On Thursday, as President Michelle Bachelet was visiting residents in Tocopilla reassuring them that they will receive help, a major aftershock of 6.8 magnitude on the Richter scale hit the streets of the town. President Bachelet didn’t move a muscle as bodyguards were trying to take her to safety.
Even though power poles swung and women around her were moving away, she remained calm as she was reassuring the survivors of the governments help, the Associated Press reports.
She said: “We are here, in the field, working to help you. But be calm. I can't go to every house to check. There's no need to see all of them.”
She flew to several towns that suffered from the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that hit on Thursday leaving two people dead, injured more than 150 and left homeless almost 15,000 people. She was accompanied by four cabinet chiefs and among them was also Housing Minister Patricia Poblete. She said that most of the damaged structures could not be saved.
Hundreds of portable homes were sent by the government in the affected region on Thursday and a military hospital was set up in Tocopilla after the local one suffered damages. Food, water and medicine were being distributed by government workers and soldiers.
The area was hit by aftershocks just as they were working. According to the U.S. Geological Survey one measured 6.2 magnitude and the other one 6.8 magnitude on the Richter scale. No damages were recorded.
Late Thursday the Peru-Ecuador border was hit by an earthquake of 6.7 magnitude on the Richter scale, but no injuries or damages were reported.
Two of the towns that suffered the most from the earthquake were Tocopilla and Maria Elena, a smaller, mining town.
Ricardo Lagos Weber, presidential spokesman, said that they could be declared disaster areas in order to receive immediate help.
Bachelet said to the residents of Tocopilla that: “There is much fear and despair, and that is normal. But people should organize and respond to emergency plans.”
Hundreds of residents slept in their cars outside their homes and were refusing to stay into shelters organized by government. They were guarding what was left from their homes.
Electricity was restored, but running water wasn’t. Water
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According to Alfredo Ovalle, president of the National Mining Society, the industry suffered a lost of $20 million in infrastructure damage and lost production.
On Wednesday prices of copper went up fearing that the supply will be interrupted, but it went down on Thursday when power was restored and the mines began to function properly.