The following is a composite of letters written from several Sisters in Chile, describing their experiences of the earthquake on Saturday, February 27.

The quake struck about 3:30 this morning. Those of you who have experienced a quake know the shock and confusion caused by the load roar and the sense of being shaken and pushed about like a rag doll. According to the official report it lasted 90 seconds, sitting on the floor in the dark- it seemed endless. Phones were out, cellular phones weren’t working, no access to electricity or water, no information about what was going on. Our Maryknoll apartments are situated in a new building and thank God, it was built to withstand a strong quake. Slowly the telephone service became normalized and I was able to contact the other sisters in Santiago and we were able to verify that those in the south were all well. But any information from radio or TV was still unavailable. Phone service to the south is still impossible at 9 pm.

Internet and the TV networks were restored in the late afternoon for areas of Santiago and the reports began to come in from the provinces. People outside the country knew more than we did early in the day but now we all know the quake was 8.8 on the Richter scale, and the central region of Chile was the part affected: from the 5th (Santiago-Valparaiso) to the 9th region. There have been 214 deaths, eleven disappeared and over 800 serious trauma cases as of this evening. The center of the quake was located 60 miles southeast of Cauquennes. There have been over 100 after-quakes, or as they are called here, “replicas” and they have caused buildings, severely damaged earlier, to finally collapse. There have also been fires since early morning in Santiago, probably caused by damaged gas mains.

I have been trying to take down the news from the TV and radio transmissions that have been restored a while ago. I will just jot down what I have heard and seen rather than try to put it all together in a letter.

Collapse of structures at the international airport in Santiago will keep it closed for some days and all flights have been suspended.

Older buildings in Santiago/Valparaiso are severely damaged to the point of collapsing and probably will with the after-quakes (Museum of Bellas Artes, large churches in Santiago Centro, Nuestra Señora de Providencia, etc.). Rubble covers large areas and whole streets are cordoned off.

Some brand new apartment complexes in Maipu and Santiago center have split in two and collapsed with the many after-quakes. One happening right now. Countless homes destroyed and hundreds being cared for in shelters in the south.

Images coming from Bio Bio, Maule, Talcahuano, Concepción, Parral, Rancagua, Curico, Hospital and so many more places are simply unbelievable. The highway and access roads seem totally destroyed as though some giant had buckled and split them open; cars and trucks half hidden in huge deep crevices. Long stretches of the road south split into jig-saw like pieces; bridges collapsed in Concepción, Maule.

The tsunami threat is real, the town of Dichato is inundated; A giant wave hit Talcahuano and flooded the surrounding areas, hauling boats inland and dragging and smashing cars. Many places have no way to contact larger cities and so there will eventually be many more reports of disaster throughout the country.

The cordillera has been covered all day and the sky remains a lethal grey, the news reports that it is the dust of the rubble that is covering most of Chile.

I’m going to close now as I’m sure that the U.S. media will give far better and more correct coverage. Pray for the people of Chile and for the new government that takes over in a few days. God help them and God help us all. They will inherit a country in pain.

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We are all fine. The Sisters here are all fine. It was scary. 8.8 on the Richter scale, the seventh-strongest quake recorded.

It was not a slow starter and woke us all out of a sound sleep. Once we put bathrobe and shoes on (a precaution for broken glass), started out our apartment door, but at that point, the building started to shake so hard that I fell and we knew we wouldn’t get down the stairs. So we waited it out.

For me, one of the most frightening things is the noise of things falling and breaking and the movement that seems eternal. . . and which doesn’t stop.

Once it did, we got downstairs to join others from our building and began checking on those who were trapped by doors that jammed or because they live on the upper floors, are elderly and could not get down.

The epicenter was 90 kilometers out to sea from Concepcion (very close to the Sisters in Coelemu) and they experienced something close to 9 on the Richter and any construction made from adobe or other materials less strong have collapsed.

You will all see the images on the news. But it makes us realize that no matter how difficult this situation is (as I write this we are having another tremor–4 on the mercalli scale): we live in a country that has learned from it’s “shaky” history. If this were Haiti, there would be nothing left. Literally. As the days go by we will know better what the extent of the real damage is, yet we are in a much better position to deal with it.

There have been lives lost, as you know. At least 147 (according to early reports). Many of these were due to heart attacks. . . You also know that Hawaii has had a tsunami, that the sea has plunged inland in several places in Chile.

We are grateful for your prayers.

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I am fine, though it was very hard getting down the stairs at 3:30 in the morning with the house rock and rolling. I spent some time outside with the neighbors and, then after covering up the mess on the kitchen floor with newspapers, to be cleaned up in the morning, I slept on the couch downstairs for a couple of hours.

I had no electricity until 4 p.m. so had no TV or radio news until late this afternoon. It´s 8 p.m. now. You´ll probably find out more on CNN and other U.S. news sources about the quake than from me.. Lots of damage, though.

I´ve been walking around this area and talking to people, and there are piles of rubble every couple of houses. Mostly, it´s a wall or one room that has given way. These houses aren´t all built very well and this quake was strong. Right now, an aftershock can be felt - there have been more than 50 of them over 5.0 on the scale since 3:30 this morning.

More than 150 people have died, some who were residents in relatively new apartment buildings in Santiago. The quake was felt from Antofagasta to Puerto Montt, and the epicenter 70 or so kilometers from Concepción. As far as I know, in our neighborhood, no one here was hurt–just stuff broken and walls down.

We still have no water, but all in all, damage here was minor. A number of huge windows in the church were broken, and part of the ceiling fell in. The parish priest and a few young men have been cleaning the church since this morning, Lots of plaster board and broken glass.

But I am just fine, though I think I’ll sleep on the couch downstairs again tonight.
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