Northern Chile struggles to recover

by Tom Azzopardi

SANTIAGO 

Hundreds of thousands of people in Northern Chile were without power and forced to abandon their homes after a second earthquake in just over 24 hours struck late Wednesday.

The authorities raised the second tsunami alert of the week, forcing Chileans living in low-lying coastal areas to move to higher ground for the second consecutive night.

The earthquake, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, struck at 11:43 p.m. local time Wednesday, with an epicenter located 23 kilometers southwest of the northern port of Iquique.

The alert issued by the Chilean navy’s hydrological service applied to the whole of Chile’s Pacific coastline, from the border with Peru to Chilean Antarctica and the Chilean islands of Juan Fernandez, Rapa Nui, and San Felix

Evacuees included President Michelle Bachelet who had travelled to Iquique with several of her ministers to oversee clean-up efforts after the Tuesday night tremor.

Shelters were reopened again until the tsunami alert was raised at just after 2:00 a.m. local time. But some families are expected to spend several more nights in temporary accommodation as their homes are too badly damaged. An army field hospital has been set up in Iquique after the tremor left the city hospital too dangerous to enter.

Six babies have been born in the facility set it was set up Wednesday.

- Second Quake 

The second earthquake struck as normality began to return to the worst affected areas.

Power had been restored to around 70% of the population in Iquique by Wednesday night before supplies were cut again, according to Alfonso Toro, head of local utility Eliqsa.

Energy Minister Maximo Pacheco called on motorists to buy no more than 10,000 Chilean pesos ($18) worth of gasoline or diesel to preserve regional fuel stocks.

Supplies of other key goods are also scarce, including bottled water and fresh bread. Government spokesman Alvaro Elizalde warned Wednesday afternoon the government would prosecute traders taking advantage of the chaos to overcharge customers.

Focus is now turning to the reconstruction after the two earthquakes left many homes in the region uninhabitable or in need of repair and several roads impassable. A full analysis of the housing situation in Iquique and the neighboring suburb of Alto Hospicio is expected to take at least a week to complete, said Housing Minister Paulina Saball. Ministers have promised to make funds available for the clean-up and reconstruction efforts.

However, the toll is not expected to come anywhere near the destruction wrought by the February 2010 earthquake, one of the strongest on record, which damaged around 200,000 homes through central and southern Chile, plus thousands of schools, hospitals and other public buildings.

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