Andre Vltchek, Contributor, Jakarta
On Monday, June 13, 2005, almost one year before a devastating 6.9-magnitude earthquake leveled tens of thousands of houses in Central Java, a powerful temblor shook the 1st Region in northern Chile, damaging 9,000 homes.
According to the United States Geological Survey, the quake, with an epicenter in the Andes mountain range near Tarapaca, measured 7.9 on the Richter scale, shaking for almost one full minute several major cities including that of Iquique, 1,460 kilometers from the capital Santiago, and the Chilean border area shared with Peru and Bolivia.
The water service in the city of Iquique was knocked out; the quake splintered roads, triggered landslides disrupting transportation and communication in the entire north of the country. For the first several hours images of devastation looked extremely familiar; resembling those of any major natural disaster area in South or Southeast Asia.
However, soon after the differences became apparent.
The predominantly Socialist government of President Ricardo Lagos took immediate action. The Chilean military established an operation center in the middle of the Atacama Desert, complete with an improvised runway as the main runway at Iquique International Airport had been damaged by the earthquake.
There was no time wasted on lengthy discussions and meetings.
Several air force aircraft and helicopters began moving food, medicine and tents to affected areas in a matter of hours, and evacuating injured people from remote areas, particularly from the town of Huara, where more than half of its homes were flattened. Heavy transport planes had been forced to land on the desert sand in what was described as extremely dangerous maneuvers, but they managed to bring emergency medical teams and equipment, therefore saving thousands of lives.
President Lagos, who at the time of the earthquake was holding talks with the Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson, canceled the rest of his European itinerary, including his lunch with King Carl XVI and visits to the Netherlands and Spain. He immediately embarked on a 12,000-kilometer journey to Iquique in order to personally assess the damage.
But assessment was just a part of his mission. From the moment he stepped off the plane, he offered his sympathies to Chile's citizens, but above all reassurance that no victim would be left behind.
While talking to the residents of Santa Ana neighborhood in Pozo Almonte, whose houses were damaged in the Tarapaca earthquake, President Lagos made clear that victims would not have to worry about rebuilding their dwellings: ""The major costs will not be your responsibility. Is that clear? And I want everyone to know that. You will not be paying for these repairs, because there are people here who are responsible for this.""
Thus the major difference. The Chilean state took immediate and unconditional responsibility for loss of lives, injuries and damage to property. Money for compensating the victims came from the state; any private donations were nothing more than an additional expression of solidarity. Foreign assistance was not needed, as the relief operations of the state agencies and military were well coordinated and effective.
Victims of the earthquake had to stay for two days in shelters, but then prefabricated houses began to arrive, offering what Lagos called a ""temporary solution before the houses are repaired or rebuilt"". All prefabricated houses were equipped with toilets, showers and kitchens.
In a few days, the government unveiled an emergency plan that included two types of compensation available to the victims: They could choose between straight-forward cash compensation (tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the type of damaged dwellings and extent of the damage) and full reconstruction under the supervision of government agencies.
Despite the magnitude of the earthquake, only 11 people died, some during the landslide on the road between Iquique and Alto Hospicio.
Chile is known for its high-quality construction. As it is located in an extremely active seismic zone, construction companies are forced to spend up to 20 percent to 30 percent more than in other countries on ensuring that buildings can withstand severe earthquakes.
Most of those who died were living in a relatively poor, partially indigenous and rural area.
Chilean architect Alejandro Wagner Molina, who visited the area several days after the disaster, explained that in the city of Iquique (with approximately 250,000 inhabitants) there was almost no damage to existing housing stock or to the buildings under construction.
""All modern buildings in the urban area withstood this powerful earthquake with almost no damage. I myself was very impressed,"" he said. ""The main problem occurred outside the city -- in the area toward the mountains; that's where several people died and thousands of houses were destroyed or damaged. There, the quality of housing was often far from required construction standards.""
Despite the fact that the Chilean government reacted quickly and decisively, it came almost immediately under fire from the local press and citizens groups, which demanded more help and investigation of those construction companies that had built the dwellings destroyed by the earthquake.
Chile, a majority middle class country, is increasingly demanding accountability from the government and the private sector. The government is held fully responsible for the quality of housing construction, both in urban and rural areas.
One year after the earthquake, the government had largely fulfilled its promises. Only a few families remain in provisional houses; the rest of the victims had their dwellings repaired and their lives returned to normal.
Chile, as well as Indonesia, experienced brutal military coup backed by the United States. The coup, during which democratically elected socialist president Salvador Allende had been killed, took place on Sept. 11, 1973. It brought to power the military junta, which implemented pro-market reforms, privatized raw materials and all key industries. Under the dictatorship, more than 3,000 people vanished and gap between rich and poor increased dramatically.
Popular revolt followed by the referendum brought down General Pinochet in 1989. Since then, Chile has been ruled by center-left coalition governments and has experienced consistent and rapid economic growth, dramatically reducing inequality and poverty.
Present-day Chile is the most socially balanced nation in Latin America, with more than US$300 dollars minimum monthly wages and an increasingly comprehensive social net. The Chilean military had been thoroughly reformed and placed under firm control of the state. This South American nation of 16 million has one of the lowest corruption rates in the world.
The socialist president Ricardo Lagos had tried for several years to combine a vibrant market economy with extended social welfare policies. He was recently replaced by another socialist leader -- the first female president in Chilean history, Michelle Bachelet.
The writer is a novelist, journalist and filmmaker, a Senior Fellow at The Oakland Institute and co-founder of Mainstay Press, which publishes political fiction (www.mainstaypress.org). He can be reached at andre-wcn@usa.net.
