San Juan Fernandez Island Needs Help · Sunday February 28, 2010 by Julie
Here is a letter I got from a friend. Please help if you can:
As many of you know, I have had the privilege and honor of working in the Juan Fernandez Islands, Chile for the past 10 years on a variety of conservation and community-based education programs. It is difficult for me to write this, but the islands were hit very hard by the tsunami that developed following the massive earthquake that struck Chile yesterday. There is very little news from the islands, but the little that we have heard is that the entire coastal zone of the town on Robinson Crusoe has been destroyed. At least 5 people have been confirmed dead and 11 are missing. My very close friend and colleague, Erin Hagen, is currently on Robinson. We have heard that she is okay, but she briefly described in her message that many people were swept out to sea. Sadly, this suggests that the losses in the community will continue to rise. There is absolutely no news from the small fishing village out on Selkirk, but I fear that the situation out there may well be desperate given that the little village would have been exposed to a direct hit from the tsunami.
The community, in which I have many close friends, is going to need considerable help and support. We have set up a charitable fund through our Oikonos website to accept donations for the community. 100% of all donations will go directly to benefit the Juan Fernandez community.
Please feel free to forward this message on to anyone who you think might be interested in helping.
And please light a candle and send your thoughts to the Juan Fernandez community.
In peace, love and friendship,
