March 8, 2010

CHICAGO – For the first time since the earthquake, Lutherans were able to visit the Chilean town of Concepción, March 4-7. Karen Anderson likened the scene in Concepción to "a war zone."

Anderson, based in Santiago, Chile, is a staff member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Global Mission. She was part of an ecumenical team that traveled to Concepción to assess the needs of people there following the Feb. 27 earthquake in Chile. The earthquake struck central Chile about 70 miles northeast of Concepción and 200 miles south of Santiago, Chile's capital. Concepción was hard hit.

In a March 8 e-mail to ELCA churchwide organization staff, Anderson said it took the team about "12 hours to make the six-hour trip because of the damage to sections of the road and bridges."

When the team arrived in Concepción, there was an 18-hour curfew and military personnel were posted throughout the city, reported Anderson.

"As we drove through the city … at 7 p.m., it was like a ghost town with very few cars on the streets, and (there were) military check points," said Anderson. The team was on its way to visit Educación Popular en Salud (EPES or Popular Education in Health Foundation), an ELCA partner organization. EPES works to improve health care services in local communities. Anderson works with EPES.

The team met with Dr. Lautaro Lopez, EPES director. Since the earthquake Lopez has been providing medical care to neighbors and organizing water distribution at EPES. More than 300 families (1,200 individuals) are receiving water every day from the water source on the EPES property, said Anderson.

Concepción's municipality "has been helping pump out the water with a generator," Anderson said. With funds from the ELCA, "we bought our own generator, which we took with us. Luckily the power was back on, and we were able to run the pump with electricity from our building," she said, adding that Lopez organized a neighborhood committee to distribute water.

Although the first few days were very tense, as people were panicking about the lack of water, food and other basic necessities, "things are running smoothly now," said Anderson.

The ELCA sent $10,000 to the Iglesia Evangélica Luterana en Chile (IELCH or Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile) for earthquake relief efforts. The ELCA also provided $10,000 to assist the efforts of EPES, and $20,000 for an ecumenical response through Action by Churches Together Alliance.

The Rev. Gloria Rojas, pastor-president of IELCH, and Kathryn Lawler, a regional ELCA Global Mission representative based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, traveled with Anderson to Concepción as part of the ecumenical assessment team. Other members of the team included a representative of Church World Service, New York, and the bishop of the Methodist Church in Chile.

Financial contributions to support earthquake relief efforts in Chile can be made at https://community.ELCA.org/NetCommunity/SSLPage.aspx?pid=543, on the ELCA Web site.

Information about the IELCH and EPES is at http://www.ELCA.org/Who-We-Are/Our-Three-Expressions/Churchwide-Organization/Global-Mission/Where-We-Work/Latin-America-Caribbean/Chile.aspx, on the ELCA Web site.

ELCA News Service