National Emergency Office (ONEMI): 2007 the most difficult year in four decades

SANTIAGO.-  Carmen Fernandez, director of the National Emergency Office (Onemi), stated that 2007 has been the most problematic year during the last four decades with regards to natural disasters.

In addition to the explosion in Valparaíso, two earthquakes (one in Aisén and another in Antofogasta), freezes, snowstorms and forest fires have proven 2007 to be a troublesome year.

“The impressive amount of events has brought comparisons to 1997 (a year of storms as well as an earthquake) and we estimate that the events of this year have caused more problems and been even more numerous”, she pointed out.

Fernández maintained that such a challenging year has not been registered “for at least four decades”.

She indicated that the “the seismic crisis in Aisén”, caused by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami on April 21st, was the most traumatic incident of the year.

“We have experienced many recurring phenomena and clusters of seismic activity in this country, but I think that, in this case, all of the records were beat.  I don’t know of any other phenomenon that registered 260 earthquakes in one day”, she stated.