Fonterra is still unable to contact 41 of its staff in Chile, following Saturday's devastating earthquake.The dairy co-operative, which employs about 1800 people in Chile though its subsidiary Soprole, said the 41 staff were all in the area of Concepcion,
Fonterra is still unable to contact 41 of its staff in Chile, following Saturday’s devastating earthquake.
The dairy co-operative, which employs about 1800 people in Chile though its subsidiary Soprole, said the 41 staff were all in the area of Concepcion, the city which suffered the worst damage from the massive earthquake.
It said making contact with its staff in that city was proving difficult as the city was on emergency status and under military control, with a curfew restricting people’s movements and disruptions to communications in the city.
Soprole has a head office in Santiago, four manufacturing sites at San Bernardo, Los Angeles, Osorno, and Los Lagos, nine regional distribution centres, and eight transport centres around the country.
Fonterra said its first priority following the earthquake has been to make contact with all its staff and to make sure they are safe.
It has set up a 24 hour hotline that employees can contact, with radio stations broadcasting the hotline number, although the communication disruptions were affecting this.
In a statement released today, Fonterra said the Soprole head office in Santiago was open and its sites at Osorno, Los Lagos and San Bernardo were operating on a “restricted basis”, while the Los Angeles manufacturing site was still subject to assessment
“Their ongoing operation is still dependent on infrastructure issues, such as staff being able to get to work, regular power and fuel supply, and raw materials being able to get through to the sites.”
