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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Steve Gibby in Middle of a Earthquake in Chile!

Michael McVicar said:
There has been little to no reporting on the tsunami close to the epicenter on the major news outlets.
Click to expand...

Ironically, the major damage was produced by the tsunami not the earthquake. Hundred of towns close to the epicenter were destroyed in less of an hour after the main quake. Channel 437 on DirecTV is reporting 24 hours/day from the site.
 
I'm sure Steve will be fine. He has excellent survival skills considering his long time experience filming wildlife. But, it is just a reminder how many unexpected dangers are out there when filming in remote areas.

I look forward to hear the stories upon his return. :beer:
 
I´m very happy to hear the big soul from Reduser.net Steve Gibby is fine.
With a lot of compassion for the people in Chile,
Marc
 
Wow, that brings the reality of this devastation close to home. Glad Steve made it out okay, and I hope that Chile is able to recover from this as quickly as possible. Mother nature at work again.
 
Steve and Pam were just in our lobby - safe and sound. They are nuts - he lands at LAX then straight to a job in Seattle this past weekend. I won't even begin to relay the story of his time in Chile. Just wanted everyone to know he is back...

BC
 
Thanks Brent. Say hi to them from us!

Graeme
 
Steve and Pam it was sooo good to see you today. I am sorry that you had to experience that devastation Steve, but it is a great relief to know you are well. Thoughts of hope will remain for the people of Chile and their long uphill battle to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.

Sean
 
I must have just missed him. Darn, always good to catch up with Steve. Glad to see he's back and not missing a beat.
 
Glad to know he is back. Waiting to hear your adventures in Chile.

BTW Thank you Steve and fellow Redusers for your feelings about the people of my country.
 
Hi Red Family! Just now I’m finally able to get back to a computer and visit Red User. My deepest thanks to all of you for the very kind words, prayers, and good wishes…over the many miles I could definitely feel your support.

As I mentioned in my text message to Jarred, I feel very badly for the people of Chile. They’ve suffered greatly in this earthquake and the multiple tsunamis it spawned. Please say a prayer or send some positive thoughts to them. In my visit I found them to be very family-oriented, hard working, and friendly – they love life. The images of their suffering that I witnessed will always be with me. They’re strong and will come back – but it will take some time.

Our lives were nearly taken in Chile. We were using Red #5543 to film Peregrine falcons being satellite tagged before they migrate back to North America. Our work was right on the coast about 6 hours southwest of Santiago, just north of a small city on the Rio Maule named Constitution.

Our rooms were in the back a small restaurant, just about 200’ from the ocean, and maybe 8’ above sea level. South of us were large sand dunes. In front of us fishermen would beach their small boats and sell their daily catch. The peace of this setting was shattered at 3:34am on Saturday, February 27. In the pitch dark there came a growing rumble, then the ground began to shake. At first I hoped it would be just a small tremor – but seconds later there came a giant roar, and the ground shook so violently it was impossible to stand up for almost two minutes! Things were crashing and breaking. I said a prayer - the first of many that day and in the days to come. I just knew a tsunami would follow. As the shaking began to ease I could hear the wildlife biologists on the crew yelling something I already knew - that we had to leave quickly! Crawling around the room in the dark I somehow found some pants to wear, and my backpack. Throwing them in our truck outside I crawled back into the dark to rescue Bud Anderson’s Red #5543. Groping in the jumbled darkness of the bathroom my hand found the Red – but no batteries for it. Jumping in the two trucks we had we floored them down a narrow dirt road strewn with cracks, sand, and debris. Those in the 2nd truck later told me they could hear a tsunami crashing ashore right behind us!

The road out was a nightmare of cracks, caved in areas, and tilted sections. We knew we needed to get to higher ground. Turning up one dirt road into the hills we were stopped suddenly by a landslide of boulders and trees. Backing down the hill, we raced to another dirt road and drove as quickly as possible uphill past caved in road banks and fallen trees.

In the clear, dark air on the hill we stopped the trucks. The ground would shake again about every 20 minutes. It was then I realized I was barefoot and without a shirt. A Chilean fisherman in the truck ahead gave me some rubber sandals to wear and I put on a sweatshirt I’d grabbed from the room. We had a satellite phone. I called my wife in California to let her know I’d survived the quake and initial tsunami.

After it got light we cautiously descended the hill, passing multiple groups of Chilean families huddled around small campfires. I’ll never forget the sad, far-away look in their eyes. Their world had just changed.

The flat plain leading over to the coastal sand dunes was strangely different than it had been just the night before the quake. Now there were new lagoons of brown water. We slowly searched our way along the small paved road, which was full of big cracks and sinkholes. Carefully crossing a damaged bridge we rounded a bend to see another huge brown lagoon of water – with the road disappearing into it! Turning back something caught our eye at the river mouth about a kilometer away – another tsunami was coming! We furiously snapped still pics and low-resolution video of this tsunami slamming its way up the river next to us. Crossing the bridge, we stopped, jumped out, and stood there watching this wall of brown water rush under the bridge and disappear round the next bend in the river!

With the ground still shaking in aftershocks about every 30 minutes, some of the crew ventured out to where we’d been staying. It was like a moonscape – the fishing boats were all pushed way inland onto sand dunes, the wooden shacks were all gone, and there was a big lagoon of brown water where there had been no water just the day before. There were some miraculous rescues of a few items of our equipment – a latched Pelican case with a drive and Red LCD inside, our 4-wheeler was on a dune by some fishing boats, etc.

The drive out of the coast area was long and dangerous – bridges out, four wheel drive down dirt roads, boulders across highways, no electricity anywhere, no water, no food, roads washed out, trees and house parts everywhere, and collapsed houses everywhere. I’m a full-tour Viet Nam war veteran. What I saw that day gave me flashbacks to the Viet Nam war. I’m sure these images will stay with me for the rest of my life.

In Santiago we finally found a small hotel to stay at. The aftershocks continued. The airport was closed. But I was now able to send and receive text messages – which was a lifesaver. That’s when I sent the TM on this thread to Jarred, answered one to Ketch, and exchanged tons of them with my wife Pam.

I desperately wanted to make it to Seattle to help DP the 7-Red camera production of Heart and Alison Krause in concert on 3/6. My only chance was to ride a bus to Buenos Aires, and gamble on getting an airline seat to the USA. With red eyes, beard, and the clothes I escaped the quake and tsunami in, I finally boarded a 11:30pm flight to Miami on March 4, caught another from Miami to Los Angeles, had an emotional reunion with Pam there, and we both boarded a plane for Seattle to work on the Heart gig.

After the ordeal in South America and 17 hours of flying in one day, I went right to work in Seattle! The next day the concert production went great, and we flew south to finally go home.

There are a lot more details to my escape in Chile. I’ve written 47 pages of notes on it. I just feel highly blessed to still be alive. I’d like to thank everyone on this thread for the concern, kind words, well wishes, and prayers. Even from several thousand miles away in a distant disaster area I could feel your support. I’ll never forget that…

I’ve always spent lots of time in nature – for work and play. Survival training has always been my passion. A disaster like this can nail you anytime and anywhere. Be smart – gain survival knowledge, store water, store food, and when it happens to you keep a positive attitude and you’ll most likely survive.

Since returning I’ve researched out some details on the quake and tsunamis. The epicenter was offshore from the Rio Maule, which enters the ocean at a small town named Constitution. We were staying a few miles north of the Rio Maule – thus the epicenter of the quake was a small distance out in the ocean just south of us. About 350 people were killed in Constitution, mostly by the huge tsunamis, the first of which arrived within just minutes of the earthquake. About eight tsunamis slammed that area of the coast over the next 6 hours. They ranged in size from 8 meters to 12 meters in height, and in some cases pushed several kilometers inland. That first huge tsunami was the one our crew just barely escaped as we sped down the dirt road from the beach. There’s a thin line between living and dying. An old Chilean fisherman whose shack was just 50’ from where I slept was taken to his death by that first tsunami. I was just talking with him about six hours earlier…

I wouldn’t trade the genres I work in for anything! I love adventure travel, wildlife, action sports, nature, tourism, cultures, and documentaries of various kinds. There is risk involved. We do what we can to minimalize the risk – but at times all the preparation in the world won’t keep us from life-threatening situations such as this in Chile. To me the returns are well worth the risks…

The still photos I shot of the disaster are still in Chile, with the Peregrine naturalists I worked with. When I get them next week, I'll post some here on this thread.

Thank you Christian for starting this thread…the people of Chile are beautiful and my heart goes out to them in this tragedy. Thank you Ketch for helping calm Pamala’s fears and for helping keep my Red Family informed of details. Thank you Jarred for posting up my TM and for founding such an awesome forum as Red User. Thank you Red Team for your many inquiries, encouragement, and help. Thanks to each of you who posted on this thread such nice comments and concerns. A deep thanks to Bud and Cathy, the Peregrine naturalists I was working with in Chile – yes, they both survived too. Thanks so much to Blair for traveling with Pam to my studio and packing my Red kits for Seattle. Thank you to my brother Alan Gibby for his posting of info on my situation. Alan has had a huge influence and impact on my motion media career.

To all – we need to remember to live each day as if it’s our last, and someday we’ll be right. I love life…and its good to be alive. I’m humbled to get more chances to shoot images of our natural world to leave for future generations.
 
I'm glad you are still with us, Steve! This had to be an amazing adventure for sure.
 
This is Pamala Gibby to all you Red Soldier's out there. I want to thank all of you for the wonderful prayers and support you gave me for my husbands safe return. It was a rollercoaster of emotions and yet I could feel the power of support you sent our way. Steve is an amazing man but there were times that even I wasn't sure he'd make it back home to me.

But he's home safe and sound and we look forward to many more adventures around the world. LOL... but, next time he won't be going without me!

Tiny Red Soldier, Pamala Gibby
 
Hi Steve,

What a story!

I see in the heat of things you still had your priorities sorted out :smile:

"Throwing them in our truck outside I crawled back into the dark to rescue Bud Anderson’s Red #5543. Groping in the jumbled darkness of the bathroom my hand found the Red"
 
Amazing Steve! Good to see you back on here, and nice to see you have such an amazing partner in life in Pam who supports the wild adventures you embark on. Great account of what happened down there too by the way.
 
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