MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Half a Million Chileans Fall into Poverty Following Earthquake

Chile’s Planning Minister Felipe Kast and Housing Minister Magdalena Matte met yesterday at Cerro Navia to announce the results of Chile’s Post Earthquake Survey (EPT). The survey’s aim was to measure the social impact of the February. 27, 2010, 8.8-magnitude earthquake on poverty, property, and psychological well-being in Chile.

The EPT found that poverty in Chile rose from 16.4 percent of the population in 2009 to 19.4 percent in 2010 due to the earthquake. The main reason was job loss in the the central and southern regions that suffered the most damage.

 

“These figures show that Chileans lived through a real social tsunami,” Kast told press. “We have discovered that 500,000 Chileans have fallen into poverty.”

 

At the end of 2009, 2.7 million Chileans were living in poverty, whereas now 3.2 million do. Poverty among Chile’s indigenous populations in particular rose from 3.8 percent (630,000 people) to 4.2 percent (700,000 people). The EPT surveyed 22,000 homes in order to make its estimates.

 

The survey was done in May 2010 and thus does not necessarily represent the circumstances that prevail now. Economists say a survey taken now would find more people employed and thus less poverty.

 

The survey also reported that 8.8 percent of homes in the affected areas suffered major damage or total destruction and that 12 percent of people in these areas suffered post-traumatic stress.

 

Recent reports from the United Nations call Chile’s earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which cost US$30 billion of damage, 2010’s most costly natural disaster. Haiti’s earthquake was listed as the worst natural disaster because it caused 222,500 deaths, while a heat wave in Russia killed 56,000 people.

 

There were 373 natural disasters in 2010, affecting some 208 million people.

 

By Phil Locker – Santiago Times