Earthquake!

All LDS missionaries safe after earthquake in Chile displaces 1 million people

I got the headline and picture from a Deseret News article  here

Many of our family and friends have called me to ask if I heard the news: There was an 8.3 earthquake in Chile! Sam is serving in Chile, Rancauga Mission. He is assigned to work in the city of San Javier. The news reported that earthquake is near the city of Illapel. I looked up the milage between the two cities and San Javier is about 150 miles south of Illapel. I’m pretty sure that Elder Magnusson is out of harm’s way, but I’m sure that there are missionaries serving in the Illapel area along with Chilean people that could use our prayers at this time.

2 hours later.....

We received this email from Sam's mission president.

Dear parents-you have seen on the news that this evening we had a strong earthquake here in Chile near Coquimbo which is about 350 miles north of us on the coast.  We felt the main earthquake and a number of aftershocks here in our mission.  We do not have cell service with some parts of the mission at this time but we have established communications with the majority of our missionaries and they are all fine.  There have been no reports of structural damage or injuries in the general population. 

We have 10 missionaries who are on the coast and they are taking precautions regarding possible tsunami events.  Those cities involved are Pichilemu and Constitución.  No other cities or areas of our mission are at risk of a tsunami.   We are blessed to have members and local leaders in both towns who take a great deal of interest in the safety and well-being of our missionaries.  

We will send out another email tomorrow after we have made contact with 100% of our missionaries.

If you have any questions please do not reply to this general email address but rather email me directly at -------------

Thanks for your prayers and support.

Warmest regards,

Presidente Warne
Misión Chile Rancagua

This email was sent to us this morning from the mission president:

Dear parents-thank you for your patience with us as we reestablish communications with our missionaries this morning.  As expected the cellular networks were overloaded last night after the earthquake and it became impossible to make contact with some sectors of our mission.  We have now had contact with 100% of our missionaries and they are all fine.  We were confident of this last evening but called each companionship this morning once service was restored.  There were no issues with tsunamis in our coastal towns of Pichilemu and Constitución.  We appreciate your love and concern for the missionaries and this great work.  Again, if you have any questions please do not reply to this email but rather contact me at -----------

Warmest regards,

Presidente Warne
Misión Chile Rancagua

Here is one more communication about the earthquake from Deseretnews.com  with the headline:  All LDS missionaries safe after earthquake in Chile.  Displaces 1 million people.  

This video talks about a missionary who was serving in Chile during the 2010 earthquake.

You can also see the video by clicking here and cue it up to 0:30-2:40