MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean navy accepts responsibility for untimely warning on tsunami

Admiral Edmundo Gonzalez

“The epicentre is on land, therefore there should be no tsunami”. That was the information that the Chilean Navy -through its hydro-graphic and oceanographic office “Shoa”- delivered to President Michelle Bachelet in a communication at 05:20 am on Saturday.

That was nearly two hours after the massive earthquake that struck central–south Chile.
The information was submitted in a private report by the commander of the Navy, Admiral Edmundo Gonzalez, to the head of the Joint Chiefs of Defence, General Christian Le Dantec according to El Mercurio newspaper which had access to this document.

The report states that SHOA discarded any possibility of a tsunami during a direct communication with President Bachelet.

At around 05:30 am Saturday, the Onemi (National Emergency Office) ruled out the possibility of a tsunami, and soon after, in her first public appearance president Bachelet did not refer to the issue.

But before and after her public appearance, several coastal towns were hit by waves of varying intensity. It is estimated 350 people died as a consequence.

The major error, which has been at the heart of a controversy and has triggered the President’s profound discomfort with the Navy, was recognized on Tuesday by Admiral Gonzalez on Chilean National Television.

”The President called SHOA at 05:15 am, to see if she should keep the warning that was given to her an hour and ten minutes before. We were not clear with the information delivered to the President to cancel or to maintain it (...). There was hesitation on our part“ he said.

According to these statements it has become clear that initially SHOA did warn the National Emergency Office, Onemi, of a tsunami.

The fax communication was contained in Le Dantec’s report.

According to this document, at 04.07 am on Saturday -half an hour after the earthquake- SHOA informed Onemi that the ”conditions (the earthquake) could generate a tsunami. It is unknown whether this has already happened. We will keep you informed”.

This contradicts a version submitted on Saturday by the head of the Onemi office, Carmen Fernandez, who first denied receiving a tsunami warning from SHOA, but later said they had received a fax, but was unreadable. She has defended the institution’s work.

In this context Admiral Gonzalez strengthened the Chilean Navy’s position adding on TVN (Chilean National Televison) that in addition to the fax ”we relayed the same information –that there was a tsunami alert- at approximately 03:55 am to Onemi, via HF (high frequency communication)”.

Hence, the admiral acknowledged a “shared responsibility” in the tsunami deaths.
“I say with total honesty, we are very sorry, but the truth is that the situation was like I have mentioned based on the recollection of documents and communications”•

Meanwhile president-elect, Sebastian Piñera, said that ”when a quake happens at an epicentre close to the sea, one should anticipate some things quickly. First, that there is a serious warning of a tsunami (...) What a Government should do is anticipating the problems”.