Heavily armed troops patrolled this shattered city yesterday, a day after rioting and looting by survivors of an earthquake that killed at least 880 people and possibly as many as 2,000.
But sporadic incidents of looting continued to erupt, and hundreds of angry townspeople ransacked a food warehouse in the central marketplace in open defiance of President Andres Pastrana's call for a military crackdown in the city.
Mr Pastrana flew to Armenia on Wednesday night as gangs of armed looters roamed the streets. He immediately ordered the military to crack down on the situation in the city, which was largely destroyed by Colombia's worst natural disaster in 13 years.
By yesterday morning, columns of troops in combat gear with automatic assault rifles had taken up strategic positions. The Defence Minister, Mr Rodrigo Lloreda, said the presence of the troops would be boosted by at least 1,000 reinforcements. About 700 additional police were also due to arrive to help restore order, security officials said.
"The troops are not just to control the crowds, but also to distribute food and accompany the Red Cross," Mr Lloreda said, referring to continuing discontent over the slow pace of government relief efforts in the city of 280,000 people, many of whom were made homeless by Monday's earthquake.
Shortly after he spoke, about 300 people in the city centre broke into a food warehouse and began emptying it of anything they could lay their hands on.
Soldiers lobbed tear gas canisters at the looters as they emerged from the building but they appeared reluctant to halt the looting. The first task facing Mr Pastrana is to bring order to the chaos of a relief effort that has hampered the search for victims buried under tangled ruins of smashed concrete and twisted metal.
He must also work fast to make sure vital supplies of food and water are distributed to calm the angry mobs that fought running battles with under-strength security forces in Armenia and the adjacent town of Calarca.
Poor planning left 95 tons of food aid sitting on the tarmac at Armenia's airport on Wednesday night.
A spokesman for the Colombian Red Cross in Bogota said the death toll from Monday's quake stood at 883. But Mr Ariel Ospina, head of rescue efforts for Quindio province, of which Armenia is the capital, said 800 dead had been counted in Quindio alone.