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UNICEF: The earthquake that struck Chile was one of the strongest the world has ever seen

383 views · Published 2 March 2010 · 1:02 · Indexed 17 October 2026

Channel: United Nations · 2010 · News & Politics

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United Nations, New York, 2 March 2010 -  A top emergency relief official said that neither the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) nor the United Nations itself will be launching an appeal for the time being as the Chilean government is currently in control of the situation after Saturdays massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake. 

UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes Louis-Georges Arsenault noted that last weekends catastrophic earthquake was one of the strongest the world has ever seen, with absolutely humongous damage to the countrys infrastructure.

Louis-Georges Arsenault, UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes:
Its an amazing earthquake one of the strongest we have ever seen in world and the infrastructure damage is absolutely humongous. Were talking about 500,000 households that have been partially or totally damaged, were talking about huge infrastructure loss in terms of houses, the communications system down, the water system down.

Nevertheless, Arsenault highlighted the South American nations strength as a country and said that help will be limited to very specific areas such as mobile hospitals, communications systems and expertise in assessing infrastructure after the shocks.  

He stressed that the government has made it clear that it has the capacity to take care of its people and has made no formal request for an appeal. 

Louis-Georges Arsenault, UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes:
The government has the capacity to take care of its people, they are very clear about this. There are areas where we are looking at the possibilities for UNICEF on protection especially and maybe also on water purification tablets or systems, but for the time being there is no formal request for an appeal. UNICEF is not going to launch an appeal, nor the United Nations, for the time being.

The death toll from the strongest earthquake to strike Chile in more than 50 years officially stands at 723 people.  Some 80 per cent of the South American countrys population was affected by the quake, which occurred just off the coast of Chile in the early hours of Saturday morning, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

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