Case: Rescue in the San José Mine - Emergency Management

Abstract

On August 5th, 2010, a landslide occurred in the San José mine, Atacama Province, Chile, which left 33 miners trapped 720 meters under the ground. The rescue work began the next day, but a new landslide occurred on Saturday, August 7th, thus needing heavy machinery to continue with the tasks, without further success in the rescue. Nine days after the event occurred, Rodrigo Reveco, emergency management specialist, had to report to the Regional Director of ONEMI Atacama to join the Emergency Operations Committee (COE), in charge of the situation, but he had to be clear about the event to have a clear strategy on how to manage the emergency, in order to propose a rescue plan.