Earthquake brings chaos, violence to Chile

CONCEPCION, Chile -- Scenes of looters clashing with police and torching buildings after a huge earthquake have undermined Chile's hard-earned image as Latin America's beacon of order and stability.

As looting and robberies spread in Concepcion, it became clear that slow progress in getting aid to Chile's second-largest city and inadequate security had led to a breakdown of order, bringing out the worst in some Chileans.

The city was locked down under curfew early on Tuesday, a day after looters raided more stores and set fire to at least one supermarket and a department store, despite the arrival of thousands of soldiers.

Some people armed with shotguns and sticks banded together with neighbors to protect their homes and businesses. Many complain of a slow aid and security response from the government.

"We are being attacked by a horde of people from another area," said Concepcion resident Patricia who called into local radio on Monday. "It's not fair they are doing this. Please police, soldiers, whoever can help, come and help us."

Chile has for many years been a shining example of orderliness and economic probity in Latin America, a region prone to instability, unrest and institutional crises.

It is among Latin America's wealthiest countries on a per capita basis, and can claim to have its most stable economy thanks to prudent policies.

Some praise free-market reforms implemented in the 1970s during the dictatorship of the late General Augusto Pinochet, while others credit center-left governments that have held power for the last two decades. Either way, Chile's economy has for long been the envy of other Latin American countries.

But the government of President Michelle Bachelet, whose approval rating reached a lofty 83 percent in February, has struggled to get to grips with the scale of this disaster.

The quake was one of the world's biggest in a century and it triggered tsunamis that wrecked coastal towns. It killed at least 763 people, destroyed or seriously damaged hundreds of thousands of homes, buckled highways and knocked out power across large areas of central Chile.

ANGRY SURVIVORS

Bachelet, who hands over power to President-elect Sebastian Pinera on March 11, has struggled to coordinate an effective government response.

In the initial hours after the quake on Saturday morning, Interior Minister Edmundo Perez said the death toll was unlikely to increase much above 82. Chile's Navy, using erroneous data, also lifted a tsunami warning even as giant waves crashed into vulnerable coastal towns.

Bachelet declined to ask for foreign aid immediately after the quake, misjudging the extent of the damage. When U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited on Tuesday, the government asked Washington for field hospitals, power generators, water purification plants and other equipment.

"How can the government say it does not need international help when it cannot even do the minimum job?" said Sandra Gonzalez, a 35-year-old resident of the badly hit central city of Talca, where looting also broke out.

"It makes no sense. Our government sent aid to Haiti 12 hours after the quake there," she added, referring to the massive earthquake in January that killed more than 200,000 in the impoverished Caribbean country.

Chile's far more rigorous building standards undoubtedly saved lives but the government acknowledges that its response has been slow due to mangled roads and power cuts. It has condemned the burgeoning criminality, pledging to prosecute looters with the full force of the law.

Normally orderly Chileans have at times turned angrily on the services trying to help them. In Concepcion, survivors camping along roads took out their frustration on firefighters who were distributing drinking water in thermoses and tea kettles, damaging their vehicles. Looters also raided a fire station looking for water and gasoline on Monday.

"The soldiers just arrived and haven't been able to control the situation. The neighbors where I live are organizing to defend themselves because people are starting to rob houses," said Caroline Contreras, a 36-year-old teacher.