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Santiago (AFP) March 15, 2010 Chile's power grid should be fragile for six months, on the heels of the massive February 27 earthquake, President Sebastian Pinera warned Monday hours after a blackout that plunged most Chileans into the dark. A vast area of earthquake-hit Chile, including the capital city of Santiago, was hit Sunday by a massive blackout, the National Emergency Office said. The area without power covered a 2,000-kilometer (1,200 mile) stretch, starting in the region of Atacama, north of Santiago to Chiloe Island, south of the capital, officials said. Central Chile was hit by a massive 8.8 magnitude quake last month, one of the strongest on record, which did serious damage to highways, bridges and other infrastructure. "We are going to have an unstable power grid. I hope that stability, which means security, will be back fully online starting within a week from now," Pinera said Monday. Energy Minister Ricardo Raineri conceded that "unfortunately this situation could be a side effect of the earthquake, because the power grid was left fragile. It is possible that in the future this could happen again." In Santiago Sunday, shopping centers shut their doors when the lights went out; 21 trains on the underground were simply abandoned on the tracks, and phone lines were jammed. A benefit concert to collect funds for victims of the quake was suspended. The power grid's weakness could take six months to iron out, added Raineri, who also suggested consumers could help out by reducing consumption somewhat for now. The February 27 quake sparked a killer tsunami and left almost 500 confirmed dead and some two million people affected, according to the government. Pinera estimated last week it would cost 30 billion dollars to rebuild the nation after the devastating quake. Finance Minister Felipe Larrain said Monday the government was weighing the possibility of raising taxes to help fund reconstruction efforts in South America's wealthiest country.
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