-Mike-

Chile vs. Haiti? All I see is a prime example of how the devastation caused by a natural disaster is proportional to how underdeveloped the country is. Like others have said, there are people dying. If your point was to show Chile is more developed than Haiti, well, wow...real shocker there.

If Chile did need support, the international community, likely led by the US, would stand by ready to help.

pjinca

On the contrary, this is far from a Chile vs Haiti or any way to diminish the lives lost. However, it seems more and more everytime something happens around the world, Americans feel the need to jump in the deep end and focus completely on a region they never knew existed the day before yesterday. Just today while watching the coverage of the quake someone posted a question about "Chili" - and I thought "retard, you couldn't even bother to read the name of the friggin country on the screen in front of your cheeseburger stuffed face?"
My statements were merely to let America know that, yes there are parts of the world that do fine without our interference - and have done so for decades.

Beware of altruism. It is based on self-deception, the root of all evil.



If tempted by something that feels "altruistic," examine your motives and root out that self-deception. Then, if you still want to do it, wallow in it!

ron_cb550

Chili? I can't find it on my map...

sdg1871

My thoughts go out to all Chileans. As severe as the magnitude of the quake was, thanks to a real building code, a real and functioning government, the fact that most of the affected area sits on bedrock rather than fill and the fact that the quake orginated very deep in the crust as opposed to near the surface and was not centered right below a major popu?ation center' Chile was spared the society-shattering calamity that befell Haiti. Chile will recover. I doubt that Haiti ever will.

Chile looks like a beautiful country and I hope to visit one day. I've always wanted to ski Portillo during our summer.

v_therussian

with all this crap going on, I'm half wondering when the moment is gonna come when we are gonna need a telethon for the States...

John, sorry for crapping politics in your thread - you got me thinking and crap... either way, RESPECT to Chile for stepping up in the time of crisis and handling this sh!t like adults

MacoBMW4life

hey PJ...not sure where you're gathering some of these facts from...I'm from Chile too and as far as i'm concerned University isn't free (public and private), i don't even think the public schools are free which we all know are for the less fortunate...healthcare isn't free either (ever heard of FONASA/ISAPRE)...

What part of Chile are you from? I'am from Santiago, Las Condes to be more specific...

Anyway, i've been glued to the TV all weekend trying to grasp the magnitude of the earthquake...Chile will rise again and the current w/upcoming new Gov't and private sector have already stepped up to aid the southern part of Chile affected tremendously by the earthquake and tsunami.
Thx everyone for the support...

I'll be coming out to some of the meets soon - haven't seen the usual gang in a while.

pjinca

Well, there was a really good article in Reader's Digest (of all places) several years ago detailing the trip of several US senators going there and seeing how things were there and they described the things listed above. Also, my mother and father both grew up in Santiago, my uncle lives there now along with my cousins and grandma (grandma lives in Concon)and my father.
We have been fortunate enough to be able to get in contact with all of them and they are fine. It amazes me that there can be a disaster of this magnitude and have such little loss of life, considering that more people died this weekend in the US in auto accidents than the total number of people that died in this disaster is staggering. A true testament to how they have built things for years in Chile. Obviously any loss of life is a bad thing, but to have a disaster like this and have so little (relatively) is a great thing.