2010 will be a difficult year to forget in Chile. During the early hours of the morning of 27 February, the inhabitants of the country's central region were awoken by an earthquake of major intensity. The disruption of activities in this region continued for several months. Estimates suggest that the rupture of the fault plane extended over a distance of 400 to 500 kilometers, and the waves of the tsunami that was generated immediately afterwards reached a maximum height of some 11 meters. The lessons learned from the earthquakes of 1960 in Valdivia and 1985 in Valparaíso were incorporated into strict regulations on earthquake-resistant design, which yielded obvious benefits in 2010. Significant damage was nevertheless inflicted on major elements of the infrastructure, making access to the afflicted zone even more difficult. As regards the earthquake's impact on the insurance and reinsurance market, the final total may well exceed the range from 8,000 to 10,000 million dollars, on account of coverage for losses due to business interruption cover and its interpretation. Another factor that is delaying the final assessment is the complex nature of loss adjustments for the large risks and mortgage portfolios, on which work is continuing. The spirit of unity shown by the Chilean people in the face of this huge disaster was another manifestation of the courage of a nation which -in a contrasting scenario- watched as the 33 miners who were trapped in the bowels of the earth for several weeks emerged one by one to safety. On behalf of TRÉBOL, we offer our congratulations to the entire country and in this issue, we are dedicating our whole section of articles to the single subject of the Maule earthquake.