"Three years on: the aftermath of Chile's devastating earthquake"

Hello Everyone,

For my practice experience I will be venturing to Chile this summer to work with an organization called TECHO. TECHO works to build sustainable housing facilities around Latin America. In regards to working in Chile, what sparked my interest about this project had to do with my fascination with the disaster relief interventions we learned about in GPP 115 in relation to Haiti and New Orleans. A major earthquake hit Chile in 2010 and devastated many lives requiring massive rebuilding of housing especially in rural areas. My organization continues to do work in this sector.

The current event article I found was directly in line with my interests. "Three years on: the aftermath of Chile's devastating earthquake" describes what is going on in Chile now in relation to the still prevalent disaster relief efforts. The earthquake in 2010 was one of the worst natural disasters in Chile's history killing 525 people and causing billions of dollars in damage. With such a disaster we can only imagine that there is still much work being done to rebuild houses and establish new infrastructure in rural areas of Chile by the government as well as other organizations.

My personal interest in disaster relief has to do with the psychological effects that are caused by such devastating events. While I will be working with other University youth volunteers to establish a project that will implement sustainable improvements to communities, I will also be working directly with individuals whose lives were impacted three years ago by this natural disaster. Siekierska, in this article, goes into the details of living in memory of the disaster and post-traumatic stress that is experienced by so many members of the communities who were forced into the tight quarters of temporary housing for extended periods of time. While it has been three years since the disaster these problems are still very prevalent in Chile. I look forward to discovering more about what the daily life is like for those who suffer from post-truamatic stress as I help to improve their housing.

http://www.santiagotimes.cl/opinion/special-reports/25790-three-years-on-the-aftermath-of-chiles-devastating-earthquake