CONCEPCION, Chile, (Reuters) – A massive earthquake and tsunamis killed 350 people in one Chilean coastal town, pushing the total death toll higher yesterday as the government tried to get aid to hungry survivors and halt looting.
President Michelle Bachelet said at least 708 people had been killed and called for calm as people desperate for food and water looted stores in some areas worst hit by Saturday’s 8.8-magnitude quake, one of the world’s biggest in a century.
Television images showed cars tossed on top of shattered houses and boats lifted far from the waterfront in the coastal towns of Pelluhue and in Constitucion, where 350 deaths alone were reported.
“It’s an enormous catastrophe … there’s a growing number of missing people,” Bachelet said, adding that food and medical aid was being sent to help the roughly 2 million people affected by the quake.
The quake wrecked hundreds of thousands of homes, mangled highways and bridges and dealt 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.
The government imposed a curfew in Concepcion and the Maule region yesterday in a bid to stop looting.
Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse a crowd of looters carrying off food and electrical appliances from one 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 troops to be sent to the city.
The quake poses a daunting reconstruction challenge for President-elect Sebastian Pinera, who takes office in two weeks.
Crushed cars, fallen power lines and rubble from wrecked buildings littered the streets of Concepcion, which has about 670,000 inhabitants and lies 115 km (70 miles) southwest of the quake’s epicenter.
A string of strong aftershocks have rocked the country and thousands of Concepcion residents camped out in tents or makeshift shelters, fearing fresh tremors could topple weakened buildings.
Some economists predicted a deep impact on Chile’s economy after the quake damaged its industrial and agricultural sectors in the worst-hit regions, possibly putting pressure on its currency.
The economic damage from the could be up to $30 billion, equivalent to about 15 percent of gross domestic product, said Eqecat, a firm that helps insurers model catastrophe risks.
Chile’s fourth-largest copper mine El Teniente, which accounts for more than 7 percent of national output, and the nearby Andina mine were due to resume operations today but analysts feared power outages could still curtail supplies.
There was no information available yesterday on two Anglo-American mines where power outages have halted production.
State television said Santiago’s airport had started to receive international flights for the first time since the quake struck.
The quake triggered tsunamis as far afield as Japan and Russia, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage.
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