Mayo nun safe after Chile earthquake

Alive and well Sister Mary T McDonagh pictured with her nephew Paul McDonagh, from Castlebar, on the occasion of his Holy Communion a number of years ago


Mayo nun safe after Chile earthquake


Trevor Maher

The family of Mayo native and Presentation Sister Mary T McDonagh were relieved when she rang on Sunday afternoon to tell them she was safe, despite the epicentre of the Chilean earthquake on Saturday being right in the middle of the area of Chile where Sister McDonagh is based.
The native of Errew, Castlebar is based in the village of Comuna de Fagrada Familia in the Chilean region of Maule and while she was unharmed in the quake, which measured 8.8 on the Richter Scale, the medical centre in the village which Sister Mary T ran was razed to the ground.
“We’re relieved that she is safe and well and for over a day we had no word about whether she was okay or not and we were very worried,” Mary T’s sister, Pauline Moran, told The Mayo News. “But the medical centre she has worked so hard for has been destroyed. Eighteen years of her work has been destroyed in the three minutes of the quake.
”Mary T is massively distraught. All the news is talking about the big cities but they were a bit far away from the centre of the earthquake. Mary T was right at the heart of it. Most of the houses and 95% of the infrastructure have been destroyed. She spent Monday burying bodies but there has been chaos because the hospital has been destroyed and there is confusion over who is dead and who isn’t.”
Sister McDonagh has been based in Chile for 18 years, working on developing both conventional and alternative medicines at the medical centre in Comuna de Fagrada Familia, having joined the nuns at the relatively old age of 30 after an initial career as a teacher.
Fundraising efforts are expected to commence on Sister Mary T McDonagh’s behalf in the coming days, providing the Chilean Government allow foreign aid in, which they have failed to do up to now.
Sister Mary T is daughter of Pauline McDonagh and the late Tom McDonagh, Errew and has two sisters - Pauline Moran, from Westport, who is principal of Sancta Maria College, in Louisburgh and Kathleen Duffy, in Breaffy, Castlebar - and three brothers - Michael in Errew, Martin in Castlebar and Brendan in Athlone.