Campaign to Prevent Nightclub Accidents After Brazil Fire
The Governor of Santiago, together with the Metropolitan Director of ONEMI, today announced a new safety information campaign for nightclubs in Santiago.
LAS CONDES – In a nightclub in Lo Barnechea, Governor of Santiago Juan Antonio Peribonio and Metropolitan Director of ONEMI Miguel Muñoz this morning launched a plan to prevent accidents such as fires in large-capacity nightclubs.
Governor Peribonio addresses the media in Lo Barnechea. Photo: Anna Grummitt
The campaign includes an info-graphic video produced by ONEMI about how patrons should act in emergency situations, to be screened in clubs in Santiago during their hours of operation.
As part of the plan, a working group of members of ONEMI, the Department of Health, and fire-fighters will also be formed to improve the current regulations governing safety in nightclubs and venues with a capacity for over 100 people.
The announcement came in light of a deadly fire that swept through a Brazilian nightclub in Santa Maria on Sunday morning, killing at least 231 people and injuring over 100 more.
“Of course, we can’t be indifferent to the accident in Brazil – it has caught our attention,” the Governor said to the media during today’s announcement. “But it’s better to prevent future incidents than lament an accident.”
“We already have a plan that has been in place for a year, but with the tragedy in Brazil it’s obviously time to call attention to strengthening our implementation of this plan,” he said.
The Governor highlighted the ONEMI video as an important tool to equip nightclub patrons with valuable emergency knowledge.
“Knowing where escape routes are and visualizing the way of reaching them clearly makes a difference in an emergency,” he said. “The showing of this video by nightclubs is voluntary, but we hope that knowing how important safety is, no club or business will ignore this initiative.”
Currently, nightclubs must have a sign indicating their maximum capacity, must have working fire extinguishers, and escape routes must be clearly marked and unimpeded. They are also required to have an emergency evacuation plan coordinated with the police and fire departments, and must never allow the entry of flares or fireworks.
An absence of these regulations can result fines of up to $40 million, or the loss of licence.
Anna is an undergraduate journalism student from Sydney, Australia. She is majoring in Politics and Spanish, and writes about a variety of topics, from politics and health to culture and food. She loves writing, travelling, and meeting new people, and is looking to do all this, as well as improve her Spanish, during her stay in Chile. 
