Day Four - After the Big One - 4 March 2010

People in the states are not getting the whole story of this Chile earthquake. I have DirecTV here, so I have the advantage of being able to watch the local coverage, plus the coverage by CNN and FOX. On the first and second day after the quake, CNN had almost continuous coverage of the two largest cities here (only), and FOX had very little coverage which is understandable because FOX isn't really a news network anyway, but a commentary network. There are five major national TV stations here in Chile, and four of these have had continuous coverage of the quake and the destruction every day and is continuing. What we are seeing on all four of these national Chilean stations is the real destruction.....there are many towns and small cities that are completely destroyed. CNN of course cannot possibly have reporters and correspondents in all these places, so you are not seeing any of this coverage in the states. There is total destruction in many areas. They look like war zones or worse. The news reporting is continuing on these four stations without any commercial breaks. There are still many small towns and cities that are inaccessible by road because of the quake, and they are getting to them by helicopter as fast as possible. From what I'm seeing, the Chilean government is even underestimating the amount of the destruction. Today is our fifth day since the quake, and we still don't have electricity. The power company will not even take my name or account number, but instead they are giving a general message to all callers that all workers and repairmen are working 24 hours per day and they will get to everyone as soon as possible. One thing is good....the aftershocks are now fewer and lighter, maybe we feel one every three or four hours instead of every 15 minutes. We are still sleeping in our tent outside in a clear area....Clare is still afraid to sleep in the house.