Piñera gave a speech to conmemorate the anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the country

Chile, February 27, 2011

Sebastián Piñera commemorated today the first anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Chile. The event took place near an island where 100 people died drowned as a result of the tsunami waves that struck the Chilean coast.

The earthquake was of magnitude 8.8 on the Richter scale and the tsunami killed 524 people, leaving damage for about $ 30 million.

Today, over 4 000 families remain living in camps, in wooden houses of 18 square meters, with no running water and bathing facilities to share with the others.

“We still have a long way to rebuild” said the president speaking on Constitution, in the south.

The speech given by Piñera took place in a bank of the Maule river, where is the island Orrego, where 100 people were waiting to celebrate the end of the summer when they were surprised by the tsunami.

On the island remain burned trees and there was placed a memorial to honor the dead and missing.

The city of Constitution was one of the cities hardest damaged, because the waves reached about six blocks to the main square of the same.

The victims criticized the slow construction to replace the 220,000 houses that were severely damaged by the earthquake.

In the past year road connectivity was restored, the main roads were repaired, more than 200 bridges, but hospitals and hundreds of schools are operating in temporary places.