Chilean miners stay busy - and pray

By Javiera Salinas and Jan-Uwe Ronneburger Sep 23, 2010, 13:47 GMT

Santiago - Psychologists have been working for almost seven weeks to prepare for the rescue of 33 miners trapped 700 metres underground in northern Chile.

The miners' mood is being kept up by regular work shifts, fitness training and even public-speaking courses that prepare them for the media barrage when they emerge.

Chilean psychologist Alberto Iturra is in charge of helping the gold and copper miners fight frustration and despair, using video footage and written works.

Iturra is confident that he can keep the miners upbeat for several more weeks. On October 5, it will be two months, and the earliest rescue date is expected in November.

The most important thing, he noted, is to keep the miners busy. Iturra is working with a team of doctors and other specialists, but his most important aides are the trapped workers themselves.

'(The miners) have been very good at solving problems by getting organized,' Iturra told the German Press Agency dpa.

'They have devised and carried out very well-structured work system, and have established a mealtime routine,' he said.

Even in the first 17 days, when the above-ground world had nearly given up on them, they established routines on their own and a rationing system for the little food and water they had in their 700- m deep cavern.

On August 22, they reestablished contact with the outside world when rescuers drilled a small tunnel through to them.

'All 33 of us are fine in the shelter,' they said on a little piece of paper they sent from the depths.

Since then, they have been getting food, water and medicine from the surface, as well as news from their families. Relatives have camped for weeks at the mine, despite the tough Atacama Desert weather around 800 km north of Santiago.

The trapped miners can hold videoconferences with their wives, siblings and children. They get newspapers, produce videos on their life underground and even watch live football matches.

In addition, they get suggestions from Iturra's team, to help them prepare for Day X, when they will again see sunlight.

Iturrs said he was pleased with how the trapped miners have accepted such ideas.

'We carry out medical consultations and physical training with a medical team, and positive-thinking training with a group of psychologists,' Iturra explained.

The reason the training has been successful is that the miners, it turns out, were from the very beginning an emotionally very stable lot, he said.

Organizing a daily routine fills the time with normal and familiar activities. Everything sent down to the miners helps in that task: music, videos, newspapers, letters from home, and food.

The miners have established a timetable with wake-up calls and washing times. They have reading and entertainment breaks, and even public-speaking courses to prepare themselves for the days to come in the limelight.

The trapped miners are not just focussed on their potential rescue, Iturra said.

They also pray together, to ask for help from far above.