Mount Holyoke students studying in Chile are safe after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake shook Concepción on Saturday, according to Dean of International Studies Joanne Picard.
Picard confirmed in an e-mail that all three students currently enrolled in programs based in Santiago are safe. One student was due to leave for a program in Valparaiso on Monday, but the start of the program has been delayed.
According to The New York Times, the earthquake’s current death toll stands at over 700, with 1.5 million people displaced. President Michelle Bachelet, speaking on Saturday night, declared a “state of catastrophe.”
Though she saw some areas where houses had collapsed, Zilin Cui ’11, who is studying in Chile with the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), said that she was not personally affected.
“The damage was really, really terrible” with many left homeless, she said, noting that she had seen the worst damage only on television.
Cui was camping with friends near Paine when the earthquake hit. The small town in west-central Chile sustained less damage than Santiago or Concepción.
“All of us are staying with our host families,” Cui said of the students in her program. The program’s orientation activities have been postponed as its directors focus on keeping the students safe.
Cui is currently researching aid opportunities and directing students to her Facebook group “Help Chile! Ayuda a Chile!” She said she believes military and government organizations are taking on the bulk of relief work. “It seems like nonprofit organizations have a different role in Chile” than in Haiti, she observed.
While there is a need for medical supplies such as water purifying tablets, Cui was unsure about international collection efforts and urged concerned students to donate to the Chilean Red Cross. “I just hope that people realize that the situation in Chile is bad, too,” she said.
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