“I’ve lost everything’ tearfully declared a fisherman from Guanaquero – a small village 450 km north of Santiago, on the Pacific. “But we will start again, as we Chileans have always done.” The cameraman embraced him in a supportive manner. These were some reactions after the night of the earthquake. On the evening of Wednesday, 16 September, just before 8 p.m. the series of seismic waves began, with an intensity of 8.4 on the Richter scale. The following secondary waves also exceeded an intensity of 7. The long seismic activity made us run to find refuge in the courtyard of our home. Our neighbours on the street also did so. “How are you all? Is all ok?” “Yes, don’t worry, and you?” we all asked one another. “Do you need anything?” There was no fear, no agitation. Also the children knew what to do. In Chile all are taught on how to behave in the buildings, schools, and supermarkets where the safety zones are all marked out for the protection from possible collapsing buildings. After the experience of 2010 the country was more than adequately prepared. In La Serena, 480 km north of Santiago, the capital, due to the intensity of the quakes we knew that the epicentre was very close. The lights went off and only when we found a radio transistor did we know that it was about a 100 km from here. A triangle of small towns of 20/30 thousand inhabitants, Illapel suffered great damages, but it was not so in the bigger towns. Less than an hour had passed and the radio then confirmed the tsunami alert. Throughout the country, evacuation of the coast of 6,000 km had started, from the desert in the north to the cold south: a million people had to find refuge at an altitude of at least 30 km?? above sea level. The waves arrived in the form of huge masses of water that advanced and raised the sea level to at least four metres. The port of Coquimbo with 150 thousand inhabitants was partly submerged. Then came the news of the victims. All were expecting it. It was just a few hours before our traditional celebrations for the independence of Chile, on the 18-19 September. The 12 victims and five missing would not be celebrating this year’s event. Among these, three died of heart attacks, another three were sucked up by the sea, and the others lost their lives due to falling rocks from the mountains or the collapse of walls. The government had declared a state of calamity in some provinces of the 4^th Region. The President, Michelle Bachelet, spoke to the country: the rescue system has been activated. Our thoughts go to those who lost all their possessions: villages of fishermen, the inhabitants of the epicentre zone. It is the eighth emergency in less than two years. The earthquake in the north last year, the floods, and in March the most arid region of the planet, the Atacama Desert, was submerged by floods. Then the volcanoes were next: one last year and an eruption a few months ago. Then there was the tremendous drought from north to south, Valparaiso overwhelmed twice by fires in the surrounding zones, and now the earthquake and tsunami alert… Once the terrible list concluded, we recalled the words of the old fisherman of Guanaquero: “We shall overcome!” In his eyes I saw a reflection of determination and perseverance. The same values explained why on the bare and steep slopes of the mountains of this northern zone, suddenly immense green spots suddenly appeared with avocado and vine cultivations. They were literally pulled out from the soil, exploiting every drop of humidity for their irrigation. Only determination and perseverance can obtain fruits from nature that over here has nothing to offer. This is how we built this nation. It would be impossible not to love it » Alberto Barlocci, from Chile