Chileis sparing no expense or attempted innovation in trying to rescue the miners trapped by a cave-in on Aug. 5, fully aware that the country— and the world— is closely watching the ordeal.
But like everything else being done to maintain the psychological health of the miners over the weeks or months they may remain nearly half a mile underground, officials will carefully control what they are exposed to, down to the messages they receive from their families or the kind of movies that might be projected on the wall of the mine.
“Movies are possible,” said Ximena Matas, a local city councilwoman.“But the psychologists will decide what movies they will see. It’s up to them if something like‘Avatar’ would be too upsetting.”
No fewer than seven government ministers roam the dusty brown dirt of the makeshift camp outside the mine here in Chile’s Atacama Desert, not to mention the countless politicians, millionaire donors and observers who almost outnumber the family members camping in tents.
With his popularity already slipping, President Sebastián Piñera has staked his nascent presidency on rescuing the miners, and is keeping up a full-court media press that reflects both his background as the billionaire former head of a media empire and the strategy that helped get him elected, analysts said.
“With a conviction that seemed to border on political suicide, the authorities bet all or nothing, and this time the returns will have incalculable reach,” Max Colodro Riesenberg, a professor at the University Adolfo Ibáñez, wrote in a newspaper column this week.
Government officials said they held a teleconference on Wednesday afternoon with five NASA specialists, among them doctors who put astronauts through tests that simulate the grueling isolation of a voyage to Mars.
Dr. Jaime Mañalich, the health minister, said he had urged NASA to send a team to“monitor what we are doing here” and announced Thursday that three or four NASA specialists would arrive in Chile next week to assist medical officials with the miners.
“This is a unique experience,” Dr. Mañalich said.
The miners are in relatively good spirits, officials say, but psychologists are concerned that both the miners and their families may soon suffer from post-traumatic stress once the euphoria wears off from establishing contact on Sunday. Psychologists are coaching family members and the miners on what they should say to each other and are filtering notes before they are sent down to the miners.
“They are giving good advice,” said Margarita Lagos Fuentes, 54, the mother of Claudio Lagos, a 34-year-old miner trapped below.“If they are in hell, why should we make it worse?”
Health workers are organizing a special exercise and recreation program to keep the men fit during their long wait. And they are instructing the miners about the need to distinguish between daytime and nighttime activities. Beyond the immediate 600-square-foot chamber the miners have sought refuge in, there are ample tunnels in which to move around and find a little privacy, mining company officials said.
For days after discovering the miners alive, officials carefully avoided telling them that it could take months to get them out, for the sake of preserving morale. Then on Wednesday, the health minister announced that officials had informed the miners that they would not be rescued before Chile’s Independence Day on Sept. 18 and that“we hoped to get them out before Christmas.”
The miners reacted calmly to the news, Dr. Mañalich, the minister, said.“But we have the impression that in the days to come they are going to suffer from huge challenges regarding their psychological conditions.”
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