Tour operators who run tours to Chile went into action upon hearing news of the earthquake on Saturday. Few of them had clients in Chile at the time of the disaster and no injuries to their clients were reported. Tour operators kept monitoring the situation, especially concerned for aftershocks or possible tsunami dangers.

Tauck World Discovery said it canceled departures of its Essence of South America tour, which was scheduled to begin in Santiago on Feb. 28 and on March 2. Tauck’s crisis management operation went into gear immediately upon hearing the news of the earthquake, and on Saturday the company was busy contacting all affected guests and travel agents. Some Tauck guests had already arrived in Chile for a pre-stay when the earthquake took place. None were hurt. On Saturday, Tauck said it was working to arrange transportation home for its guests in Santiago as well as monitoring developments in Chile and areas in the Pacific that were at risk of tsunamis.

Ashish Sanghrajka, president of Big Five Tours & Expeditions, reported that the company’s local team in Chile was executing its emergency plan and taking stock of the situation. Because phone coverage was spotty, information on the situation was slow in coming, but Big Five said it was able to quickly establish that all of its guests who had been in Chile had either returned home or moved on to their next destinations. The company also monitored its guests in areas that were in possible tsunami areas, particularly in Galapagos, and found that no one was affected. For more information, visit www.tauck.com  or www.bigfive.com.

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