The blog can be found at this link http://trapped-miners-in-chili.blogspot.com/
Summary
Trapped Minors in Chile is a blog that contains a collection of articles about the disaster. Many of the articles that can be found on this site are from reliable sources such as CNN, New York Times and Fox News. The author of the blog adds her own thoughts to the articles she shares with readers. The articles that are provided on the blog give daily updates on the current situation. The blog originated when the trapped miners were discovered and continues through today with updates how the aftermath is being handled.
Featured Articles
http://trapped-miners-in-chili.blogspot.com/2010/08/story-of-one-chili-mine-disaster-family.html
This article was featured on Yahoo News at the end of August, just when the collapse was discovered. The article discusses how Chile has been through several hardships over the past few months. They recently experienced an earthquake and a tsunami. It is said that there were known problems with the mine, but they were just ignored. The country had other things to deal with such as rebuilding the destroyed country and did not have time to worry about another possible disaster occurring. This article is told through a story of a family in Chile. The family explains that they felt so blessed for being able to survive the earthquake and the tsunami. They were not ready to be hit by another disaster when the husband and father was trapped in the mine for 69 days. The article shares the story of this family and how they survived three disasters, but focuses on the mining incident.
http://trapped-miners-in-chili.blogspot.com/2010_09_14_archive.html
This article, from an British news site, was written in mid September. It gives an update on the situation. More specifically it shares how the miners are expected to be evacuated. A technical team from Chile's Army created a steel rescue cage that is only 21 inches in diameter. The capsule is protected by a roof to keep miners safe from falling rock and debris. This is a very small capsule for people to fit into, especially men. It becomes a safety hazard for the miners. Although it is a good idea, it makes some people unsure if everyone will be able to get out safely.
http://trapped-miners-in-chili.blogspot.com/2010/10/first-miner-florencio-avalos-reaches.html
This article was featured on CNN on September 12, 2010. This was written on the day that the first miner reached the surface after safely coming out of the mine. The first man out was Florencio Avalos, he was surprisingly good condition considering everything he had gone through. When he came out of the mine on September 12th, it was the first time he had been above ground in 69 days. After he was removed from the mine he was taken to a hospital in Chile to make sure he was safe and healthy. Shortly after he came out with the help of the steel rescue cage the other 32 men were also rescued. Everyone who was trapped in the mine survived which is truly a miracle.
Conclusion
The disaster that occurred in Chile is devastating. It would be terrible to happen anywhere in the world but with Chile currently being destroyed this incident is even more disastrous. Although this was a terrible thing that happened we are very fortunate that everyone was able to survive. It is a shame that Chile did not look into the safety of mines earlier, but now they know that they are dangerous and the regulations need to be updated.
Overall, we really enjoyed this blog. It was easy to follow and find current information about this particular event. We also liked that his blog followed the event with daily updates with new information. Additionally, the comments that the author posted were very interesting. Her comments made us think about different aspects of this disaster more in depth. Now that the men have been rescued from the mine, on the blog, we would like to hear about how the men are doing and how they will be compensated for what they have gone through.
By: Nicole Lefton and Bonnie Ha
Group: Nicole Lefton, Bonnie Ha, Ferris Wu and Huihong Chen
I found the post "Chilean family survives quake, faces mine collapse" very intriguing.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to hear the story of the family who has continuously endured once disaster after another. The fact that the author used the story of the family to give almost first-hand accounts of the family's experience with the mining incident made the whole point of the piece compelling. After reading the tale, I empathized with the people in Chile who had to deal with such hardship more than I would have if I were to read a news report of the incident. I guess this method worked in terms of reaching out to people i.e. through the use of a real person's story.
Another interesting point I noticed was how the article went from describing what the family experiences during the mining incident, to a totally different topic - poverty. It talks about the jobs people have to do to make ends meet and the economic situation and how there are people living below the poverty line despite the fact that Chile "is perched on the edge of joining the ranks of the world's developed nations".
After reading the article the second time, I began to think that this particular piece is trying to use the mining disaster to shift its focus and shed light to the poverty that exists in Chile so that people would be more concerned about the financial and economical situation in the country than the mining disaster.
I agree. I think it is very interesting that the article is told through the story of the family. I like that it is a unique viewpoint that wouldn't usually be told. I think because it is told from the family that makes the article more powerful and gives it more pathos, emotional appeal, to the readers.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the article the first few times I didn't really catch the article trying to shift toward poverty. I still thought that it was focusing on the mining incident. But I do see where you are coming from and that is a very interesting point. Why do yo think that the author would want make that shift rather than just sticking to the families disaster regarding the trapped miners?
I was quite impressed by the deals that were made between the miners and the mass media. When I first read the blog, I did not like the way that the media paid money to explore the tragedy happened to the miners, as it looks like its all about profit, the media get profit by showing the stories which the public passionate about and interested in, while the miners get profit by telling their own stories. However, I found several positive sides later. First, it is in a way helps the miners to clear some rumor like the homosexuality between the miners, as Mario Sepúlveda spoke to Britain’s Mail, these things might have affected some young miners, and there was actually nothing sexual happened. Second, the money earned from the interviews will go to one account and then equally distributed between the miners, since most of the miners are poor, the money earned from the interviews might be crucial to them after the accident. Third, by covering every aspect of the miners’ jobs, on one hand, the public might be inspired by learning how brave the miners endure the rigor of this profession, on the other hand, the public might offer more help to the miners.
ReplyDeleteI agree with how surprising, and bordering on shocking that the formerly trapped miners would decided to exploit their own struggles, as well as their comrades. One would imagine that the men formed quite a strong bond while trapped, and that their camaraderie would be unflappable. Although, considering what the country of Chile has gone through in recent times, it is very likely that many of the families have a lot of construction left to do and have considerable debt. Therefore, $50,000 could certainly convince many of us to go back on our word if it meant helping your family.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the way they tried to convey the emotions felt as the first miners, along with the other 32 were brought to the surface. It was very well written, and the blog as a whole, was very well researched and maintained.
Indeed, emotions were conveyed throughout the blog, especially when millions of people around the world along with the Chilean miners’ families were waiting for the rescue of these trapped miners and considering about what might had happened to them. It is not difficult to imagine how united people could be when they fight for the same thing. We saw cheers, tears and celebrations among people when the trapped miners were finally rescued to the surface. At that moment, it looks like that the miracle of the survival of these trapped miners has overcome the tragedy part of this accident.
ReplyDeleteOverall I thought this was a very interesting post. The first article is more heartfelt grasping the attention of the audience through the family's spiritual beliefs. Reading further you see how the world reacts to the disaster, banding together to praise the Chileans, develop a solution to prevent the disaster going forward and finally reminding us that now there is stlll a long journey ahead technologically, emotionally and financially. I was humbled by the first article reminding myself that we complain that the working class has to travel 20minutes to in from work, for a middle class living. Yet, the people in the article, travel hours sometimes days away from their family for what they consider to be a nice salary. That salary being below poverty level here.
ReplyDeleteI agree. People in the middle class and really most Americans take for granted all of the luxuries we have that so many others don't. In this case our salary and our commute to work. It is so unfortunate that people such as these Chileans who are faced with so much hardship like the recent earthquake and the mining incident also deal with these long work commutes and poverty like living conditions. It makes me wish there was something that I could do for all of these people. Even though I am only a college student, I have so much more than most of these people will ever have. So I would love to give back to people like the ones talked about throughout the blog and the article.
ReplyDeleteTo Syn Dee (First Floor)
ReplyDeleteThe blog reveal more details in the disaster than news reports sometimes because its purpose is to dig out more aspects of an incident to provide people an opportunity to have better understanding and logical thinking. While the news report may concerns more on the immediate outcome of an incident.
Your view is quite reasonable. The article removes the emphasis from the incident itself to the reasons that triggered the incidents. Furthermore, the writer may intend to use this incident to evoke the concern from reader to the background of the story. It analyse the incident from a different angle and reveal more details to build another bridge to know the real story.
To Ryan Welty (Forth Floor)
ReplyDeleteThe positive spirites are manifested in this incident in Chile. When facing disasters, not only the strong will to survive is important, but also the collaboration with others. Your point of view is correct. The blog used emotional description to make the readers get more direct feeling about the incident and thus, get better observation of it.
The value of the story is not only worth $50,000. It arrested the attention from the worldwide people to the safety of miners and the obstacles that people in Chile encountered. In China, there are a number of similar accident, most led to tragedy results. While this time, the survivors in Chile bring hope to the people. It shows the endurance and bravery of human beings. It constructs a encouraging story to the readers.
To Addie (Sixth Floor)
ReplyDeleteThe blog provides readers a opportunity to look deep through the living of poor working class in Chile. It not only concerns about the result of disasters, but also mentions the bad living condition of the local people in Chile. That differs our points of view about the working class in US. The language in the blog concludes some emotional expression to show how difficult the obstacles will the unfortunate people have to face. It attracts readers to have to better critical thinking of the miserable results of disaster. It also reveals many details that we may not know, for example, the local people have to leave their family members for a long time to work in bad condition and with low salary. These details attach emphasis to the point that we should pay more attention to other places in the world to rethink our position in the world. It leads to critical thinking that are the disasters will be more terrible if faced by the poor people in developing countries.
If the author of the blog is implying anything, it must be about how difficult the situation is for the miners. June (the author) seems to focus on the extreme hardships like being stuck underground for over two months and fitting into a tiny 21-inch diameter rescue capsule.
ReplyDeleteActually, I have seen a video clip of these trapped miners on the news once before. From what I had seen, they were still trapped, but every miner was smiling and had his arms around another's shoulders, not to mention that they were all singing. Their happiness and strength despite a life-threatening situation moved me to a point of inspiration, and I'm sure that everyone that did watch this video felt the same way.
Sure June has a point on focusing only on the miners' hardships, but she left out their togetherness and hope. From what I see, her narrow focus has an effect on everyone's view that has commented so far. Commenters only notice how tragic and shocking the disaster is, but they do not know of the inspirational feeling that I had from watching the actual video.
I agree fully with Ryan. Whenever disaster happens, people generally tend to take heed to the more tragic viewpoints and the negative impacts and elements of disaster and they don't tend to pay attention to the positive benefits that can be attained from a seemingly horrible event. I think that people should understand how tragic the disaster was, but in the end all the miners survived due to their unity and faith that they would leave the mine. I think this is one of those instances where it is not a case of feeling pity and sorry for the miners, but to look on the bright side and understand that it wasn't a fully negative experience.
ReplyDelete- Duane' Josey