She spent the next 36 hours battling desperately to get news of her grandparents' safety.

Fortunately, good news arrived late on Monday.

The family home had been levelled but the elderly pair escaped without injury.

Uncles, aunts and cousins also emerged from the devastation unscathed.

The bad news was that hundreds of her former countrymen were dead and thousands more left without food, water or shelter.

It was a situation MsGonzalez could not tolerate, so she rallied to raise funds to help the survivors.

The 26-year-old petitioned the 100-strong workforce of her employer, Dixon Advisory, with remarkable results.

Ms Gonzalez had hardly hit the send button before donations came flooding in.

Dixon Advisory employees from the Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne offices gave more than $1700 in two days, which was then matched dollar-for-dollar by company executive chairman Daryl Dixon and managing director Alan Dixon.

The result more than $5500 to help rebuild damaged homes in MsGonzalez's grandparents' village of Coltauco, about 350km from the epicentre.

''It's a close-knit company. Everyone's been very generous,'' Ms Gonzalez said. ''I was blown away. People are so kindhearted, but I didn't think we'd raise as much as we did.''

The Canberra Chilean community has also rallied to the cause.

Members met on Thursday to discuss fund-raising options, with a fund-raising show tentatively set for later this month.

For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times