Massive Earthquake Jolts Northern Chile

At least six people were reported dead after a massive magnitude 8.2 earthquake rocked the northern part of Chile on late Tuesday. Local officials ordered an evacuation of low-lying coastal areas along the northern port cities of Iquique and Arica while President Bachelet dispatched 100 riot police officers and 300 soldiers to assist Carabineros [Chile's national uniformed police force- NANESB!] and local officers in rounding up an estimated 300 inmates who escaped a damaged prison and prevent looting.



Closed circuit TV cameras in pharmacies and shopping centers showed customers running for the doors as the massive temblor shook merchandise from shelves and knocked over displays. Evacuations were ordered for the coastal cities of Arica, Iquique, Tocopilla, Pisagua and Antofagasta. The earthquake was the most powerful to hit Chile since the February 2010 magnitude 8.8 earthquake off the central coast of Chile killed more than 500 and caused an estimated US $5 billion in damages. Tremors from Tuesday's quake were reportedly felt as far away as La Paz, Bolivia and tsunami warnings were issued in Peru and parts of Ecuador.



Chile is part of the "ring of fire"- an area of considerable seismic and volcanic activity that essentially circles the Pacific Ocean and also includes Colombia, Mexico, the west coast of the USA, Alaska, Russia's Far East, Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia. The relatively low death toll for such a powerful earthquake was attributed in part to the stricter building codes Chile has enacted since a devastating magnitude 9.5 earthquake off the coast of Valdivia in 1960- said to be the most powerful earthquake ever recorded- as well as northern Chile being sparsely populated compared to the central part of the country.

Volcano Eruption Prompts Evacuations in Chile, Grounds Flights in Agrentina

Francisco Negroni- AgenciaUno

Authorities on southern Chile evacuated approximately 3500 people in the Los Lagos region (approximately 600 miles South of the capital city of Santiago) after a series of earthquakes and a volcanic eruption on Sunday in the Andes along the Chilean/Argentine border.

Authorities initially said the Puyehue volcano was involved, but later said the eruption was occurring about 2 1/2 miles (four kilometers) from that peak.

A rift more than six miles (10 kilometers) long and three miles (five kilometers) across was torn in the earth's crust, officials said Saturday night.

Authorities had put the area on alert Saturday morning after a flurry of earthquakes, and the eruption began in the afternoon.

The National Emergency Office said it recorded an average of 230 tremors an hour.

About 600 people were evacuated when the first alert went up and hundreds more left their homes after the eruption began.

Reuters photo

The wind carried the plume of ash to the east and across the mountains to western Argentina. Officials on the Argentine side of the border had to close down airports in Nequen and the mountain resort town of Bariloche while advising residents to stock up on food and water before sheltering in place.

Getty Images

The eruption also prompted the closure of Chilean national Highway 215, one of the few cross border highways in the region that are paved and open to commercial vehicles. Local officials were working to clear the accumulation of ash with bulldozers and heavy equipment while Carabineros (Chile's national uniformed police) were inspecting roads and bridges in the evacuation zone for any damage.

Endgame! Rescuers Begin Bringing Trapped Chilean Miners to Surface

Man oh man...what a year for Chile. First there was that massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake, then they got their asses handed to them in the World Cup. Somehow, I think the latest news out of Copiapo more than makes up for it.

I figure it would only be a matter of time before I updated the saga of the 33 trapped Chilean miners, but as it turned out, it was a little sooner than I expected.

A metallic capsule named 'The Phoenix' was set to start bringing up the miners trapped at the San Jose mine one by one this week. The miners had been trapped since August, although supplies were being sent down to them through a hole roughly the diameter of a grapefruit as rescuers were working on a larger, parallel shaft.

It's been estimated that it may take as long as 36 hours for all the miners to be pulled up to the surface, but the capsule has successfully reached the miners and the first half dozen have made it back to the surface. Along with the head of Chile's state-run copper company, a medic from Chile's navy went down in the capsule to do a cursory examination of the men before the capsule hauled them up. Right now, all of the men have been given sunglasses- even though they were being brought up to the surface shortly after midnight- because of the glare of spotlights from the media and rescuers. The capsules are also equipped with video cameras, an intercom and oxygen masks to monitor their health on the way back up.

Once at the surface, the men were greeted by their families and Chilean President Sebastian Piñera before being sent to a triage center and hospital in Copiopo for further physical evaluation.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the miners, their families and the rescuers for their (thus far) successful rescue that has caught the world's undivided attention. All too often we hear about mining accidents on this scale with very tragic outcomes, so it it very welcoming to get some good news along these lines for a change.

[To honor the end of the miner's plight, I'm listening to this- but playing it backwards, of course...NANESB!]

UPDATE 10/13: The last of the 33 miners, 54 year old foreman Luis Urzua, has reached the surface in the Phoenix capsule tonight. Urzua and the other 32 miners are undergoing examination in nearby Copiapo, but are believed to be in overall good physical health.

In South America, A Bizzare Love Triangle With One Party 700m Underground

Trapped in a collapsed mine 700M below the surface?

Things could be worse- at least your wife hasn't found out that you're screwing around with that one chick from the training course at work a few years back....

What's that? She has....? Aw shit. Well...sucks to be you.

One of the 33 miners trapped in a Northern Chilean copper and gold mine is hoping the 4-month timeline for a possible rescue is actually a lowball estimate after his wife encountered his mistress at a vigil held by the families of the trapped workers.

Yonni Barrios' wife, Marta Salinas, and Barrios' lover, Susana Valenzuela, were both holding vigils for him outside the mine.

Salinas was stunned when she heard Valenzuela shouting his name amid a crowd of miners' loved ones.

Salinas, 56, is said to be "horrified". However, she is determined not to give up her man to her love rival.

She told friends: "Barrios is my husband. He loves me and I am his devoted wife. This woman has no legitimacy."

But Valenzuela said the 50-year-old miner, who she met on a training course five years ago, was planning to leave his wife for her.

She said: "We are in love. I'll wait for him."

Barrios has been one of the heroes of the landslide drama -- using his first-aid training to treat sick colleagues.

He also vaccinated all 33 men, including himself, against flu and pneumonia.

One has to wonder if Barrios is using anything taught at the training course he met Valenzuela at that could be applicable in his situation.

[Hat tip: Jammie Wearing Fool]

Chilean Miners Found Alive and Well 17 Days After Mine Collapse

33 workers missing and feared dead after an Aug. 5th mine collapse in northern Chile were discovered alive and well by rescue workers over the weekend.

At a news conference with family member of the miners outside the San Jose copper and gold mine near Copiapo, Chilean President Sebastian Piñera announced that the miners had been found alive and well in an underground shelter and were able to pass a note through a grapefruit-sized hole to rescuers. The note Piñera displayed during his conference simply read "All 33 of us are fine in the shelter". Rescuers were able to lower a camera through the hole, which showed many of the miners shirtless and waving at the cameras.

The news came as rescuers and loved ones were giving up hope that the trapped be would be found and was cause for celebrations throughout the country, even as the good news was tempered with warnings that it could take up to 4 months to safely extract the miners.

While rescuers are working to shore up the smaller hole with which they can use to drop food, water, medicine and microphones down, details are emerging about the trapped miners' ingenuity in which they used a bulldozer to provide a canal of fresh water and used power from a truck's engine to rig a makeshift lighting system.

A specialized drill loaned by the state-run CodelCo is expected to take 3-4 months to reach the men. Chile's mining minister Laurence Goldborne said that rescuers would have to proceed cautiously in order to avoid triggering another collapse

In the meantime, two smaller shafts will be dug to further accommodate ventilation and communication with the surface. Authorities plan on sending microphones down so the trapped miners can communicate with loved ones on the surface.

Quickie Cuppa Sports Chowdah June 27-29: Lackey's Outing Give Battered Sox Ray of Hope; World Cups Runneth Over

(Matthew West/Boston Herald)

Well, what a short but no less strange journey it's been for the Red Sox this week. After losing Pedroia and Buccholz to injury in the first two games, Victor Martinez made it a hat trick on Sunday with a broken left thumb after taking one too many foul tips off the mitt. Granted Martinez may not have lasted until the 4th inning, but neither did San Francisco's back-to-back NL Cy Young Winner Tim Lincecum. 'The Freak' gave up a solo homer to Big Papi in the first that landed in McCovey Cove before giving up a sac-fly to his counterpart Jon Lester in the 2nd followed shortly by Marco Scutaro's 2-RBI single to give Boston the lead for good. Adrian Beltre would put an exclamation point on the game with a solo homer of his own off of Sergio Romo.

Lester went all 9 innings giving up 5 hits, one earned run and struck out 9 for his ninth win of the season, giving the bullpen a much needed rest after going through eight pitchers on Saturday.

After a travel day, the Sox returned to Fenway Tuesday night to take on the 3rd place Tampa Bay Rays. The two newest Bruins- Tyler Seguin and Nathaniel Horton- threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the game.

The game remained in a scoreless deadlock between John Lackey and James Shields when Shields had Cameron on 3rd, Scutaro on 3rd, Papi in the batters box and Youk on deck- all with two out in the bottom of the 5th. Shields decided to pitch to Ortiz and was rewarded with his offering winding up in the seats behind the visitors bullpen. Varitek- filling in for Martinez- had an RBI single in the bottom of the 6th, followed shortly by Nava hitting an RBI single of his own to make it 5-0 Boston. Rays 3B Evan Longoria put the visitors on the board with an RBI single in the top of the 7th.

Lackey would go on to pitch 7 innings, giving up eight hits, two walks, an earned run and striking out six on the night nd picked up the win in Boston's 8-5 victory over Tampa. Jason Varitek didn't show any signs of rust, going 1-3 with 2RBI and a walk while filling in for a DL-ed Victor Martinez. David Ortiz also went 1 for 3, with 3 RBI and two walks. 3B Adrian Beltre was 4-4 with two runs scored as well.

Tomorrow night will see Daisuke Matsuzaka (5-2; 4.50 ERA) go up against the Ray's Matt Garza (8-5; 4.10 ERA). Tuesday night's win put the Red Sox a game out of 1st place in the AL East.

[Paraguay's flag never looked so good]

WORLD CUP: well, since my one and only rooting interest in the World Cup was eliminated by Ghana over the weekend, I have very little incentive to pay attention now.

Having said that, here is a quickie roundup of the World Cup results over the last 2 days:

NETHERLANDS 2- Slovakia 1

BRAZIL 3- Chile 0

PARAGUAY 0(5)- Japan 0(3)

SPAIN 1- Portugal 0

[Yay Brazil! Wait- what? They play soccer there, too?]

So the Netherlands will take on Brazil on July 2nd while Ghana and Uruguay go head-to-head on the same day; Argentina- having defeated Mexico will take on Germany on July 3rd after the krauts sent England packing at roughly the same time Ghana bounced out Team USA and Paraguay will take on Spain later that day.

[Don't stop jumping up and down on my account- especially you on the right]

This concludes your NANESB! World Cup update.

[La Nacion]

And distraught Chileana fans such as this one (who needs to rehydrate after shedding so much tears after the 3-0 loss to the nation that will be hosting the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics) in need of consoling can reach me through this blog.

Suspect In Holloway Disappearence Arrested in Chile

I'm not normally one to pounce on top of some of these sensationalistic tabloid stories, but since one of my favorite Latin America nations is in the headlines without having large chunks of it slide into the ocean, I figured it would be worth a mention.

Do you remember Natalie Holloway- the Alabama teenager who disappered during a graduation trip to Aruba in 2005? Well, it looks as though the on-again off-again suspect, Jordan Van Der Sloot, is in trouble with the law on an unrelated matter.

21 year old Stephany Tatiana Flores was found dead in a Lima, Peru hotel room over the weekend. The room was registered under the name of none other than Jordan Van Der Sloot who was in Lima for a poker tournament at the Atlantic City Casino. A hotel guest and an empoyee at the Tac Sac Hotel in Lima told Peruvian investigators they saw Flores and Van Der Sloot head into the same room and Flores is last seen with Van Der Sloot on the casino's survaillance cameras.

Peruvian investigators names Van Der Sloot as the prime suspect and issued an international arrest warrant. The 22 year old Dutchman was reportedly spotted entering Chile at the northern border town of Arica and was arrested earlier today in a taxi on the busy highway (Ruta 68) linking the coastal cities of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar with capital city of Santiago. Chilean investigators plan on questioning him before extraditing him back to Peru.

Chile Earthquake Update- Sebastian Pinera to be Sworn In; Looters Have Amnesty Before Crackdown; USAF Sends Medical Personnel; Go West?

Sebastian Pinera, the Chilean tycoon who made his fortune introducing credit cards to the South American nation, will be sworn in as Chile's newest president Thursday, replacing outgoing socialist president Michelle Bachelet less than three weeks after the nation was rocked by one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded. The conservative Pinera won a January runoff election against center-left Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle. The 60 year old billionaire said "We won't be the government of the earthquake, we'll be the government of reconstruction". Pinera ran on a platform of creating jobs, reducing crime and boosting economic growth in 2009. Pinera's election win will end more than 20 years of center-left rule in Chile.

Although Bachelet has come under criticism for the government's slow initial response to the Febuary 27th earthquake, some polls show her as having an approval rating of more than 80%.

Police and military in Chile gave the looters that struck in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake an ultimatum this weekend- return the stolen items no questions asked by Sunday or face a crackdown. Items like fans, cases of liquor, Television sets, furniture, washing machines and stereos were left on the street for the soldiers and Carabineros to pick up and process. Acting on tips from residents, authorities in Concepcion had arrested 20 people in possession of looted merchandise. Police and the Army said they were ready to search house-to-house after televised images of looting shocked viewers in the normally orderly South American country.

The United States Air Force Southern Command announced in a statement on Tuesday that they were sending 84 Airmen to Chile, 63 of them medical personnel. The support team will be equipped to perform surgeries as well as dental, radiological, pharmaceutical and diagnostic work, US Military officials said. The team will relieve Chilean personnel taking part in the relief effort.

Apparently the earthquake was strong enough to move the city of Concepcion 10 feet to the west. Chile's capital of Santiago reportedly moved 11 inches to the west-southwest while on the other side of the Andes, the city of Mendoza reportedly moved significantly and Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires moved an inch to the west. Researchers and geologists were able to measure the shift by comparing GPS date from before the quake with readings taken 10 days later.

Chile Earthquake Death Toll Revised; Chile's President Meets W/Clinton, UN Secretary General Moon; More Strong Aftershocks Rock Concepcion

(Reuters/Victor R Caballero)

Authorities in Chile were revising their death toll from last weekend's 8.8 earthquake off the coast of Concepcion as the nation's military started pouring into the stricken areas to restore order and deliver food and emergency supplies.

On Thursday, Chile's Office of Emergency Management listed an estimated 200 attendees at a festival on the island of Orrego near the city of Constitucion as 'missing' instead of confirmed dead. Forensic experts are also arriving in an effort to positively identify some of the bodies pulled from the rubble.

UN Secretary General Ban Kai Moon pledged some US$10 Million from the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund for Concepcion and other quake-stricken municipalities as well as emergency supplies like water filters. The Secretary General appeared with outgoing president Michelle Bachelete on a live fundraising telethon this week and will tour the devastated city of Concepcion this weekend.

Earlier in the week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had visited both president Bachelet and Chile's President-elect Pinera to assess Chile's immediate needs (generators, portable kitchens, portable kitchens). The initial supplies from the USA include at least 60 satellite phones, a mobile field hospital and emergency shelter materiels.


An aftershock registering magnitude 6.6 on the Richter scale rocked Concepcion early Friday morning, the strongest aftershock since a magnitude 6.9 temblor shortly after last week's quake. Buildings were evacuated and some patients in Concepcion's hospital were sent home as authorities feared the structure would collapse. Many residents in the region had taken to sleeping outside in the streets, concerned that a strong enough aftershock could collapse their homes.

Chile Earthquake Update- Death Toll Rising Amid Deteriorating Security Situation

(Aliosha Marquez/AP)

Chile's central government moved to position additional Army personnel and Carabineros (Chile's national uniformed police force) officers in Conepcion, Talcahuano and other municipalities close to the epicenter of Saturday's magnitude 8.8 earthquake in a bid to quell looting in those areas. Over the weekend, looters emptied supermarkets, clothing stores, gas stations, grain silos and electronics stores, burning some of them to the ground afterwards. Authorities in Concepcion had declared a curfew and police had 55 people in custody for curfew violation on Sunday.

(Natacha Pisarenko/AP)

Outgoing Chilean President Michele Bachelete promised to deliver aid to the quake-stricken regions as the death toll went past 700, with 723 dead and at least 19 missing. Firefighters in Concepcion had pulled 25 survivors and eight bodies from a collapsed apartment complex while firefighters, soldiers and urban search and rescue teams were searching for signs of life in other collapsed buildings. Many survivors had taken to sleeping outside on the sidewalks, anticipating another quake.

The price of copper saw a brief spike on international trading, as Chile is the world's largest exporter of copper. Officials say the quake and its aftermath is expected to slow, but not halt the production and export of copper.

And at this time, Not Another New England Sports Blog! would like to salute Chilean tabloid La Cuarta for not only providing images and updates on the quake's aftermath throughout the weekend, but also providing Chileans with completely gratuitous T&A in their hour of need.

Mil Gracias, La Cuarta! Como se dice 'NSFW'?

Sports Chowdah Update Feb 23-27th/Olympic Edition; Border Wars a Trois- USA & Canada Set For Gold Medal match; Korean Stocks Ditched for Bond Girl

Figure skating: Noramlly, I'm not a fan of sports or events where the winners and outcome are dictated by a panel of judges, but apparently a whole lot of Asians disagree with me. Trading on Asia's top two exchanges ground to a halt earlier this week so that traders on the floors of both Seoul's Korea Exchange and Japan's Nikkei could watch performances in women's figure skating by Japan's Mao Asada and South Korea's Kim Yu Na. The only significant movement that trading session came from Korean sports-marketing firm IB sports [KSX: 011420], which represents Yu Na among others. Yu Na's James Bond-themed performance on Febuary 23rd earned higher marks that Asada's program and Yu Na would go on to win the gold in women's figure skating on Thursday. This would be South Korea's first Winter Olympic medal in a sport other than speed skating.

Finland's Kiira Korpi earned an 11th place finish, perhaps begging the question why she didn't go ahead with her sexy stripper-cop program in the Vancouver games.

(Andrew Mills/Star-Ledger)

Woman's Hockey: To hardly anybody's surprise, it was USA versus Canada for the gold, with the Canadian women's team shutting out the USA 2-0. However, it did not end there. Bound and determined to lock up the 'Buzzkills of the year' title early, the IOC sharply criticized the gold medal winners for smoking cigars and drinking beer and champagne while taking a victory lap after the medals were awarded and the fans had left the arena.

Men's Hockey: Good God, I sure took my sweet time updating this, didn't I? Well, the match that most people thought would be the gold medal matchup actually took place as early as the quarterfinals- Russia vs Canada. However, it did NOT live up to it's billing as the host country simply demolished the Russians 7-3 to advance to the semifinals against Slovakia, where they won a much closer game against the Slovaks 3-2.

Elsewhere, Team USA scored late and not necessarily often, but often enough to get by the Swiss 2-0 on Wednesday and advance to the semifinals where they manhandled Finland by a final of 6-1. This set up a Bronze medal game between the Finns and Slovaks that was played Saturday with the Finns rallying to get past the plucky Slovaks 5-3. I have to say that as fun as the Slovaks were to watch, I'm a little disappointed they couldn't do any better than 4th place.

Of course, I would be derelict in my sportsfan/sports-blogger duties if I neglected to mention that Finland and Slovakia's loss sets up a gold medal game between the USA and Canada on Sunday. To say 'I'm looking forward to it' is the understatement of this young 2010, and I honestly couldn't tell you who I think is going to win. Canada looked unstoppable against Russia, but at times, complacent and beatable against the Slovaks. Ever since pool play ended, USA and Canada haven't had any common opponents (USA had the Swiss and Finns while Canada had Germany, Russia and Slovakia). While I can't dismiss things like playing to the home crowd and avenging last week's loss, I think USA does have momentum on their side and nowhere near as much pressure to worry about, since very few thought they'd get this far in the first place. But stop and think about it.....the absolute worst case scenario facing the USA men's hockey team at the moment is 'settling' for silver when they were a longshot to be in contention for a medal in the first place. That said, no reason to let up now......gold is all the rage this year. (Go USA!)

Bobsled: Team USA broke a 62 year drought by winning the gold in the 4-man bobsled event Saturday. Steven Holcomb, Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curtis Tomasevicz piloted the winning sled through the Whistler course in 3 minutes, 24.46 seconds.

Closing Ceremonies: The remaining representative from Chile's Olympic delegation will stay for the closing ceremonies tomorrow in Vancouver. Alpine skier Noelle Barahona had planned to return home on Sunday but was unable to find a flight. However, she did receive word that her family and friends were all right. Barahona, a team spokesman, a coach and a physical therapist will be on hand to represent Chile for the closing ceremonies. Two other Chilean skiers, Jorge Mandru and Maui Gayme, had already left Vancouver for Seattle and Europe before the earthquake struck.

Massive Magnitude 8.8 Earthquake and Aftershocks Rock Central Chile

(La Nacion- Argentina)

(La Nacion- Argentina)

(Reuters)

(Reuters)

Buildings were toppled while electricity and telephone lines were severed after a magnitude 8.8. earthquake struck central Chile early Saturday morning. The capital city of Santiago shook for over a minute and multiple aftershocks, some as strong as 6.9, struck the region. The USGS placed the epicenter of the quake about 70 miles outside of Concepcion, Chile's second largest city with a population of 200,000.

Early reports indicate that 47 people were killed, but that figure is expected to rise. Chilean President Michele Bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe" for the central region of the country and the Pacific Tsunami Center issued a warning for the coast of Chile and Peru. Authorities in Chile will have a better chance to assess the damage once daybreak comes.

UPDATE: The death toll has been revised to at least 214 and photographs illustrating the extent of the damage are beginning to circulate online. I found some images courtesey of the online edition of Argentina's La Nacion newspaper.

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck a Saturday afternoon off the coast of Valparaiso, headquarters of the Chilean Navy and the nation's largest seaport. The port was ordered to shut down while it was the facilities were inspected for damage.

Tsunami warning have been issued for California, Oregon, Washington State, Alaska, Hawaii and British Columbia by NOAA's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.