What seemed to be a normal evening power cut last night quickly transpired to be a massive fault affecting half the country. Regions 3 to 7 were affected, with swathes of Santiago, home to 6 million people, in darkness. Telecommunications were affected; phones failed. Parts of Maule, a region severely affected by last year’s quakes, lost even radio signals.
The whole metro was evacuated. Buses were overloaded and people walked for hours in darkness. News quickly spread of looting of shops (200 people trashed a supermarket in Quilicura, one of the poorer industrial parts of the city. Riot police were deployed; tear gas was used).
The cut only lasted for a few hours but there is still some instability (my Entel connection, for example). News reports suggest management/government is still looking for the reasons for the national grid failure.
ONEMI, the National Emergency Office, is under fire again for its lack of crisis management. ONEMI was harshly criticised after our earthquake for lack of process, management and communication. Again, it seems they failed to manage information during last night’s blackout, with no updates on their website where people flocked for news, betraying a lack of crisis management communications planning.