The 8.8 magnitude earthquake that rattled Chile Saturday morning had repercussions hundreds of kilometres away.
Victor Fernandez felt it here in St. Albert. The local firefighter not only has family in the capital city of Santiago, he also works tirelessly to help his comrades in other countries.
He has been in contact with three of his siblings and is happy to report that they are safe. “They felt it pretty good. They’re doing OK. One of my sisters was pretty scared, a little panicky because they’re still feeling aftershocks.”
The city is 350 kilometres away from the epicentre but that’s still close enough to have the power go out and feel the tremors, making for a pretty rude awakening at 3:30 a.m. “It was strong enough to kick her out of bed. She was bouncing quite a bit.”
Fernandez is also the president of Canadian Aid for Fire Services Abroad (CAFSA), a humanitarian organization that shares retired fire trucks and other protective gear with smaller communities in the Caribbean and Central and South America where they are desperately needed. For several months now he has been working on delivering two fire trucks to the town of ChillĂ n, located approximately 75 kilometres from the quake’s epicentre.
“I’ve been in contact with the firefighters to the south and they don’t paint a pretty picture. They’re working very hard. They’ve got no water; they can’t eat. A couple of the fire halls have been damaged so they can’t go back in. They’re sleeping outside. There’s looting going on. A logistic nightmare. My first thought was that I wish to be there to help them but that’s impossible.”
These vehicles are needed now more than ever but because of the destruction and disruption, the project has been delayed.
“We will continue with the project. The project was supposed to be done by the end of April but then we’re going to move it to the end of May to give them the space to get back to normal. They’re going to need more help than before.”
Fernandez needs as much support for his mission as possible and encourages people to consider helping out, even if it means volunteering for just an hour. “The best thing to help is money.”
For more information, visit www.cafsa.net.
