[asac] Situation in Chile and Next Week's Meeting

[Toshikazu Onishi]

Dear Richard,

I was so surprised and have been deeply anxious to hear about the huge earthquake in Chile, and we would like to express our deepest concern regarding this difficult situation.  The report of no serious casualties among the project staff so far is reassuring, but it should take some time for the recovery in both material and spiritual terms.  I am especially relieved to hear that Neal Nagar is ok despite his base in Concepcion, and however he must be experiencing unprecedented difficulty.  We wish you all the best in recovering from the damages.  

Please send our warmest regards and concern to all the people of the projects and their families in Chile.

For the ASAC meeting in Tokyo, I understand the situation of travel from Chile.  We also would like to do our best to make the meeting fruitful and profitable to the project even under these difficult circumstances.

Best regards,
Toshikazu Onishi

On 2010/03/02, at 4:37, Richard Hills wrote:

> Dear all,
> 
> I am sure that everyone has heard about the earthquake.  Attached is a message that is just going out the teams in the northern hemisphere, which I thought I should pass on.  You will see that we are having to suspend operations fir the rest of this week while our staff deal with the aftermath.
> 
> It was a very dramatic event here in Santiago and we all got thoroughly shaken up, but in general the damage is amazingly light.  I have nothing but praise for Chilean building standards and the way that they are enforced.  There is however enormous damage further south, the full extent of which is only slowly being revealed.  I am glad to say that we have heard that Neal Nagar is OK.  He is of course based in Concepción, which is only ~100km from the epicenter.  I imagine that he must have had a horrendous experience and is no doubt still dealing with the consequences.
> 
> As far as next week's ASAC meeting in Tokyo is concerned it seems to me that we should go ahead with this even though some people may not be able to make it.  I think there were four of us planning to come from Chile - Neil, Alison Peck, Al Wootten and myself.  We do not know when the airport will reopen - at the moment it is not looking promising.  I suppose that Neil will not make it and Al's travel plans are already disrupted.  Our present thinking is that Alison should stay here in Chile and to get things back up and running again.  I will certainly do my very best to get to Tokyo.  Obviously people who are not able to get there will contribute by video or telecon to the extent possible.
> 
> Best wishes
>  Richard
> 
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