Global General
Chile swears in new president amid strong quakes
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-03-12 01:34
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* Quake aftershocks rattle capital and Congress building
* Swearing-in ceremony austere as country mourns
* High hopes for businessman Pinera to boost economy
* Outgoing President Bachelet leaves with high popularity
SANTIAGO - Conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera took office as Chile's president on Thursday, tasked with rebuilding the country after a massive earthquake killed hundreds of people just 12 days ago.
A series of strong aftershocks rattled central Chile just minutes before Pinera was sworn in in the Congress building in the coastal city of Valparaiso.
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 Chile's President Sebstian Pinera (C) greets supporters flanked by his wife Cecilia Morel and his Peruvian counterpart Alan Garcia after his inauguration ceremony at the Congress in Valparaiso March 11, 2010. Conservative billionaire Pinera takes office as Chile's new president on Thursday, tasked with rebuilding the country after one of the worst earthquakes ever recorded killed hundreds of people less than two weeks ago. [Agencies] |
Visiting dignitaries looked nervously at the ceiling but the inauguration went forward as normal. In the capital of Santiago some buildings were briefly evacuated.
The navy issued a tsunami alert along the coast. Sirens sounded in Constitucion, one of the strongest-hit cities in the February 27 quake and police ordered people away from beaches.
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The 8.8-magnitude quake killed hundreds of people and caused infrastructure damage across much of south-central Chile, threatening to undermine Pinera's election pledges to boost economic growth to 6 percent a year and to create a million jobs.
"The main challenge is to identify priorities to swiftly start the reconstruction effort. That will be the key variable that will be evaluated during his administration," said Alberto Ramos, senior economist with Goldman Sachs in New York.
"This could be the (hurricane) Katrina of President Pinera ... in terms of how the population perceives the relief and reconstruction effort."
Even though mines were mostly unscathed in the world's top copper producer, the quake seriously damaged key wine, fish and paper pulp industries near the epicenter in south-central Chile.
State-owned copper miner Codelco, the biggest copper miner in the world, said none of its mines were damaged on Thursday in the aftershocks. One of the aftershocks was a powerful magnitude 7.2 centered about 124 km (80 miles) south-west of the capital.
Some analysts see the damage shaving 0.5 to 2.0 percentage points off this year's economic growth, while others are holding to their original GDP forecasts of around 5 percent.
Survivors are praying Pinera, 60, gets it right.
