In just a few hours after the quake Spencer Global was able to account for all of our clients living in Chile, and determine that they and their property were undamaged or otherwise not at risk. Spencer Global then realized that we had vast untapped capabilities already in place to assist others, and set out to help find missing people and organize private aid flights. It became immediately apparent that many of major aid agencies required logistics assistance in the effected areas, and Spencer Global volanteered its staff and resources to help coordinate. We also immediately called on our extensive network of foreigners and Expats in Chile, and from around the World. to help. Through the allchile.net Chile expat forum, a web site operated by Spencer Global, we were able to rapidly organize a private international aid project of people in Chile and by donations from members internationally.

Clients, friends, and associates generously donated their time, resources, and money to help from all over the World, and we formed partnerships with major aid agencies such as the Cruz Roja, Pilots from flying clubs in Chile, Techos para Chile, and Hogar de Cristo in Chile that needed assistance with on the ground logistics to get aid to the difficult to reach areas. We contacted Pilot Vince Beasily that lives with his family in Chile, and he generously offered to donate his plane and experience as a bush pilot for a week to fly aid. We also contacted two American doctors living in Chile,  Drs. Charles and Kristen Whiting. We were able to secure provisional licenses for them to practice medicine in Chile immediately from the Chilean government, and within 48 hours of making our first calls the project had delivered its first flight of aid in to the disaster zone on the coast of the 9th region.     

Over the course of a week, our team of volunteers conducted over 37 flights, totaling thousands of miles, provided hundreds of tons of aid, and assisted dozens of aid workers to reach the most effected areas. We also delivered doctors, psychologist, Chilean military rescue personal, and other experts to remote locations such as Isla Mocha off the coast of the 9th region of Chile, and up the coast in to the 8th region.

The biggest success came when we joined forces with the flying clubs of Temuco and Las Angeles that had been flying aid flights on their own, but lacked ground coordination and technical support to make the most of their almost dozen airplanes. We formed a small private airforce. Spencer Global devoted staff and equipment to assisting them with coordinating their flights with the military, aid organizations, and community leaders across the 8th and 9th regions of Chile. We also located and tested several private landing strips near effected areas to allow the flying clubs to open up new aid routes and better focus their efforts with larger follow-on flights of aid.  

Charles Spencer, founder of Spencer Global and his wife attorney Zandra Valenzuela personally flew on several of the early flights in the first days of the operation to help deliver aid and make contact with the community leaders to find out exactly what they needed most.

"The thought of standing by and doing nothing simply never crossed our minds. We provide project coordination and logistical support across Chile for our private clients everyday. It was only natural that we step up to try and fill the void created by this disaster, while the authorities and other aid agencies were getting deployed after communication and transportation was cut. Being a private organization, we have the advantage of being light on our feet and we are also free of much of the bureaucracy and rules that tend to inhibit other organizations from reacting to rapidly changing situations on the ground. We have experience in providing assistance after disasters to remote communities in Chile, such as when the Chaiten Volcano erupted in the Patagonia.  In our normal day to day business bureaucratic delays translate in to costing our clients money. In this sort of emergency situation, we know delays translate directly in to human suffering.”  

Charles Spencer, Founder of Spencer Global Chile.



Spencer Global more than two weeks after the initial earthquake is still providing logistical support by doing such things as sending aid trucks to effected areas in partnerships with Hogar de Cristo, Techos para Chile, and Cruz Roja Chile. We are now shifting focus to assisting with plans related to the reconstruction efforts in coming months, helping rebuild tourism and other industries, and providing advocacy to remote communities that might be otherwise overlooked in such a distaster.

Photo Right, Charles Spencer being talked through a landing at the Temuco airport by our pilot Vince Beasley on return from one of the Chile Aid Flights.

























Zandra Valenzuela and Dr. Charles Whiting Meeting
with victims of the Chile Earthquake and Tsunami on Isla Mocha.