Chilean Mine Collapse
Scott Smith
B Com/275
September 18, 2014
Ronald Baker

Chilean Mine Collapse
A mine in Chile collapsed on August 5, 2010. This horrible incident trapped 33 miners underground with limited food, water, and air. The collapse set off a chain of events that demonstrated a breakdown in communication. With different audiences in need of information, communication is key.
According to “From Collapse to rescue: Inside the Chile Mine Disaster” by Jennifer Yang, staff reporter of thestar.com published on Sunday October 10, 2010, as soon as soon as news of the collapse spread wooden crosses were placed outside of the mine, “some hung with helmets and miner’s lamps.”. At this time no one knew the miners were still alive. In order for there to be effective communication, facts have to be gathered. The miners were trapped under 700 meters of granite. By the next morning relatives of the miners and reporters came to the mine demanding answers. There were a few independent miners that showed up with shovels and said they would dig the miners out themselves.
A special operations squad was called in but failed twice to rescue the workers. At this time the Chilean government stepped in. After more failed attempts, the article states “At the base of the mine, anguished relatives were distraught to see fire trucks and ambulances on scene suddenly driving away”. Why didn’t anyone communicate to these family members and workers what was going on and why the emergency vehicles left the scene? The families needed to know step by step what was going to be done to help save the miners or if the operation was going to be abandoned. One can only imagine the fear and desperation the families felt.
Families of the Chilean miners were living in tents at the entrance of the mine awaiting word of the fate of their loved ones. Kelvin Brown, who came to Chile to assist in the drilling from Australia states “It was getting extremely tense outside the gates where the families were,” “It became very heated and emotional and it was like a powder keg.”. The families became distraught and were having standoffs with local police. They wanted answers and were not getting them. It seems lack of communication was a huge problem during this incident. Maybe the families would have stayed calm if information was given out in a timely manner. There was so much activity at the site that it seems there was a lot of confusion. The needs of the family would be needing to know what was being done to help their loved ones, what was the state of the trapped workers, and what to expect.
The employees of the mine would have needs too. They would need to know what the plan is for rescue, what to relay to each other, and what to expect no matter what the outcome. For the trapped miners, they would need to know what was being done if for no other reason to comfort them, It seems the trapped miners were in good spirits but still terrified they would never see their families again. Once the miners were reached they were finally able to communicate with their families. According to the article, some even proposed marriage to their girlfriends.
With all the activities, drilling, tensions, and waiting going on at the mine, communication failed. The families’ needs were not met. The employees and drillers’ needs were not met. Eventually some of the needs were met when fiber optic lines were sent down for video conferencing. Thankfully the families were able to see their loved ones, however there were still ongoing breakdowns of communication between the rescue efforts and the eager families.
Communication from the beginning was a failure. Families were kept in waiting. Employees seemed confused as to what to do and when to do it. Eventually everything worked out and the miners were saved but surely at some cost to the miners and their families. Showdowns between police, workers, and family members probably could have been avoided if communication was open between the company and or government and the families. When disaster strikes, communication should be the first line of defense. This particular incident demonstrates how many factors working together at the same time can cause huge deficiencies in communication.