Chile Hit with Aftershock Earthquakes as New President Takes Over
Conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera was sworn into office as the President of Chile on Thursday just as more aftershocks hit the already devastated country. The aftershocks struck only minutes before the swearing in started at the Valparaiso Congress building. The 8.8 magnitude earthquake that started it all happened nearly 2 weeks ago, killing around 500 people.
President Pinera said that there was a lot of damage in Rancagua, which is just south of Santiago, the capital, according to initial reports. Workers in Santiago briefly evacuated office buildings and took to the streets. Residents in Constitucion, which was heavily damaged in the first quake, took to the hills after a tsunami alert was issued by the navy, who ordered people to leave beaches.
After taking office, Pinera said that it’s time to start working. He added that he ordered his interior minister to oversee the recovery efforts by Onemi in person. The state emergency office was heavily criticized for how it handled the initial earthquake, as well as a tsunami that devastated villages on the coast.
It is the hope of Chileans that Pinera can use his business insight to help the country, which is one of the most stable economies in Latin America, rebound from the devastation. The 60-year-old former senator is an economist trained at Harvard and made a fortune on an airline and credit card business. He is the 437th richest person in the world, according to Forbes, and has an estimated fortune of $2.2 billion. The new leader will likely have to fund reconstruction with international bonds and by dipping into the country’s savings from its copper businesses.