Chile’s government has declared a state of emergency following a significant power outage affecting millions of people across the nation, especially in its capital, Santiago, where darkness prevailed.
The nation’s largest power outage in recent history was the result of a malfunction in a high-voltage transmission line in northern Chile, stated Interior Minister Carolina Toha, ruling out any possibility of sabotage.
Addressing the nation in a televised speech, Chilean President Gabriel Boric revealed that eight million homes were affected by the blackout, which he attributed to failures of private enterprises.
“What occurred today is inexcusable; it’s unbecoming for one or several companies to disrupt the daily lives of millions of Chileans, and therefore, it is the state’s responsibility to hold them accountable,” Boric emphasized.
Chile’s national disaster response agency, Senapred, reported that 14 out of the country’s 16 regions experienced the effects of the outage.
A curfew was established from 10pm to 6am on Wednesday (01:00 to 09:00 GMT) extending from the northernmost port of Arica to the southern region of Los Lagos.
The Ministry of the Interior also announced the deployment of armed forces nationwide to maintain public order in the country, which stretches over 4,300km along the Pacific coast.

By 10pm (01:00 GMT), only about a quarter of the electrical grid demand was restored, stated Juan Carlos Olmedo, the board president of Chile’s National Electricity Coordinator (CEN).
Power may be fully restored by morning, he added.
CEN’s Executive Director, Ernesto Huber, said that the organization “activated several power stations, mainly hydroelectric stations” to help meet the power demand temporarily.
Streetlights went out and emergency sirens sounded in Santiago as the capital’s metro was closed, with passengers evacuated. The city’s traffic suffered extensively due to the outage, with only about 27 percent of traffic lights functioning.
“There’s nothing. There’s no cash. No money. Nothing,” expressed Santiago resident Jose Luis Orlandini to Reuters.
Officials at Santiago’s Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport confirmed that terminals are operating on emergency power and flights continued as usual.
The power outage significantly affected global metal markets as key copper mines in northern Chile ceased operations, which is particularly impactful as Chile is the world’s leading copper producer.