Quake, tsunamis kill more than 700 in Chile

Monday March 1, 2010
Quake, tsunamis kill more than 700 in Chile
By Mario Naranjo

CONCEPCION, Chile (Reuters) - The death toll from a a massive earthquake that struck Chile surged above 700 on Sunday as reports emerged of coastal towns devastated by the tremor and tsunamis that followed.
Debris lie on the coast close to the epicenter of an earthquake that generated waves flooding many towns to the north and south, in Pelluhue February 28, 2010. (REUTERS/Victor Ruiz Caballero)

President Michelle Bachelet said that 708 people were confirmed dead and that the total was likely to rise.

The death toll from Saturday's 8.8-magnitude quake had stood at 400 earlier on Sunday, before state television quoted emergency officials as saying that 350 people were killed in the coastal town of Constitucion, which was hit by a tsunami.

Television images from the fishing port about 350 km (220 miles) southwest of the capital Santiago showed houses destroyed by the offshore quake and a tsunami, which washed large fishing boats onto land and flipped over cars.

There were similar scenes of devastation in Pelluhue, another coastal town, where cars were tossed on top of shattered houses.

People desperate for food and water ransacked stores in some quake-stricken areas, raising speculation that the government would use martial law to crack down on looters.

Hundreds of thousands of homes and some highways across central Chile were seriously damaged by the quake, dealing a heavy blow to infrastructure in the world's No. 1 copper producer and one of Latin America's most stable economies.

A lack of water, food and fuel sharpened the hardship for the hundreds of thousands of people left homeless, and widespread disruption to the power supply threatened to hamper Chilean industry's recovery.

In the hard-hit city of Concepcion, about 500 km (310 miles) south of Santiago, about 60 people were feared to have been crushed to death in a collapsed apartment block where rescuers worked through the night to find survivors.

"We spent the whole night working, smashing through walls to find survivors. The biggest problem is fuel, we need fuel for our machinery and water for our people," Commander Marcelo Plaza said.

Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse a crowd of looters carrying off food and electrical appliances from a supermarket in Concepcion. Television images showed people stuffing groceries and other goods into shopping trolleys.

"People have gone days without eating," said Orlando Salazar, one of the looters at the supermarket. "The only option is to come here and get stuff for ourselves."

Concepcion's mayor, Jacqueline van Rysselberghe, said the situation was getting "out of control" due to shortages of basic supplies and called for the national government to help.

"We need the army. We can't have people defending their own possession because it will be the law of the strongest," she said.