On Tuesday, President Gabriel Boric faced a challenging situation when a sweeping power outage struck Chile, starting in the afternoon and affecting regions from Arica in the north to Los Lagos in the south, including the capital, Santiago. The blackout severely disrupted daily life, disabling traffic signals, trapping individuals in elevators, and halting the subway system.
As the crisis unfolded, the government swiftly implemented a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the regions impacted by the outage. This measure is set to affect approximately 300,000 students as schools in these areas will remain closed on Wednesday.
In a press conference later on Tuesday, President Boric expressed empathy for the hardships faced by Chileans, stating, "Today has been a difficult day for millions of countrymen." He later reported that power restoration efforts had successfully re-energized about four million homes but cautioned that the recovery would be gradual and the situation remained uncertain.
The cause of the power outage has been attributed to a failure within the country's transmission system. Boric criticized the power companies for not preventing the blackout and for delaying the restoration process, labeling the situation as "outrageous."
In response to the emergency, military personnel and national police were dispatched to the affected areas, with helicopters monitoring the situation over Santiago. Essential services such as hospitals, prisons, and airports continued operations using backup generators and emergency power systems, as outlined by the national disaster agency.
