Dozens Arrested in Chile; Rescuers Search for Survivors

(March 1) -- Police and military forces arrested dozens of curfew violators and looters in Chile today as survivors of Saturday's massive earthquake struggled to find food and water. Meanwhile, rescuers heard trapped victims inside a toppled apartment building in Concepción.

Rescuers called for silence as they tried to hear the tapping of victims inside the 15-story building, The Associated Press reported. They'd already pulled 25 survivors from the wreckage.

The U.N. responded to Chile's request for international aid with a promise to send emergency supplies and aid workers. The International Red Cross said it funneled $280,000 to its Chilean office and would appeal for donations. Chile asked the U.N. for help after assessing the damage from the quake, which has displaced 2 million. So far, 723 people have been confirmed dead and nineteen people are reported missing, the National Emergency Office announced.
"We are prepared to provide assistance," U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told The Associated Press. "It could be quite fast, given that our experts are on standby and were alerted in the region."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet with Chilean leaders Tuesday as part of a five-nation Latin American tour scheduled before the 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck.

"Our hemisphere comes together in times of crisis," Clinton said. "We will stand side by side with the people of Chile in this emergency."

As international assistance heads to Chile, the country was addressing security concerns in its most damaged areas, even as three aftershocks jolted the region.

The governor of the hard-hit Concepción region, Jaime Toha, told the AP that security forces arrested 55 people overnight for violating a curfew imposed to curb looting and lawlessness. Officials responded to what President-elect Sebastian Piñera described on Chile's Radio Bio Bio as a "very, very difficult situation with public order."

"We are confronting an emergency without parallel in Chile's history," outgoing President Michelle Bachelet said at a news conference Sunday. She authorized Chile's army to help maintain security and dispatched the air force to fly food, water and other essentials to struggling regions.

Residents reportedly emptied supermarkets and electronics stores in a desperate attempt to find food and other goods. Police fired tear gas and water cannons in hopes of dispersing large groups rummaging through defunct shops, including an entire shopping mall in San Pedro.

"It was a mob. They looted everything," police Sgt. Rene Gutierrez, 46, who had his men guarding the now-empty mall, told the AP. "Now, we're only here to protect the building -- what's left of the building."

"We are overwhelmed," a police officer told the AP.

Bachelet said residents were permitted to take much-needed goods for free, under military supervision. For some survivors, it is simply a last resort.

"It is not theft, it is desperation," one woman in Concepción told the Agence France-Presse. "We no longer have anything to eat or drink."

Another man added, "It is for my children. ... It is the only way to feed them."

The search for survivors has grown more desperate in Concepción and its surrounding areas. Rescue workers continued to labor overnight at the collapsed Rio Alta apartment building, a 15-story complex where about 50 people are believed to be trapped. Eight bodies have been pulled from the building's wreckage since the quake struck.

"We are working hard, and we will not rest until we get them all out," firefighter Francisco Contreras told the AFP.