Aftershocks of anxiety ripple 5,000 miles from earthquake's center

By Matt Thacker JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — Miguel Zanartu worried for more than a day before he got word his family was alive.



Zanartu, 37, heard about the magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile on Saturday morning, when he turned on his television to watch “Good Morning America." His father, grandmother and dozens of other relatives live in the South American country.



“I was thinking of all the images of Haiti," Zanartu said, "and they’re saying this was worse."



As the death toll rose throughout the day, he assumed the worst.



“Saturday was a bad day for me," he said. "I told my wife to be prepared to go to Chile for funerals."



He tried to reach his family by telephone, with no luck. He couldn't get through to the State Department. So he posted a Facebook message asking for information about his relatives.



Later that day, he started getting replies from family members saying they were OK. His father sent an e-mail on Sunday. All had survived, and most of their homes received only minor damage.



They were lucky. The earthquake killed nearly 800 people, according to the most recent estimates.



Without the Internet, Zanartu said, he likely would still wonder if his family survived.



“I was really surprised. I wasn’t expecting to hear from them,” he said.



Zanartu’s father lives on the 14th floor of a building in Santiago. He was home when the earthquake started at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday.



Zanartu's uncle lives on the fourth floor of a building on the opposite side of the city. He described the chaotic scene to his nephew.



The ground made a loud, rumbling noise, Zanartu's uncle told him.



“The building started shaking violently,” Zanartu said. “They were basically scared for their lives. There was no electricity, so they were in the dark. They couldn’t leave the building.”



His uncle said it was the scariest two minutes of his life. He and his wife started praying, as their daughter cried uncontrollably. Shortly after the quake ended, screaming and crying people poured into the streets.



Zanartu, whose mother is American and father is Chilean, moved to the United States in 1989. He and his wife, who is Mexican-American, donated to relief agencies after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. They've given to efforts to help Haiti after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit that country in January. He anticipates they and others will give to his native country, as well.



“It is our obligation as human beings to be there for everybody. We need to help our neighbors, and this is what the U.S. is all about,” he said. “I love this country, and I have no doubt the people here will pour their hearts out.”



Matt Thacker writes for The Evening News in Jeffersonville, Ind. He can be reached at Matt.Thacker@newsandtribune.com.