Dear family and friends,
Thank you so much to all of you who have emailed us asking about the earthquake in our country.
We have been for a week now in Uruguay on holidays, at Gera’s Mum’s house so we weren’t there when it happened. We are shocked and appalled at the news, although we trust in God’s sovereignty in the midst of it all.
Our families were not affected by it, they had their windows broken, dishes, etc and cracks in their walls, as well as no water and electricity for a couple of days, but they are alive and well.
The earthquake itself has been devastating and one can only think of how short and fragile life on this Earth is. Please pray for our country as we try to rebuild it again. We have been through natural disasters before but this is one of the three biggest earthquakes that have been recorded in the world. Most buildings are built with this in mind, but still many people are now homeless, their homes fell or were washed away by the tsunami that hit as a consequence of the 8.8 earthquake.
Please pray for our families and our country as everything is in a state of chaos, people are stealing, the aftershocks will last for 6 months, etc.
In the north of Chile, where we currently live, the earthquake was only felt as a tremor, so our flat is safe. We will be returning to Chile on March 16th.
There are practical ways in which you can help Chile, by donating money through safe organizations such as the Red Cross or similar ones that have opened international accounts for this purpose.
Thank you so much, please keep our country in your thoughts and prayers. We attach a picture of a brave Chilean in the midst of chaos, which represents how we feel about our nation.
Chilean hugs for all of you,
Gerry+Suyai+Tommy
PS.: If you’d like to see some images of what happened, you can click on http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/02/earthquake_in_chile.html