Chili - Interview de Pierre Garrigou, logisticien MSF

18/03/10 - Chili : Pierre Garrigou is a logistician working with international medical aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in response to the recent earthquake in Chile.  Here is an account of his experiences and the MSF response.


You were one of first members of MSF to arrive in Chile after the earthquake. How was the disaster response operation organised?

On the same Saturday the earthquake struck, around midday, I got a call from the MSF office in Buenos Aires asking me to join an exploratory mission in Chile. At six in the evening, I was already flying from Buenos Aires to Mendoza, an Argentinean province neighbouring Chile. From there, a bus took us to Santiago, where we arrived the following morning.

On arrival, we first contacted the MSF coordinator who was already there on holiday when the quake occurred. There were many problems with the telephone lines so reaching her was difficult. Then we started to contact Chilean professionals who had previously worked with MSF, and who later joined our team. Later we discussed how to reach the areas closer to the epicentre of the earthquake.

It was bedlam. We left for Chile so fast that we had no information about what was happening. According to the TV news, the situation on the coast was very bad. We decided it would be best to go to areas not so close to the epicentre, because most of the relief efforts were concentrated in the most damaged area, Concepción.

What were your first impressions?

We headed South on Sunday evening and on Monday morning we visited the Curicó hospital, where we found many doctors but at the same time a chaotic situation. In the town, shops were closed, communication networks were down and there was rubble everywhere.

As we kept going, we gathered information about the conditions of the roads. From Curicó we headed to the coast, towards Iloca through Vichuquén.

In the first days after the quake, the coast was the most shocking place. You could see people in the midst of the rubble, trying to find their belongings. A terrible sadness was in the air. People were shocked, walking with totally blank expressions on their faces: many had lost everything, even loved ones. Medical staff were stressed and overwhelmed.

What needs did you identify?

Inland, in the areas far from the coast, there were lots of destroyed buildings, lots of rubble. But on the coast, earth tremors were compounded by the tsunami, which had really devastated everything. If your home had collapsed in the earthquake, you might still be able to rescue something amongst the rubble. But in coastal areas houses were directly swallowed by the waves.

People had lost everything and were camping in makeshift shelters. In coastal areas, people fearing more tremors had fled to higher ground. We decided one of the main needs we had to address was to distribute jerry cans, blankets, and plastic sheeting for shelter. Based on what we had seen, we also discussed the possibility of providing mental health care. And during the days that followed, we kept on assessing and confirming that medical supplies had also been lost. In Curalipe, people were trying to salvage medical supplies that the water had washed away.

On day 3, we started putting together an order for 5000 hygiene kits for the affected population. We also started donating medicines in Curalipe.

How did the MSF team organise themselves?

We divided ourselves by area: one team went to Constitución and the team I was with went further south to Curalipe. Then, the medical people in the team went to visit the hospitals and I went to the municipalities to talk to the mayor or Ministry of Health or social development officials to try and determine the number of houses devastated and the needs. Many told us that, in some villages, over 70 per cent of the houses had been destroyed. Based on these observations and meetings, we determined what we needed to assist the affected population.

How did the situation change in the days after the earthquake?

Two or three days after the earthquake, there was an enormous amount of relief aid. In Curalipe, at first there was nothing, but after a few days there were already volunteer doctors at the local health post, receiving donations. These were signs that the area was starting to make a fast recovery.

In my opinion, Chile has a very good reconstruction capacity; mistakes are a normal occurrence the first days after a major disaster like this. Yet the size of this disaster, the number of affected people and houses, is enormous.

Toute l'actualité de MSF au Chili

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