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Priest In Quake Region fev ’ ' Heart In Mouth Prayer On Lips By Father James W. Mundell, M.M. (N.C.W.C. News Service) CHOLCHOL, Chile — Sud denly in the darkness — it was 6 a. m. — I awoke with my heart in my mouth and a fast Act of Contrition on my lips. The whole rectory of rein forced concrete was working back and forth like a ball of putty in the hand of a giant. Any second I expected the house to collapse. I have ex perienced only three earth quakes in my seven years in Chile. Each lasted less than 10 seconds, with no more force than it fakes to shake a glass off of a table. Each registered a mere "grade one" on the Richter Earthquake Scale. The quake at 6 a. m. May 21 lasted three full minutes — an eter nity — and hit "grade three." We knew, of course, that some area had been badly hit. Later that morning, by porta ble radio, we learned it was Concepcion — where it struck with an intensity of “grade eight.” The damage there was awful. There were no communi cations at all until much later in the day. At 6:30 the next morning, Sunday, another earthquake of the same intensity as Satur day’s struck. A half hour later, another’. And at 8:30 as Mass was starting, another. Then all quiet. I left in my jeep at 9:30 to celebrate Mass up in the mountains, in Cha- came, two hours away. I was in the confessional from the moment I arrived until 1:30. Everyone in town wanted to go to confession. Then I started Mass in the century-old farmhouse, with all the chickens and dogs assisting, as usual, along with the people. There was a capacity congrega tion, and many confessions and communions. The people were scared to death. During Mass, another tremor. I preached on the quakes: I told the people to have con fidence in God, the author of nature who knows what He is permitting. If He wants us to go, fine. After Mass I walked out into the barn alongside the farm house. Actually it wasn’t a barn; it was the living quarters of a large family—dirt floor, with a fire in the middle, such as all the country people have. ELEtTWAl eMTIACTHG MOTOR KHMM DAY AND NIGHT SERVICE m&m MARIETTA, GEORGIA Marietta v Commerical lank Member Federal Deposit insurance Corporation 804 ROSWELL ST. PHONE 7-4245 MARIETTA, GEORGIA I lit my cigarette and rested for about 10 minutes. Then it start ed, with a fury. I had stepped back into the room where I offered Mass to get a few people ready for Bap tism. The house started to rat tle. Everyone made a dash for the door. They all dropped on their knees outside the house— between the house and the so- called barn. I ran a bit further to get out of the way in case the house should fall. The old ground just shook and shook. A man started beating his breast, and shouting, “Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us.” Seeing everyone kneeling -— and realizing that I was the priest—I dropped on my knees, too. It lasted three whole min utes and was “grade six.” It finally stopped, except for a tiny shiver; I thought it was over at last so I made my way back among the kneeling people to begin the baptisms. There were four. I got as far as the exorcism. Suddenly the old wooden floor buckled like paper. The rest of the people were still on their knees praying the Rosary. I ran, ; trying to keep my balance, fell' to one knee, and then up again out into a clearing. The entire horizon swept like a wave and rocked from side to side. The farmhouse and barn waved back and forth like leaves in wind. It was violent, lasting over four minutes and reaching “grade nine” — near the top of the scale. The houses in the country did not fall. But in nearby Nueva Imperial, the houses were down, roofs caved in, bricks and stones , all over the streets. I drove up to the Franciscan Sisters’ convent school on the crown of a hill. Two walls were down. I went in and found it abandoned. In the patio, how ever, all of the girls — student boarders — were huddled in blankets praying the rosary and frightened to death. We decided to spend the night on the football field around fires. We carried our blankets and mattresses out — the boys at one end of the field and the girls and the Sisters at the other. The' Sisters sat up the whole night on benches around the fire, praying. About three big shakes fiif cfurinjf' tAe nlgfft' and the two-story schoolsound- ed like it was falling apart. Next, the tidal wave: Many towns disappeared completely. Others have only three or four houses left standing. The quake which caused it was of "grade ten" in many cities a bit fur ther south; 70 per cent of them are now destroyed. There was no communication. Railroads were out. Fires started. There was no light and water. The only two hospitals in one city went down. What a grace of God that it did not occur at night. Thou sands upon thousands would have been killed. But we still did not know the total number of deaths throughout the na tion. We need help. And prayers. THE BULLETIN, June 23, "980-PAGE CRS AIRLIFT TO CHILE QUAKE VICTIMS National Airlines cargo clerk checks a freight load of 10,000 pounds of blankets gathered at New York’s Idlewild Airport just before they were placed aboard National Airlines plane for flight to Santiago, Chile. .Gathered by “Catholics of America” and distributed by Catholic Relief Services—N.c.w.c., the blankets were being sent to earthquake vie* tims in Chile. (NC Photos) RELIEF WORK SLOWED BY WRECKAGE Southern Chile In Ruins After Quakes, Tidal Waves (N.C.W.C. News Service) CONCEPCION, Chile—Much of southcentral Chile remains near desolation in the wake of the three weeks of recurrent earthquakes, tidal waves, vol canic eruptions and avalanches. The cataclysms have changed the whole face of the region since the first devastating quake on May 21. In all her long history of such calamities, Chile has never known greater disaster. The toll may take months to compute; it might never be known. But thousands are dead, and more thousands injured. A total • of i 170,000 homes are wrecked, water and sewage sys tems destroyed, along with vir tually all docks along the whole southern coast of the nation. Valdivia, hardest hit on the major cities has areas where the ground level has dropped as much as nine feet. Crevices as v/ide as six feet are not un common. In the 10 provinces hit by the violence two and a quarter mil lion people have suffered in some way. That’s nearly 30 per cent of the total population of Chile. With winter new beginning, the plight of the homeless be comes the more difficult. But the Chilean people have united as one in coming to the aid of their stricken brothers. At the same time, over two dozen na tions, ranging from Chile's Lat in American neighbors to the United States and Canada, and Germany, Switzerland and Spain, have rushed aid to the homeless. Nations as distant as the Soviet Union, India land Ja pan have also lent a hand. But relief work has been hampered by the destruction of existing airfields and port facilities. This city of Concepcion, which had to be rebuilt almost completely following the 1939 earthquake, is on the northern edge of the disaster area. It is Chile’s third largest city, with a population of close to 100,000. The quakes have left almost half the city’s houses destroyed or inhabitable. The cathedral here is half-wrecked, and many of the churches are al most beyond repair. Nathaniel Hicks, Chilean di rector for Catholic Relief Ser- vices-National Catholic Welfare Conference, the overseas relief agency of the U. S. Bishops, ar rived here.May 22 to begin sur vey relief needs. He .was the first non-Chilean, non-govern ment official on the scene. Later, after visiting the hard er hit areas south of here, Mr. Hicks estimated that the de struction of churches, semina- Requiem For Victims Of Tida! Wave HILO, Hawaii (NC)—A special Memorial Day Requiem Mass was offered in St. Joseph church here for some 55 resi dents of Hilo reported dead or missing in the wake of a dis- asfrous tidal wave. The tidal wave, which struck Hilo in the early morning hours of May 23, caused millionis of dollars worth of damage here Bishop James J. Sweeney of Honolulu sent a message of condolence to families of the disaster’s victims. “To all those who have been bereaved of their lovbd ones we extend our heartfelt sympathy and we call upon all our people to offer their earnest prayers for those who have been taken by death and for those who have been left behind,” he said. Priests of St.' Joseph parish were among the first to go to the aid of the injured and dying after the tidal wave struck. Fa ther John Joyce, M.M., pastor, and Fathers Thomas Wilcox,, M.M., Robert Mackesy, M.M., and Thomas Killackey, M.M., spent hours administering the Last Rites at Hilo Memorial and Pumaile Hospitals. ries and Catholic institutional buildings will run into tens of millions of dollars. Due to the disaster, he said, the Chilean Church “will need almost com plete financial support” from the Catholics in America and Europe if it is “to rebuild and survive this blow.” NORTHWOODS AUTO SALES, INC. “WE SPECIALIZE IN EXTRA CLEAN SECOND CARS” ACROSS FROM WINN DIXIE 5200 BUFORD HWY. DORAVILLE CL. 7-4384 £i,i Wist, es UPRE' MARIETTA, GEORGIA PIXIE CLEANERS AND SHIRT LAUNDRY 1411 Roswell Street Phone 8-3676 MARIETTA, GEORGIA CALVARY GARDEN . . . the only "exclu sively" Catholic burial property in all Atlanta. 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