Earthquake Damage in Santiago

I obviously haven't seen the American news coverage of the earthquake in Chile, but in speaking to friends and family from home, it seems as though the message conveyed is that much of Chile, including the capital Santiago, has been devastated.  While that certainly has been the case in the city of Concepción and the surrounding areas, Santiago has largely been spared.  Buildings and infrastructure took some hits, but overall we have been extremely fortunate that it was not worse.  Over the last four days, we have spent time walking and driving around various neighborhoods in central Santiago, and we have only seen two instances of heavy destruction.


The first instance is the church of Divina Providencia, which is only a few blocks from Marcia and Lee's hotel.  This church was continually shown on Spanish CNN the day of the earthquake, and I assume it was shown often in the US as well.  We have not seen any other buildings in the area that looks this damaged.

Divina Providencia

The second, and most complete, instance of destruction was at Santiago's General Cemetery.  We visited this cemetery the day of the earthquake because nothing else was open, and we had heard from a few sources that it was interesting.  It was indeed interesting, with incredibly ornate mausoleums that are larger than some homes, housing the dead of Chile's most prominent families.  A few of these mausoleums had been reduced to rubble by the quake, but most of them looked untouched.

Some of the most visible damage in the city

Some undamaged mausoleums

The most common sign of damage around the city has been glass from shattered windows and street light covers, and concrete blocks and dust knocked off the facades of older buildings.  Most of this has already been cleaned.

The ice cream counter smashed through the window

Strangely, the most critical damage done was to the airport.  The fueling and electrical systems have been badly compromised, and the terminal is in shambles.  Service has finally reopened in a restricted manner, with temporary tents set up as the terminals.  Santiago's airport is the only one in the country that services major international cities.  One would think, or at least I've been thinking, that if your country, which happens to sit in an area of the world known for frequent earthquakes, only has one major airport, it should probably be the most secure and earthquake-resistant structure in the nation.  I don't understand how how an earthquake that barely damaged the rest of the city, and didn't even knock the paintings off the hostel where Magge and I are staying, could have crippled the airport so badly.  If any civil engineers are reading this, I'd love to be enlightened.