Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution and yield myself as much time as I may consume. This resolution, introduced by my good friend and colleague from Texas, Ruben Hinojosa, marks the tragedy of a second powerful earthquake in as many months to strike a country in the Western Hemisphere, this time our close friend and ally Chile. On February 27, an 8.8-magnitude tremor struck just 70 miles away from Chile's second largest city, Concepcion, and has left a terrible toll in its wake. The Chilean people have a long history of resolve in the face of past earthquakes. Last month's quake was one of the largest ever recorded, and the worst to hit the country since a 1960 earthquake, the strongest ever measured. The tsunami and aftershocks from this quake, one of which measured 6.3 this past Friday, led to the declaration of a state of catastrophe for this economic and political leader in Latin America. The Chilean people are now faced with an unprecedented challenge to recover and rebuild, and they deserve our support. Official casualty estimates number in the hundreds, while another 2 million people, including as many as 1.5 million displaced persons, were directly affected by the temblor and the crashing 19-foot waves that soon followed. In addition to the human toll, estimates of the cost of physical damage range from $15 to $30 billion, including the destruction of entire coastal villages, damages to roads, bridges, residences, and other infrastructure.…”