One year on, Chile recovers slowly from historic quake (Feature)

By Javiera Salinas Feb 26, 2011, 2:07 GMT

Santiago - A massive quake devastated southern Chile a year ago, and the country has had a mixed experience with reconstruction: some achievements have been made, but many things are yet to be done.

The quake of February 27, 2010 is one of the strongest ever recorded in history, at 8.8 on the Richter scale. It claimed 524 lives, with 31 more people missing to this day, and the damage was estimated at more than 30 billion dollars.

A year later, Chileans continue to debate about reconstruction: Is the glass half-full or half-empty?

Conservative Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has few doubts about the matter. He is sure the glass is half-full.

'Although the task is not quite complete yet and although a long way remains ahead, I can say with great satisfaction that Chile has proved its strength,' he told reporters shortly before the anniversary.

And the official figures are indeed impressive: 95 per cent of the damaged infrastructure, including highway bridges, airports and power supply facilities have been restored. Around 250,000 students could complete the school year in December, despite the fact that many school buildings were damaged by the quake. Some 120,000 grants were given out for the reconstruction of homes.

However, the 220,000 families whose homes were destroyed or made impossible to live in by the quake do not see as much progress as they would like to see.

'The government did not go beyond announcements, and we are still waiting,' Rolando Huenchunao, head of the fishermen's trade union in the town of Tirua, told the German Press Agency dpa.

In Tirua not a single permanent home has been rebuilt since the quake, he said, and people continue to live in emergency accommodation.

'In November we had to choose what type of homes were to be built. Since then, we have heard nothing, and not even the construction sites have been chosen,' Huenchunao complained.

'We are very concerned about the (seasonal) rains, because in the emergency accommodation we are all going to get wet again,' he added.

In many coastal towns, like Dichato, the situation is not a whole lot better. The state has only made sure to relaunch the local economy. But tourism remains in shreds, and locals live in emergency lodgings without so much as running water.

'Everyday you can see people carrying heavy buckets of water to their shacks. This is not good for their backs, and it is also not very hygienic,' says Dichato resident Gustavo Romero, who contributes to local news coverage on the website www.dichatoaldia.cl.

The Chilean federation of towns issued recently a rather sobering view of reconstruction efforts. Around 70,000 students could get only partial lessons for lack of suitable classrooms, the federation said. And many health centres continue to function in emergency conditions that prevent them from doing their job properly.

As the anniversary approached, Chilean media repeatedly played and printed images of the first few days and weeks that followed the quake.

There are pictures of buildings which collapsed like houses of cards, of coastal towns devastated by the tsunami that came with the quake, of ships stuck inland after being carried in by waves up to 15 metres high. There is footage of looting, despair and death.

Perhaps upon seeing these images Chileans can indeed see beyond the faults in reconstruction and rejoice about what has been achieved in their communities.

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