My father's column, which I post for any who might be interested.
http://www.seniorcorrespondent.com/articles/2010/11/12/how-the-chilean-miners-survived.147834By: Charles Bayer
November 12, 2010
We are now over a month from the miraculous scene of a man-sized capsule slowly emerging from a hole in the ground, and releasing a Chilean miner—the first of the thirty-three rescued from a two month burial in a tomb a half mile below the earth’s surface. We are now standing at a distance as these men put their lives back together. Most of them have tried to stay sheltered from the publicity and the celebrity that goes with it. At least one of these heroes immediately put on his hardhat and returned to the mine. Over time their stories will be told, but for now their priorities have been reuniting with loved ones, getting life back to normal and sorting out the various media offers.
We know much of what went on in that underground vault during the last weeks of their entombment. Communications, supplies, food and water filled their basic needs. But what about the first 18 days when they did not even know if anybody was finding a way to rescue them, or even if rescue was possible? How did they survive those first 430 hours?
They lived these almost three weeks in 90-degree temperatures and total darkness, except for the lights on their helmets. Water was rationed using what they could find in the radiators of their machinery. All they had was a two-day supply of food. They ate just two teaspoons of tuna and one cracker every other day, washing down their "meals" with a small sip of milk.
But perhaps the real story lies is the their relationship to one other and the sense of community they developed. What went on in that little group, as they looked death in the face, even as their bodily systems were beginning to disintegrate? And what human resources did they bring to this experience?
/snip/
More at link.
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