Chile Quake Aftermath: Day 5

There would be enough food and fuel for everyone, if they wait long enough: President Bachelet

Death Toll from the quake and tsunami is slowly inching up above 800, but the number of missing is grossly underestimated.

“There is enough food and therefore we must remain calm. There is also enough fuel, there is no risk of shortages … Be confident … Chile is going to stand on its feet again,” the outgoing president Bachelet blurted out on the nationally TV and radio.

Ms. Bachelet, described as  center-left, has again pleaded with Chileans  not only to stop looting, but cease hoarding supplies, too.

She doesn’t accept that her government’s response to one of the world’s largest earthquake was even more pathetic than the dysfunctional “government” of Haiti to their earthquake disaster in January.

Ms Bachelet has urged Chilean’s to help with relief efforts, like every good citizen should. But even Gen Pinochet knew an army cannot march on an empty stomach.

Enter the EXTREME Right

If her government was really center-left, may good have mercy on Chileans because the ultra conservative president-elect, billionaire businessman Sebastian Pinera, can only be described as EXTREME right. To people like him, people are mere numbers on a balance sheet and the bottom line must always be black. Chile may be reentering the “dark ages” again.

More Aftershocks

Concepcion, Chile’s second largest and the closest major city to the epicenter of the M8.8 megaquake that struck on Saturday, was shaken by a swarm of strong aftershocks which  sent the locals scurrying to higher grounds fearing a new wave of tsunamis.

The capital Santiago was also shaken by at least two strong aftershocks on Wednesday.

Earthquake location map (10-degree Map Centered at 35°S,70°W) shows the approximate location of the M8.8 megaquake and 195 aftershock, many larger than M5.0 as 01:00UTC (GMT) on March 4, 2010.  Source: USGS/EHP.

Dead and Missing

The number of dead was reported as 813 by late Wednesday, but there are probably as many as 1,000 people still unaccounted for especially in the coastal villages that were completely obliterated by the three large tsunami waves (which the government had said won’t happen).

As many as 500 people are unaccounted for in Constitucion, one of several fishing  villages which were almost entirely wiped out.

Curfew

Concepcion is currently under an 18-hour curfew enforced by as many as 17,000 troops (3,000 more than the number reported by the media) as well as the local police force. But with so many buildings destroyed or damaged, and residents  refusing to enter their homes in case of a collapse, this curfew must be a very strange one.

Basic Necessities at  Extortionate Prices

A few shops have opened in Concepcion, but foodstuffs are sold at extortionate price, inflated by 300 percent.

Related Links:

• Chilean Quake Shortened the Earth Days?
• Chile Earthquake: Disaster to Tragedy
• Chile Earthquake: Topographic Map
• Chile quake Update 3 (March 2)
• Chile Earthquake Update 2 (Mar 1)

• Santiago, Chile: Satellite Images
• Chile Earthquake and Tsunami Update 1 (28 Feb)
• Destructive Tsunami Generated by Chile Quake
• Chile 8.8 Megaquake Strikes Offshore Maule
• Earth undergoing significant geophysical disturbances

• Recent Earthquakes ≥ 6.0 Mw
• Powerful Quake Strikes Chile [November 13, 2009]
• The Largest Earthquake

Chile Earthquake: Disaster to Tragedy

Submitted by a reader with additional information added by FEWW

Chile Megaquake Death Toll Rises above 800

How to turn natural disasters into national tragedies the Chilean way

‘When we have a catastrophe of this magnitude… the populace … starts losing the sense of public order’ —President-elect Sebastian Pinera

Never mind, the populace is hungry; the people need running water, food, electricity and shelter …

There’s goes your hopes for better times under the new management!

The President-elect Sebastian Pinera is clearly a philosopher; unfortunately, he comes from the wrong school of philosophy—perhaps he would have felt more comfortable joining the Chilean military.

The Concepcion “Looters”

If you landed in Concepcion by mistake, you would have been forgiven for thinking it was a war zone, with heavily armed soldiers paroling the streets, threatening to kill hungry citizens.

NO running water? Let them Have Coca Cola, “it’s the real thing!”

Outgoing Chile’s president,  Michelle Bachelet, has issued the victims of quake in Concepcion with an ultimatum:  Chill out, or you’ll be sorry the quake didn’t bury you!

To prove to the starved, traumatized and displaced that she isn’t kidding Ms. Michelle Bachelet confirmed that 14,000 troops were now operating in the region, planted in every street corner with loaded rocket launchers.

According to various media reports, police (and the army) have arrested just about everyone and their uncles in Concepcion, anyone who was scouring for food and clean water, and that is a very large number indeed, in a city of an estimate 750,000 victims.

Death Toll

As the death toll form the 8.8-magnitude quake rises above 800, search and recovery teams said at least 2 dozen others are still unaccounted for.

Missing

Anyone old enough to remember the spellbinding film Missing, would also be forgiven to believe the photo below was a freeze frame from the film.

Missing was an American drama directed by Costa Gavras in 1982, starring Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron, John Shea and Charles Cioffi, among others. The script was based on the true story of an American journalist, Charles Horman, who went missing in the bloody aftermath of the US-backed Chilean coup that deposed President Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973.

The US-backed military junta headed by the murderous head of the army General Augusto Pinochet usurped power. Pinochet allegedly ordered the murder of Allende, and ended the democratically elected Popular Unity government.

Pinochet established a military dictatorship marked by severe human rights violations that repressed Chileans until 1990.

Up to a quarter of a million Chileans were arrested, imprisoned and tortured by the Pinochet regime. Many thousands were murdered. Thousands more went missing.

A freeze frame from the film Missing? [Original caption: Police detain people on suspicion of looting in Concepcion, Chile, on March 1.]  Credit: Ricardo Pasten/AP. Image may be subject to copyright.

Related Links:

• Chile Earthquake: Topographic Map
• Chile quake Update 3 (March 2)
• Chile Earthquake Update 2 (Mar 1)
• Santiago, Chile: Satellite Images
• Chile Earthquake and Tsunami Update 1 (28 Feb)
• Destructive Tsunami Generated by Chile Quake

• Chile 8.8 Megaquake Strikes Offshore Maule
• Earth undergoing significant geophysical disturbances
• Recent Earthquakes ≥ 6.0 Mw
• Powerful Quake Strikes Chile [November 13, 2009]
• The Largest Earthquake

Chile Earthquake: Topographic Map

Topographic Map of Chilean Coast Showing the Location of the M8.8 Earthquake and Most of the Aftershocks

The above topographic map shows the epicenter of the M8.8 megaquake and the area between the cities Santiago and Concepcion, the Chilean capital  and its 2nd largest city respectively, where most of the aftershocks occurred. The red line marks the boundary line between the Nazca and South America Plates. Nazca plate subducts South America Plate at a rate of 80 mm/year.  Black circles also show the magnitude of the shocks. Image Credit: NASA.

The area has experienced at least 13 events of magnitude 7.0 or greater since 1973. The M8.8 shock on February 27 struck about 230 km north of the epicenter of the M9.5 earthquake that occurred in May, 1960 – world’s largest instrumentally recorded quake which killed 1,655 people in southern Chile.

Related Links:

• Chile quake Update 3 (March 2)
• Chile Earthquake Update 2 (Mar 1)
• Santiago, Chile: Satellite Images
• Chile Earthquake and Tsunami Update 1 (28 Feb)
• Destructive Tsunami Generated by Chile Quake

• Chile 8.8 Megaquake Strikes Offshore Maule
• Earth undergoing significant geophysical disturbances
• Recent Earthquakes ≥ 6.0 Mw
• Powerful Quake Strikes Chile [November 13, 2009]
• The Largest Earthquake