In early February we observed the anniversary of the rescue of Alexander Selkirk from the tiny island Mas a Tierra,  in the Juan Fernandez archipelago off the coast of Chile. Selkirk would be the model for Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Mas a Tierra would become known as Robinson Crusoe Island.  Tragically, the island has been devastated by a tsunami following the recent earthquake.  The village of Juan Bautista was largely destroyed and nine people were killed by a wall of water reported to up to 5 meters high.

Tsunami warning came too late for Robinson Crusoe Island

Upon hearing the sirens, some of the 629 residents of the village of Juan Bautista on Robinson Crusoe Island ran to the hills with no time for salvage.

A wall of water – possibly nearly 5 metres high – ravaged everything in its way. Within a few minutes, the scene of the adventures of Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk – marooned on the island from 1704 to 1708, and immortalized in Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe – had been razed to the ground.

“Everything that had been along that three-kilometre stretch just disappeared,” said Fernando Avaria, the first pilot to fly over the area after the disaster.

The cemetery, the churches, sports facilities and the area’s only school were reduced to planks of wood and broken glass. The buildings of the local authority simply disappeared.

“It was devastating, really out of a horror film,” said Margot Salas, a local who toured the area with Chilean state television cameras almost 24 hours after the disaster.

As the sea receded, Robinson Crusoe Island faced a new flood – one of despair. Mud covered everything within three kilometres of the coast.