Chile swears in conservative president as strongest quake aftershock prompts tsunami alert

More quakes hit Chile as new president takes over

SANTIAGO, Chile — The earth shook and shook Thursday as dignitaries walked in for the swearing-in of Sebastian Pinera as Chile’s president. It shook some more as they waited for him to join them.

People in the balconies of the vast congressional hall in coastal Valparaiso shouted warnings as a massive light fixture rocked overhead, and heads of state nervously eyed the ceiling. But a steely calm prevailed, especially from Pinera himself as he strode in smiling.

The president and his ministers then quickly swore their oaths, and the audience of 2,000 headed for the exits and the hills, joining an evacution called out of concern that Thursday’s repeated aftershocks would set off another tsunami.

Inauguration Day in Chile was peppered with more than a dozen significant aftershocks that damaged some towns and sent thousands running for safety. The day amply demonstrated Pinera’s challenges in leading Chile’s recovery from last month’s magnitude-8.8 quake, one of the biggest in modern history.

Chile’s first elected right-wing president in 52 years won office promising to improve the economy. Now, he says he’ll be Chile’s “reconstruction president.” His advice to his citizens: “Let’s dry our tears and put our hands to work.”

Three of Thursday’s quakes were over magnitude-6 and six more above magnitude-5 hit within just five hours. The strongest, at 6.9, nearly matched the 7.0-magnitude quake that devastated Haiti on Jan. 12.

Pinera said there were no reports of more deaths, but that Chile’s key north-south highway suffered more damage in the inland city of Rancagua, and violent waves hit at least two towns along the central Chilean coast, Pichilemu and Bucalemu, according to incoming Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter.

The area around the congress building had already been been evacuated when Pinera’s half-hour inauguration finished and the announcer urged the audience to quickly empty the building. Spain’s prince was among the first to leave, pushed along by his guards.

In his first remarks as president, Pinera urged citizens to also heed the Chilean navy’s tsunami warning and seek higher ground. Then he made a show of normality, greeting other presidents for a shortened lunch at the Cerro Castillo summer palace before boarding a helicopter for disaster areas to the south.

“How was your welcome, president?” Pinera asked Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez.

“Moving, moving!” she joked.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, as he arrived for the inauguration, seemed briefly disoriented on the red carpet. Peru’s Alan Garcia joked that it gave them “a moment to dance.”

Some dignitaries nervously rose from their seats after a quake hit before Pinera’s arrival, but an announcer asked people to remain calm. Outgoing Chilean President Michelle Bachelet sat unperturbed as a large flower arrangement nearby rocked back and forth.

Chile doesn’t allow immediate presidential re-elections, but Bachelet remains popular. She left the hall to loud applause and a shout of “Come back soon, presidenta.” Earlier Thursday, when a reporter asked if she’ll run again in four years, she said it’s not the time for politics.

Pinera called on Chileans to dedicate themselves to “this colossal job of reconstructing our country, of rebuilding better than what we had before, not just to lift up our schools, our hospitals, our homes, but also to make them better, and also to lift up the soul of our country.”

“I am sure that just as we have done so many times, the Chilean people will rise up to this challenge,” he said.

The Feb. 27 earthquake — the fifth-strongest since 1900 — killed 497 identified victims and potentially hundreds of others, destroyed or heavily damaged at least 500,000 homes and broke apart highways and hospitals. Recovery costs could soar above $15 billion, including $5 billion for infrastructure alone.

Thursday’s quakes terrified many who have been living in and around quake-weakened homes since last month’s massive temblor. Tall buildings swayed and windows rattled in downtown Santiago. Frightened people ran for safety across central Chile.

In the town of Talca, authorities closed supermarkets for fear of looting. Just outside coastal Constitution, which Pinera was visiting later Thursday, survivors and volunteers building 60 emergency shelters fled in panic.

The strongest of the aftershocks — magnitude 6.9 — was Chile’s most powerful since Feb. 27, and occurred along the same fault line, said geophysicist Don Blakeman at the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado.

Chile’s navy and emergency management office were much criticized for failing to issue a tsunami alert that might have saved hundreds of lives from the towering waves that followed the initial quake. This time, Chileans up and down the coast quickly headed for higher ground.

“Everything stopped — my meetings with business owners, work, life, everything has been paralyzed,” said Talcahuano Mayor Gaston Saavedra. His port city’s downtown was heavily damaged Feb. 27 by waves that tossed huge shipping containers onto downtown streets and buildings.

“The people reacted well. Everyone calmly climbed the hill and that’s where we will wait during the alert,” Saavedra said.

Pinera went right to work, taking a helicopter to Rancagua and then Constitucion, where he walked through the ruined city and planned to sign relief measures. Pinera already secured pledges from opposition lawmakers for swift passage of laws that would create subsidies and enable tax-deductible donations for disaster survivors.

The billionaire investor, Harvard-trained economist and airline executive is known for his impatience with bureaucracy or aides who haven’t done their homework. After speaking to the nation Thursday night from the balcony at the La Moneda presidential palace, he planned to work for hours with his ministers to move relief and recovery efforts forward.

Pinera vowed when elected to make Chile “the best country in the world,” spending billions to accelerate economic growth, create 1 million jobs in four years and combat crime, while maintaining the popular expansion of social programs that helped Bachelet leave office with 84 percent approval ratings.

Pinera’s victory ended a 20-year run for the center-left coalition that led Chile back to democracy after the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, and puts the country’s relatively small business elite back in direct power. But he lacks a legislative majority, so compromises are a must.

Reconstruction efforts will be very expensive, but some observers say Chile is well prepared for the challenge.

Chile has a rainy-day fund of about $11 billion in liquid investments abroad, and more than $3.5 billion of the damaged property is insured — nearly all of it reinsured abroad, said Raul Rivera, president of the Innovation Forum, a Chilean economic development organization.

“Because Chile is a country where markets work and people insure themselves, all of a sudden you have the equivalent of $3.5 billion in foreign aid coming in,” he said. “When you have a country that is used to being poor and all of a sudden you have these resources, you can imagine a new president coming in and saying, ‘OK, we’re going to rebuild these towns.’ You can be creative and build them better, and become stronger.”

Contributors to this report include Associated Press writers Eva Vergara in Constitucion, Federico Quilodran in Valparaiso and Brad Haynes in Santiago, Chile; Morgan Lee in Mexico City and Seth Borenstein in Washington.