An earthquake shook central and southern Chile 
on 27 February for approximately 3 minutes. Reports indicate that the quake registered at 8.8 Richter at the epicentre 197 miles south of Santiago and 73 miles north of Concepción. SIMers in the Santiago area have reported in and are fine, but communication has been down for those in the southern areas of the country.
The earthquake was far reaching and its strength in Santiago was 8.0. There is a large death toll, including lives lost in Santiago, large scale destruction of properties in Concepción as well as damage in Santiago.
Reports from the BBC 4 March state: Officials have said 802 people are confirmed to have died, of whom 279 have been identified. But there are reports of many people still missing in the coastal town of Constitucion.
About two million Chileans are believed to have been affected by Saturday's 8.8 magnitude earthquake, the seventh most powerful on n has been down for those in the southern areas of the country.
record and the worst disaster to befall Chile in 50 years.
The epicentre of the quake was 115km north-east of Concepción and 325km south-west of the capital Santiago.
About 1.5 million homes in Chile have been damaged.
Most of the collapsed buildings were of older design - including many historic structures.
David and Michelle Fauchon, SIMers from Australia shared their experience:
The most pressing needs at this point are for the rescue efforts of any survivors and the restoration of essential services, such as water, electricity and communications. Even in our small community in Peñalolén we have been without electricity for three days and 70% of our neighbourhood is without running water. Over the last two days many of our neighbours have had to line up for water in order to cook, wash and clean and for sanitary purposes.
We are very thankful to God that we still have water and gas at the moment as it just takes the stress out of day to day life.
Further down the track will be the bigger projects of restoring infrastructure such as rebuilding highways, bridges, and access to the international airport which remains closed to date.
It is hard to put into words for you what it was like for us during the earthquake. However, it is not an understatement to say as a family, and for all others we have spoken to in Santiago, that during those 
moments we felt this was a life-threatening situation. The earthquake was long, loud and strong. It took place at about three thirty in the morning and shook the house long enough to wake us up, gather all the children and decide to go down stairs, remaining under the door frames until the initial hit ceased. Movement in the house during the earthquake caused footing to be unstable as we moved from A to B. There certainly was a sense of being powerless and that we were in the hands of our Heavenly Father. We cried out to Him during this time.
We praise God for the closeness of the SIM team here in Chile. We are thankful for our friend and colleague, Hans who visited us shortly after the initial hit and who remained with us for an hour, prayed with us and sang with us as further smaller tremors ensued. For the next two nights we camped on the lounge floor sensing a need to be together as a family whilst the small but strong tremors continued.
Life in Chile naturally has had to make adjustments. Schools were due to resume today but have been postponed for next week. Please pray particularly for calm and peace in our children's hearts as they anticipate going off to new schools, a significantly big enough event before living through a major earthquake. Pray that we will all be confident in our Lord and Saviour's promise of strength to do all things and that He never leaves us or forsakes us.
Please also pray for our landlords. Both their families live in Concepción and when they came to our house to check on us and the damage to our property, they still had not heard news (damage to our property is minor). We don't know where they stand with the Lord, however, they were pleased to allow us to pray with them for their families as we stood in our backyard.
Praise God for the opportunities to meet neighbours as we assisted each other with either water, gas or just to check on each other.
Again, we thank you for your prayers and thoughts and we ask that the Lord will continue to shine His face upon you. Please pray that the Christian community in Chile will shine brightly during the days and weeks ahead and that through their witness, many will put their hope in Christ. Pray for those who are grieving deeply for loved ones and also for those that need to rebuild their lives and homes.
As we send this we have just received power and our communications back. Thank you Lord.
Please pray:
* We are thankful to our Lord and Saviour for our personal protection and that of our colleagues, friends and neighbours.
* We ask you to continue to pray at this time for the emergency services and the military as they seek to assist the hardest hit areas.
* Please pray also for the Chilean government as we are due for a transition of power this month to the newly elected government.
* Pray that they will have wisdom as they make decisions and that they will respond quickly to the needs for supplies, medical assistance and accessing the most devastated areas.
David & Michelle Fauchon and family
