Chile’s government has instituted a curfew and declared a state of emergency following a nationwide blackout that left much of the population, including residents of the capital Santiago, without power on Tuesday. The outage began in the afternoon, impacting approximately eight million households from northern Arica to southern Los Lagos. In Santiago, the situation was dire as traffic lights failed, subway services were halted, and people became trapped in elevators.
As darkness fell, the government declared a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. in affected areas, compelling schools in those regions to close on Wednesday, affecting around 300,000 students. President Gabriel Boric addressed the nation in a press conference, expressing empathy for those enduring the crisis.
By late Tuesday evening, power had been restored to approximately half of the affected households. However, Boric cautioned that the recovery process remained slow and unstable, emphasizing the precarious situation still at hand. He criticized the local energy companies for allowing the outage to occur and for the slow response in restoring power, labeling the situation “outrageous.” The outage reportedly stemmed from a significant failure in the transmission system, according to government officials.
To maintain order in the impacted areas, both soldiers and national police officers have been deployed, while helicopters flew overhead in Santiago to monitor the situation. The national disaster agency confirmed that hospitals, emergency services, airports, and prisons are relying on backup systems for electricity as the country grapples with the aftermath of this crisis.
John Bartlett contributed to this report. Yan Zhuang is a Times reporter in Seoul covering breaking news.
