Chile's scientists seek funding to repair quake damage

The earthquake shook laboratories in the universities of Concepcion (above) and Talca

Flickr/matthintsa

Chilean scientists are seeking more than US$90 million from the government to replace equipment lost in the recent earthquake (see Chile's earthquake knocks out research labs).

Lobby group Scientists Unified for the Reconstruction of Chile said the earthquake has caused up to US$200 million of damage. They agreed on seven recommendations for the recovery of the national research agenda at a meeting in Santiago last month (19 March).

One of these is to ask Chile's Ministry of Education for additional grants and emergency funding to get science projects back on track (see Chilean scientists receive support after the earthquake).

"We lost very expensive instruments that you can only buy in the US, Europe, or Japan," said Alfonso Droguett, a communications officer from the University of Chile.

The scientific community also wants to set up a national seismology centre and take control of the country's tsunami early-warning system.

"We want a system where the scientists, not the uniformed people, are in charge," said Droguett, referring to the Chilean navy's failure to provide early warning of the tsunami that followed the earthquake.

Link to full story in Science