For my final blog on the aftermath of the Earthquake in Chile, I am focusing on an article from Global Voices Online titled “Chile: The Process of Earthquake Reconstruction“.

The YouTube video in this article was taken by a citizen and shows the President of Chile, Sebastian Pinera, delivering an address at the main square in Concepcion. This address to the people promised subsidies for the families affected by the earthquake and a plan called “Let’s Get to Work”. The plan is designed to rebuild the country and improve its economy in the aftermath of the earthquake, which is very important for any country experiencing a natural disaster. This plan would rebuild transportation mediums such as roads and airports. It would also take care of cleanup and reconstruction of housing throughout the country.

After these announcements from the President, many Chilean bloggers and Twitter users have been reacting to the plan over the past few weeks. They are both excited for the reconstruction of the country and critical of the plans the government has designed. For example, a Twitter user commented that he thinks that the alloted money is not enough to rebuild a house, saying that the President can’t think that the money will help at all.  Another user commented that they think the plan doesn’t have enough details or structure to it, that it could easily fall apart and people could be left to rebuild on their own.

Personally, I think that Chile’s leaders need to listen to the people and step it up for the country. This plan is a good first step, but it is just the beginning. The people need to feel like they are a part of their government and their reconstruction. Corruption and politics should not be the centerpiece of this reconstruction program: it should be getting the people the help they need and their lives back.

Global Voices aggregates content from many bloggers and users to create comprehensive accounts of different situations and events. The crisis in Chile is no exception, and I think that this site did a great job of covering the crisis from beginning to end to aftermath. I enjoyed staying up to date on all the foreign news and events while combing through the site looking for information on Chile, and feel much more comfortable when it comes to using digital media to research and learn more about global development.

My Burma project continues to make me sad when thinking about human rights violations. I came across pages and pages of incidents that made me queasy and very grateful for the life that I live. I can’t imagine living in a world where I was scared every day to be forced into labor of sexual abuse by the military in my own country. I am still working on getting through this lengthy document and hope that someday the Digital Democracy project will receive all the credit it deserves for mapping these incidents.