways they can assist the country at this time of national crisis," Shank said. "An EMM team of 4 or 5 will be going traveling north to Talcahuano, a town that has been very hard hit, with much-needed supplies of food, water, and tents. It's an exploratory trip as well, to see what the needs are and how we should be involved."

"In the aftermath of the earthquake, the EMM Relief Committee approved releasing an immediate grant of $5,000," Shank said. "EMM is also appealing for additional funds to assist with earthquake relief in Chile. There are pressing immediate needs for food, water, and shelter as well as long-term needs for reconstruction."

EMM worker Bekii Kisamore quoted a Chilean woman named Karen Espinoza as saying, "My dreams here have died. What the earthquake didn’t take away, the sea took away. What the sea didn’t take away, the looters did."

Bekii added, "Please pray for us here in Chile, that the hope of Jesus Christ would flood more powerfully than a tsunami or earthquake."

"Be in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Chile at this very difficult time," Shank said. "And as you are able, please give to assist them in this time of great vulnerability and need"

To assist our brothers and sisters in Chile, please send funds designated "Chile Relief" to Eastern Mennonite Missions, P.O. Box 458, Salunga, PA 17538, or contribute online at www.emm.org/donate.