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The following is Rosario Marchese's statement to the Ontario Legislative Assembly in regards to the recent earthquake in Chile.
Hansard record Mr. Rosario Marchese:
I stand in the House today to recognize the victims of Chile's
earthquake and tsunami and to call on Ontarians to support the
rebuilding efforts.
As many of you already know, the destruction in Chile was immense. The tsunami
destroyed port cities, villages, homes and fishing boats along a
1,000-kilometre coastline. The main industrial corridor of Concepción,
Huachipato, Lota and Coronel, which includes mining processing centres
and factories, was hit hard. The north-south route-the main transport
road in the country-was severely damaged. Thirty-nine hospitals were
destroyed.
My
wife, Evelyn Murialdo, is Chilean-Canadian, and many members of our
family live in Chile. We've heard from them about how the people of
Chile have come together and are undertaking tremendous efforts to
rebuild, but they can't do it alone.
I've
been working in collaboration with the Consul General of Chile, with
Scadding Court, an outstanding agency known for its community
development work in Toronto as well as their international work, and
with the coalition Chile CAN Rise. Together, we would like to extend an
invitation to all MPPs and civil servants to join us at 7 p.m. tonight
outside here at Queen's Park for a candlelight vigil. Speakers will
include the Consul General of Chile and Pablo Vivanco of Chile CAN Rise.
However,
I would like to encourage everyone here to consider donating money to
the relief efforts. Donations can be sent to Scadding Court to the
attention of the Earthquake Relief Fund. Scadding Court will collect
the donations on behalf of Un Techo para Chile, a key organization in
the rebuilding efforts. The Chilean consulate in Toronto will
acknowledge your support at an event it will be hosting with Scadding
Court on April 29 at the Plaza Flamingo. For further information, go to
chilecanrise.ca. |
