|
SOUTH
AMERICA |
Chilean Government Unveils
Post-Quake Reconstruction Measures
By Alejandra del Palacio
SANTIAGO - The Chilean government announced
its first post-quake reconstruction measures
Friday to put the country back on track
after the devastating Feb. 27 earthquake and
the following tsunami.
The measures include school funding,
building shelters and aid for the fishing
sector.
Some 10 billion pesos (about 19 million U.S.
dollars) will be used for minor repairs to
schools or building temporary colleges in
quake-hit areas to restore classes before
April 26, Chilean Education Minister Joaquin
Lavin told a press conference.
The quake has left as many as 840,000
Chilean children unable to attend school.
The government will also offer scholarships
of 30,000 pesos (58 dollars) a month over
six months to support some 20,000 university
students who were made homeless in the
earthquake. The scholarships will help them
to continue their studies.
The cost of the two measures will total 26
million dollars.
Lavin estimated earlier that the
reconstruction of public schools and private
colleges would cost the government 3 billion
dollars.
To support the fishing sector, Economy
Minister Juan Andres Fontaine announced a
series of government projects, worth 10.5
million dollars, to help rebuild local
fisheries, provide 60,000 new jobs to
fishermen and buy new ships for them.
The measures will benefit about 9,000
families who were affected by the tsunami,
Fontaine said.
The government will provide 20,000 emergency
houses in addition to a previous 20,000
financed by the "Chile aids Chile" campaign,
Planning Minister Felipe Kast said.
Kast also said that the government would
distribute 25,000 tents to poor families in
areas where bad weather frequently hits,
since it takes time to build temporary
houses.
The families will also receive thermal
insulation, mattresses, kitchen utensils and
an electric kit to withstand the coming
winter season.
The quake, which measured 8.8 degrees on the
Richter scale, destroyed 20,000 houses,
2,750 schools and 35 hospitals, making
500,000 people homeless.
President Sebastian Pinera Thursday
estimated that the cost of reconstruction
would amount to around 30 billion dollars,
which accounts for about 17 percent of
Chile's gross domestic product.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
