After so many images of the devastation in Haiti, it may be hard to differentiate what just happened in Chile. Chile, after all, is far wealthier than Haiti, has a functioning government, and has suffered enough major quakes in its past to have a building code in place. The damage from an 8.8 will be massive but it could have been far worse without Chile national program of disaster preparedness.
Operation USA, 1-800-678-7255, or text 50555 "rebuild", is ready to assist those in need in Chile. Operation USA worked in Chile 25 years ago after a huge quake struck north of where last night's quake hit. The NGO is reaching out to partner agencies in a collaborative effort to better coordinate its efforts.
Hopefully, the public is not suffering from "compassion fatigue" after 6 weeks of 24/7 saturation coverage of Haiti and can both respond to relief agency appeals for money and creatively use this opportunity to discuss their own preparedness needs here in the US.
