A traffic police officer on Tuesday controlled traffic after a power outage in Santiago, Chile. The failure in one of the three electricity transmission systems, which generate 500 KV in the Norte Chico region, left 99% of Chile without electricity. Photo Provided By Elvin Gonzalez/EPA-EFE
Feb. 26 (UPI) — Electricity was restored throughout most of Chile Wednesday and a state of emergency was lifted after a nationwide power outage.
More than 94% of the Chile’s electricity supply has been restored, the country’s undersecretary of the interior announced Wednesday morning.
“What happened today is outrageous,” Chile’s President Gabriel Boric said Tuesday in a televised address as he announced a state of emergency.
Boric said at the time some 8 million homes were affected and power had been restored to about half as an imposed curfew ended Wednesday morning. However, the Vina del Mar festival, Latin America’s largest music event, saw its third day canceled.
“It’s intolerable that one or several companies should affect the everyday life of millions of Chileans, and that’s why it’s the state’s duty to hold them responsible,” Boric said.
On Wednesday morning, Boric said that “all metro lines operational” in Santiago, the nation’s capital city home to about 8 million people.
About 14 of Chile’s 16 regions were impacted by the blackout, according to the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service, while mobile and Internet services were down along with Chile’s transportation network which stranded thousands of commuters.
Temperatures were around 90 degrees Fahrenheit earlier this week.
Meanwhile, approximately 34,000 homes in the Copiapo region were still without power due to reported theft of power cables as local hospitals rescheduled surgical procedures.
An investigation was opened to establish the cause of the outage, according to Chilean Interior Minister Carolina Toha.
“One thing is the original failure that the company had…and another thing is how that system responds once the incident occurs,” she said.
Scores of hospitals, government buildings and prisons had to revert to backdrop generators for essential services as troops were deployed on the streets to ensure calm and order.
Chile’s healthcare network, however, was fully operational, according to Health Minister Ximena Aguilera.
The interior minister acknowledged that service problems still exist with about 220,000 customers still with no power as the state of emergency imposed by Boric is soon lifted and 100% of public transport services had been restored.
The president, meanwhile, blamed electricity companies for the issues. Boric said “it is not tolerable” that millions of citizens in the South American country had been impacted.
“We are not going to let this pass and we are going to act firmly against companies that have not risen to the occasion,” Boric said. “For this reason, all the necessary investigations will be carried out.”
#Chile #electricity #restored #nationwide #power #outage
Leave a Reply