Like many of you, I woke up on Saturday morning to hear the horrible news that there had been yet another earthquake. This time the earthquake has struck Chile.
My husband and I had the pleasure of visiting Chile last Christmas and meeting many of the fair trade jewelry artisans featured at Pangea Collection. We visited the office of the fair trade organisation and met with the artisans who had come to showcase their beautiful jewelry. It is for this reason the impact of the earthquake has an even more personal feeling for me.
When I woke up on Saturday morning I immediately emailed my contact at the fair trade organisation to check to see if all was okay with the staff of the organisation as well as the artisans who are located in many areas of Chile, not just Santiago. For several days as I’ve been watching the news I’ve been thinking of them and wondering if indeed they were okay.
Today I received an update indicated the delay was, not surprisingly, a result of electricity and internet outages. The good news is that everyone at the fair trade organisation and their families are okay. The bad news is that they have been unable to reach many of the artisans to find out how they are.
Below is part of the message which the Chilean fair trade organisation is sharing with their partners and friends around the world.
SUPPORT FOR FAMILIES OF ARTISANS AND PRODUCERS AFFECTED BY THE EARTHQUAKE IN CHILE
With great dismay, we are now handling the significant impact of this tremendous earthquake in the regions of Maule, Biobío, and facing a smaller scale of damage, the Metropolitan Region.
We would like to forward our support, companionship, solidarity and love, especially to the families of our artisans and farmers that work in these areas. As a team, we are sending all of our support in offering the network of contacts we manage from Santiago throughout the world. In particular, we sending support to Lipimávida Fruits, production plant of canned papaya, in Ilocos, VII Region, which was completely devastated by the tsunami. We still have no news from this region.
As major communication lines remain cut, we will continue to try contacting these artisans and producers. We are also taking up contact with people in the rural areas surrounding Santiago that were also strongly impacted. We are making an effort to contact these producers to better understand their conditions and how we can help. We send our all of our support.
We greatly appreciate the solidarity and concern of our friends in the various countries that work with us in Fair Trade. We have already received messages from many of our clients who have been our friends and partners for many years. Thank you very much for your concern. We will be advising everyone whether there is any specific help that we need that can be channeled through to these devastated areas.
Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone that has suffered from this disastrous event. We ask that God helps everyone contribute in building solidarity with those affected.
