New Zealanders dairy farming in Chile have escaped the recent devastating earthquake relatively unscathed, but the same cannot be said for Fonterra’s infrastructure in the South American country.

Former Waikato dairy farmer Herb Smith, in contact with Dairy News via email, says although it was a frightening experience he is fortunate to be based in Osorno, the hub of dairying in Chile and well away from the worst hit areas.

“All the same, that shake was a reality check. It was pitch black here at 3.35am, so apart from the shaking and the horrendous sound of the house withstanding the force, we could see nothing.

“We feared the worst. I dressed quickly and went to our staff houses. They were all outside with flashlights and very nervous.

“We fired up the generator and they calmed down.”

Smith, who works for the Fonterra-owned Soprole Demonstration Farms, says since the earthquake he has been in touch with other New Zealand farmers in the area.

“The ones we have spoken to share the same thoughts. How fortunate we are to be 400km from the epicentre.”

There are about 25 New Zealand adults and 13 children in his vicinity and Smith says the force of the earthquake was still strong enough to throw “about a foot of water out of the pool”.

He says Osorno, 900km south of the capital Santiago, is really only affected by a lack of fuel and supplies reaching it, as the main roads are blocked. Milk is being dumped as tankers cannot reach the farms.

The news is not quite as good for Fonterra, although as Dairy News went to press late last week, the co-op was still trying to establish just how much damage had been done.

A Fonterra spokesman says teams at its Chilean operation, Soprole, are pushing hard to contact staff and assess damage to its plants.

The spokesman says Fonterra has yet to make contact with 41 of its staff in Concepcion, one of the areas worst affected by the earthquake as at Thursday last week.

“Making contact with our people in Concepcion remains difficult as the city is on emergency status and is under military control. A curfew is in place and there is very limited movement of people. Communications have also been disrupted.

“We have set up a 24 hour hotline that employees can contact and we have radio stations broadcasting the hotline number. But again we are reliant on communications being up and running.”

What it does know is its cheese factory at nearby Los Angeles is severely damaged.

The spokesman says the Soprole head office in Santiago is open and its sites at Osorno, Los Lagos and San Bernardo are operating on a restricted basis as at late last week.

“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.”