Chile Miners Rescue

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The mining industry has played a central and often tragic role in Latin American history, starting with the hunger for gold and silver that drove the Spanish conquest and led to the enslavement of indigenous people. 5th August 2010, 33 Chilean miners were trapped 2,000 feet underground for over two weeks. The miners were working at a depth of around 450m (1,475ft) at the San Esteban mine, near the city of Copiapo, when the rock above them collapsed. (Herald, 2010) This was a headline around the world and forever pain for the miners and their family members. Major incident is uncommon in Chile, the top mine producer country. The rescue works started after 17 days after the incident but progress has been hampered because the main entrance is blocked. A second collapse on 7 August hampered rescue efforts, blocking access to the lower parts of the mine. Trapped miners were rescued from deep underground in a special capsule. (Times, 2010)

Crisis is defined as a major, unpredictable event that has potentially negative results. The event and its aftermath may significantly damage an organization and its employees, products, services, financial condition and reputation. There are many types of crises, for example, economic crises, physical crises, personnel crises, criminal crises, information crises, reputation crises and natural crises. This incident has been grouped into physical crises, natural crises and economic crises. In order to prevent crises from adversely affecting the firm, organizations need effective plans and procedures in place to prevent crises if possible or to mitigate their effects when they do occur.

Physical crises include industrial accident, product failures, supply breakdown and many more. The miners were work...

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