LIMA, Peru — Rescue workers and government troops struggled on Monday to reach earthquake-ravaged corners of
Chile still cut off by crumbled roads, fallen bridges and downed telephone lines. Meanwhile, the Chilean government asked the
United Nations for emergency assistance to cope with the widespread devastation.
Aftershocks continued to rattle heavily damaged cities along Chile’s coastline, complicating rescue efforts two days after a magnitude-8.8 earthquake touched off what President Michelle Bachelet called “an emergency unparalleled in the history of Chile.”
The death toll from Saturday’s quake rose to 711 — most in the country’s main wine-growing area — and was likely to increase, Chilean officials said Monday. Security officials told Chilean newspapers that dozens of people had been arrested on charges of looting and violating overnight curfews.
In the southern city of Concepción, 55 people were arrested for violating a curfew, Chile’s deputy secretary of the interior told La Tercera newspaper. Otherwise, he said, the city had been quiet overnight.
In scenes reminiscent of the frantic rescue efforts following January’s earthquake in Haiti, rescuers with trained dogs and search equipment began hunting through the rubble of collapsed houses and apartment buildings in search of survivors.
As they worked, the first waves of 10,000 soldiers dispatched by Ms. Bachelet to the hardest-hit areas began to arrive to restore order and help distribute aid, according to news reports.
But residents expressed frustration at what they called the slow pace of aid delivery. Several told Chilean radio that government provisions had been slow to arrive and said that almost all markets and stores had been stripped bare of food, water and other supplies. There were scattered reports of burglaries at abandoned homes in the earthquake zone. The United Nations said that Chile, in its request for emergency help, had asked for mobile bridges, generators, water filtration equipment, field hospitals and surgical centers, as well as help from damage-assessment teams.
“Everything is now moving,” said Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “We are looking immediately to match the needs. We need to see what we have in our stock to respond to this request.”
As the country’s farmers and vineyard owners began to tally the damage to Chile’s lucrative wine and fruit industries, wary investors sent the country’s main stock index tumbling nearly 2 percent on Monday afternoon. Chile exported more than $1 billion in wine last year, and is a major exporter of fresh grapes, apples, raspberries and other fruits to the United States.
A day earlier in Concepción, the police fired water cannons and tear gas to disperse hundreds of people who forced their way into shuttered shops. But law enforcement authorities, heeding the cries of residents that they lacked food and water, eventually settled on a system that allowed staples to be taken but not televisions and other electronic goods. Ms. Bachelet later announced that the government had reached a deal with supermarket chains to give away food to needy residents. Using power saws and their bare hands, rescue workers atop the rubble of collapsed buildings tried to pull out those caught inside. Although there were successes — like Julio Beliz, who managed to free his neighbor on Sunday from the rubble in Santiago, the capital, after hearing him yell out, “Julio, help me!” — the search for survivors was slowed by continuing aftershocks.
The earthquake, one of the strongest in recorded history, left a devastating footprint on a country that knows quakes well.
Residents of a collapsed 15-story apartment building in Concepción, opened just months ago, were outraged that it had been so badly damaged and were convinced that contractors had not complied with building codes that require buildings to be able to withstand temblors. Already, there was talk among residents of taking builders to court once the emergency is over.
On Sunday in Cobquecura, 50 miles north of Concepción, state television showed collapsed bridges, crashed buses and sunken pavement. Residents had fled to the hills, prompting local journalists to declare it a virtual ghost town.
In remote coastal towns, waves had obliterated homes, and boats were found on land next to overturned cars. The authorities acknowledged that the damage was spread over such a vast area that they were just beginning to get a grasp on it.
sources:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/world/americas/02chile.html
