Piece Description

In 1960 the city of Valdivia, Chile, was the site of the most powerful earthquake in recorded history--9.5 on the Richter scale. Soon afterward the region was flooded by a devastating tsunami. Nearly 50 years later, Rodrigo Zeledon was in a group of students that traveled to Chile to learn first-hand about the disaster and its continuing impact on the city and region. In this story, he speaks with survivors of the event and hears what it was like for them and what they have learned from the city's recovery. Their stories are moving, dramatic and, ultimately, uplifting. Highlights include: --An interview with an 80-year-old woman who still vividly recalls seeing her own house float past as she stood on a hillside waiting to learn what would remain of her village. --The story of a survivor who as a young girl was on a ship in the harbor when the tsunami struck, and who now remembers being pulled back and forth by the violent currents, just missing falling into a crater that had opened up in front of the ship--but who cannot remember how she ultimately survived. --Reflections from a woman who went for refuge, with her husband and young children, to an island in the middle of the city, and who now believes that the disaster eventually brought more good than harm. This piece is an excerpt from the longer program, "Valdivia: Stories of Survival," which is also available from PRX.