SEPTEMBER 12, 2023
CHILE

Southern Chile Battered by Heavy Flooding

Southern Chile Battered by Heavy Flooding

From August 19 to 23, 2023, southern Chile faced powerful storms and heavy flooding. Sadly, this latest flooding has impacted many of our brothers and sisters who already suffered as a result of flooding in the same area in June 2023. Reports indicate that this has been the region’s rainiest season in at least a decade. Rising water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, combined with the meteorological phenomenon known as El Niño, have resulted in a large increase in rainfall and widespread flooding. Nearly 25,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed, and at least three people have died.

Effect on Our Brothers and Sisters

  • Floodwaters damaged a brother’s home used to hold meetings

    None of our brothers or sisters have been killed or injured

  • 225 publishers had to evacuate

  • 13 homes sustained major damage

  • 38 homes sustained minor damage

  • 3 Kingdom Halls and a brother’s home used to hold meetings sustained minor damage

Relief Efforts

  • Circuit overseers and local elders are providing assistance with spiritual and practical needs to those in the affected areas

  • 2 Disaster Relief Committees have been appointed to oversee relief efforts

We pray for our brothers and sisters affected by the flooding in Chile and look forward to the time under God’s Kingdom when such disasters will be no more.—Isaiah 32:18.