In February, exchange student
Rickey Bodle (sponsored by the Rotary Club of
McMinnville, Oregon, USA) took part in relief
efforts led by Chilean Rotarians after an
earthquake devastated parts of the country.
今年二月時，美國俄瑞岡州麥克明維(McMinnville)扶輪社贊助的交換學生Rickey
Bodle，在地震摧毀智利部分地區後，加入當地扶輪社員發起的救援活動。
Mac student helps with quake relief
麥克明維高中學生協助地震救援活動
In
some cities, nearlly every buiding was damaged in
the 8.8 earthquake.某些城市的所有建築物幾乎毀於8.8級地震之中。
McMinnville
High student Rickey Bodle wasn't alarmed when he
awoke in a shaking bed the morning of Saturday, Feb.
27. "Chile is an extremely active area for tremors,
so I thought nothing of it," said Bodle, who is
spending the year there on a Rotary Club exchange
program.
麥克明維高中的學生Rickey
Bodle，在2月27日週六清晨於搖晃不已的床上醒來時，並沒有警覺到發生了什麼事。他說：「智利常發生地震，所以我壓根沒想到」。他參加扶輪社交換計畫而前往智利，預定留在該國一年。
However, the
shaking not only continued, it became worse. So he
jumped out of bed and headed for the stairs in his
host family's house.
然而，這場搖晃不但持續下去、還變得更加劇烈。所以，住在接待家庭的他，連忙跳下床並跑下樓。
As he
reached the bottom step, he heard members of his
host family screaming for him. "They quickly grabbed
me into their tight circle as we all held on to one
another," he recalled in an e-mail interview with
the News-Register.
Bodle走到最下面一階時，聽見接待家庭的家人向他大喊。他接受《新聞文摘(News-Register)》的電郵訪問時，回想道：「他們迅速將我拉過去並緊抱著彼此。」
His host
sister and mother began praying as the earth shook
and growled. "It sounded as though the world was
falling about around us," he said.
隨著地表不斷搖晃咆哮，接待家庭的姊姊與母親開始禱告。他表示：「聽起來彷彿四周的世界都崩落了。」
They had
just experienced a major earthquake, widely reported
as an 8.8 on the Richter scale.
他們才剛經歷過一場大地震，根據報導震級高達芮氏8.8級。
Bodle is
staying in La Ligua, about 90 minutes north of the
capital of Santiago. The quake's epicenter was off
the coast of Concepcion, in southern Chile.
Bodle住在里瓜(La
Ligua)，在首都聖地牙哥北方約90分鐘車程之處。震央位於智利南部的康賽普松(Concepcion)附近海岸。
The quake
reportedly registered between 7.6 and 8 in Santiago,
still very powerful. It caused extensive damage in
Chile, which occupies a long, narrow band along the
western coast of South America, and triggered
tsunamis wreaking additional havoc.
據報導，這場地震在聖地牙哥的震度為芮氏7.6-8級之間，震度仍非常強烈。智利為位於南美西岸且地形狹長的國家，這場地震造成智利各地嚴重毀損，並引發海嘯造成另一波浩劫。
As their
initial panic subsided with the tremors, Bodle said
he and his host family faced a new worry - the fate
of friends and relatives.
Bodle表示，起初的恐懼隨著晃動而逐漸平息後，他與接待家人面臨到新的憂慮
–
親朋好友的命運。
His host
brother had gone to Vina del Mar with his
girlfriend. Cell phone service was down, so he
couldn't be reached for hours.
接待家庭的大哥已經和女友回到比尼亞德爾瑪爾(Vina
del Mar)，手機斷訊，歷經數小時仍無法聯絡到他。
Friends in
other parts of Chile couldn't be reached either.
他們亦無法和智利其他各地的朋友取得聯繫。
"No one
slept that night," he said. In addition to their
worries about people they couldn't contact, he said,
"It would have been impossible, with the constant
bombardment of tremors providing reminders of what
happened."
Bodle說：「那一晚沒有人睡得著」。除了憂心聯絡不到的人們外，地表持續不斷地晃動，一直提醒著我們發生了什麼，幾乎不可能入睡。」
Roads were
damaged between La Ligua and Santiago, and power and
water lines were disrupted.
里瓜與聖地牙哥之間的通路毀損，而且斷水斷電。
Fortunately,
his host family had a good supply of water on hand.
"The only worry we have is if another big quake hits
and a tsunami comes," said Bodle, whose host brother
turned out to be safe.
幸運的是，接待家庭留有充份的飲水。Bodle說：「我們僅擔心是否會有下一場大地震和海嘯來襲。」接待家庭的大哥後來獲知安全無虞。
He started
e-mailing friends, relatives and Rotarians back home
as soon as he could to let them know he was all
right and keep them posted on what he was doing.
Bodle即刻寄發郵件給親朋好友以及回家的扶輪社員，讓他們獲知自己平安無事，並讓他們隨時知道自己的動向。
As soon as
they could use their cell phones. Bodle said, "My
host sister and brother and I called as many people
as we could and gathered supplies to send to
Concepcion." He said his host sister planned to drop
them off for distribution at the Catholic university
in Santiago.
在手機能夠撥通後，Bodle隨即表示：「我和接待家庭的兄弟姊妹盡可能聯絡更多的人們，試著募集物資並將物資送至康賽普松」。他表示接待家庭的姊姊打算將這些物資送至聖地牙哥的天主教大學以便配送。
Bodle also
volunteered with relief efforts being led by Chilean
Rotary clubs. "I am proud to say that I am able to
be a part of this effort," he told local Rotarians.
Bodle亦自願加入智利扶輪社發起的救援活動。他告訴當地的扶輪社員：「我很自豪能成為這項活動的一份子。」
In his
e-mail exchange with the News-Register, Bodle said
he joined Chilean Rotarians to take food and
clothing to Talca, a city that was "pretty much
destroyed."
他在與《新聞文摘》往來的郵件中，提到自己與智利扶輪社員一同運送糧食與衣物前往塔爾卡(Telca)，這個城市遭受到「非常嚴重的破壞」。
Talca
normally is about a four-hour drive from La Ligua,
he said. But due to damaged roads and bridges, it
took eight hours.
他表示從里瓜到塔爾卡，一般約為四小時車程，不過，由於道路橋樑都受到毀損，他們耗費了八小時才抵達。
He said
police had to escort them part of the way to ward
off bandits, who have been taking advantage of the
situation.
警察在半途中必須護送他們以免受到搶匪襲擊，這些搶匪總會利用這種情況趁火打劫。
In some
places, their route wasn't in bad shape. But in
others, Bodle said, "The road had simply slid down
the hill, been uplifted, or was in so many pieces
that it was left impassible."
有些地方的路況還好，但是在某些地方，Bodle表示「道路因走山而遭掩埋、整個隆起、或是變得肝腸寸斷而無法通行。」
Talca
Rotarians met the La Ligua contingent about an hour
from the city and took them to an outlying area to
deliver the first of their supplies. They passed a
church that "looked on the verge of collapsing" from
extreme damage, Bodle said.
塔爾卡的扶輪社員在該市外圍約一小時路程處，前來迎接里瓜的派遣隊伍，並領著他們前往一處偏遠地區發送首批補給品。根據Bodle所描述，他們路經一間從外觀看來「瀕臨倒塌」的教堂。
The whole
area "looked like the ruins of a ghost town, but
instead of being empty, people still had to
survive," he said.
他接著表示全區「看起來宛如鬼城廢墟，不過，裡面並非空無一人，人們依然得活下去。」
They
unloaded some of their supplies at a nearby school -
noodles, rice, sugar, water, tea, coffee, oil,
clothes and other items.
他們在鄰近的一所學校卸下部分的補給品，包括麵條、米、糖、水、茶、咖啡、油、衣物與其他物品。
The aid was
sorely needed, Bodle said. "These people had
nothing, but Rotary had come to help and give to
them that which one needs to survive."
Bodle表示這裡的人們迫切需要協助：「這些人一無所有，扶輪社前往協助並給予他們生存所需的物資。」
The
Rotarians also brought the special sweets for which
La Ligua is famous. "The people were ecstatic to see
us, and the kids ran alongside our cars laughing,"
he said.
扶輪社員還帶來了里瓜非常著名的特產甜點。Bodle說：「人們滿心喜悅地看著我們，孩子高興地追著我們的車跑。」
"For losing
everything, these were probably some of the happiest
people I have ever known. Their happiness came from
still having their families intact and well."
「雖然失去了一切，這些人也許是我所見過最快樂的人之一，因為他們的快樂來自於家人平安無事。」
Later, Bodle
and his group went into the city of Talca.
稍後，Bodle與其團隊進入了塔爾卡市。
It looked
"post-apocalyptic," he said, noting, "Nothing was
spared."
他說，這座城市看起來「宛如世界末日，無一倖免。」
In one spot,
they encountered an area where debris and animal
bodies had been dumped. "The smell was overwhelming
and putrid. It was the smell of death," he said.
他們在一處看到堆放著破瓦殘礫和動物屍體的地方。他說：「撲鼻而來的是令人難以忍受的腐爛氣味，這是死亡的氣味。」
Still, he
said, residents of Talca were going on with their
lives. He saw some sitting atop the rubble of bus
stops and houses.
他表示，塔爾卡的居民還是得過日子。他看到有些人坐在公車站與房屋的碎石瓦礫上。
One man sang
of his sadness, providing his own accompaniment on a
guitar, said Bodle, who plans to remain until
mid-June.
Bodle看到有個人彈奏著吉唱出自己的哀傷，並表示打算逗留至六月中旬左右。
y to raise funds to support a
local Youth Exchange student and service projects.
