Hundreds of Canadians unaccounted for in Chile

Germain Garcia choked back tears on Sunday as the emotions of the last 24 hours following the massive earthquake in Chile finally spilled over.

The Chilean-Canadian stood in the basement of Notre Dame de Guadalupe church in Montreal, surrounded by families lining up for tamales, empanadas and plastic cups filled to the brim with sugary horchata, and thanked God for sparing his family in the earthquake that struck the South American country early Saturday.

"We were worried until yesterday [Saturday]afternoon when we heard from them," he said over the noise of children and conversation.

"They're fine, but the house was badly shaken, the windows broken, the bathroom gone. But it's just material goods."

He listed the ways in which Chile had narrowly avoided worse devastation: those left homeless can live outside in the warm summer weather and the overnight tremor hit when many roads and buildings stood empty.

"We're lucky in these ways," he said.

At least 700 people were killed in the earthquake, which left may Chilean cities shattered.

Foreign Affairs officials said about 5,000 Canadians live in Chile, with about 1,000 in the area hit by the quake.

So far, the department said in a statement, they have fielded 4,000 phone calls seeking word on 485 Canadians. About 230 of these people have been located, with the rest unaccounted for.

While the house belonging to Mr. Garcia's aging parents was strong enough to withstand the 8.8 magnitude tremor, an estimated 500,000 other homes were severely damaged.

Mr. Garcia said the Sunday morning sermon by Father Fernando Ferrera gave him comfort.

"You never know when it can happen to someone close to you," he said, pausing as he wiped tears from his cheeks.

"It's just luck. But not all families were so fortunate."

Father Ferrera stood at the doors of the Catholic church near downtown, welcoming members of Montreal's Latin American community to Sunday's mass. Some 10,000 Chileans live in Quebec and a number of them are in his congregation.

"We wanted to give a message of hope and faith in God despite the recent catastrophes, " Father Ferrera said. "And we want to encourage solidarity, for us to pray for the Chilean community."

Many Chileans had finally heard from family and friends after many frantic and sleepless hours, others, like Oscar Lavin, are still waiting.

"I haven't heard anything from my family since the earthquake," he said. "I have ten brothers. I called today, I started at seven this morning. I made 70 phone calls. So what's happening?"

His family lives in the capital, Santiago, 300 kilometres from the quake's epicentre, where highways collapsed, buildings shook and the international airport was forced to close due to damage.

He's bracing himself for another day anticipating messages from his loved ones.

"It's a day of waiting," Mr. Lavin said. "The only thing I can do is watch the news on TV."

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Canada is ready to help, if needed.

"We are currently assessing how Canada can best respond to the needs," he said in a statement.

Christina Lopes of the Canadian Red Cross, said her agency is accepting donations for earthquake relief and has people standing by to go into the country, if asked.

However, she said she expects most help will come from neighbouring countries, such as Argentina and Peru.