I thought Chile was going to be further down the OpenData adopters
list, but I am pleased to announce that it is all happening as you
read this.
The recent 8.8 mega quake/tsunami + the entry of a new ( oppositional
) goverment converge to generate a very special scenario.

On one hand, the country is in distress and we need to hastefully
increase our agility in order to react to the acute crisis and long
term reconstruction phases. Situational analysis is poor because data
is fragmented. Logistics are deficient and planning depends on data. The
success in all three timeframes ( short, mid and long term ) seems to depend
on the very same fuel: information. 

But lets zoom in to short term, which is the drive today:
Everyone wants to help but they are running into each other or going
to the wrong places. 25 vets arrive where tents are needed, and the
tents end up in a pile somehwere.
Yeah, it is that bad. The disaster left severe infrastructural damages
and, if we were fragmented before, we are totally enthropic now.

So that's one side of the story: *we need to integrate what we know
and we need to do it now*. Linked Data is a blessing the best tool at
hand.

Now onto the second item:

The incoming government will see fierce opposition and it will have to
dodge several kinds of attacks. These will come in ( at least ) two
shapes:
* Trying to make the new govt pay for errors stemming from the past.
We already saw this happen with the recent country-wide blackout. This
is clearly a ghost from the past but go tell that to the media
monster. And then try to stop it from eating you when you don't even
have the correct data at hand. Someone made a mistake, but it is hard
to know who.
* Stopping initiatives on their tracks because of the fierce
opposition in government. Congress can loose its blocking power if
people are informed of what's being proposed.

I'm not saying the new govt won't craft its own collection of
mistakes. But we should not make it harder for them. After all, while
politicians fight for power, it is the people below that pay the price
and in moments like these we simply can't afford that.

So there you have it. Two alignments. And I can see more, but these
should be enough to jump through the first obstacles ( finally! ).
Now, let's make it happen.

First milestone is done. Initial group of developers have been
evangelized and they are all willing to get their hands on some data.
Now, let's organize the World Bank's crisis camp in such a way that
NGOs can provide us their data and their requirements.

Lots of work ahead!

Links:
* http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/27/chile.quake/index.html
* http://opendata.cl/
* http://bitbucket.org/abucchi/opendata-chile/wiki/Home

( I posted this via email )