Report title: Chile Earthquake Assessment Report Date(s) of field assessment March 6th to 8th 2010 Name and location of site being Region of Maule, Province of Cauquenes, Comunas assessed of Cauquenes, Pelluhue and Chanco. Plus Region of Maule, Province of Talca, Comuna of Concepcion GPS coordinates of site 71º,00´00´´ W – 36º,00´00” S Principle contact(s) at the site Jorje Rojas, Head of Disaster Response, Cauquenes Province Geraldo Reyallo, Head of Disaster Response, Cauquenes Municipality See annexe- contact list 1. National Picture On February 27, 2010 - at 3:34 am in Chile – there was an 8.8 earthquake that lasted one minute and had its epicentre in Bío-Bío region, about 91 kilometres from the city of Concepcion (second city with 900,00 people), and 320 km South of capital Santiago (population 5m). A subsequent tsunami struck much of the Chilean coast line, with the most severe loss of lives and property occurring within a few hundred metres of the sea. There have been multiple aftershocks in the 10 days since the quake. With tremors of between 5-6.4 continuing to occur. Figures of those affected remain inconsistent. However, the latest government figures (see annexe- statistical information indicate that) • Number affected: 1,922,649 million • Homes affected: 813,634 • Homes severely damaged: 200,000 • Killed: 507 The majority (estimated 80%) of those who are displaced are living with host families (friends and relatives), with others in tents and in communal buildings Public services and infrastructure were also heavily affected: • Water supply was disrupted and remains disconnected in many areas • Electricity and telecommunications remain patchy in the affected areas- this is critically problematic at present. • Hospitals, health centres and schools have been severely damaged, with many non-or partially operational in affected areas. • Road access in the affected areas of region VII and VIII is reasonable. Despite some earthquake impact, most locations are fully accessible. • Santiago and Concepción airports have only recently begun to function affectively again 2. Pre disaster situation: Chile has one of the strongest economy in the Latin America, with strong GDP growth and per capita income of over $14,000. It is recognised as a middle to high income country, with largely well functioning basic services across all sectors, including a strong education system with 95% adult literacy. Most international development aid has been reducing. There was approximately 10% unemployment, with the majority of people working in salaried service industry and relatively low numbers in agricultural production. Those that were tended to fall in to the poorest quarter, including the fishing industry, the most affected livelihood group. 3. Assessment 3.1 Objectives of the assessment - Assess personally the affected areas - Establish working relations with potential government and NGO partners - Prioritize intervention sectors and evaluate and design response strategy 3.2 Itinerary Following an initial field visit on March 3rd: - Saturday 7th: Santiago-Cauquenes (9 hours) Contact with ONEMI upon arrival and visiting Central Hospital and IDPs camp at “Estadio Fiscal” - Sunday 8th: Cauquenes-Pelluhue-Chanco. Co-ordination meeting with ONEMI Province Co-ordinator at Aerodrome facilities. Visits to IDPs camps surroundings Pelluhue. Information sharing with Response responsible at both sites (ONEMI + Carabineros Commander Pelluhue). Meeting and feedback with ONEMI-Cauquenes - Monday 9th: Visit tsunami affected city of Constitución. Way back till Santiago (6 hours approx) 3.3 Methodology - Amended version of IASC assessment tool - Direct field visit and assessment information- separation of staff by sector. - Observation at sites (transect walks), household and individual interviews - Number of interviews to institutional actors: 6 (sector specific and generalist) - Number of interviews to affected population (by site visited): 3 sites x 3 interviews each - Spoke with directly affected and non affected population in camps and within their homes 4. Cauquenes Province Overview information Cauquenes province consists of three municipas: - Cauquenas, which includes the main town and rural areas, was severely affected by the earthquake with major damage to homes, health centres, schools and municipal buildings, including the town hall which has been surveyed and will be pulled down. The main water and electricity supply were affected severely. - Chanco, a town and municipa on the coast was also severely affected by the earthquake. A smaller town, but affected in many of the same ways - Pelluhue is a municipality of about 7,000 people on the coast, very seriously affected by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami which destroyed and washed away the majority of homes within 600 yards of the seafront. Cauquenes Province was already considered a poor province. With weak or closed industrial network, economy was focused mainly on agriculture, fishing and tourism. The area has relatively low level working age population and with a small rate to total children population (32%) compared with other areas of the country. Numbers of affected children and adults - 15,000 (0 to17 years old) are estimated to be affected within the province. Total Affected Death toll Missing Houses Houses to population destroyed be demolished Cauquenes 44000 37000 16 1697 8862 Chanco 11000 8000 44 Not Not assessed assessed by govt by govt Pelluhue 7000 6500 8 Not Not assessed assessed by govt by govt TOTALS 62000 50500 68 700 Estimation of total affected population at Cauquenes provinces: 50,500 Although final confirmed figures are not known from the government or other organizations it is clear that Cauquenes Province was very badly affected by Feb. 27th Earthquake and the later Tsunami. The local structures were unable to organize an appropriate response from the very beginning, hence there continue to be considerable gaps across all sectors. 4.1 Health At Cauquenes level, measles and other preventive vaccination were done at the beginning of the response by the MoH. The main- only- stated increase in disease was in respiratory infections. It was reported separately that gastrointestinal diseases were also on the rise. Levels of trauma injuries were low. However there were stated fears around an increase in both respiratory and diarrhoeal disease at the onset of the rainy season given current conditions. In the province: Two health centres have been fully destroyed: one in Pelluhe and another one in Chanco. The main hospital in Cauquenes town has been heavily damaged and is operating at about 50% capacity. All main services were continuing but with limited facilities: Surgeries, births, general medicine, haematology testing, X-rays. # beds in the hospital - 120 (30% precarious) # doctors - 25 # nurses - 50 Key issues: - As with many public facilities, access to water at the hospital visited was inadequate. Several taps had been damaged, hence distances to water points were too far. - Severe damage to hospital buildings - Many drugs were lost due to disruption to the cold chain. This is now resolved, but supplies were lost. The pipeline has been resolved. - Large items of medical equipment were damaged or destroyed - There was a stated increase in cases of psychological symptoms- from depression to trauma. One voluntary group (a commercial company were observed to be providing basic support at the hospital). This was the only non governmental actor (apart from individuals that was supporting health services in the province. Recommendations: - Badly damaged and in need of inputs; equipment, water and sanitation systems and infrastructural repair. - Increased risk of public health related illness, and in responding to the hygiene sector, close coordination with curative health services should be retained. 4.2 Food Security, nutrition and livelihoods - General capacity of the population to meet their food needs was high, both through their own capacity, that of local voluntary groups (though noted that will not last for long) and through government interventions. - Currently, wet feeding programmes were occurring in 5 locations in Cauquenes and two in each of Palluhue and Chanco: 10.000 food rations are delivered per day using the schools facilities for that purpose and managed by JUNAEB ( National Basic Education Council) and organized by the Army. The schools were: Los Conquistadores, Rosita O´higgins, Anibal Pinto, Porongo, Ascensión Lara. - Formal programmes are complemented with temporary coverage by Government and civil society initiative “Chile ayuda a Chile” which has created a enormous and spontaneous voluntary movement which delivered at random huge amount of aid, particularly food rations. This is distributed both through JUNAEB and directly at displaced sites. - There were no noted nutrition concerns amongst the disaster affected population and access to food was not a priority for any of the families or individuals questioned. However there were significant concerns in the food security and livelihoods sector at large. The team did not get an opportunity to consider this issue in detail, and a fuller food security/livelihoods assessment is recommended soon. Key issues highlighted included: - Disruption to the harvesting season for casual labours, limiting their income earning opporuntiies until at least September - Severe damage to the fishing industry at large- damage to equipment, including boats, storage facilities, and a loss of general assets. - At a national