Dear fellows, fortunately, I am… (Earthquake details)

[FrancisHarmany]

Best of luck with everything!

[iSiStOy]

I really hope you get good news from your friends as quick as possible. Best wishes!

[kensuguro]

I wish you the best Nestor.. whatever the reason, please stay safe. Rule of thumb in emergency first response is to make absolutely sure that you are not in danger. It is the logic to minimize secondary casualty. I cannot imagine the chaos, and the raw impact of human nature in such anarchy, but I believe you will fight it with big heart and a quick thinking mind. Best wishes for your entire family.

[Neutron]

Very glad to hear you are ok!

[krizrox]

Our prayers are with you!

[Nestor]

Most of us have never met each other in person, don’t mind, I feel you so close people! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! for your good wishes and vibes, I’m sort of nurturing myself with them right now…

We’ve got a heavy-duty Ford Ranger XLT 4X4 pickup for the occasion, exactly like in this picture:

We prepared with 140 liters of 95 octane gas, lots of high protein food, chocolate, and many liters of water just in case, also some first aid tools, and were ready to go. When getting to the south of the country, it is very difficult to get anything, even gas, so you better have a lot with you or you may easily become part of the problem.

We were two men ready for the travel, of course, my wife and other friends wanted to come with us, but we did not allowed it because it was a high risk mission, no kidding here! With all honesty, Miguel and myself could hardly breathe before going… we were so nervous for our respective family, the earthquake, but..., well beyond anything else, PEOPLE, because about 20% of the population have become predators, animals, crazy bastards ready to kill for a bottle of water or a piece of bread. And this is already nice! The worst is that they would still with extreme violence anything you may have. 10500 soldiers are in the region all around, thousand of policemen too, but even like this it is not enough to control the instinctive reaction of the mass.

The authorities asked us NOT to go, saying: “we strongly advice you not to go, because it is too dangerous, and the most probable situation is that you will become part of the problem, they will steal you pickup and everything”, things of the like… it was scary to death… but we had already taken the decision and were ready to go, period!

We went on thinking about many things, the most difficult immediately, was to find save diversions, because streets and avenues are broken or blocked everywhere, bridges have fall, or you have too many deep holes. You need to know, before entering to a route, if there is a diversion or not, to avoid driving back all the time ending up without gas… It is like in a labyrinth.

Fortunately, we found a Red Cross convoy, I run to them asking for help, and they told us we could follow them if it was ok for us. Of course, it was perfect of us, so we followed them from Santiago to Talca.

What a disaster… streets, avenues, highways, were like serpents with endless broken zigzags, twisted metal fences and a few mayor truck accidents that had accrued at the moment of the quake, we have to be very careful as you find now and then holes of up to several meters depth and no one will warn you about them, no yet, security forces are busy saving people of course.

Guys, if we would have not followed Red Cross people, we would have been lost every 20 minutes and would probably have given up or run out of gas. They followed such a bizarre, complex route we could have never guest by ourselves. We had GPS, but it is useless facing an earthquake, as it doesn’t tell you the shortcuts to move on, there is not knowledge about what is standing up and what is broken. Now, the fellows of the Red Cross convoy had direct military satellite assistance, so we could not be better guided than that! Thanks God we found it!

The more we traveled the more you could see the disaster becoming increasingly worst, as we were traveling direct to the epicenter. Man, how to overcome these impressions? How to digest such a suffering of millions of people? I cannot do it… is it even possible? Houses torn to pieces everywhere, people crying, with their faces dirty with the mud formed in their bodies, a mixture of tears and floating dust… Sadness, desperation, desolation… Near the sea everything has been swept away by the already 35 tsunamis… We were speechless and just watched each other with a heavy sad look.

I thought my friends could be in bad shape, probably with broken legs or arms, or even death when seen the tragedy. It was of course a possibility.

We started to look for the first one of them, a Spanish woman, in a town called Parral. What a disaster! Old constructions have come down crushing people while they were sleeping.

I woman told me, touching often her face with both hands like trying to wake up, that she could run away with her family because they were having fun in a country house in front of the sea, in a place called Dichato. (Ups… there is a replication right now, while I’m writing) Well…, she showed me her arms and legs blue and black with severe bruises. She looked through the window because heard some strange noise coming from the sea, when she realizes that it is a tsunami. She started shouting as loud as possible for everybody to get out of the house, and run to the mountain, they all did, but bouncing against the walls like balloons, until they could get out and run as they could. Exhausted, they turned they face, and everything was already gone…

Another woman runs away from the sea as fast as she can, passing away a family that was getting to their car to run away too. But when she arrived to get to the mountain believing they have all escape the danger, when watching back she sees the car being dragged rapidly into the sea.

I feel rather exousted right now, and even if I have so many things I could tell you, I will not, too tired right now.

I’m going to the point: I’m very glad to announce you that I’ve found them all, the three of them are recued! The two in Concepción have been rescued by people we contacted there, fortunately we did not get into this extremely dangerous place, (because of mad people not earthquakes), and they are fine, with a family that is taking very good care of them. The other friend is living with us in Santiago, she’s right now in bed, having a deserved rest.

The coming back was much more relaxed, but had quite a few interesting replications. Now, I’m giving you this report about what happened.

I know that in Taiwan there was an earthquake too, this is bigger than authorities are telling us, I am sure about that.

Thank you guys, and see you later!

BTW: it is so strange to see destroyed houses with sand and death fish inside them…

[garyb]

crazy times!

i'm thankful that you and yours have survived. there's not much to be done about a disaster that size but clean up and live on(those who can).

[dawman]

I still want to travel when the time is right to the Islands in the Med, Egypt and the Andes as I am a huge fan of Van Danniken since I was a kid.
I would really enjoy meeting you.
I have friends who have retired back to their homeland in Lima, Brasil and Argentina. I haven't been there since my days in Rio and Acapulco. It really helps being in an all girl band when you gig in Latin America...

I have already had gatherings of a few buddies from the Z from Japan, SoCal and Texas, so a Brotha' of the Tunes down in Chile would be great.

I know you are probably bored with the Archeology from living there most of your life, but I am so humbled by the ancient ruins in Mexico & South America. Some folks feel good inside when they go to Church and pray, I never really felt that way, but when I stand in front of these ruins I feel as though I belong to somthing bigger than I can imagine. It really moves me.
Hell I even get the same feeling when I visit the Cahokia Mounds or Chaco Canyon.
Meanwhile Back AT The Ranch................

I am thankful you are OK and your loved ones are safe.
Thanks for keeping us posted.

Esta Luego Mi Amigo............

[Tau]

Very happy you are well and your friends too. My thoughts are with you, much strength!

T

[dbmac]

Very nice post, Nestor, and happy results.
Your friends are fortunate to know someone like you, and so are we.

The story puts me in mind of Isabel Allende's "House of the Spirits" and her account of the '60s quake.

I wish you continued successes during this struggle.

/dave

[the19thbear]

Praying for you and wishing you All the Best!

[Nestor]

Thanks guys...

Jimmy, any time! I too will be glad to get to know you... Countryside around here is fantastic, now we need a few years to recover, it is impossible to do it otherwise.

[netguyjoel]

I'm extremely pleased to hear of your successful trip.
That must have been insanely difficult.
At least you know about your friends now...
I will continue to pray for you & your family, to get through this tough time.
Wishing you the best...
Cordially yours...

[astroman]

Nestor, you're my hero of year - you accepted an incredible task.
And got help from... well, let's just call it 'somewhere' or 'someone' else.
Good forces accompagny a good spririt

best wishes for you and your loved ones, Tom

[John Cooper]

8.8 - I can't even begin to imagine it.
Nestor, you're a brave and honorable man. Thank you for sharing your experiences here. I'm glad you and your family and friends are ok - I know you all must have such heavy sorrow for your countrymen and your country.
Hard times ahead- keep strong! Let us know how you are.
-John

[Nestor]

Thank you friends for your words, now they are so much welcomed.

True… sorrow is everywhere around… it makes me think about the deepest of deepest things… you cannot help. What is life all about, what are we doing here, what for, what should be doing instated? Etc., all these things comes to your mind as big stones of energy inside yourself; you cannot dissolve from your state of mind.

More:

Some have saved their lives grasping very hard, with legs and arms, to a tree. Others were trapped into something and saved because of that… All variations apply! There are the most unusual stories to tell. Some were swallowed by earth. Then good luck seems to work too, when someone could not get to their work place because of a car engine failure. In the other hand, a grandfather was upset and emotionally broken because his grandson asked him many, many times to build a room for him in front of the sea, and when he did, the child died crashed inside it. Some have tried to run away while the movement was as it pick, killing themselves in the stares.

I have already said it, but I will tell you it again better explained: all the Maule costs have been swept away. First, it happens that the ocean contracts itself, it is like when a guy jumps into a swimming pool, what you see first is water building a hole by the pressure of the body, then water comes up. In the same way, water goes very far away into the ocean, and when it comes back, it goes way beyond the place it usually stays, depending on the high of the wave forming the tsunami. Just imagine the high of a building and make your own calculations. I live in a building of about 10 meters high, so a 25 meters tsunami would sweep it easily. When the water comes back, it does it with an amazing strength of thousand of tones, because the sea gets empty and the gravity force tends to swallow water again. So in fact, there are two impacts, the one when the water comes from the sea to the city, and then when the water comes back from the city to the sea.

This morning we have had 3 more replications of 5.2, 6.2 and something like 6. It is urgent to demolish unstable houses and buildings because of that. There are accidents everydays because a piece of something falls from somewhere. You cannot know always that something is going to fall, it is not always evident, and there are broken pieces of concrete that you cannot see are broken, and suddenly comes down in your head. That’s why we don’t walk close to buildings, but rather close to the streets and avenues.

Most of people that surround me and me too, feel dizzy, because of the many replications that come and go so often, more than 200 already. You can feel sort of an upset stomach. I guess it is like being at the sea without being accustomed to it, something like that. It is not strong, but uncomfortable.

[Nestor]

I forgot to tell you something pretty unusual, I have never seen it before. I’m talking about enormous flashes of light, like if a camera flash bigger than a building was taking pictures in the mountains.

Does it sound strange to you? Of course it does, it is totally out of the ordinary.

For two days, we could see with my wife that, after the quakes took place, enormous lights would show in the sky. But their location was not the sky itself, but mountains, so the earth.

I don’t know how to explain it exactly… well… I could see that a very fast flash that covered about 100 kilometers, to say something, would cover the sky, but I could notice that the lights came from the earth. Just like a camera flash when you see that there is a fast light covering everything, and you can anyway distinguish that there is a source to it, in the middle of the camera, you can understand that the source here, is on the floor, on earth. The curious thing about this is that there was no noise whatsoever. There were no explosions, nor something generated by anything human, but nature. This happened twice, once about 20 minutes after the quake, in random ways, and we could see perhaps about 8 to 10 immense flashes. Then after the biggest replication, about the same, but in smaller groups, distant in time from each other of about 5 minutes each.

My wife said to me that the news said it is something that always happens in big earthquakes, but science has no explanation for it.

I am sure about something: it was energy, and I would venture myself to say that it looked like a variant of electricity or electromagnetism.

If you know anything about that so to understand this extraordinary phenomenon, that would be nice.

[John Cooper]

Wow. Never heard of this before:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/faq/?c ... &faqID=103
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_light

These sound a bit different from what you're describing, but maybe the mechanism is similar.

-John

[Nestor]

Wow. Never heard of this before:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/faq/?c ... &faqID=103
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_light

These sound a bit different from what you're describing, but maybe the mechanism is similar.

-John

Cheers John. I see… there is even a name to it: EQL. I’m pretty sure that these links are in fact, about what we have seen.

I didn’t described color and it is exactly as described in one of your links: “white to bluish flashes”.

The lights were not seen before, nor during the earthquake, but after it, and after a big replication the next day.

The lights in our case, did not last such a long time, they were flashes in the night, one after the other.

Something interesting is that the lights did not show in the city, or any other human modified area, but in the Andes, far away from Santiago, in nature… I would swear that this is something related to the mountains, or at least, the stones, or with the phreatic stratum because of the rubbing layers. Also it is interesting to see that the speed of these lights was amazing, much faster that I have ever seen before. It is like a very subtle force in nature.

[Nestor]

One of the most important Chile profits worldwide comes from wine. The quake, unfortunately, has destroyed wine containers.

125 million liters of wine have been lost.

Here some of the many kinds: