While a Kansas University botany researcher didn’t get stuck in Chile last week after a massive earthquake struck the nation, it was pretty close.

Daniel Crawford, an adjunct professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and a researcher for the KU Biodiversity Center, was researching plants on Robinson Crusoe Island in the weeks leading up to the quake. His flight out of the country left five hours before the quake hit.

“Not that I would’ve been killed, but I dodged a bullet in terms of getting in a really bad situation,” Crawford said.

Several friends and colleagues remain in the country, including at a university in Concepcion, one of the hardest-hit areas of the 8.8-magnitude quake.

The quake caused a tsunami to hit the island where Crawford had been researching plants, killing eight and wounding 11 in the small community of about 600 people, he said.

The island is only accessible by charter plane, and landing on the lone airstrip can be a tricky proposition, he said.

“It’s risky landing in that airplane when conditions are good,” he said.

Crawford said his research wouldn’t be severely affected by the tsunami, as the plants he works with are mostly found in higher elevations on the island. However, the possibility for future trips remains up in the air.

Crawford has been studying plant life on the island since the early 1980s, and has made seven trips there over the years.

The island’s population mainly survives off income generated by lobster fishing and cruise ship visits, both of which have been dramatically hurt by the effects of the tsunami, Crawford said. “You have to feel for the people there on the little island,” he said.