Chile has imposed a curfew due to a massive blackout that has left more than a million people without electricity in several regions
SANTIAGO.- A massive power outage affected several areas of Chile on Tuesday, including the capital Santiago, authorities reported, so the Government established a curfew between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. on Wednesday. The Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, reported in a press conference: "Given that at this time the power outage continues between the regions of Arica and Los Lagos, the President of the Republic has decided to declare a state of emergency due to a catastrophe in all those regions." In view of this fact, the Superintendency of Electricity and Fuels registered 80.1% of affected customers .
The most affected communes are the Metropolitan Region with 582,430 people without electricity, followed by Los Lagos with 328,488 and Los Ríos with 161,843 affected. With some 20 million inhabitants and one of the best service networks in the region, Chile is facing its worst blackout in the last 15 years.
The Electrical Coordinator, the entity in charge of the operation of electrical installations, reported through its X account that the emergency occurred at approximately 3:16 p.m. “It caused a loss of consumption in several regions of the country,” they indicated. In turn, it pointed out that the failure occurred due to a “disconnection of the 500 kV transmission system” in the area called Norte Chico, which extends from the south of the Atacama Desert to Santiago.
Interior Minister Carolina Tohá tried to reassure citizens at a press conference and announced that “there is no reason to think that this was an attack , but rather that what happened was a failure” and that “the service should be restored soon.” She also announced that “measures to protect the population are being evaluated” and stated that the system should be restored “in the next few hours,” without giving further details.
The government reported that President Gabriel Boric is at the Operational Management Center of the Carabineros of Chile monitoring the emergency.
Authorities say they are working to restore service and have begun investigations to understand what caused the outage. “The causes of this power outage will be investigated and analyzed in accordance with the Protocol provided for this type of contingency, having been informed of its occurrence to the relevant authority.”
According to the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred), thousands of customers are without service from Arica to Los Lagos, with the Antofagasta region being one of the most affected.
On the other hand, several basic services have been affected by the massive power outage, such as the Santiago Metro and the State Railways Company.
In a statement posted on its social media, the Santiago metro confirmed the suspension of service . “Our teams are deployed at all stations to support the safe evacuation. Once this process is completed, the stations will remain closed until power is restored,” the company said.
"They let us leave work because of the power cut, but now I don't know how to get home because all the buses are full," said María Angélica Román, a 45-year-old worker.
Following the emergency, authorities convened a national Disaster Risk Management Committee (Cogrid) to assess the situation.
For its part, the Metropolitan Region's Transport Information platform warned users to take extreme caution in view of the possible lack of operation of traffic lights in several points of the Metropolitan Region due to the massive power outage.
The Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Juan Carlos Muñoz Abogabir, stated in a press conference that telecommunications services are functioning “quite normally” considering the magnitude of the outage. However, if the situation continues, the system may begin to fail.
Santiago's Nuevo Paudahuel airport has activated backup systems that, for now , allow it to maintain regular flight operations . However, passengers with scheduled trips for today are asked to contact their airline to confirm the status of their flight. Some travelers are reporting that their flights are being cancelled or delayed due to the power outage.
Enel Chile is one of the largest electricity companies in the country, controlling the generation and distribution businesses in the country. Enel announced that they are “monitoring the power outage that is affecting a large part of the country.” They also added that they currently have “no information regarding the fault that caused it.”
On social media, users shared images and videos from different parts of Chile, in total darkness, with traffic lights off and traffic chaos.
Reuters and AP agencies
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