https://newsela.com/articles/chile-quake/id/12041/
A 8.3 magnitude hit Chile this month; leaving houses destroyed, buildings damaged, and citizens dead. Thousands of people were forced out of their homes and into a safer place. Electrical power was cut off to 240,000 households as people from the area where it hit hardest had no where to go. They had to sleep outside until Thursday. Two days after the earthquake, about 90,000 people were still without electricity. About 9,000 people have been left homeless by the earthquake.
This earthquake hasn’t been the first one in Chile but, it seems to be the worst in 2015. Thousands of people were left without homes as even today they are living in the streets. Its crazy to think how so many different things happen around the world and no one seems to do anything about it. We know so much through media headlines and the worldwide network of online reporting but knowing and doing something to help are two different things. The country of Chile should really help those people but who is helping this nation rebuild? Are global citizens and their governments responsible for providing the basic needs of shelter and food to people who go without?
The question is how did so many people survive this 8.3 magnitude earthquake? Well, since so many have died in the past the government was prepared for this one. Many people huddled around plastic tables at a state run shelter and squished against the walls of a military tent lit by fluorescent tubes.
“Toro (a government official) says: “A million people were evacuated and that saved a lot of lives. Had we not had such an evacuation, there would have been many, many more deaths.”
This is an example of how governments are responsible for the general safety of their citizens even when the disaster is beyond their control.