The Earthquake in Chile, Six Weeks On

The temporary homes awaiting displaced Chileans. Photo Credit: Fiona Scott

It has been 45 days since one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded struck the southern central region of Chile. The quake and tsunami that followed have rocked the country’s social, political and economic pillars. While the outlook for the future is still largely positive, it is clear that months—if not years—of reconstruction lie ahead.

How bad is it?

Last week the toll rose to 486 officially identified deaths—this figure could continue to rise as officials admit that there are further bodies to identify and 79 officially registered missing people.

Newly sworn in president Sebastian Piñera promised to reshuffle the 2010 budget in light of an estimated $30 billion worth of damage.  Funds to help aid and reconstruction efforts are coming via various streams: internal reallocation, private individual donations, a national telethon, international sources and private businesses.

This week president Piñera proposed a new law to provide more tax incentives for private businesses to donate. He forecasted that the National Reconstruction Fund could potentially raise a further $8 to $10 billion, but the opposition on the left are wary—they say there enough tax incentives for private businesses already.

Whichever way the money is being raised, it is clear that there is still a lot of work to be done. Aid agencies and other non-governmental organisations such as the Chilean Red Cross and Un Techo Para Chile (A Roof for Chile) have trumpeted their successes to date.

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Housing problems

Last week, Un Techo Para Chile announced they had constructed 5,092 temporary houses in the worst affected zones and a further 1,900 in other areas. But with 800,000 people still left homeless and winter getting closer, this figure is also worryingly far from the goal they set of building 40,000 houses by June.

The temporary structures being built are basic. Made from wood, the medias aguas, as the houses are being called, do not have any plumbing or running water. They are described as wooden huts at best and are slightly elevated to keep their inhabitants dry.

The quality standards of the structures has come under criticism. The mayor of Lebu, a town in the Biobio region of the country, said to the local press: “The houses are precarious and move with the aftershocks… The roofs will not keep out the rain”.

Alternatives to these newly built houses are scarce. Last week on a Un Techo Para Chile building site sponsored by a private renewable energy company, one of the volunteers said that while she was worried that the structures seemed “rickety”, the families they were helping were too scared to sleep in their crumbling adobe-built homes. She added that they too were worried about how families would fare in tents throughout the cold and wet winter months.

Some municipalities have refused to live in the structures altogether for fear that this temporary fix will only feed a long-term problem: the creation of more slums, an issue the country has been working hard to fix for years.

Responding to criticism

Patricio Domingues, social director for Un Techo Para Chile, has dismissed criticisms. “The homes are perfectly ready to house families,” he said. He seemed confident in a system where his organisation takes sole responsibility for temporary housing while third parties take on the task of relocating families into permanent homes.

When an earthquake hit the northern region of Antofagasta in November 2007, it left 3,800 families homeless. Former President Michelle Bachelet promised in the aftermath of the quake that all of the displaced peoples would be living in homes again by March 2010. As of today, more than 40 per cent are still living in temporary housing.

Housing is not the only problem the country faces. Chile’s tourism industry, which takes in $2 billion a year, took a hit over the Easter holidays. The country’s pulp production industry is facing prices at a 15-year high, with many factories still at a standstill due to damage from the quake. To make things worse, the country’s energy system will remain fragile with frequent power cuts expected for months.

It is too soon to assess how the new government is handling the aftermath but there is no doubt that the first right wing party to be in control since the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile will be under the watchful eye of many over the coming months.