Wolf Kloss - SIM Expeditions - Santa Maria Australis

First of all, we hope our friends, agencies and suppliers in northern Chile are fine
after the earthquake. We send them a special greeting, hoping they and their families
are fine and with no serious losses.

Everyone should know about the events that occurred in Chile. The 2010 Chilean
earthquake occurred off the coast of the Maule Region, on February 27, 2010, at 03:34
local time (06:34 UTC), rating a magnitude of 8.8. The earthquake-tsunami was the
beginning of a big chaos; Chile is facing difficult consequences.

As a Chilean resident and especially as one who promotes the destinations of this
beautiful country, I wanted to tell you how everything is going, even I'm not the
official voice, I just feel I should write about this to you.

Although the earthquake-tsunami hit almost 80% of the country, the tourist destinations
that we offer were not damaged.

Based on local information we know that this earthquake-tsunami hit hardest in
Concepción, the port of Talcahuano, coastal villages and ancient towns. Dichato, Duao,
Thomas, Cauquenes, Cobquecura, Lota, Llo-Lleo and many others, today are in the pages of
the news.

The entire north, Arica, Iquique, Antofagasta, the region of the Atacama Desert, also
called the Norte Chico, including La Serena y Valle de Elqui, were not touched by the
earthquake. All the infrastructure is as ever, impeccable.

The so-called Fifth Region, where are the cities of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar,
suffered damage to some old buildings, but the Hotels and the Casino and the most of the
streets, are in good condition.

The region of Puerto Varas, Puerto Montt, Frutillar, Andean lakes, Osorno, Llanquihue,
as well as the regions of Aysen and Magellan, including  Puyuhuapi, Carretera Austral,
Coyhaique, Laguna San Rafael, Lago General Carrera, Torres del Paine Park, Puerto
Natales, Punta Arenas, Tierra del Fuego, Puerto Williams, Patagonian glaciers, fishing
lodges, cruise the canals, ships to Antarctica, etc. were unaffected and did not even
feel the tremors.

Santiago and Central region tourist infrastructure is in good condition.
The Airport Passenger Terminal Santiago suffered structural damage.
Airstrips and slabs of the main domestic air terminal have no problems. The operations
of flight arrivals and departures are conducted for the moment from tents.
 
The passenger traffic has been slowly normalizing and new arrivals are transported by
bus to  downtown Santiago. They ask people to make only necessary travel to the airport.
The 320 air terminals around the country are operating and in good condition.

Telecommunications and electricity is almost completely normalized and the transport
such as the subway is running normally.

Lan Chile is working to stabilize international flights within Chile, for departures and
arrivals at Santiago airport. The rest of LAN operations (domestic flights in Peru,
Argentina, Ecuador and international flights that depart or arrive in Santiago de Chile)
continue operating normally.

Chile is facing restrictions on gasoline sales.
Some National parks from the O’Higgins Region, Maule, Biobío and La Araucanía will be
closed until Further notice.
Isla de Pascua was not affected by the earthquake-tsunami and is not on Tsunami risk.

Border Crossings:
Maule and Biobío Region are without communication and information, possibly closed.
The rest of the border Crossings (like Los Libertadores) are working as normal.

The tourist industry in Chile, as ever is waiting for the Tourist with open arms.
In a few days the flights will return to normal and tourism will be running smoothly
again.

Technical information source: SERNATUR
http://www.sernatur.cl/images/lang1/index2.html#institucional