Chilean Copper Mine
This 21 year old copper mine had gone through many other nature disasters like the 2010 earth quack. The cry went out to the government for help and their call was answered. The government stepped in and took control over everything from the company to the searching for these men. The area or location of where these miners had been working was 2,300 feet underground and over 3 miles from the entrance of the cave. The government did not have the equipment or the people need to conduct this type of search for the possible survivors.
Outside organization came to the lad of he government to assist in the search. With them a labor force big enough to work round the clock looking was sent. Three large drills were sent to drill holes to last depth of the miners were deployed in the area of the mine. People volunteer to came help even if they had no training for this type of work. The voices of the families and friends of the miners were heard around the world. This turned Into a joint government search the Likes of which have never been seen before.
In this area mining is the major part of the economy and the miners are the main source of income for their families. If they were not still living in the mine this would have impacted the families more than anything. To lose their husband or dad would be an emotion toll that no one should ever have to go through. During this time the company did not do anything to help the families or the search for the miners. This type of action had been seen before by this company Just a few years earlier. The owners Just set back and let everyone else do all the work and send money on the rescue of the men that were trapped.
The last time that the mine had claimed a life of a miner the company had to pay $10,000 to the family ordered by the court. The government assisted with those families by giving them $540 a month in support. Even in a smaller country like Chile that is not very much to a whole family to live one. The same company was doing It again by not supporting to taking care of the families because of the court, they were also ordered to close the mine until all safety issues what were pointed out in the safety investigation was corrected.
The employees of his company knew that the owners cared more about the revenue that the money was bring in then it did about their lives. The mine was only close for a short period of time and reopened with very little done about the safety issues address in the investigation. President personally took control of all the search operations because of all the media attention it was getting. He did not want the world view of his country to look bad. With the government and many other organizations helping miners were found to be still alive in a part of the mine.
The world media was directed to the recovering of the miners. It took a few more days to drill a hole big enough to bring the men to the surface. When they finally made it above ground they were in very poor health. There were some medical issues that had to be address right there on site from surgery to dental work. The men and their families were showered with gifts. After this major incident then men and their families took trips and got to enjoy the things they would not be about to have if they would have dies in that mine.
When they returned to their former lives as miners they could not get work. Companies were afraid they would report them for having unsafe working condition. Also the men had a law suit against the company they originally worked for and this added to the fear the companies had. The company faced a lot of charges that were eventually dropped. There were many things that could have been handled better by the company. In the beginning then they knew the names of the men that were not accounted for they should have sent a company spokesman to the implies to inform them of what had happen.
They should have kept them in the loop of everything that was going on taken care of them until they knew more about the status of the men’s lives. The owners of the campy should have been the ones taking control of the search not the government. They could have asked for help to the search, but they should have been there. Safety issues should always be taken care of, but in some counties they don’t have the organizations we do like OSHA. The lake of support from the company should have never been a issue during this incident.
