Lawlessness after quake in Chile fishing village

Rene Orellana sleeps with a shotgun in his hands. "I have to," he says, motioning towards a shattered window frame covered with a tarpaulin.

"The looters have been into this room and took thousands of pesos and my wife's jewellery."

The small fishing port of Talcahuano is only a few kilometres down the coast from Chile's second biggest city, Concepcion, where the military and the police are out on the streets in their thousands.

Yet, it is a world away in terms of security.

The harbour has been decimated - first by the earthquake and then by the 15m-high (49ft) tsunami which threw boats and shipping containers out of the sea and into the port with massive force.

Dozens of containers are now strewn around the harbour as though they were cardboard boxes, having crushed several people in their cars in the process.

In this scene of devastation, looters have made the most of the chaos. Many of the containers have been opened and their contents, be they bananas, nappies or computer equipment, taken by the desperate hordes.

"I've fired 500 of the 2,000 rounds of ammunition I've got," says Mr Orellana, who works for the Ministry of Public Works, showing off his gun licence.

"I fire over their heads to scare them off, and so far, it's worked."

Fending for itself

Neighbourhood vigilante groups such as the one led by Mr Orellana are cropping up across Talcahuano, as the security situation shows few signs of improving, days after the tsunami brought industry in this coastal village to a shuddering halt.

Banks are mere shells of smashed glass and metal, after the waves and then the thieves took everything inside.

Pharmacies and petrol stations have been ransacked too, as the few police present in the town watch on while residents siphon the remaining fuel from the tanks at the petrol pumps.

They only spring into action when tempers boil over or someone starts attacking one of the few cash machines still standing.

"This was always a difficult place to live," says one of Mr Orellana's neighbours, Daniel Gonzalez, who has lived in Talcahuano all his life.

"It is a poor neighbourhood like Boca in Buenos Aires or a favela in Brazil. A tough place, but normally with a good community spirit."

But now, he says, no-one is safe.

A question neither residents nor the authorities seem able to answer is why a village which is barely 10 minutes away from Chile's most militarized city has been left to fend for itself.

Pillaging

"We're concentrating on getting the aid and the security to other parts of the region which are in an even worse state," says one police officer on duty, Ricardo Cariaga

Faced with a near impossible task until reinforcements arrive, he says they are just trying to keep the peace and make sure there is no further violence between the looters and the property owners.

Opinions on the security situation vary. Some people in Talcahuano say the crime is simply the result of a failure on the behalf of the authorities and the growing desperation of people in need of food, water and fuel.

Others are less tolerant.

"There can be no excuse for such pillaging and theft in today's society," says Alejandro Quiroz, who works with the Port Authority in Talcahuano.

In the midst of the carnage of the harbour, he is trying to make sense of the situation for a report to his employers - the first step, he says, in trying to rebuild a decimated fishing industry.

There were two catastrophes here. Beyond the natural damage caused by the tsunami and the earthquake, there has been so much human damage. It's totally unacceptable."

Our conversation is suddenly cut short by the sound of gunfire in the streets behind us. Mr Quiroz barely flinches. "This happens every day," he says.

"Without military authority in the village, something must be done to protect people from all of this."

Meanwhile Rene Orellana continues to survey the port from his rooftop, his weapon slung over his shoulder.

"I've personally saved dozens of people from attack in this apartment block," he says with pride.

His seaside view may have been obliterated by the stacks of empty containers pressed up against his outside wall but residents like Mr Orellana are not prepared to lose anything else to the tsunami.

read more...

Chile quake survivor describes fear amid Talca curfew

Troops in Chile are struggling to contain looting in some of the areas worst hit by Saturday's huge earthquake. Luis Felipe Ramirez Rojas is in Talca, which is about 200km (125 miles) from the epicentre of the quake.

Here, he describes the situation on the ground as his city struggles to recover and keep order days after the quake hit.

I am happy to be alive but it is really awful to see my city of Talca like this. Our city was badly damaged in the quake, particularly the old part of the town.

We are not the worst-hit, but it is still hard on us. It was a very scary experience.

The day after the quake we heard that 85 people had been killed here, but have not been given any updates on the number of dead since.

One nightclub collapsed and around 10 people were killed inside
I saw three bodies being pulled from the rubble the next morning and laid out on the street in front of me.

My family's home was badly damaged but did not collapse.

We managed to save some of our furniture because it is still standing.

My family and I had to go stay with my aunt, whose house is newer and was not badly damaged.

Our neighbours protected our house from being looted by taking over the corners of each of the surrounding streets to keep out the looters.

There was looting going on in the first day or two but our neighbours kept the robbers away.

The military arrived on Monday to take control and are patrolling the streets, after imposing a curfew between midnight and 0600.

But our neighbours remain on the streets with them, after receiving permits to stay out on the corners at night.

The government is telling us it will help us to rebuild our houses, so hopefully we can recover.

We went two days without electricity and water but now it has been restored in my aunt's area of town.

Some of my friends are still without water and electricity supplies, so I have told them to come over and use our facilities if they need to.

Thankfully, all of my friends and family are fine, but they are scared.

The hospital here was damaged - part of it collapsed - so a temporary hospital is being put up to receive people from nearby areas.

They are only treating emergencies.

Help is not really getting out to us fast, but there are others worse off than us.

read more...

Chile quake survivor tells of chaos in Concepcion

Ricardo Leon returns to Concepcion to find not only camaraderie among neighbours, but also criminal elements in their midst. Here is his latest account.

went to Concepcion today and the city is still in a state of chaos. But it is more secure and protected than ever before thanks to the thousands of soldiers that have being posted to keep the peace in the city.

Looting has being reduced, but there are still some places attacked as soon as the army turns its back.

Neighbours have got together to form groups to patrol each other's houses during the night; some of them carrying guns or using knives or poles as weapons.

In every corner there is a barricade and fires are set by the neighbours to warn the thieves not to trespass.

People are tough in the face of danger, but they easily break into tears when asked about the stress that they have being exposed to in the past few days; the constant threats of robbery and witnessing massive looting of supermarkets, just a few blocks from their homes. They are all afraid that they may be the next victims.

It is very sad that all the grief and sorrow caused by the earthquake has being increased by the behaviour of a few thieves.

Crime has increased to the extent that the population are more worried about their safety than the possibility of aftershocks and further damage to their dwellings.

But in general, the behaviour of the people cannot be tainted by a few thieves. Solidarity between neighbours and friends has being remarkable; people took strangers into their homes, found medicine for the sick, helped people get in contact with lost relatives, and other marvellous examples of solidarity.

Some foundations like have sent their volunteers to the streets to gather supplies, help with the traffic, among other tasks.

During the night the situation becomes more dangerous, despite the curfew imposed by the authorities. Most businesses have being emptied because of looting, but now there are groups burning down shops and supermarkets.

I heard a businessman on local radio say he used a weapon to get rid of looters during the night, although his store was already empty of goods.

Despite the limited amount of fuel available, I was surprised to see a large number of people driving vehicles. A lot of people are trying to get water, food and other supplies, or they are simply leaving the city.

Some drivers had literally their entire belongings inside or on top their cars, maybe fearing looting or maybe because their houses have been destroyed.

Ground zero

In the city centre, most of the media attention was centred on what has been called "ground zero", i.e. the building that fell to the ground. After 48 hours of work, only today firefighters were able to get inside the building - a few dead bodies had been taken out.

On Sunday night, the silence imposed by the curfew helped firefighters to hear sounds possibly coming from survivors inside the building.

The area around the office building that was tilted to one side was closed off, and it was very close to falling during a small aftershock this afternoon.

As we were leaving the city we saw the first trucks approach. To avoid attacks, they were painted white, and they came into the city after the curfew was imposed by the military authorities.

I was able to return to the city with my daughter and I found out that my friend, whose building is 'ground zero', was out of the city at the time of the earthquake, so he is OK

Ricardo was at his grandmother's house in Concepcion at the time of the earthquake. Concepcion is Chile's second largest city and is in the worst-hit area.

When the earthquake struck I woke up, ran to the door and found my grandmother standing in the hall. We knew what to do: get under a doorframe and wait - but this quake felt like it lasted for hours.

My grandmother's house has two storeys and is about 50 years old, but apart from a cracked wall, it withstood the tremors well.

During the quake the power was cut, so when it was finally over we went out into the dark street, lit only by the full moon.

The phones and the gas supply were also off. The water supply lasted a few hours longer.

People were gathering in the street, tuning into their car radios for local news.

With each aftershock - and there were more than 90 over the next few hours - we felt everything was going to start again.

Hospital shortages

An hour after the quake my sister - who also lives in Concepcion - rang to tell me that she and my other sister were OK.

Later that morning hospital staff asked for water because their supply was cut off. The A and E department was flooded so they were treating emergencies in the car park.

The sound of ambulances, police cars and firemen did not stop all day.

I saw some of the city when I went with my sister's boyfriend to pick up some things from his flat.

Most of the old houses were flattened, more shocking was all the new buildings with cracked walls and tilting floors.

One office building more than 20 storeys high was listing to one side, and another building, less than a year old, was completely flattened.

I learned later that an old classmate of mine lived there, I still don't know what's happened to him.

I managed to speak to the mother of my daughter who lives in Talcahuano, 15 minutes from Concepcion - they were OK.

Some debris fell on my baby's crib and broke it in half. Fortunately she was sleeping with her mum at that moment.

We spent the day trying to get hold of friends and family. We heard that prisoners had escaped from the jail, and started learning of the hundreds of people who had died.

On Sunday morning the looting began and the city became dangerous, so we decided to go to our parents in Los Angeles, a two-hour drive away.

The problem was finding fuel. Petrol stations had no electricity so couldn't pump. Some of them had been attacked by the mob, so the owners refused to use the emergency systems to provide fuel.The few petrol stations that were operating were giving priority to emergency vehicles. In a city called Lota - 50 km away from Concepcion - an angry mob had burned down a petrol station when they were denied fuel.

We managed to fill up our tanks because my sister's boyfriend works in the city council.

In the petrol station we heard traumatic stories from policemen who had been in a gun battle the previous night trying to control the mob.

We also spoke to a friend who knows the owner of a construction company. He is in despair over one of his apartment blocks which collapsed. He can't understand what went wrong and feels suicidal about the people who were inside.

As we were leaving the city we saw people queuing for water, supplies and fuel. We also saw people looting stores and supermarkets, walking away with TV sets and refrigerators.

The roads were OK, apart from a few cracks. Now, on Monday, Los Angeles is getting back to normal, but Concepcion is a different story.

read more...

Chile quake reconstruction 'to take up to four years'

Chile's reconstruction will take "three to four years" as the country recovers from the earthquake that killed some 800 people, its president has said.

"There are rural areas where everything has tumbled to the ground... infrastructure has been destroyed," Michelle Bachelet told Chilean radio.

It would take foreign aid and most of the mandate of President-elect Sebastian Pinera to rebuild, she added.

Three days of national mourning have been declared, to begin on Sunday.

Tremors have continued to rock the nation after Saturday's 8.8 magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest recorded.

One of 6.3 hit the north of the country, 255km (160 miles) north-east of Antofagasta and 1,260km north of the capital Santiago, the US Geological Survey said.

On Wednesday, strong aftershocks of magnitude 5.5 and higher were felt in several cities, including Santiago, and prompted tsunami warnings, which were later lifted.

'Government of reconstruction'

The cost of the damage, which Ms Bachelet described as "enormous", has so far been estimated at between $15bn and $30bn.Chile has the resources for a number of actions, but we will have to ask for credit from the World Bank and other entities," Ms Bachelet said.

President-elect Pinera is set to take office next week.

He said his government would be one of reconstruction, with a plan of four clear stages - "to cope with the emergency needs of citizens, find people who are still missing, provide prompt and timely assistance to the sick and wounded, and restore law and order so that people can return to peace".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to visit Chile on Friday to assess the damage and meet Ms Bachelet and Mr Pinera.

An 18-hour nightly curfew remains in place in Concepcion, Chile's second largest city, and six other towns badly affected by the earthquake.

Officials have said 802 people are confirmed to have died, of whom 279 have been identified. But there are reports of many people still missing in the coastal town of Constitucion.

About two million Chileans are believed to have been affected by Saturday's 8.8 magnitude earthquake, the seventh most powerful on record and the worst disaster to befall Chile in 50 years.

The epicentre of the quake was 115km north-east of Concepcion and 325km south-west of the capital Santiago.

About 1.5 million homes in Chile have been damaged.

Most of the collapsed buildings were of older design - including many historic structures.

read more...