Effects of the 2010 Earthquake and Tsunami

In 2010 there was an earthquake in Chile and the epicenter was on the coast just north of Concepcion. The earthquake had a magnitude of 8.7 and lasted about 3 minutes. It happened in the middle of the night and caused chaos. After an earthquake of that size, you have to evacuate right away to higher ground because the chance that a tsunami will come is very good. So everyone fled trying to get as high as they could up the mountains, passing their babies to people in cars, basically thinking the world was ending. After waiting all night, the government finally announced that the threat of tsunami had passed and that everyone could return to their homes, when in reality, the navy/coast guard/government had seen the sea pull back, which means that a huge wave was coming. They apparently didn't tell the people about that tiny observation so as not to cause more chaos and fear, but since everyone went back to their homes, when the tsunami finally came, WAY more people died than should have. The damage was horrible and the city of Talcahuano is still recovering from it 3 years later. Many buildings crumbled from the earthquake and were simply wiped away from the tsunami. The government tried to help by rebuilding some homes, apartment buildings, and other small shacks for people to live in temporarily, but there are people still living there 3 years later without even a bathroom or a kitchen! It takes a lot to rebuild an entire city, but it was sad to see that even years later there are still so many displaced families and broken homes.

There was a big building next to the stadium that is no longer

The bridge over the river fell like dominoes.

The old theater

These are two buoys that came in with the sea and one of them was in Lorena's grandma's garage after the tsunami

The yellow houses were build by the government

The bay where the tsunami came in was about 10 km away from their house

This whole area was hit by the tsunami

These are all the houses in Los Tumbes that were rebuilt by the government

Lots of houses left in ruins

Los Tumbes

After checking out Talcahuano, Lorena and Ivan took me to Los Tumbes which is the tiny fishing town on the point of the peninsula. It was completely wiped out from the earthquake and tsunami in 2010 but they rebuilt it and it is once again a super cute little town with lots of fresh seafood and fishing families.

Chocolate chip cookies!

I wanted to bring a little of my culture to Lorena's family so I taught Lorena how to make traditional chocolate chip cookies. It was interesting trying to bake them in a little toaster oven, but they loved them! And now she knows how to make them for her family whenever they want a super unhealthy buttery and sugary treat!

La Sofi

My friend Lorena has a 5 year old daughter named Sofia and she is the cutest thing ever. She taught me how to dance the Cueca and the Polka, we played games to see who could make the silliest face, we sang karaoke, took lots of pictures, and she was the best tour guide!

Making Empanadas!

Empanadas are one of the traditional foods here in Chile. They are basically a piece of dough filled with anything you want to put in them: seafood, meat and onions, ham and cheese, shrimp, tomatoes, etc. They can either be fried or baked but in any form they are absolutely delicious. For their Fiestas Patrias, they eat LOTS of empanadas so I decided I wanted to learn how. Lorena's aunt made some fried seafood empanadas for lunch one day and I learned how to make the traditional baked empanadas with meat, onion, part of a hardboiled egg, one olive, and one raisin. We baked them in a brick oven outside and the end result was fabulous. Lookout Minnesota, I'm bringing this recipe home!