MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean flags in the Falklands – fund raising for Earthquake victims

Ella Clement and Kattrice Berntsen with Chileans flags receive cruise visitors next to the Public Jetty

CHILEAN flags have been on display in the Falkland Islands as members of the Chilean community, along with Islanders, have begun fundraising for victims of the Chile earthquake.

Chilean-born Angely Morrison Sanchez, owner of kindergarten business Mini Mis, and her young charges, spent the day raising funds at the Stanley Jetty Centre where hundreds of cruise ship tourists were disembarking from the Norwegian Sun.

Angely, who has one child, Ellya (7) with her Falkland Islander husband said, “We want to raise as much as possible today from the sale of cakes and biscuits we have baked ourselves and then contact ‘Teleton’ in Chile to let them know how much we have made.”

Angely has family in Santiago, but said, “They are all unharmed; the only thing that happened was that they lost their electricity; they were very lucky. After much trying I eventually managed to contact them at midnight on Saturday.”

The young woman who moved to the Falklands in 1991 said, “The tourists have been very generous and the children have enjoyed helping the cause.”

Celia Short, a long term member of the Falklands community, has created a fund-raising committee and opened the ‘Chilean Earthquake Appeal’ bank account with the Falklands only Bank, Standard Chartered.

She said: “We aim to contact businesses and ask them to donate to a raffle, we also hope to hold a children’s’ bazaar and raise funds at the Latin Night held at the Globe Tavern.
“As soon as the Falklands Charity Shop heard what we were doing they donated £1000.”

Ceila also has family in Chile. Although most live in the Punta Arenas/Puerto Natales area she has a sister in Santiago: “Thankfully she is OK,” said Celia.

To ensure that Chileans can keep up with breaking news, Mario Zuvic, owner of KTV in the Falklands has in the past week introduced the Chilean National TV channel ’24 hours’ to those others broadcast around the Islands.

Chilean airline Lan provides a Saturday flight between the Falklands and Punta Arenas. The flight is scheduled to arrive tomorrow and Falklands passengers en route to Santiago from Punta Arenas will fly on the arranged replacement flights. A Lan representative in Stanley confirmed that normal Lan operations were expected from the middle of next week.

By Lisa Watson - SeAledPR- Stanley