Chile Declares State of Emergency After Massive Power Outage Plunges Millions into Darkness
The Chilean government has declared a state of emergency following a widespread power outage that left millions of people without electricity and plunged the capital, Santiago, into darkness on Tuesday, Al Jazeera reports.
The blackout, the largest in the country in years, affected 14 of Chile’s 16 regions and impacted an estimated eight million homes, according to Chilean President Gabriel Boric. Interior Minister Carolina Toha attributed the outage to a high-voltage transmission line failure in northern Chile, ruling out sabotage.
President Boric, addressing the nation in a late-night television address, placed blame on private firms for the incident.
The government has imposed a curfew from 10 pm to 6 am (01:00 to 09:00 GMT) from the northern port of Arica to the southern region of Los Lagos. The Ministry of the Interior also announced the deployment of armed forces throughout the country to maintain order during the emergency.
As of early Wednesday, Chile’s power operator reported that “90 percent of consumption” had been restored to the electrical grid.
The outage caused significant disruptions throughout the country. In Santiago, streetlights went dark, sirens blared, and the metro system, which transports millions of passengers daily, was shut down, leading to passenger evacuations. Transport Minister Juan Carlos Munoz urged residents to remain home, noting that only about 27 percent of Santiago’s traffic lights were operational. Authorities at Santiago’s Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport reported that terminals were operating normally using emergency power.
The blackout also sent shockwaves through global metal markets, causing large copper mines in northern Chile, the world’s largest copper producer, to cease operations.
