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The Government declares a health alert in the “Chilean Chernobyl” due to high contamination

The Government declares a health alert in the “Chilean Chernobyl” due to high contamination

The government of Chili declared a health alert this Saturday in three towns located on the industrial coast, called the “Chilean Chernobyl” and where this week almost a hundred people were poisoned by high air pollution.

The alert, which grants special powers to the authorities and was published in the Official Gazette, affects the communes of Concón, Quintero and Puchuncaví, in the Valparaíso region, 110 kilometers west of Santiago, and will be in force until March 30. September.

Among the powers granted to the authorities is “order the reduction of the emission of polluting material, when the ventilation conditions so advise it”, either “suspend, totally or partially, the operation of fixed community and industrial sources that emit polluting material”.

“The most critical episode was detected during the day of May 23, in which (…) 82 consultants presented symptoms associated with poisoning by environmental agents”as explained by the Ministry of Health in the decree published this Saturday.

Those intoxicated, who were mostly children, presented various symptoms, such as headaches, dizziness and vomiting, and the authorities had to suspend classes until Friday.

“The values ​​of the concentrations of non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC) that is, propane, propene, ethane, ethene and isoprene reported in Quintero – Puchuncaví – Concón on May 23, 2023, had a peak at 12:00 a.m. and at 01:00 am, with 3.61 ppm and 5.82 ppm respectively”pointed out the Health portfolio.

The Quintero-Puchuncaví bay, known as the “Chilean Chernobyl”is home to twenty thermoelectric, oil and chemical plants that emit polluting gases into the atmosphere and have caused recurring episodes of poisoning for decades.

The industrial cordon is one of the five “sacrificial zones” that exist in Chile, areas that were set up in the 1960s to boost the country’s economic development to the permanent detriment of the environment and people’s health.

The state-owned Codelco, the largest copper company in the world, will finalize next Wednesday the final closure of one of its copper smelters in the neighboring town of Ventanas, a closure that was approved in March by the Chilean Parliament and was one of the great promises of the President Gabriel Boric.

Source: EFE

Source: Gestion

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