Abstract

Introduction: Natural catastrophes influence the progress of nursing. The largest recorded earthquake in the world occurred in the South of Chile and is documented as driving the development of nursing in the city of Valdivia, but not in similarly-affected places. Objective: To describe the impact of the mega-earthquake of 1960 in the development of professional nursing in Los Lagos. Methodology: qualitative-historical study. Snowball sampling. Data collection through semi-structured interviews and secondary sources. Inclusion criteria: belonging to the health team of the place and period studied. Informants with cognitive deterioration were excluded. Thematic analysis was carried out. Atlas Ti version 8.3.0 was used. Study approved by ethics committee. Results: in 1960 there were no nurses in Los Lagos and the only hospital in the area was incapacitated. A field hospital was installed, and a new hospital was built with national and international help, which led to arrival of the earliest nurses. Conclusion: the mega-earthquake drove the improvement of health infrastructure and the subsequent arrival of the earliest nurses, which contributed to more complex local health services and raised the quality of care.