Hours after Chile was hammered on Feb. 27 by one of the most powerful earthquakes in its history, President Michelle Bachelet made it clear the country already is preparing for recovery. Photo: AFP/Getty Images The naval port city of Talcahuano, about 20 km from Concepción, was devastated by a tsunami about an hour after the quake, catching unwarned residents by surprise. No tsunami warnings were issued for Chile’s coastal towns. Related Links: Chile’s Quake Damage Mitigated by Past Lessons “We are facing a catastrophe of unforeseen magnitude which caused damage that will require enormous efforts of all sectors of the
The most powerful earthquake to strike Chile in a generation may have left hundreds dead and the South American nation’s infrastructure in tatters, yet the fact the destruction was not far worse is being cited as a testament to Chile’s application of improved building codes and decades of efforts to prepare. Slide Show Photo: AP/Wideworld Nine died and seven were missing—with some believed trapped alive behind a wall that took the load—when the 70-unit Alto Rio Apartment complex in Concepción rolled off its foundations in the Feb. 27 quake. Investigators likely will study the structure’s perfomance for what worked and
Colombia has awarded the first two contracts for the $2.6-billion, 1,000-kilometer Ruta del Sol highway project. The largest such road effort ever undertaken in the South American country, the project will connect the capitol city Bogota and the Caribbean coast. + Image Map: Sue Pearsall The 1,000-km tollroad will link Bogota to the Atlantic Coast. In January, Colombia’s National Dept. of Planning and National Institute of Concessions (INCO) awarded the seven-year, $660-million contract to Helios Road Consortium, led by Colombian construction firm Grupo Solarte, to construct and operate the toll road. The group also includes Colombian construction firm Conconcreto and
The Panama Canal Authority is planning a permanent road connecting North and South American land masses on the canal’s Atlantic side. Source: ACP In the next few weeks, officials with the agency, known by its Spanish acronym ACP, plan to award a feasibility contract for possible alternatives for a permanent vehicular crossing at the Gatun Locks near Colon. Preliminary plans call for either a bridge or tunnel. Currently, traffic must use a small road that runs directly in front of the locks. The arrangement requires that the only road crossing at that end of the canal must be closed when
A construction consortium from Spain, Mexico and Costa Rica has outbid three other competitors for the second-largest contract awarded in the Panama Canal’s $5.2-billion Third Lane Expansion effort, eclipsed only by the price tag for design and construction of the waterway’s new locks. Photo: Panama Canal Authority Dam Structure (center in green) will be built due to water level differences in new channel, which is part of the canal expansion. Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas S.A., along with Mexico’s Empresas ICA and Constructora MECO of Costa Rica, submitted a bid of $268 million for the fourth and final contract to
A construction consortium from Spain, Mexico and Costa Rica has outbid three other competitors for the second-largest contract awarded in the Panama Canal’s $5.2-billion Third Lane Expansion effort, eclipsed only by the price tag for design and construction of the waterway’s new locks. Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, S.A. (FCC), along with Mexico’s Empresas ICA and Constructora MECO of Costa Rica, submitted a bid of $268 million for the fourth and final contract to construct a 6.7-kilometer-long access channel on the canal’s Pacific side. Panama Canal Authority Rendered photo illustrates dam structure (center in green) that will be built because
The cause of a massive electrical blackout that darkened large portions of Brazil in early November is still being investigated despite initial reports from the national grid operator that lightning and strong winds affected the transmission grid in southern Brazil. Photo: Germano Luders Itaipu hydro plant, on the border of Paraguay and Brazil, stayed in operation following Nov. 10 storms, officials say. Transmission lines serving the Brazilian grid did not fare as well. At 10:13 p.m. on Nov. 10, the lights went out in Brazil. For almost three hours a massive swath of the South American country, including 18 of
A Belgium contractor has snagged the second of two massive dredging contracts to deepen and widen the entrances of the Panama Canal, an integral element of the waterway’s $5.2-billion expansion project. The Jan De Nul Group, Hofstade/Aalst, submitted the winning bid of $89.6 million to dredge the canal’s Atlantic entrance to 15.5 meters below mean water level to allow large ships access to the canal, and $16.4 million for a contract option to dredge an additional 2.3 million cu meters. The company is part of the Grupo Unidos por el Canal consortium that earlier this year won the $3.48-billion contract
An ambitious 2,500-kilometer-long “power highway” that will stretch across the breadth of Brazil has taken an important step forward with the awarding of a major subcontract to provide equipment and initial construction of the power line. Photo: C.J. Schexnayder / ENR Madeira River site is ideal for run-of-river hydro project. In late July, Zurich-based ABB snagged the $540-million contract to build a 600-kV portion of a power line that will connect two massive hydroelectric projects under construction on the Madeira River in the Brazilian Amazon Basin to the urban center of São Paulo. The job was awarded to two ABB
The Panama Canal Authority has opened the bidding process for the last of four dry-excavation contracts for the waterway’s third-lane expansion. The dry excavation is needed to create a 6.7-km link between the existing navigational channel at the entrance to the Gaillard Cut, the canal’s narrowest stretch, as well as the new set of locks yet to be constructed. Last month, that $3.1-billion contract was won by an international team of contractors and design firms, Grupo Unidos por el Canal, led by Spanish contractor Sacyr Vallehermoso S.A. The upcoming excavation contract represents more than half the total works needed for
