Email: February 28, 2010 9:15am (Chile time)

Subject: We made it through the night

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know we made it though the night. There were several aftershocks and I was awake about every two hours, but I still managed to sleep. We aren't sure if we are going back today or not. We talked to the people in our building and there isn't any gas, so we won't be able to cook or have hot water. There is electricity and water according to them, but I wonder how much water b/c not a lot got to our shower anyway hahaha. I prefer to stay here, but I feel like we need to go home to see what damage is there and throw away the rotting food in the fridge/freezer. We asked the conserje to turn off the electricity just to be safe this morning when we talked to him. Right now we are eating breakfast and are going to go to the supermarket to stock up on food. There isn't any gas at bernarda's house either because they are worried there might be leaks in the building, but at least the water has better pressure and we are more together. With every aftershock Bernarda freaks out and tries to leave. Most aftershocks don't bother me, just the longer ones. There was a long one this morning that was scary.

Last night I made them shut off the TV because the news make things so much scarier. I know it is bad down south and in other areas but watching it repeatedly makes me nervious. I prefer to live in a bit more ignorace than leave the TV on.

I still can't believe we were in one of the worst earthquakes in the world. One news article, in WSJ or BBC, said it was tied for the 5th largest earthquake of the century. The no. 1 was in Valdivia (Chile) and was a grade 9.5 and actually change the axis that the earth rotates. So crazy! Those were serioulsy the longest and scariest 3 minutes of my life when the earthquake was happening. I am just so glad we were able to react in a timely manner to get dressed, get in the car and head for higher ground. This was all because Christian stays so calm in emergencies. Once the sun came up and we had confirmed with the police there was no tsunami warning for Viña or other parts of Chile, we came home to see the damage. Christian photographed everything and posted some of the pictures here. I took pictures too but haven't got them up yet.

Well I better go, we need to go the supermarket to try and buy whatever is left that doesn't need to be cooked on the stove since we don't have gas. We are seriously lucky. Please keep Chile in your thoughts as many many people are left without homes and everything else.....they left with the clothes on their back.

Lots of love,