Emel, PPL’s Chilean affiliate, has donated 40 prefabricated homes to families rendered homeless in the northern portions of the country that were hardest hit by a major earthquake on June 13.

Recipients of the "viviendas de emergencia" (emergency housing) are all residents of the village of Tarapaca. The center of the earthquake, which measured 7.9 on the Richter scale, was a gorge located near the village. The known death toll from the earthquake is 11 people. Five were killed by collapsing buildings, and six occupants of one vehicle died when it was struck by a falling boulder in the same region of Chile where Tarapaca is located.

Chile’s Emergency Regional Office selected the recipients of the homes donated by Emel. Patricio Zapata, regional governor, joined John Fogarty, Emel’s general manager, in a brief event earlier in August to announce the donation.

Zapata thanked Emel for its donation of the homes and said, "Emel has shown its professional presence in quickly restoring electrical service following this emergency, and with this donation the company is sharing assistance on a common yet vital level."

Fogarty added, "From the first moments following this tragedy on June 13, our emergency brigades as well as our technical and customer service personnel all have worked incessantly to restore a normal semblance of life for the victims."

Emel also has donated funds for the purchase of construction materials to aid other hard-hit communities near Chile’s northern border with Bolivia.

The most serious damage from the earthquake to Emel’s electric distribution system involved 32 poles carrying medium-voltage lines that fell to the ground near the village of Pica in northern Chile.

There were no reported injuries to employees of Emel and its subsidiaries, but there was minor earthquake damage to some of the employees’ homes.

Emel, a holding company for five electricity distribution businesses in Chile, has about 740 employees and serves about 552,000 customers in the northern and central parts of the country.