As has been widely reported, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck central/southern Chile at 03:34 Chilean time (01:34 Eastern Standard) on Saturday, 27 February 2010. The earthquake, one of the most powerful on record worldwide, caused significant casualties and damage throughout central and southern Chile. AURA/NOAO expresses its concern and support for all those affected by the earthquake, and our sincere condolences to the victims and their families.
In the hours and days after the earthquake, we pursued an active campaign of checking on all NOAO staff in Chile, several of whom were on work or vacation travel to Santiago or southern Chile. As of this writing, most staff (with only a few exceptions due to communication problems) and visitors have been confirmed safe. We will update this page when all are confirmed.
In the area of La Serena in northern Chile, where the NOAO facilities of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) are situated, the effects were strong, but no significant damage was registered. Both telescopes and observatory infrastructure are intact with no detected damage. Indeed, observations on the telescopes continued immediately after the earthquake. Minor rock slides on the access road were cleared Saturday morning. Electricity, external telephone, and internet connectivity were lost initially, but internal communications remained stable, alowing operations to continue.
The International Airport in Santiago sustained significant damage due to the earthquake, and therefore the airport has been closed for at least a couple of days. The runways have been checked and are in good condition, but the passenger terminal and some of the shipping terminals sustained severe internal damage.
Following a meeting on Monday, March 1,
regulations were established for the preliminary coordination of flights gradual onset
of both arrivals and departures from the airport terminal.
The
plan provides for two phases.
The first, from 3rd to 5th March, includes the use of tents in the eastern
sector of the old terminal. From that place gradually and the process is carried
out on domestic flights in a schedule from 08:00 to 20:00 hrs., And the
departures of international flights, from 20:00 to 08:00 am. National and
international arrivals will be made by the sector “Salones de Protocolo.”
All international flights from Phase I, prior to his arrival at Santiago
airport, should call at another domestic airport making enabled by
immigration, SAG and Customs.
For its part, the second phase, from 5th March onwards, consider a 24 hours
operation for air operations. At this stage, departures and arrivals of domestic flights were made from
the campaign tent located in the eastern sector of the old terminal.
During this period, the departures of international flights will be made by the sector for
the current domestic passenger terminal. Finally, the international arrival
process will be conducted from a tent located in the western part of the air
terminal.
We will maintain this page updated as more information is available on when the airport will be reopened for passenger traffic.
FOR OBSERVERS PLANNING TO TRAVEL TO CTIO: Please contact Ximena Herreros (xherreros@ctio.noao.edu) for the most up-to-date information and to coordinate your travel or cancellation of your trip. We will work with observers who cannot travel to Chile in order to find the best possible solution to their observation plans.
Last update: 2 Mar 2010, 10:30am