There was a hostel fire in Chile which left 10 foreign travelers dead, although another 11 successfully escaped harm. In my travels in Central and South America, I’ve seen countless examples of really dangerous wiring- bare wires, wires that are twisted and taped together, as well as not having fuses in some cases. Of course most outlets are not polarized or grounded, and I’ve never seen a ground fault interrupt in my visits. I’ve often commented that since most buildings are made out of concrete blocks, there’s not much of a fire hazard. Of course I don’t know the cause of this fire in Punta Arenas, Chile.

Here are a couple of pictures from Mexico.

This is a breaker switch that was in the open air on the outside of a house. Luckily it was up high enough that kids couldn’t reach it. Note the old round screw-in fuses.

Light switches often have an electrical outlet too. The outlets are very rarely polarized and do not have the third ground plug that we’re used to in the States. Note also the wire coming out from behind the cover.

3 February 2007 6:02 pm
Cats: News/Politics, Travel/Places
Save to del.icio.us • Comment feed