An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale, even stronger than the recent one in Haiti, hit central Chile early on Saturday morning. The death toll is already reported to be over 700, with many people still trapped inside collapsed buildings.
Our disaster management team in South America is working hard to find out as much as we can about the situation in Chile, so we can plan what to do for the animals there.
This is not the first natural disaster to strike Chile; in 1960 the country suffered the world’s strongest recorded earthquake. But animals are not included in the government’s disaster response plans, and therefore it may be a while before we can put together an assessment of the impact on the animal population.
A resultant tsunami also flooded coastal towns near the epicentre of the earthquake, leaving behind a terrible landscape of widespread destruction. Three days after, people in many areas are still dealing with the desperation presented by having no water, no food, and no electricity. WSPA is deeply concerned about the fate of stray dogs in the affected areas. Chile is a country with a huge stray dog population and we are afraid that those dogs in flooded zones that are not already dead are at risk of starvation.News reports on TV have shown that there are lots of dogs on the streets, and just like in Haiti, these dogs will need our help too. We have member societies in the affected region, some of which run animal shelters. WSPA South America is trying to contact them to find out about what help they need. Our Disaster Liaison Officer in Santiago de Chile, the capital city, is contacting other local animal agencies to get a clearer picture of what Chile’s animals are facing. A team of WSPA vets, including Juan Carlos Murillo, is presently investigating options to get into Chile and report on the situation first-hand.
As always, we’ll keep you posted as the true picture emerges.
