by Chris Bodenner
Last Friday, in a random and eerie coincidence, the Dish published a View From Your Window from Santiago, Chile - just hours before the earthquake hit. I followed up with the reader and asked if he could send us an updated version. He writes:
Thanks for your prayers and support. Thankfully, all of my family and friends are OK, just a little scared. Regarding the picture, I could definitely send you an updated shot, but it would look exactly the same as the one you posted last Friday; there is absolutely no damage to be seen there. This reflects the fact that the earthquake affected different parts of the country in completely different ways.
I live and work in the eastern part of Santiago (the picture was taken from my office window), which is the richer, more developed part of town. Life here was pretty much back to normal on Sunday, with people going about their daily lives with little or no interruptions. Walking around here, you'd have a really hard time noticing that we had just gone through one the biggest natural disasters in this country's history.
This, of course, represents a stark contrast to what has happened to the older, poorer parts of Santiago and to other cities to the south such as Talca and Concepción, where the damage has been tremendous and where looting and social unrest are starting to become a major problem. I suppose you could post the updated picture as a statement to the huge inequalities that still remain in this country, despite all of the prosperity and growth of the past few years.
For fresh photos of the devastation in Chile, head to The Big Picture.