Los 33

Friday, 22 October 2010 06:20

Written by Neric Acosta

The Thirty-Three. Los trenta y tres. This is the name attached to the 33 miners of Chile, who this week were pulled out of the bowels of the earth after 69 days into the shining light of family, friends, and a united, proud nation. It was a human story that resonated with the whole world, with millions riveted to their TV screens and bearing witness to the triumph of human ingenuity and to the enduring human gift of a hopeful, unwavering spirit.

Global media may have overplayed its hand in this gripping saga, with real-time coverage in practically all international wires and networks for weeks on end, including emerging vignettes of the private lives of the miners – notably the rather amusing and melodramatic scuffle between one wife and a mistress of one of the miners as families kept vigil in a makeshift camp by the rescue site. But for all the world’s miseries heaped on us on the standard fare of evening news – calamities, corruption, scandal, economic woes – the narrative of hope of 33 families and a whole country coming of age and taking its place in the global economic stage, was a welcome and compelling respite. All of us can always use a lump-in-the-throat, sentimental, heart-warming story every now and then. 

So it is hard not to wax lyrical about such a human drama, and on the final day of the rescue not to be moved by scenes of children, wives and other loved ones waiting with such wide-eyed expectation and excitement for their father, husband or brother – each one crammed into a steel capsule aptly named “Phoenix” and lifted from 700 meters underground to safety. It was also equally inspiring to see how such careful, intelligent planning and a largely seamless execution of a rescue effort brought a whole nation together and captivated a global audience.

Why, after all, could anyone not marvel at what was unfolding for the entire world to see? For 17 days in August, no one knew if the 33 miners trapped in a collapsed mine were dead or alive. Repeated attempts to drill into hard rock deep into the earth to check for signs of life had yielded nothing, until this dogged effort had finally yielded a sign – with a tiny extended camera attached to a drill that bore through solid rock – that all the miners aged 8 to 67 had, incredibly, survived.

With this news came the ecstatic and frenzied work to do, as Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said, “everything humanly possible” to rescue the miners. So for the next two months, a national enterprise of intelligent and painstaking planning, state-of-the-art mining technology application, pouring all resources into whatever-it-takes-to-get-them-all-out operation and careful monitoring – and a sustained energy of national faith and hope – took hold.

When the last of the 33 miners on that historic day of October 14, 2010 were hauled out of what could well have been their tragic entombment, Chile and the world unabashedly rejoiced in what one Twitter message brilliantly called “Chile’s 33 World Cup victories in one day.” Chile’s president and other government officials were on hand for all of the 24 hours to welcome each miner with bear hugs, and when each of them had emerged to the surface, they let out a sheer display of national pride with a tearful, passionate rendition of the Chilean national anthem.

What is it that we can learn from all this? To begin with, there is much to be said of a country that puts the highest premium on saving every human life and sparing no effort to accomplish it. There are reportedly hundreds of mining accidents all over the world every year but it is assumed that many private companies or governments do not pay as much attention to launching at-all-cost rescue efforts. Which makes the meticulous manner of planning the entire effort in Chile all the more astounding, down to how food and medicine were brought down to the miners and how their daily regimen of exercise and rationing was monitored so they could, when the time came, fit into the rescue capsule and adapt to the critical ride up to the surface.

This also says much about how far Chile has gone in just over two decades, from the throes of one of the most brutal military dictatorships under Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s-1980s to a country recognized as one of South America’s most stable and prosperous nations and poised to enter developed-country status. This year, Chile was admitted to the OECD – Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – comprised of 33 of the richest economies and most stable democracies in the world.  

When the elements of intelligent planning, focused goal-setting, competence – and an unflinching dedication to upholding the well-being of all members of one’s national community – converge, “miracles” can, indeed, happen. There is nothing in the Chilean psyche that makes this recent experience unique. Other countries and societies have been or are perfectly capable of this kind of ‘can-do’ attitude: we just have to get our acts together with the right kind of leadership and find always common ground, inspiration and pride.

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