Caritas Internationalis has been supporting earthquake victims from the first day of the disaster with emergency aid and long term rehabilitation projects. Altogether, the Caritas response reached more than 800,000 people.
Chile is getting back on its feet six months after the 27 February earthquake left millions without homes and in need of aid. Caritas responded immediately, providing food, shelter, warm clothing and compassion, reaching over a million people. Now Caritas is switching to reconstruction and rehabilitation. But Lorenzo Figueroa, Secretary General of Caritas Chile, says ...
By Andreas Lexer, Caritas Communications Officer in Chile Iloca used to be a beautiful little village everybody went to in the summer, about 100 km away from the city of Talca. The blue, red and yellow coloured houses built on poles were close to the shore, the river ran in to the sea just in ...
Victor Chandia is standing in front of what is left of his little yellow house. All the windows are smashed, the door is gone, part of the roof was taken off. Inside nothing is as it used to be. The once white walls are now brown and muddy, just like the floor and the stairs. ...
Phenol Estiverne’s home wasn’t reduced to rubble, like many others hit by Haiti’s earthquake, but he still hasn’t returned to live in it. “It’s too dangerous. During the last aftershock, the cracks in the walls got even deeper. Next time, we will all be buried under the rubble!” says Mr Estiverne. Mr Estiverne, 54, now ...
A massive earthquake in Chile has left two million people in need of support in some of the poorest parts of the country. The quake struck on Saturday 27 February 115km (70 miles) north-east of Concepcion and 325km south-west of Santiago. At least two million people have been affected and 1.5 million homes have been ...
By Andreas Lexer, Caritas Communications Officer in Chile “This region is the poorest one in the country“, says Jorge Brito, Executive Director of Caritas Maule. “And it is also the most affected one!” More than 400 people died here, more than in any other region in Chile. Some one million people live in Maule, more ...
Ruben Sebulbeda hugs his little 18 month granddaughter Anina to his chest. Just like he did a week ago. When the earthquake struck Chile on Saturday, February 28th, in the dead of night, he woke up. Everything in his little house in the village of Santa Clara had fallen on the floor. Ruben Sebulbda and ...