Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
March 15, 2010

As Chile’s Catholic Church coordinated aid to victims of the massive earthquake that struck the country’s central coast on Feb. 27, church leaders expressed their condolences to families of the more than 700 people killed. Bishop Alejandro Goic Karmelic of Rancagua, president of the Chilean bishops’ conference, said, “We ache for our brothers and sisters who have lost their lives, and we pray for their families and friends and those who have lost all their possessions.” Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet declared the southern regions of Maule and Bio-Bio a disaster area, ordered the army to reinforce the police and imposed a nighttime curfew on the region to halt the looting of stores. Most deaths were in the Maule region, where a quake-triggered tsunami swept through coastal villages.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

The 12 women whose feet were washed by Pope Francis included women from Italy, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Ukraine, Russia, Peru, Venezuela and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"We, the members of the Society of Jesus, continue to be lifted up in prayer, in lament, in protest at the death and destruction that continue to reign in Gaza and other territories in Israel/Palestine, spilling over into the surrounding countries of the Middle East."
The Society of JesusMarch 28, 2024
A child wounded in an I.D.F. bombardment is brought to Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on March 25. (AP Photo/Ismael abu dayyah)
While some children have been evacuated from conflict, more than 1.1 million children in Gaza and 3.7 million in Haiti have been left behind to face the rampaging adult world around them.
Kevin ClarkeMarch 28, 2024
Easter will not be postponed this year. It will not wait until the war is over. It is precisely now, in our darkest hour, that resurrection finds us.
Stephanie SaldañaMarch 28, 2024