CHILE FACES TEST OF POLITICS, NOT NATURE / THE FINANCIAL TIMES EDITORIAL ( HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING )

Chile faces test of politics, not nature

Published: March 1 2010 20:26

The earthquake that struck the town of Concepción in Chile before dawn on Saturday – the fifth strongest ever recorded – does not show humanity at the mercy of the blind forces of nature. It demonstrates, instead, that lives and livelihoods are much more vulnerable to a society’s response to catastrophe than to natural disaster itself.

Heart-rending as they are, Chile’s deaths and losses are far smaller than those of Haiti, struck seven weeks ago by an earthquake that was a thousandfold weaker. This reflects that Chile is one of the most earthquake-stricken countries on earth, and its people know how to take precautions. But Chile is also the region’s arguably best-run state: it has the economic resources and the administrative capacity to, for example, pass and enforce strict building codes.

At a delicate political moment – president-elect Sebastian Piñera takes over from president Michelle Bachelet next week – everything now depends on Chile’s leaders to stop the natural disaster from growing into a man-made one.

Infrastructure is being restored, but Ms Bachelet’s government has been less than sure-footed. Despite warnings of food and water shortages only hours after the quake, it was not until Sunday afternoon that Ms Bachelet declared a state of emergency, putting the armed forces under civilian command. By then scenes of looting, by desperate parents and opportunists alike, were rolling across TV screens, together with images of police lobbing tear gas in response.

In a country where the army has a dark history, Francisco Vidal, the defence minister, struggled to answer worries about how the armed forces would be deployed. Sensitive issues include the use of soldiers for law enforcement, or a 9pm curfew when people have lost their houses or fear aftershocks.

Mr Piñera now faces a test of his presidency before even taking office. Perversely, the disaster makes it easier to meet his pledge of raising growth to 6 per cent. Reconstruction takes care of it: sadly, there is no lack of shovel-ready projects after earthquakes.

His greater challenge is political. Mr Piñera – the first right-wing president elected since Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship – represents groups still viewed with suspicion by many Chileans. Should his handling of reconstruction be perceived as favouring these interests or as leaving behind the worst affected, he risks reopening fissures that still run deep in Chile’s body politic. Earthquakes may be acts of God; they are also always political events.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010