you know, the miner thing.

Are you fucking kidding?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Copiap%C3%B3_mining_accident#Rescue

Saving those miners was incredible, but let's not forget they were stuck there because they were working in a mine that didn't have the proper safety measures to prevent exactly this from happening.

In the US, Obama would have given families money and forgotten about it

That last guy out, Uruza or whoever, is a hero.

Not to take anything away from Chile (this is probably the greatest story ever), but exactly this sort of mining rescue happens every few years or so in America. Remember those guys in Pennsylvania and those others in West Virginia? It's not as if we don't rescue miners here.

That being said, Chilean rescuers rule.

69 days, 33 miners, not a single casualty. That most certainly does *not* happen in PA or WV or anywhere else in the world every few years.

not to mention the mile underground thingy

At Quecreek, PA, only 9 were rescued, but from a flooding chamber and it was done in 77 hours. That's pretty impressive considering they had to locate the miners, pressurize the chamber, and THEN rescue the miners. Oh, and 0 casualties.

I'm just saying it makes no sense to insult American miners and rescuers. Chile did a great thing by saving these men, and similar things happen in America as well. There are also terrible disasters in American coals mines every few years, and I'm sure ones at least as bad happen in Chile just as regularly.

This is an amazing story and I bet there'll be a movie about it within two years, but it makes little sense to knock down the amazing rescues which happen here in the process.

Chile made an all-out effort to rescue their people, and poured a shitload of resources into it. That being said, the drill that rescued them was made in the US and the high-calorie liquid diet they were fed with was donated by NASA.

@Invictus - I understand the point you're making, but how long does it take us here in the states to stop the finger point and start with the rescuing?

I'm not saying the people who do rescues here don't rock; I'm saying you don't see Bush/Obama flying somewhere a day after something happens and saying "fuck this shit, quit screwing around, I'm in charge now, bitch - we're gonna do what it takes to save these folks, and play the blame game later"

Probably no longer that it took there. I'm sure the rescuers go and do the job they have to do as soon as they hear that an accident happened. Mines have safety procedures built in for just this sort of scenario. Mistakes might be made, obviously, but it's not as if the guys above ground are ringing their hands till the President shows up.

It's also not the lawyers drilling the rescue shaft. I think you're confusing any possible media attention and criticism with the actual mechanics of the rescue operation.

i think what makes this one so impressive is scale:

number of men
zero casualties
depth of men
length of imprisonment

so yeah

In America, Obama, would have... what? farted around like he did with the oil disaster? Like Bush did during Katrina?
where do u get off?
Chile supercedes the USA in terms of managing disasters, as does the rest of the World these days. Bring on the Great American Decline

Be careful what you wish for.

I wasn't putting down US rescue workers at all, but putting the level of dedication and skill of the Chilean people at a high level. They set a new bar in every aspect.