Chilean authorities have so far confirmed 723 deaths that can be attributed to the quake and its aftermath. Some 500,000 Chilean houses were also damaged or destroyed.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said hundreds of tons of food, water and other supplies were being shipped into disaster-ravaged areas by airplane.
Several South America countries rushed to Chile's aid following news of the quake. Argentina sent six planeloads filled with a field hospital, doctors and water treatment plants, all of which were to arrive by the end of Tuesday. Brazil also sent a field hospital, along with rescue teams.
Nathan Crooks, a Santiago-based editor with Business News Americas, said the Chilean government has been successful in getting food and water out to quake survivors, but needs help with its logistical supply efforts.
"They are seeing now that the more help you have the better. So, anyone who wants to help, they are going to accept it," Crooks told CTV's Canada AM by telephone.
Elisabeth Byrs, a UN humanitarian spokesperson, said Chile was looking for temporary bridges, field hospitals, satellite phones and generators, as well as water purification systems, field kitchens and dialysis equipment to help with its recovery. It also is seeking damage assessment teams as it further probes the devastation.
In Ottawa, Foreign Affairs had made contact with 520 Canadians since the quake. But another 337 have not been located.
Tsunami-related deaths
Most of the deaths occurred in the wine-growing Maule region along Chile's south-central coast.
Less than half an hour after the quake, massive waves crashed onto coastal towns, though the Chilean navy did not immediately issue a tsunami warning -- a turn of events that Chilean Defence Minister Vidal has acknowledged was a mistake. Instead, local port captains called their own warnings, which Vidal said may have helped to save hundreds of lives.
In the resort town of Pelluhue, a group of 40 retirees were killed as they tried to escape the coming waves by bus. The water dragged the passengers to their presumed deaths and authorities have so far only found five of their bodies.
Claudio Escalona fled his home near the same campground where the retirees were staying.
"We ran through the highest part of town, yelling, 'Get out of your homes!'" Escalona told The Associated Press.
"About 20 minutes later came three waves, two of them huge, about six metres each, and a third even bigger. That one went into everything."
Escalona said survivors could "hear the screams of children, women, everyone."
Houses destroyed; family members, friends lost
In the port town of Talcahuano, Mayor Gaston Saavedra said 80 per cent of the 180,000 residents are homeless following the quake.
"The port is destroyed. The streets, collapsed. City buildings, destroyed," said Saavedra.
Talcahuano resident Marioli Gatica and her family were sitting on the floor of her home when the tsunami crashed into its walls, tearing it apart.
"We were sitting there one moment and the next I looked up into the water and saw cables and furniture floating," Gatica said.
Her 11-year-old daughter survived the disaster by clinging to a tree while the wave retreated.
The family lost Gatica's 76-year-old mother, Nery Valdebenito, who she believes is trapped underneath her home.
Further north in the village of Dichato, Mayor Eduardo Aguilera said some residents fled for higher ground in advance of the tsunami threat, but returned too early and were caught by the giant waves.
Aguilera said 800 houses were destroyed and 49 village residents are still missing.
Several hours north in the coastal town of Constitucion, journalist Dominic Phillips said the region was "one of the worst-hit towns" in Saturday's disaster.
"There are a lot of wooden houses on the seafront which were completely destroyed. In the bay front area, along the beach, I saw massive devastation -- trucks overturned, houses destroyed, buildings reduced to just piles of rubble," he told CTV News Channel, speaking by telephone from Talca, Chile.
In Concepcion, the city hit hardest by the quake, authorities were still unable to restore power and police were trying to keep looting under control.
Nearly all of the city's markets had been ransacked for people looking for basic necessities including food, water and toilet paper.
Troops had imposed curfews in Concepcion, which were approved by Bachelet.
Restoring power for city residents also remains a challenge, Crooks said.
"They still don't have any power and we're a couple of days into this now," Crooks told CTV's Canada AM by telephone.
"The government has said that the problem with power is not generation or transmission, but it's the distribution lines that were just mostly destroyed. So, they're having to go street-by-street, house-by-house and literally reconnect everything."
Source:edmonton.ctv.ca/
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