I've been thinking about Chile a good deal today. I woke in the early hours to news of a big earthquake just off the coast of Chile, in the vicinity of Iquique, with tsunami warnings all along the coast.
Having an insomniac night, which happens occasionally, I gave in and got up. On YouTube was footage of cities being evacuated in the dark - in particular, Iquique.
Iquique was where I ended up in hospital for three nights last December, having my broken elbow sorted. In a very nice clinic, right on the seafront. Clinica Iquique couldn't get much closer to the sea, and, sure enough, the first surge was about 2.5m and flooded 'a medical clinic' and the bus terminal. My room was on the 5th floor, the operating theatre wasn't. Now we're wondering about the people that we met, who were so kind to us; what state the attractive waterfront is in, how our seaside campground fared; how far through the low part of the city the water travelled, and was our wee hostel affected. Fortunately, there seem to have been few casualties, although the police are still hunting for the three hundred escaped prisoners. These events so often happen in places far away, just names on the map. Iquique is much more than that for us.
