Chile recovers from the mass blackout that left millions of users without electrical service

“At 00h00 on Wednesday, February 26, the equivalent of 90% of residential consumption has been recovered,” said the national electrical coordinator in a statement sent to the press. In parallel, it was indicated that “from 11:30 p.m. the recovery of 100% of the consumption was achieved from the Valparaíso region to the island of Chiloé.”

In addition, following the service recovery plan, the supply was recovered in Coquimbo after 0 hours, and in Copiapó at approximately 0:30 hours. of the demand of the regional capital “.

In full summer, 95% of households and several public places were affected This Tuesday due to the unusual service interruption. In order to guarantee security in the country, President Gabriel Buric activated the “Catastrophe emergency state“And he decreed a curfew from 22h00 local to 06h00 between the Arica and Parinacota (North) region and the Los Lagos (South) region.

In Santiago, El Corte forced the evacuation of the Metro, which transports around 2.3 million users daily. Thousands of people, to return to their homes, had to walk for hours in the middle of about 30 degrees of temperature. For the same incident, around 300 thousand students ran out of classes.

During the day, the Chilean press also spread videos on social networks with people trapped in height games in a amusement park.

With the hours, cellular communications and Internet connection became more difficult. The light cut not only altered the routine of the capital of seven million inhabitants. For example, the Viña del Mar International Festival had to cancel the show on Tuesday that included the presentations of Colombians Morat and Sebastián Yatra.

“Tonight’s shows must be rescheduled for Saturday, March 1, 2025,” the organization said in a statement.

Simultaneously, in Valparaíso, a city 120 km from Santiago, witnesses reported the closure of shops and chaos in vehicle traffic.

This is the worst blackout registered in Chile since 2010, when much of the population was also without service due to a fall in the electricity network in the Biobío (South) region.

The government quickly dismissed the possibility of an attack against the energy supply network.

“There is no reason to assume that behind this there is an attack. It would be a failure of the operation of the system,” said Interior Minister Carolina Tohá, at a press conference.

Hospitals and prisons were able to continue operating with emergency generators.

Boric held private companies responsible for emergency They handle the electricity system.

“This is outrageous! It is not possible for the daily life of millions of Chileans and Chileans to be altered in this way by companies that do not do their work well,” he emphasized, while announcing sanctions.