With Concepción still dealing with aftershocks, damaged infrastructure intermittent breakdown of communication networks and a dearth of adequate relief supplies, SOS Children’s Villages is providing invaluable support to the people still coming to terms with the effects of the earthquake.

The supply situation is critical in Concepción. Despite governmental help arriving, so far it has been in an insufficient scope and only reached the most affected victims.

A supply bridge between SOS Children’s Village Chaimávida and SOS Children’s Village Concepción has been settled, which has begun providing food, water, flour, hygienic articles and others, in collaboration with the other nearest SOS Children’s Villages.

The huge damages to the infrastructure in the region of Concepción hamper the mobility a lot, many bridges have collapsed and a curfew is still imposed.

The first Family Strengthening Programme teams have arrived in Concepción with the aim to establish the programmes for crisis intervention and to develop a daily care programme for the children from the community.

Direct help for the neighbouring communities has started. According to the assessment of the emergency team, some 600 children will be supported in Concepción. SOS Children’s Villages has activated its network with community leaders, institutions of the church and others with the purpose of identifying the most vulnerable families.

Due to the breakdown of much infrastructure it has taken some time for all SOS Children’s Villages workers to be contacted.

The houses of some suffered structural damages while some of them had some personal injuries, but nothing serious. There were reports of some attempted looting and disorder in other areas of the country, such as Curicó, a city which was also affected seriously by the earthquake.

Now that the communications have gradually improved in the areas of disaster, it has been possible to get into contact with the biological families of several children of the different SOS Children’s Villages.

However, as yet it hasn’t been possible to contact some biological families whose children are in the process of family reintegration ordered by the National Service of the Youth Welfare, because those children were not in their villages at the day of the disaster. A vehicle has been organised that is dedicated exclusively to the search of these families.

While the various more practical relief efforts are being mobilised, SOS Children’s Villages is simultaneously setting up measures to deal with the more personal fallout of the quake.

In order to ease the post-traumatic symptoms of children and staff, SOS Children’s Villages Chile has asked the University of Concepción for psychological assistance.

With the arrival of more SOS staff in the affected region, the support for the programmes and the emergency team has been reinforced; SOS mothers and family assistants are receiving special support in their care for the traumatised children.

SPONSOR AN ORPHAN IN CHILE WITH SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES