Chile
earthquake takes heavy toll on historical sites
For many
the Chile earthquake is over. Not for Oscar Acuña, who is racing the clock to
save historical sites from demolition and further disrepair.
The Christian Science Monitor, by Aaron Nelsen, Correspondent /
March 31, 2010, in Santiago, Chile
When the
massive magnitude-8.8 quake that rocked Chile on Feb. 27 reduced dozens of the
country’s oldest historical sites to rubble, Oscar Acuña wasted no time
before dispatching teams of architects and archaeologists to assess the damage.
In the capital, Santiago, the quake damaged a handful of churches and buildings
in the historic districts. But in the traditional towns nearest the epicenter
none was spared.
Initial
assessments of 241 damaged sites include the San Salvador Basilica in Santiago
and the World Heritage sites of La Matriz Church and the Port marketplace, both
in the coastal city of Valparaiso.
The most
extensive damage, however, occurred in the south-central regions of Maule,
O’Higgins, and Biobio, where many adobe homes were destroyed.
Mr.
Acuña, executive secretary of Chile’s National Monuments Council (NMC),
now finds himself in a race against the clock to prevent demolition crews from
erasing what remains of these culturally important sites.
“This
is not the time to be hasty,” Acuña says. “We’re asking
communities to pause before they demolish these buildings because once
they’re gone, the loss is total.”
The Jan.
12 earthquake in Haiti also destroyed many well-known symbols of the island
nation’s cultural heritage, such as the National Palace and the Holy
Trinity Cathedral. The United Nations and other international groups are
evaluating the damage to develop a strategy for preserving such sites, while in
Chile the government itself is taking the lead role.
The NMC
and the National Center of Conservation and Restoration are overseeing the
damage assessment in collaboration with religious and historical organizations,
architects, and architectural students. Where the NMC’s focus is
primarily on the edifice, the conservation and restoration center is concerned
with the altars and other objects often as significant as the buildings
themselves.
Big impact on religious
sites
The
earthquake was especially costly for the religious community. Nearly 3 out of
every 4 cultural patrimony buildings damaged belong to the Roman Catholic
Church, according to Maria Elena Troncoso Delpiano, executive secretary of the
National Commission of Cultural Property of the Church. “Building in
Chile is generally an optimistic endeavor because sooner or later we all know
another quake is imminent,” Ms. Troncoso says. “We’ve built
beautiful things, but we aren’t prepared to conserve them.”
Scores of
100-year-old churches and chapels crumbled, while hundreds of aftershocks
continue to shake the ground in Chile, finishing the job of ruining partially
damaged structures.
The quake
exposed longstanding neglect, especially of religious monuments, Troncoso adds.
But as far as she is concerned, everything is repairable, and the commission
has been working with priests to inventory church losses.
But in
many cases, the teams of architects have arrived to find the city has already
demolished damaged buildings.
Government quick to
demolish
One such
building is Jenny Figueroa’s home in Santiago’s historic neighborhood
of Barrio Brasil. After the second floor crumbled under the force of the quake,
the family of 17 and seven tenants spent several nights sleeping on the street,
too scared to go inside but unwilling to leave their home. When help finally
arrived days later the diagnosis was simple and immediate: Take it all down.
“We
intend to defend this house whatever the consequence,” Ms. Figueroa says.
“Where else can we go? The street?” With the help of the NMC, the
Figueroas persuaded the government that the ground floor, which they now
occupy, can be restored. That’s not the case for their neighbors, whose
building is scheduled to be demolished.
“The
government considers these homes a danger and wants to get rid of them before
the next big earthquake,” Figueroa says. “But what are we talking
about here? Buildings that are barely two years old fell to the ground, and
ours is still standing.”
Maria Paz
Valenzuela, a professor of architecture at the University of Chile, coordinates
the nation’s architectural archive, which contains the blueprints and
historical information of Chile’s key cultural buildings. She has been
working alongside Acuña’s teams from the NMC.
Like
Acuña, Ms. Valenzuela sees the urgency. “Obviously there is a need to
house the people who lost their homes,” she says. “But I think we
have to wait until the dust settles before we demolish everything and replace
it with buildings that have no identity.”
Pressing needs continue
Much can
be saved, Acuña says, though the biggest challenge facing Chile is securing the
resources to rebuild. A good start would be an overhaul of Chile’s
outdated monuments law. From the perspective of providing incentives the law is
obsolete, according to Acuña. He says the NMC’s yearly budget is less
than $2 million.
“The
owner of cultural patrimony has no economic support that helps or encourages
him with conservation,” Acuña says. “We have an opportunity now to
create incentives for owners to preserve buildings.”
One
source of funding is the state, but Acuña expects business interests to play a
key role in restoring Chile’s historic sites. There has already been
widespread interest in working with the NMC to rebuild, a process expected to
take years. Right now the most pressing need is to find thousands of yards of
plastic to cover damaged buildings’ exposed adobe before the rainy season
begins.
“The
earthquake happened and for many people it’s over,” Acuña says.
“But for us the subject of cultural patrimony will go on for years to
come.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0331/Chile-earthquake-takes-heavy-toll-on-historical-sites
PAULO ALEXANDRE MONTEIRO
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