Brixen, March 1st, 2010 – Stefan Steger and Michael Staffler, both from South Tyrol, and Mauro Cossi, from Venice-Mestre, have been in Chile during the 8.8 Richter scale earthquake on Saturday, February 27th, 2010, at 3.34 AM local time.

The day before, Mauro Cossi had finished installation of a quality scanner for reman manufacturing for a customer in Gholchuan and had his round trip booked to Milan later that morning. Stefan Steger and Michael Staffler have been streamlining the log & merchandizing yard in Horcones, approximately 100 km south-west of Concepción. On March, 1st, 2010 Stefan Steger would have traveled back home while Michael Staffler would have proceeded to his next mission in Melbourne.

So far the earthquake has caused 711 victims, but the number is increasing rapidly. Many more are injured and need help desperately. On Sunday, the Chilean government was forced to impose a dusk-to-dawn curfew from 9pm until 6am. Presently, all means of communications have broken down. The supply of electricity, water and fuel has been disrupted.

In Concepción, the second economic center of Chile, the mobile network functions sporadically and only in a few parts of the city; enough for a brief exchange of short text messages, SMS, with Mauro Cossi. Mauro Cossi is fine and is accommodated at the airport hotel. MiCROTEC hopes that at least the supply of electricity will be promptly restored so that Mauro Cossi can recharge his mobile and keep in touch.

Saturday morning Stefan Steger and Michael Staffler were in Horcones. That very day, both employees were able to contact their respective families and to reassure them. The hotel had entirely collapsed, but both had the mental promptness to jump out of the windows from the second floor. Their quick actions saved their lives. Both have claimed to be out of danger now and said only to be slightly injured. Thanks to the support of the hotel owner, both MiCROTEC employees have been hosted by local families. However, this is the only news of them given the overall blackout of the phone system.

MiCROTEC has committed all company resources to bringing the three employees home safely. However, the airports in Concepción and Santiago are severely damaged and there is no forecast when the airports will be able to service the airlines. The only way out seems to be the Argentinean airport Neuquen, 500 km south of Horcones and across the Andes mountains. However, the streets are not viable since they have either collapsed or are partially flooded. Thanks to the capillary local network, which MiCROTEC has built in South America for years, management hopes to recover the employees by private helicopter.

After notification of the natural disaster in Chile, the project management team immediately started work on how to contact all employees and determine when the air ban over Chile will be lifted. In the meantime, the evacuation plan has been meticulously planned and implemented. At the same time, all connections have been activated in order to find immediate solutions.

MiCROTEC is an international company, exporting over 98% of its products and services to more than 1500 customers worldwide in the automation and optimization of production processes for the global woodworking industry. The company employs approximately 150 people located in Brixen, Venice-Mestre, Linz, Vancouver and Melbourne. The headquarters and innovation center is located in Brixen. MiCROTEC, the technology leader, has raised global interest by officially presenting the first computer tomography for logs on June 19th, 2008. MiCROTEC services markets in Europe, Russia, Australasia, Africa, North and South America. CEO, dott.ing. Federico Giudiceandrea, is president of the metal sector of the local entrepreneur’s association and starting October 15th, 2009, president of the local export organization in South Tyrol.

For further information please contact Christian Schatzer
T +39 0472 273 730
christian.schatzer@microtec.eu