The Sidney herald., 1960-06-22
WALTER MASON WRITES OF
EARTHQUAKE DESTRUCTION

in Chile and found all the tOIKS
OK. although many of the houses
in the area preliminary estimates
are 80%) were destroyed. From
there I continued to Temuco and
Nueva Imperial, leaving my load
of relief goods to be used by the
refugees from Puerto Saavedra
who had escaped the tidal wave
with only the clothes they were
wearing. Glasses had been SUI
spended in our Agricultural
School there, and many of these
people were staying there. 1 re-
turned to FL Vergel that same day,
and on Friday went to Conception,
taking with me six girls from the
Vocational School whose homes
are near Conception. They had
had no news and were concerned
about their families.
In Conception nearly all the old
buildings that had escaped former
quakeS were destroyed. A fellow
missionary Ca pilot and l thought
of flying further south to get fur
Their news but authorities were not
allowing private planes to go. The
"air bridge" was in operation anC
they did not want any little planes
in the way to worry about. Their
we made arrangements for me tC
go with a load of relief goods on {
Chilean Air Force plane, but the
day went by and the flight did no
materialize so 1 decided to con
tinue driving south. We loaded VI
the truck again and I and a Chill
can pastor started out.
In a day and a half of driving
we reached Valdivia. In man.
places %enroute the road was crack
ed open, the pavement broken iii
the few stretches where there
%concrete), bridges had been lief
without approaches, slides eth
!: er covered the road or haI
taken part of it aaway. Cara
vans of trucks were goin
south, carrying food, clothing
medicine and other relief goods
and in many places the roads wer
all torn up and deeply rutted. Ono
we had to be pulled out of tn
mud by a team of oxen, and an
other tine by a road grader. w
drove into the city of Valdivi
after dark, through the debris lit
tered streets, often having t
weave from one side to the othe
to avoid. sunken or broken pave
ment, or piles TO the remains c
wrecked buildings. There was n
light and people were walkin
around with flashlights or candle
returning to the places where the
were to spend the night, befor
the eight o'clock curfeW. We LEI
the truck parked in the Plaza an
walked the five blocks to OF
church, past one wrecked buildin
after another, wondering what W
would fine there. There it was, til
front leaning out over the side
walk, the roof caved in and tt
parsonage along side all twiSte
aSkeW. And not a sign of life abo1
80 the premises. AS we were Wonde
ing where we might find the past
and his family, we seemed to he;
a hymn being sung off in the di
lance. It was hard to believe, b
the music was coming from Il
interior of the wrecked chur'
building. We entered q confe
IT'D fearfully through the leanil
front, out back through t
wreckage, and found the congre
alton in a little room behind t
church just closing the Sund
evening service. They were owe
ioyed to see us and happy to ha
$50 the news we were able to bri
from the other towns we had Wis
ed.
In Valdivia we met another pc
tor who had come up from fl
Their south, with news of the otl
churches, so we planned to retu
north the next day. But all nor
bound traffic had been suspend
to leave the roads free for
trucks bringing relief goods, q
the portable hospital donated
the us. ct has really been hea
warming and impressive the "
almost all the countries of
world have sent and brought a
Rail service has not yet been
stored as far as Validivia. So
stayed an extra day, help
where we could and view
the wreckage. The city, best
having many of its buildi
shaken to pieces, has apparer
sunk 7 to 10 feet. Of the trees t
lined the sidewalk along the ri
bank, only the tops r now
ible. Hundreds of acres of ]
farm land around the city
under salt water that has apr
emily seeped up from underne
We stood and watched for a
minutes as a huge mechan
shovel scooped up and loaded {
trucks what had been a pu