Chile Braces for a Major Economic Slowdown
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TALCAHUANO, Chile -- Just a few weeks ago, some 2,000 fishermen who ply the waters of this port city for sardines and mackerel were busy mending their nets and testing their rigs in preparation for the start of the four-month fishing season.
But the tsunami that barreled through here after last month's 8.8-magnitude earthquake washed away the fishing industry before the fishermen could cast their first net.
The waves tossed around fishing boats and truck-size shipping containers as if they were wood blocks in a toddler's sandbox. Boats landed several blocks inland, resting battered and broken on city streets. The waves deposited multicolored containers one-third of a mile up the beach.
The effect on the economy of this city of 250,000 residents, for whom fishing is the main industry, will be far-reaching, with city officials estimating that it could take up to a decade to rebuild homes and port facilities. And this year's fishing season, which was to begin last Monday, is lost, fishermen said.
"The disturbance in the sea caused the fish to emigrate, to disappear from here," said Alfonso Alvear, 69, a fisherman and president of a neighborhood association here. "It's as if we have to discover this fishing region all over again."
How severely the Feb. 27 earthquake will rattle Chile's overall economy, which has been the envy of Latin America for the past decade, remains to be seen. Most economists are betting that Chile's prudent economic management leading up to the disastrous quake, and the intense rebuilding effort now needed in some parts of the country, will help it weather the economic shocks better than most countries could.
But for a few months at least, a major slowdown is expected in several Chilean industries, including fishing, pulp and paper, wine and agriculture. Seaside areas like Talcahuano that were ravaged by the tsunami could take much longer to pick themselves back up.
First Published March 16, 2010 2:00 am
