Chiles national disaster response service, Senapred, reported that a disruption in the supply of electricity had provoked a massive power outage" across 14 of the country's 16 regions, including Santiago, a city of some 8.4 million people, where authorities said there would be no subway service until further notice.
The National Electrical Coordinator, Chiles grid operator, said a disruption had occurred in a high-voltage transmission line that carries power from the Atacama Desert of northern Chile to the capital of Santiago in the country's central valley.
In a press conference, Toh urged the public to stay calm and said officials were racing to put the grid back in operation and restore electric service across the country of some 19 million people.
Videos on social media from all over Chile, a long ribbon of a country stretching 4,300 kilometers (over 2,600 miles) along the southern Pacific coast, showed chaos at intersections with no functioning traffic lights, people having to use their mobile phones as torches in the underground metro and police dispatched to help evacuate office buildings.
One of the country's main electricity distributors, Saesa, which serves more than a million people across Chile, confirmed that all of its customers had experienced the power failure.
