Chilean military takes control of quake-hit cities

The Chilean military has taken control of towns and cities affected by the earthquake, it was reported today, imposing curfews and guarding shops from looters as the death toll from the disaster rose to more than 700.

The Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet, signed a decree putting the military in charge of security in the province of Concepción, where looters have targeted markets and supermarkets, hitting food and water supplies.

"We are facing a catastrophe of such unthinkable magnitude that it will require a giant effort [for Chile to recover]," Bachelet said after meeting ministers and generals at the quake-damaged La Moneda Palace.

Concerns are growing over Britons missing in the aftermath of the catastrophe.

An estimated 65,000 British people visit Chile each year, and a number of UK holidaymakers remain unaccounted for. A Foreign Office spokesman said there had been "no reports of any casualties" so far.

The Surfer's Cottage, an eco-cottage for surfers in Pichilemu, central Chile, listed five Britons among its missing.

UK charity workers were due to arrive in Chile today to help with aid efforts.


The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, will visit the country tomorrow on a previously scheduled trip unrelated to the quake.

"Our hemisphere comes together in times of crisis, and we will stand side by side with the people of Chile in this emergency," she said.

As aftershocks measuring up to 7.5 continued to batter the country, rescuers arrived at coastal cities to find that entire fishing villages had been washed away.

There were reports that 350 people had died in the town of Constitución, which was hit first by the earthquake and then by a tsunami.


The death toll was expected to rise dramatically because of the number of missing people. Identification of the dead has been hampered because most were sleeping when the quake struck and were not carrying any personal documents.

More than 100 people remained trapped inside a wrecked 14-storey building in Concepción, Chile's second largest city, 40 miles north-west of the epicentre.

The new building was only half occupied, but an estimated 20 bodies were removed from the rubble, and teams of firefighters were continuing to search the wreckage for signs of life.

An estimated 500,000 residential buildings have been severely damaged by the quake, leaving nearly one in eight residents homeless.

As food, water and fuel ran out, looting erupted in Concepción and police initially attempted to stop the looters using teargas.

A pitched battle erupted inside one supermarket, ending when police and supermarket officials allowed residents to remove essential items free of charge.

Food warehouses were also looted, and Jacqueline van Rysselberghe, the mayor of Concepción, warned: "We are going to have social explosion if aid is not received today."

The Chilean air force sent a 747 filled with police to the region in an attempt to regain control, while military roadblocks were set up outside some cities in an effort to prevent outsiders from joining the looting.

The cost of the quake damage was estimated to be $25-$30bn (£16-£20bn) by Eqecat, a firm based in Oakland, California, that specialises in disaster management software.

Experts at the company said Chile's history of major earthquakes and solid construction had been instrumental in preventing far more deaths, with building codes including earthquake-resistant standards in all new construction.

The Chilean president-elect, Sebastián Piñera, who takes office in less than two weeks, has worked closely with the outgoing Bachelet administration to organise long-term relief.

On Saturday, he asked key disaster relief and government officials to remain in office during the early part of his administration.

He also called for major sanctions against and investigations of construction companies involved in new housing projects that have collapsed.

Ricardo Ortega, the head of the Chilean air force, said yesterday a commercial airline service had been partially re-established and aircraft were now being allowed to land at Santiago's international airport.

With many major bridges destroyed and entire sections of Route 5, the main north-south highway, twisted and torn, delivery of relief aid to many areas has been made difficult and in some cases impossible.

Fears of a tsunami roaring across the Pacific Ocean were quelled yesterday when waves that hit Japan proved to be minimal.

Hundreds of thousands of people fled shorelines for higher ground after the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, based in Hawaii, warned 53 countries and territories that a tsunami was imminent.

After the centre lifted its warning, some countries kept their own watches in place.

Source:guardian.co.uk/

Aid agencies working to help earthquake battered Chile

Aid agencies surveyed the damage in Chile Saturday after a deadly earthquake shattered parts of the country in the worst disaster to hit the area in 50 years.

"In the downtown, the oldest part of the city, houses just collapsed, there was a wall that destroyed a row of cars, said a weary Paula Saez, an aid worker for World Vision Canada, as she described the situation in Santiago.

While she worked to help assess the damage, she said people in Concepcion, the epicentre of the quake, were unreachable.

The Chilean government declared a state of catastrophe following the massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake, which sent tsunami warnings from coastal areas of British Columbia to countries in the Asian-Pacific region. The quake has killed at least 214 people, authorities said.

But some officials have said the country will not see a repeat of the dire aftermath that Haiti experienced last month after its earthquake.

"We're certainly not facing the same kind of magnitude of disaster as we were in Haiti," said Jean-Pierre Taschereau, Senior Manager, Emergency Response, International Operations, with the Canadian Red Cross.

Taschereau said as far as he knows, the (Chilean) government has not requested international assistance yet.

"We still have plenty of people we can deploy regionally to support the efforts in Chile if necessary," he said.

Across the country, Chilean-Canadians frantically tried to contact friends and family in the country on Saturday.

There are an estimated 40,000 Canadians of Chilean descent living across Canada.

"It's a lot of collapsed buildings, lot of bridges, most of them fairly new and they all just came down like paper," said Jose Astorga, president of the Winnipeg Chilean Association, whose members have been able to contact some family in Chile, but have not been able to account for all their relatives.

In Montreal, the vice-president of the Quebec Chilean Association, Ledda Urbani, said her organization has opened its doors to community members desperate for information.

"We have many, many people calling, calling, calling. But there's no communication by telephone," said Urbani.

Urbani said Chilean news is blaring from the centre's television, and computers have been set up so people can try to contact relatives. So far, email and social networking sites have been the best way to contact people.

Urbani used the Internet to reach her extended family early Saturday.

"Nobody is sleeping since this happened," she said. "Some don't have electricity. It's terrible," she added.

Vince Rozas, 27, of Toronto also learned through social networking sites that family on his mother's side in Santiago were all safe.

"I can't believe Facebook has been so useful," he said. "All of my cousins have been on Facebook. That's how we've gotten our news."

Rozas' brother-in-law told him they were woken up by the massive quake.

"He said it was really violent, it felt really rough," he said.

Members of the Chilean Olympic team were feeling for their countrymen on Saturday.

The Chef de mission Luis Alberto Santa Cruz said all three members of the team and their families are doing well.

"I heard about this late last night right after the earthquake took place, and I was able to get in contact with them," he said. "Telephones are not working now, but I've been in contact with mail and messenger and they're all fine."

The team's single athlete, alpine skier Noelle Barahona, had planned to fly out of Vancouver airport Saturday morning but was turned away.

Officials tried to establish communications with Canadians who may be in the affected zone.

"Canadian officials in Santiago and Ottawa are currently assessing the situation to clarify the extent of the damage as well as to determine the potential impact on Canadians who are currently in Chile," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a written statement.

There are some 1,100 Canadians registered as being in Chile, said Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon.

But the earthquake has devastated phone services in the South American country, he said.

"Communications are extremely sporadic," Cannon said in an impromptu teleconference.

Cannon said Canada has stockpiles of emergency supplies that it could provide to non-governmental aid organizations in Chile, should the government there issue a request for help.

However, the minister ruled out sending Canada's military disaster assistance response team, commonly referred to as the DART team.

Harper extended sympathies to those affected by the quake.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Chile as they respond to this emerging natural disaster," he said.

A big concern in the aftermath of the quake was the question of what kind of damage could be caused by tsunamis, which are often created by underground tremors.

A tsunami that swamped San Juan Bautista village on Robinson Crusoe Island off Chile, killing at least five people and leaving 11 missing, Chilean officials said.

It then raced across the Pacific, setting off alarm sirens in Hawaii, Polynesia and Tonga and prompting warnings across all 53 nations ringing the vast ocean, including Canada.

Tsunami waves washed across Hawaii, where little damage was reported.

An advisory issued for British Columbia was cancelled late Saturday and little activity was observed, said Steve Bachop, a spokesman for B.C.'s Provincial Emergency Program.

"Vancouver Island certainly didn't sink," Bachop said in a phone interview. "We did see a little increased activity or wave height...but for the most part it looks like a fairly minor event by the time these waves reached the West Coast."

The tsunami advisory couldn't keep dozens of local residents and tourists out of the water and off a beach near Tofino, B.C., Saturday afternoon.

RCMP Const. Rochelle Carr said she counted as many as 50 people on Chesterman Beach - despite a recommendation to stay out of the water because of the possibility of strong currents.

At one point, Carr said she warned two surfers about entering the water.

"I advised them of the advisory and they didn't seem to care," said Carr. "I think it's a little but irresponsible."

She said the surfers weren't only putting themselves in danger. She said they were putting any potential rescuers in danger, too.

Carr said she saw others set up chairs to watch the water.

Doris McLachlan, a West Vancouver resident who owns property in Tofino, said she wasn't worried about the advisory because nothing had hit Hawaii by the time she was on the beach.

So McLachlan said she decided to take her dog, Tia, for a walk.

"We decided just to stay here and watch the waves," she added.

With files from Keven Drews of Westcoaster.ca.

Source:coastreporter.net/