Laboratories have offered stays to Ph.D. candidates who lost their laboratories

SANTIAGO - A month after the earthquake and tsunami that struck Chile on 27 February, scientists look to reactivate its work with support from inside and outside the country.

The 8.8 degree earthquake on the Richter scale left significant losses in laboratories and equipment, especially in universities

"The international scientific community has made numerous offers of assistance directly to research groups, Chilean scientists working abroad have also helped", tells SciDev.Net Jorge Babul, chairman of Scientific Societies of Chile.

For example, the University of California at Berkeley woll select five doctoral students from the University of Concepción to offer them a six-month stay.

Similar initiatives have promoted Chilean students and researchers at the Universities of Milan (Italy) and Bordeaux (France).

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) will fund graduate students at the University of Talca to do stays of up to six months in German research.

Furthermore, German universities will help to replace damaged equipment and there are other offers of support from American universities, said the dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, René Paillan in a statement.

The Ibero-American Science and Technology for Development, the German Research Foundation and the University of ChicagoBy the National Commission for Science and Technology have offered their support.

Other centers in the U.S. plan to donate unused equipment such as microscopes, digital cameras or PCR.

The Wiley-Blackwell will replace free books and magazines damaged by the earthquake in partner universities chisel.

Also, the National Association of Graduate Researchers (ANIP), Bioquímica.cl and RedCiencia organized a campaign at national level.

"We want to support graduate students who were left without laboratories or who lost their experiments. We are getting information to know who they are and what their needs are, "says Juan Pablo Hontavilla of RedCiencia.

During April, they will put them in contact with scientists in charge of laboratories in Chile to be able to receive them as tesistas or give them access to its facilities or equipment.

"We have dealt with the more urgent. Now we need to gather reliable data on the research groups involved and their needs. We have before us a long job, "concludes Babul.