Quake leaves Kiwi feeling homesick

Former Taranaki man Grifen Hope is missing home as he helps his small Chilean village pick itself back up after the February 27 earthquake.

Mr Hope runs a 120ha permaculture farm in El Manzano, beside a community of about 80 people in the central valley of the Bio Bio region.

El Manzano is a "living university," a regional centre of the international permaculture network and the first initiative in Latin America.

Their land was about 120km from the epicentre of the 8.8-magnitude earthquake, which hit at about 3.30am. "Mate, we felt it.

"It was bloody strong, unbelievable, like a dream," Mr Hope said by phone yesterday, as telecommunications have just been restored to their area.

There were about 40 students and 15 staff sleeping on the farm either inside or in the forest, having just gone to bed following a celebration when the earthquake hit.

"A couple of hours later everything instantaneously in the house was thrown to the floor. It was so powerful. I couldn't accept that it was real," Mr Hope said.

He and his wife, Javiera, ran into the room of their 18-month-old baby, Anaru, and looked out the window to see a "wave" coming at them that was lifting "the trees, the earth, everything".

"It hit the house, a wave of power. Threw us across the room."

When the quake passed, he ran to the students' campsite and was relieved to find the trees still standing and no-one injured.

"There were 30-40 people in the forest, basically s... their pants."

He then checked the neighbouring clay house where 10 people had been sleeping.

"I just thought it was all over for them. Everyone was OK. The roof was up, so we were pretty stoked about that."

The group moved to the middle of a blueberry field and set up an emergency centre, as the aftershocks continued every few minutes.

"I never want to experience anything like that again, ever," Mr Hope said.

Throughout the village, everything that was concrete or rigid was "ripped to shreds". The lagoon which the village relies on for water had its dam destroyed during the radical shift.

The village has brought in electrical and manual water pumps, and is now taking stock of what can be done before the coming winter.

Mr Hope has called for donations online for their project at permaculture.org.au.

He had hoped to bring his family back home for a visit in May, but those plans are on hold.

"I miss Taranaki, man."

Raised in Kaponga, Mr Hope attended primary school in Mangatoki, and left Opunake High School in 1991.

He met his Chilean wife when she was a visiting student at the Taranaki Environment Centre in Inglewood, where he was working.

The couple moved to Chile three years ago.

- © Fairfax NZ News