For Immediate Release
March 01, 2010

Contact:
Brian Pearson, Santiago Adventures
(802) 904-6798
Beryl Wolfe
(520) 207-9581
E-mail: info@santiagoadventures.com
Web Site: http://www.santiagoadventures.com/

SANTIAGO, Chile (March 1, 2010) – The U.S. owners of Santiago Adventures, a Chilean adventure tour company, reports that his staff and office are safe after Saturday’s devastating earthquake.

“We want to thank everyone who has written to express their support to our offices and the Chilean people in this time of tragedy,” said Brian Pearson, formerly of Maine and originally from upstate New York. “We are happy to report that everyone on the Santiago Adventures’ team, our guides and drivers, family and friends are fortunately doing fine after Saturday’s devastating earthquake.”

Pearson said since Santiago is five hours north of the earthquake disaster zone, it experienced relatively minor damage compared to the areas in and around Concepcion.

“Things are quickly returning to normal in Santiago,” Pearson said. “Power was restored within five hours of the earthquake in the main business and tourist district, telecommunications were restored soon after. Supermarkets, gas stations, restaurants and shopping malls are beginning to open today. All Metro lines are running and the airport is slowly reopening with flights arriving as of yesterday.”

The Chilean government’s response to the situation has been efficient and well coordinated, with unlimited resources dedicated to the effort, he said.

“Given its strong economy and fiscal discipline, Chile has a tremendous revenue surplus to provide needed assistance,” Pearson said. “Chile is a strong, well developed country and outside of the Concepcion and Maule regions there was relatively minor damage considering the force of the quake. The situation here is much different than what happened in Haiti. Chile, with a history of many strong earthquakes, has very strict building codes and Santiago, a city of 6 million, had only one building and one bridge collapse. One museum and one church also suffered superficial damage. Sadly, many older homes and those which did not comply with the building codes, in the poorer parts of the city, were also damaged. Chile will hopefully recover quickly from this tragedy but will mourn the loss of their loved ones always.”

Pearson encouraged the media to do a better job distinguishing the regions of Chile affected by the earthquake.

“The major damages are five hours south of Santiago where, sadly, there were many deaths and there are many people still missing or trapped in buildings,” he said. “It is also unfortunate that the U.S. government has recommended not traveling to Chile for tourism as approximately 5 percent of the Chilean economy is based on tourism.”

He continued, “The best way to help the people of Chile is to make sure that people are correctly informed that Chile is open for business despite the country’s current effort to restore the areas affected by the earthquake. San Pedro de Atacama in the north, Patagonia in the south and Easter Island were unaffected by the earthquake. People should consider Chile very safe to visit once the Santiago airport is fully operational in the coming week. With a few minor inconveniences we are very confident in our ability to deliver the same level of service we have always provided to our customers. .”

To help the Chile earthquake relief, Pearson is encouraging people to send donations to the Red Cross at www.redcross.org.

For additional information, media may contact Brian Pearson at Santiago Adventures, US phone is 802 904 6798 and their phone number in Chile is 569 9131 7044 or email Pearson at bpearson@santiagoadventures.com. Visit Santiago Adventures online at www.santiagoadventures.com.

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