The first Médecins Sans Frontières team arriving in Chile

Members of the team arriving from Argentina are already in Santiago and will be traveling to the Maule region to assess needs in the coastal towns of that area. Other Médecins Sans Frontières professionals will arrive today.

Sunday, February 28, 2010. The first members of an exploratory team from Médecins San Frontières have already arrived in Santiago, the capital city of Chile, in order to assess the needs of victims after an 8.8–magnitude earthquake struck the country early Saturday morning. Other Médecins San Frontières workers will be arriving today.

Médecins San Frontières is already in contact with Chilean government authorities to coordinate the relief effort. The first team will travel today from Santiago to the Maule region, south of the capital, to assess the situation in that area, which was hit hard by the earthquake. Our teams plan to focus their work in the regions close to the epicenter, but prioritise peripheral villages and areas where aid takes longer to arrive. According to the first reports, coastal areas far from the principal urban centers seem to be among those more affected by the earthquake, and are also the most difficult to reach.

The first Médecins San Frontières team, some members of which are already on the ground while others are still traveling, is comprised of doctors, logisticians, and a nurse coming from Argentina, Bolivia, Panama, and Mexico to Chile.