Constitución during the 2010 quake

The quake claimed more than 500 lives all over Chile’s central region, with roughly a fifth of the dead in Constitución. Buildings in the older center of town were especially hard hit — such as this store near the Plaza de Armas.

Constitución, a lumber industry town that sits at the mouth of the Maule River, is susceptible to storm surges.

After the earthquake hit, people had approximately 20 minutes to make for higher ground, which many did. Building along the riverbanks had put human settlement right along the edge of the water. When the tsunami came, there was no buffer to absorb it.

Parishioners gather outside Constitucion’s cathedral for a mass and memorial to the dead on the Sunday following the quake and tsunami in March 2010. The cathedral was heavily damaged, but has since been rebuilt.

Citizens transformed the gymnasium into a makeshift morgue to identify the dead and the missing. The city has bounced back, but scars of the earthquake remain.