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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, March 30, 1965
Chilean Students Say Quakes Change Economy, Landscape
By Lacy Banks
A common but most unwanted visitor in Chile is the earthquake, two KU Chilean students agreed in an interview last night.
The students, Luis F. Lema, junior in mechanical engineering, and Gloria Macchiavello, graduate student in education, said that the fear of earthquakes is common in Chile because they are so unpredictable and very destructive when they do come.
Lema, who lives in Potrerillos, located in the north of Chile, said that the Sunday earthquake was the tenth since 1906. There are many "shakes" or "shocks" that don't develop into an earthquake but they shake the earth enough to frighten people and to cause minor damage.
"THE SHOCKS USUALLY last for a few seconds," he said. "You can't see them but you feel the vibrations. If you are in a house you might see lamps (hanging lamps) swing slightly or if the shocks are more intense the walls may shake or windows may shatter."
The worst modern earthquake that Chile has had, according to Lema, occurred in 1939. During that quake an entire city, Chillan, of about 50,-000 people, was destroyed.
The 1960 quake was the last major one that Chile had before Sunday. Lema said the 1960 quake in which about 5,700 people were killed and thousands of homes destroyed is still effecting the Chilean economy somewhat.
"AFTER THAT EARTHQUAKE, the government raised the taxes throughout the nation in order to reconstruct from the damage suffered," he said.
"Many foreign countries, especially the United States, helped by sending money, doctors, clothes, portable hospitals and schools," he continued
Lema lived about 400 miles from the center of the 1960 quake but people in the region still felt the vibrations of it and experienced after shocks.
Gloria Macchiavello, of Santiago, the capital of Chile, said that the 1960 quake produced geographical changes that the Sunday quake didn't.
"IN THE 1960 quake," she said, "a complete port disappeared. The shapes of some shores were also changed. In many instances, what once were peninsulas became islands. Another strange event was the sinking of a ten-mile stretch of land that separated the ocean from a hill; now that hill stands beside the ocean."
Both of the students agreed that the Sunday quake was not so major as the 1960 one and that taxes are not bound to rise.
One source of help that can be expected is from the students, Miss Macchiavello said. During the 1960 quake, thousands of university students rushed to the aid of the disaster-struck.
IN SANTIAGO, students of the University of Chile organized into groups and went through the city from door to door soliciting money and clothes for the quake victims, she said.
"Students are very sensitive about things like this," she said, "but what surprised me was the active willingness of the people to contribute. The drive was very successful."
The poor people living in slums are the worst hit by quakes, the two students agreed. Their houses are poorly constructed so that the slightest tremor may cause them to collapse. Miss Macchiavello said.
Judith Nelson To Give Recital
MANY OF THE POOR people are forced to build and to live on hills or slopes so that shocks or quakes can easily cause them to slide, Lema said.
Miss Judith Nelson, Lawrence senior, will present a voice concert at 8:00 this evening in Swarthout Recital Hall.
Miss Nelson is a soprano and is majoring in voice. She has held the Houston Music Scholarship and won awards sponsored by the Federated Music Clubs.
However, this situation is improving because of new government financed housing projects for people in the slum areas and the lower economic stratum, Miss Macchiavello said. Presently, only about three per cent of all housing in Chile is in slum condition.
Speaking on the precautions for earthquake harms, Miss Macchiavello said she was taught to stay indoors and to lie under the frame of a door. Many people, especially those who have well-constructed houses follow this rule, she said.
MISS MACCHIAVELLO SAID the door frame is the strongest and therefore safest part of a house if it should collapse. If one runs outside, he stands the chance of falling into a fissure (cracks in the earth's surface caused by quakes) but it would be more difficult for an entire house to be swallowed in one, she said.
Lema said architects build with earthquakes in mind. Buildings in Chile are quite lower than those in the U.S. and have very broad bases.
LEMA SAID HIS region, the northern part of the nation, seldom experiences earthquakes; they usually occur in the central and southern areas. Santiago is in the central region of the country.
Despite this quake-prone region there is a great migration of people from the rural areas to the urban district of Santiago, Lema said. At present, about 30 per cent of the country's population lives around Santiago, he continued. This wouldn't decrease injuries if a major quake struck Santiago.
Most of the nation's industry is located there, he said.
THE GOVERNMENT is trying to counter this movement, Miss Macchiavello said. A government-sponsored organization, the Cooperation for National Economic development, has been exploring the problem and has been encouraging industries to
start in new locations, she said. This has been done with the fishing industry, Lema said.
Commenting on the conditions of their families, the students said they were doing well. The quake was too far from their homes to do damage.
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When You're In Doubt, Try It Out—Kansan Classified
Date: Wednesday, March 31, 1965
Time: 6:30 p.m.; Place: Union Ballroom
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