Update March 11th 2010
7.2 MAGNITUDE AFTERSHOCK SHAKES CHILE AGAIN

© Yahoo News/AFP Photo

Sworn in: new Chilean President Sebastian Pinera with wife Cecilia Morel accompanied by his wife Cecilia Morel and Lower House Congresswoman Carolina Fuenzalida at the end of the inauguration ceremony in Valparaiso.

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Courtesy photo

The poetry of Gabriela Mistral — one of Chile’s great 20th century poets, the first Latin American awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature — was also translated by Langston Hughes

Hay besos que calcinan y que hieren,
hay besos que arrebatan los sentidos,
hay besos misteriosos que han dejado
mil sueños errantes y perdidos.

Hay besos problemáticos que encierran
una clave que nadie ha descifrado,
hay besos que engendran la tragedia
cuantas rosas en broche han deshojado.

from the poem Besos (Kisses)
© Literary estate of Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga

Some kisses scorch and hurt,
Some kisses enrapture,
Some kisses are mysterious and have left
A thousand dreams wandering and lost.

Some kisses are troublesome and contain
A code nobody has cracked,
Some kisses breed tragedy
As they pull off countless rosebuds.

Anonymous translation

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Photo © Sebastian Martínez/Associated Press

‘State of Catastrophe’ After Chile Quake | New York Times, 28 February 2010

Read the full story …

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President Obama expresses sympathy and pledges support for Chile

Photo © Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) talks with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet during a photo op after a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office at the White House June 23, 2009 in Washington, DC.

CNN Updates, including Chilean President Michelle Bachelet’s ’state of catastrophe’ declaration

Chilean broadcaster Pamela Rodríguez reports from Santiago on Russian TV

Chilean quake has knocked Earth three inches off her axis, shortening our day by millionths of a second

Photo © REUTERS/Pilar Olivares

An earthquake survivor plays soccer next to the tent where he is living with his family five days after a massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami caused widespread destruction in Dichato March 4, 2010.  (Story by Terry Wade and Fabian Cambero ~ Maylasian National News Agency, 5 March 2010)
Courtesy Bernama.com

Earthquake exposes social chasm in Chile (Rafael Azul, World Socialist Website, 8 March 2010)

Chile’s infrastructure after the quake (Pamela Morales, Santiago Times, 3 March 2010)

Chilean newspapers at onlinenewspapers.com

La historia de terremotos en chile

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Blogs, posts, and updates at Alternet

Updates and relief efforts at The Cleanest Line

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RATTLE AND HUM

Olde New England Towne

Read Reverend Peter Bulkeley’s cautionary poem about the 1653 New England earthquake, plus other quake poems at Dark Sky Magazine

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Source: poetacandida.se

Courtesy photo

Cándida Pedersen:

Chile sufre el dolor del terremoto

Este poema está compuesto
con lágrimas de angustia y desesperación,
mis ojos lloran, mi corazón está triste y solo,
porque mi país sufre el dolor
más grande que pisa la tierra.
En enero fue Haití, ahora Chile,
donde el terremoto no tuvo piedad
por los niños ni las mujeres,
quitándole la vida a más de 700 personas
dejando a más de dos millones
de familias sin hogar.

Mañana tal vez le toque a otro país hermano
que viva el pánico con la impotencia de querer vivir
y no poder hacer nada contra este fenómeno.

Ayer en Estocolomo se reunían
miles de chilenos y latinamericanos
pidiendo ayuda para Haití,
pero la tempestad del dolor
atravesó las fronteras
y atacó la gente más pobre de mi país.

Chile es un poema de amor y calor,
pero hoy el arte de la poesía
se viste con tormenta de tristeza
escribiendo el lamento que azota
al pueblo chileno.

Mi alma pide la colaboración de todos los poetas,
extendiendo este mensaje
de solidaridad y hermandad
para todo el mundo,
tratando de unirnos en la agonía
que invade a mi país
que ha sido víctima
por una terrible catástrofe natural,
impidiéndonos el camino a la felicidad,
pero mi luz de esperanza´
aún está encendida
para estrechar lazos de bondad
y ayudar a mi país Chile.

© 2010 Cándida Pedersen
Courtesy of poetacandida.se

CHILE
at InfoPlease (All the Knowledge You Need)

Situated south of Peru and west of Bolivia and Argentina, Chile fills a narrow 2,880-mi (4,506 km) strip between the Andes and the Pacific. One-third of Chile is covered by the towering ranges of the Andes. In the north is the driest place on Earth, the Atacama Desert, and in the center is a 700-mile-long (1,127 km) thickly populated valley with most of Chile’s arable land … Click to continue

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