02.28.10
Disaster Strikes
I’ve seen my intended coverage of the XIV Festival de Jerez interrupted by the disturbing news coming from Chile, that of an earthquake of a magnitude of 8.8 which struck in the VIII region in the area of Concepcion, provoking damage around the country and with tremors felt as far away as Sao Paolo, Brasil, as well as provoking a tsunami which threatened other cities around the Pacific rim.
This news brings shock and concern for me, for as some of you may know, I am of Chilean heritage and the majority of my family, including my mother, are there dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake. It has been an agonizing 24 hours anxious to receive news until finally, my mother was able to call earlier today to report that although they’ve been given the scare of their lives, she and my family are ok and are trying to get back to normal, dealing with power outages, lines for basic goods, interrupted water/electricity services and damaged homes.
What has been interesting on the other hand for me has been following the coverage of the quake in Chile. We are firmly in a new age of information, as social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter have become abuzz with information, disinformation, questions, and comments…to the point to where news sources are often quoting reports they’ve received on these networks from “people on the ground”, a potentially dangerous or revolutionary precedent depending on how you want to look at the source: professional journalism supplanted by heresay and unsubstantiated reports, or unfiltered coverage without the pressure of government offices to present the “official story”.
Amid this confusing flood of information-among other things on the on-line chilean station that I’ve been streaming all day is a column updated every few seconds with numerous people’s live comments, people desperately asking if anyone has seen their loved ones, people reporting the latest on the ground, etc.-comes the disturbing news that curfew has been declared for the cities of Concepcion and Constitucion due to the apparently massive sacking of stores and supermarkets as chaos is quickly taking over. The military has been called in to support the local police who have been swamped by masses of people, some desperate, some eager to take advantage of the confusion.
It’s not my intention to make my blog a political commentary, but I will note this: I’m disgusted on two levels, one for the lack of solidarity and basic decency of some Chileans who, in this time of crisis, are taking advantage of the opportunity to steal and horde. This plays right into the hands of the upper classes of the country who have often maintained that, given to their own devices, the “rotos” of the country (roto meaning literally “broken”, a pejorative term to refer to the lower class in Chile) behave in such a way…the image of Chile being broadcast is indeed suffering as a result.
But I am equally disgusted with the vast inequalities that are obvious to anyone visiting Chile, between the upper and lower classes. It has long been so and was one of the key issues that president Salvador Allende tried to address during his presidency in the early 70s and for which he was deposed by the military junta under General Agusto Pinochet during the coup d’état on September 11, 1973. Despite the return to democracy in the 1990s it is this situation of inequality and lack of opportunities and services for Chile’s disadvantaged, the majority of the country I might add, which engenders situations such as the current looting and general anarchy. Enough said.
As the death toll as tripled throughout the course of the day, going from 200 to now over 700 confirmed dead, with many more feared missing, the dimensions of this tragedy are still taking shape. I send my love and concern for my family and for all the Chilean people who are in anguish over this latest tragedy.
