World cheers Chile miners rescue

Two months after the San Jose gold and copper mine collapsed in Chile, all of 33 miners who were trapped under more than 2000 feet of rock were saved on Wednesday (October 13th). As each worker, one by one, was hoisted up by a steel capsule which is little bit wider than man's shoulders, the whole world watched this magnificent event and cheered on both the rescuers and miners who were being rescued.

It took almost 22 hours for all 33 miners to be rescued since the rescue operation had started. After the rescue, all miners were immediately transported to hospital for treatment. However, the hospital announced that majority of them were in healthy physical conditions although they were still struggling to overcome the emotional stress. The official of the hospital in Copiapo said "They've been in a situation of stress for two months ... Nonetheless, most of them are coming along perfectly well." Moreover, the hospital official also stated that two or three miners will be released this afternoon, allowing them to return back to their home.

The successful rescue of the miners is celebrated around the world especially in Chile. "It's so incredible that they all made it out alive." said Pina, a 51-year old miner while hugging a complete stranger and celebrating the phenomenon that took place today. The rescued miners are unlikely to go back to their original mining employment as they are offered with many other job opportunities, book, film and advertisement contracts. In addition, the statement which a miner had made to the president of Chile, Pinera, after being rescued is being issued through the media today. Luiz Urzua, 54, the last miner to be rescued said "I hand over this shift over to you and hope this never happens again". Lastly, the popularity of the president Pinera has risen over his handling of the crisis as the whole world is celebrating and cheering on the miracle which they have witness today.

In my opinion, what the world, including myself, have witness today was miraculous, sensational and phenomenal. What is chance of a person surviving under a collapsed mine, over 2000 feet deep, for a week? I say the chance is very slim. Therefore it was completely astounding to see all thirty three miners being rescued successfully after being trapped under a collapsed mine for 2 months. It is a true miracle and blessing for these miners to be rescued successfully without any life losses. I am very pleased to see every miner being rescued successfully and will celebrate and cheer on the miners, their families, friends, neighbors and so on.

On the other hand, I would like to analyze and discuss what we can learn from this incident and how we can improve as a world. First of all, could the mine collapse be prevented? My answer is yes. If the mines were built stronger in order to be stable against every possible disasters to secure the employees safety, this collapsing could've been prevented. Secondly, why did it take over 2 month to rescue these miners? I strongly believe that if the government took immediate initiative with full supports in order to rescue these miners, this rescue could've been possible in advance. I believe that the rescue project should've been initiated as soon as possible which didn't happen regarding to San Jose mine incident. It was miracle that the miners survived for 2 months, however what if the miners died waiting for a rescue beforehand? Then, this incident would've been a horrible tragedy and government would've got criticized and blamed for taking lengthy time to perform the rescue. On the whole, I believe that the world should learn from San Jose mine incident and make sure no more tragedies like this ever happen again. Moreover, all the governments in the world should initiate immediate response regarding to rescue of their own citizens at all times if they are in any form of severe danger.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/10/12/15659241.html