The government said most of Chile’s 19 million people have regained power after the country’s most destructive power outage in 15 years.
Chilean Interior Minister Carolina Tohá said on Wednesday that electricity has mostly returned to 14 tortured areas in Chile, although 220,000 residents have no power.
Recovering power has proven to be more problematic in the northern part of the country, where failures in the northern part of the country triggered power outages first, triggering chain reactions in power plants and transmission lines and shutting down throughout South American countries.
The exact situation is still under investigation.
Toha told reporters that authorities are also investigating the deaths of three people during the power outage on Tuesday, saying they are “relying on electricity” without providing more details.
She appears to refer to residents at risk during power cuts as they rely on medical equipment such as ventilators for breathing assistance.
As train and subway services resumed again in the country’s capital, San Diego, the government said it would not expand the state of emergency that expired earlier on Wednesday. Authorities reported that the night before, more than 200 people were arrested for violating night curfew.
In certain parts of the country, such as the town of Maipu in southern San Diego, thousands of people are anxiously awaiting power and drinking water to return home.
Some commuters on Wednesday were still struggling to drive on city streets without traffic lights. Toha said more security forces will be deployed on city streets to help with traffic chaos.
The power outage was Chile’s most important since 2010, when a devastating 8.8-magnitude earthquake and tsunami cut off power and phased out communications for much of the country.
Left President Gabriel Boric pointed his finger at the energy transmission company and vowed that authorities would investigate the company. He said the faulty transmission line was installed by energy transmission company ISA Interchile.
“It is intolerable that millions of Chileans’ daily lives are affected by the responsibilities of one or several companies,” Boric said in a televised speech late Tuesday. “It is the responsibility of the country to make them accountable.”
Critics encouraged the state to play a more active role in Chile’s power infrastructure program, and private companies have operated electricity and other critical services since Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship in 1973-90.
