Chile earthquake: troops struggling to keep control

By Aislinn Laing Published: 4:41PM GMT 02 Mar 2010

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The second-largest city of Concepcíon resembled a fight section in places as infantry armoured crew carriers rumbled by the streets, black fume and abandon filled the air and soldiers used rip gas and H2O cannons to diffuse crowds.

The Government has certified the extinction was "worse than expected" and imposed a dusk-til-dawn curfew. The effusive President, Michelle Bachelet, has appealed for ease and increasing couple numbers to 14,000 to crack down on looters.

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"We assimilate your obligatory suffering, but we additionally know that these are rapist acts that will not be tolerated," she pronounced in a inhabitant address.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, paid a short revisit to suggest dignified await and twenty heavenly body phones to Mrs Bachelet and President-elect Sebastian Pinera, who will reinstate her on Mar 11.

Chile has asked the UN"s charitable co-ordination bureau for margin hospitals, mobile bridges, communications apparatus and mess comment teams to understanding with the issue of Saturday"s 8.8-magnitude quake.

With a little towns and villages cut off exactly by road, and most Chileans still sleeping on the streets, annoy is flourishing and looting is apropos a vital problem.

Some stole out of desperation, receiving necessary reserve similar to food and water, others were opportunist thieves, creation off with all from microwaves, plasma televisions and electronic ham-slicers.

In Concepcíon, military dismissed rip gas to sunder a throng that set glow to one supermarket after they were barred from entering.

One chairman was harmed as the roof tiles collapsed and firefighters discovered an additional man who emerged from the construction lonesome in flames.

Residents in a little areas armed themselves with sticks and shotguns and organized security patrols to strengthen their homes. There were additionally claims that prisoners from the circuitously Manzano jail were on the run.

"The soldiers usually arrived and haven"t been means to carry out the situation," pronounced Caroline Contreras, a 36-year-old teacher. "The neighbours where I live are organising to urge themselves since people are starting to rob houses."

Looters additionally raided a glow hire seeking for H2O and gasoline.

"We assimilate that people need to eat, but looting hospitals and clinics ... How can we offer the people?" pronounced Conception glow dialect arch Jaime Jara.

In coastal areas, the drawn out drop caused by the tsunami, that came in waves thirty mins after the earthquake, was laid bare. For many, the waves came but notice and in the fishing encampment of Constitucion, 353 were killed.

Eyewitnesses told of waves reaching roughly 20ft unconditional afar houses, people, boats and in one case, a minibus carrying 40 holidaymakers who were perplexing to shun to higher ground.

A sum of 723 people have been reliable dead, a serve dual million people have been influenced and 1.5m homes destroyed. With bodies still lying in the streets and on beaches, there are new fears of a open health crisis.

There is still no word of Briton Tina Cadwallader Lopes, her Portuguese father Wallace Lopes, who work as volunteers with Christian gift YWAM and live in Pichilemu with their dual young kids Isabella, 10, and Joshua, five.

On the island of Robinson Crusoe Island, a 12-year-old lady was hailed as a favourite for raising the notice about the coming tidal wave.

Martina Maturana listened from her grandfather in the mainland locale of Valparaiso that a tsunami was approaching and, saying boats being tossed by waves in the harbour, ran to the encampment block to receptive to advice a notice gong.

Most locals were woken in time to rush to higher belligerent usually eight people on the island are well known to have died so far.

Rescue workers in Pelluhue, on the mainland in the wine-growing segment of Maule, have counted 57 dead. In circuitously Curenipe, twenty-eight people were killed and the internal church served as a morgue.

Claudio Escalona, 43, from Pelluhue, fled his home with his mother and daughters, ages 4 and six.

"We ran by the top piece of town, yelling, "Get out of your homes!"" he said. "About twenty mins after came 3 waves, dual of them huge, about 6 metres (19ft 6ins) each, and a third even bigger. That one went in to everything.

"You could listen to the screams of children, women, everyone. There were the screams, and afterwards a extensive silence."