ARMED TROOPS yesterday patrolled the streets of Chile as widespread looting in the south led President Michelle Bachelet to order 10,000 soldiers to protect supermarkets, pharmacies, banks and department stores.
Chilean National Television reported “neighbour versus neighbour” fighting in the coastal areas of Coronel and Lota as food shortages and lack of electricity created scenes of desperation.
By late yesterday afternoon the news was filled with images of bands of men armed with rifles, metal stakes and hatchets stalking the streets of the coastal city of Concepción, attacking firefighters, torching a supermarket and adding an air of menace to the already tragic situation.
The government raised the official death toll to 723 killed and 19 missing yesterday, but reports from local communities suggest that hundreds more are missing, many feared washed out to sea.
While life in the capital, Santiago, slowly returned to normal for most, Jacqueline van Rysselberghe, the mayor of Concepción, made a desperate plea for more troops and government aid.
“We were distributing water in trucks and the trucks were assaulted. Now no one wants to distribute the water,” she said. “Fear is everywhere, armed men with pistols are attacking residential homes . . . send the largest number of troops possible.”
Smoke filled Concepción as looters burned a supermarket, and several firefighters were injured by falling debris.
In San Pedro de la Paz, a city next to Concepción, looters stripped a clinic clean of medicine and supplies. “There was lots of shooting last night, then the military showed up,” said a resident, Rosa Medina. Convoys of armed troops were sent to the region to provide logistical support, supplies and street patrols.
As rescue crews and journalists arrived at remote coastal areas, they found the heaviest damage was done by the tsunami that followed the earthquake, flattening already fractured buildings.
After initially saying that foreign aid would not be needed, Ms Bachelet yesterday asked the UN for help. Chilean officials also called on the international community to donate temporary bridges, satellite phone equipment, water purification systems, dialysis machines and generators. Field hospitals sent by the Brazilian and Argentine governments were expected to arrive today.
Mariano Fernandez, the Chilean foreign minister, met foreign ambassadors to co-ordinate the aid. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is due to arrive in Santiago today to meet Ms Bachelet and discuss joint aid efforts.
Tens of thousands of Chileans built bonfires outside their homes and camped in the streets, afraid to live under damaged roofs and wary of looters. Many people housed their neighbours and volunteers brought tents and fresh water to families on the street, but patience wore thin as many survivors entered their third day without electricity, communications and fresh water.
The 8.8-magnitude earthquake, one of the biggest ever recorded, hit southern Chile at the peak of the summer tourist season.
In Concepción, rescue workers continued to dig through the rubble in an effort to reach survivors inside a 14-storey building that toppled over during the earthquake.
Speaking outside the tangle of cement and steel, Cmdr Juan Carlos Subercaseux of the fire service said: “We have confirmation [that survivors exist] as someone broke glass. We can’t say how many are in there.” – (Guardian service)