CHILE Terremoro: Declaratoria de Categoria

Dear colleagues, Following a devastating 8.8-magnitude earthquake which struck central Chileearly this morning, I am declaring a Category II Level 2 response for the World Vision Partnership. This declaration requires significant funding support to WV Chile as it partners primarily with regional leadership and HEA response team inmounting a rapid response to this unfolding emergency.

The quake was centred in Chile’s Bio Bio region, about 200 miles southwestof Santiago where WV Chile operates five out of 16 Area DevelopmentProgrammes (ADPs) in the vicinity of Concepcion, Chile’s second largestcity. As of this writing (21:00 pm in Chile), 147 people are confirmed dead andup to 500,000 people are believed to be seriously affected across five major regions of the country, home to about 70% of Chile’s population. Extensive damages to basic services, buildings, bridges, airports,hospitals, houses and other infrastructure have also left much of the country without electricity, water or telecommunications.

The Santiago international airport and others within the quake zone are not expected tore-open to commercial flights for another 2-3 days.

While the national office building in Santiago is reportedly undamaged,regional offices in the areas of Temuco and Concepcion, as well as three offive ADPs in these areas, have not been contactable as yet. Thankfully, there are no known deaths or injuries amongst some 100 national staff or approximately 38,000 registered children within the affected regions at this time.

National staff have organized into several teams to assess damages and needs primarily in ADP areas, and to organize pre-positioning and distribution of relief goods starting tomorrow (Sunday) in Santiago. As it is not yet possible to communicate with or travel into worst-affectedareas of the country, the office is coordinating its response and communications efforts together with the National Interior Ministry’s Emergencies Office (ONEMI).

Please pray for our staff in Chile, and all children and families affectedby this major disaster. For more information and detailed updates, please also visit:www.wvrelief.net (password-accessible), and the WVChile website at:www.worldvision.cl Thanks and blessings,

Corina Villacorta