The Chilean government imposed a curfew on Tuesday and sent Army and State Police to patrol the streets in response to a complete blackout, thus cutting power in much of the country.
The massive power outage began in the afternoon, affecting 8 million households in South American countries, with 19 million people, officials said. They said the affected areas spanned 600 miles, from Arica in the north (the location of many copper mines in the country) to Los Lagos in the south. In San Diego, it knocked down traffic lights, stuck people in the elevator and turned off the subway network.
By midnight, electricity had been restored for 90% of residential consumers, the National Electrical Coordinator said. Officials promised that Dawn would restore electricity to everyone.
The government had earlier announced a curfew in affected areas from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Schools in those areas will be closed on Wednesday, with about 300,000 students affected, officials said.
“Today is a tough day for millions of fellow countrymen,” President Gabriel Boric said in a press conference Tuesday night.
As officials scramble to restore power, the unfunctional ceasefire caused traffic chaos in San Diego and evacuated a large number of commuters from the subway, spilled into the streets and competed for attractions on replacement buses.
“People are trying to get in the car anywhere,” said Patricio Rodriguez, 35.
Mr Rodriguez said he had to walk nine miles to get to his aunt's house. “People drive the wrong road on the main road, that’s chaos,” he said. “Like the Wild West – it feels illegal.”
Mr Boric warned that the recovery was slow and unstable and the situation remained unstable.
He accused the country's power companies of allowing power outages to occur and not recover soon, adding: “It's outrageous.” Officials said the outage was caused by a failure in the transmission system.
The authorities said the trucks were deployed to the affected areas to enforce a curfew, while the state police were dispatched to direct traffic and patrol streets. In San Diego, helicopters circle the city.
National police said on social media that they rescued residents trapped in elevators and trapped by automatic gates.
In some areas, residents do not have drinking water, officials said. National Disaster Agency said emergency services, hospitals, prisons and airports are backing up power systems and generators.
In recent decades, Chile has become one of the wealthiest countries in Latin America, with the help of large copper reserves and global commodity booms. However, the benefits of economic growth do not feel equal, and inequality remains deeply rooted.
This gap sometimes drove a series of violent protests in 2019, which in turn helped the rise of Mr. Borick, a former student organizer and lawyer. He was elected president on a left-wing platform in 2021, calling for a convention to draft a new constitution to replace a constitution that has been in place since Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship.
The new text could have included left-wing policy in one of the most conservative countries in Latin America, rejected by voters in 2022 and a more conservative version of the following year. Mr. Boric has since promoted some of his policies while calling for better basic services to most Chileans.
