Ignacio Martín en Hualañé – Chile
Gloria is one of nearly 10,000 people living in Hualañé, a community in Curico province, in the region of Maule. Hualañé is located about 80 km from Talca, in an area affected by the earthquake of 27 February.
"I lost my home. Many houses were destroyed, including mine. It was more than one hundred years old, so it collapsed," says Gloria, as she lies in a recovery room of the Spanish Red Cross Basic Health Care Emergency Response Unit (ERU), where she is receiving serum. A mother of eight children, Gloria was with her three youngest at the time of the earthquake. She was able to get them out of the house quickly. "The other girls had gone to Santiago with their father ... a stroke of luck, otherwise they would have died when the house collapsed.”
The section of Gloria's house that is still standing is not safe for her family to return to. "We must tear it down. Thank goodness, a small house was given to me four or five years ago. This is where we are living, it’s cramped, but we can manage."
Gloria is also concerned about the approaching winter. In this area it is very cold. "Now we are waiting to see if we can get a roof over our head, or if we can do something with the house ... I hope we get something".
Gloria's concerns about the future of her family began to take a physical toll. A friend told her about the existence of the ERU, and she arrived at the clinic very tired. "Today I felt bad, I felt dizzy. I am diabetic, so eventually I felt worse and I fainted. I never thought it would affect me this much. "
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies asked the Spanish Red Cross to set up this Basic Health Care Unit in Hualañé. The 14-member medical team works directly with health specialists and volunteers from the Chilean Red Cross. To date, the unit has treated some 500 patients.
When Gloria arrived at the clinic, she was greeted by a Red Cross volunteer, who immediately referred her to a member of the medical team. After the diagnosis, as Gloria was recovering, Valeria Cerda, a volunteer of the Chilean Red Cross’ Curico branch, stayed by her side, providing much-needed psychosocial support.
Ready to be discharged from the clinic and to go back to her family, Gloria expresses her surprise: "This is all very good. I never thought it would be this way, the facilities are great, the people are all very loving. The girls who took care of me were very nice and loving. I want to thank them all, with all my heart."
Gloria also remembers the immediate response from the Chilean Red Cross, after the quake: "We are all a lot better because of the help and the food we received. One could not go out and buy anything and the youngsters were distributing much-needed goods," she says, referring to the Red Cross volunteers.
The International Federation has increased its emergency appeal for Chile to 13.000.000, Swiss francs, to support the efforts of the Chilean Red Cross in providing proper care for those affected by the earthquake, and in speeding their recovery.