Toxic cloud engulfs Santiago, Chile
Nathan Crooks and Elaine Ayo, Santiago Times (Chile)
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Residents Of Ten Santiago Boroughs Report Foul-Smelling Gas
The phone lines of Chile's Police, Fire Departments, and National Emergency Office (Onemi) collapsed Monday night, as residents from nearly ten Santiago boroughs placed hundreds of calls reporting smelling gas in the streets.
Fire departments began receiving calls at 9:30pm from residents in Santiago's La Cisterna and San Miguel boroughs. Minutes later, departments in Providencia, La Reina, and Nunoa were alerted to the problem. Nunoa Fire Chief Helmut Kaminski said the "toxic cloud" was strongest in his jurisdiction and that his fire station fielded over 500 calls from Nunoa residents.
"The calls started to come in very fast," said Kaminski. "We had to send out all of our vehicles to measure the gas levels and calm down the residents."
The intersection of Jose Domingo Canas and Jose Miguel Infante was the most affected area in Nunoa, and levels of gas were dangerously high. A canary used to test the air died, and at one point Kaminski said the cloud of gas was 2 kilometers in diameter.
Kaminski said the toxic cloud did not present any health risks, and no health emergencies were reported. "The only advice I could give was to stay inside and close the windows," he said.
Residents of upscale Santiago boroughs of Las Condes and Vitacura began to report the toxic cloud around midnight.
Onemi reported that they established a network with local police and fire departments and monitored the situation throughout the night.
A potential disaster was avoided because the near six km/h winds Monday night moved the cloud away from Santiago and into the Coastal Mountain Range that surrounds the city.
Onemi shift-director Jose Abumohor said that he was unable to identify the source of the toxic cloud. "It looks like it could have been caused by a garbage dump or natural gas deposit," he speculated. Firemen were also unable to locate the source.
Chile's Las Ultimas Noticas news daily speculated that the gas cloud could have been caused by a gas leak from construction in Camino a Melipilla (Melipilla Road), but the office of the Metropolitan Governor did not confirm this.
As of Monday night, Onemi had no further information on the source of the cloud and said the investigation had been passed on to the Metropolitian government, who instructed Santiago's Commission on Electricity and Fuel to investigate the incident
The toxic cloud comes at a time contamination in Chile's cities is becoming worse. Last week, a new government report stated that five Chilean cities have now surpassed the yearly smog limits set by the National Environmental Commission (Conama) of 50 micrograms per cubic meter of suspended particles for the past three years.
Catemu in Region V, Talcahuano in Region VIII, Chuquicamata, Maria Elena and Calama in Region II all have smog levels that qualify them as "saturated zones" under a 2001 air contamination law. Until this year, Santiago was the only city with the designation.
Once a city or locale is declared a "saturated zone," the regional government must perform studies to determine the cause of the contamination and set forth a plan for decontamination.
In Santiago, public health, transportation and other regional authorities introduced last June a multi-pronged anti-smog initiative, including a public education campaign, higher standards for gas quality, and an increase in the frequency and rigor of car and industry inspections (ST, June 30).
But a study released in July said that the efforts weren't making a significant impact on air pollution levels because of a lack of public awareness, inconsistent inspections of homes and factories and ineffective pollution alerts (ST, August 15).
"There is a shortage of public consciousness," Chief Meteorologist at the National Center for the Environment (Cenma) Manuel Merino said. "It is necessary to insist on inspections, because there are also clandestine factories that generate a lot of contamination."
Poor ventilation within the Santiago basin, and the burning of combustible fuel to substitute for a reduction in Argentine gas imports, were blamed for the unusually high smog levels (ST, August 4). With 15 environmental alerts and three pre-emergency alerts, this year has seen an increase in air contamination over 2005, which registered five alerts and two pre-emergencies.
As part of its long-term campaign the Metropolitan government approved a budget of 500 million pesos (US$911,000) for an advisory committee of air-quality experts to conduct studies on air contamination. Their policy recommendations, however, will not be implemented until 2007 (ST, June 29, 2006).
Metropolitan Region Governor Victor Barrueto also unveiled the "Santiago Verde" project in July to revitalize and expand the city's green spaces. The public-private partnership plans to inaugurate ten new tree-filled parks in 2006 and another 14 in 2007 (ST, July 18).
Another 21 locations that Conama is monitoring must wait until they have been monitored for three consecutive years to determine if smog levels exceed government limits. Among the 21 cities are Antofagasta, Copiapo, Concon, Vina del Mar and Rancagua.
Conama has a total of 68 monitoring stations across Chile, which were installed between 2003 and 2005.
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