Chileans grow impatient for aid

4 Mar 2010, 8:58 am   -   Source: AAP
Share This
In some areas in central Chile, soldiers, volunteers and civilian officials began organising an orderly flow of food to the hungry, easing pressures that sparked widespread looting and forced the government to impose curfews. (AAP)

In some areas in central Chile, soldiers, volunteers and civilian officials began organising an orderly flow of food to the hungry, easing pressures that sparked widespread looting and forced the government to impose curfews. (AAP)

Chileans in areas isolated by a massive earthquake and tsunami are growing impatient for aid, slow to reach many devastated towns and villages.

RELATED

Chileans in areas isolated by a massive earthquake and tsunami are growing impatient for aid, slow to reach many devastated towns and villages four days after the disaster.

"In the countryside, we have received nothing," said Juana Rodriguez, who lives in Puerta Verde, a hamlet of 36 families located eight kilometers from Constitucion.

"We need water, diapers, milk" for babies, she added.

Another resident, Cecilia Sanchez, said the community was short on all supplies including medicine for children suffering from fever and other ailments.

"We don't even have aspirin," she said.

Laura Albornoz, a government official heading up relief efforts, said authorities were working as quickly as possible to deliver aid to areas hit by Saturday's massive 8.8-magnitude temblor that killed hundreds and affected two million.

"We had 7,000 rations arrive yesterday and 14,000 today. By tomorrow I hope it will be 20,000 per day," she said, while urging the Puerta Verde residents to put their complaints in writing.

Amid concerns about looting and violence, authorities were bringing supplies to two shelters in the area and then going through neighbourhoods to see where aid is needed, said Fabian Perez, a municipal worker heading up aid deliveries.

He said another measure to guard against problems was requiring local residents to sign up at local distribution centres being set up at schools.

In some areas in central Chile, soldiers, volunteers and civilian officials began organising an orderly flow of food to the hungry, easing pressures that sparked widespread looting and forced the government to impose curfews.

Soup kitchens and truckloads of food and water began appearing Tuesday on the streets of hard-hit Concepcion, the country's second largest city with 600,000 people.

"The distribution network is operational and the bulk of the aid is beginning to arrive," said Carmen Fernandez, head of the national emergency office.

Authorities used the quiet hours to prepare for more extensive handouts when the curfew lifted on Wednesday in Concepcion, 500 kilometers south of Santiago.

Curfews were in place in six other towns: Talca, Cauquenes, Constitucion, Curico, Molina and Sagrada Familia.

A tally of the almost 800 dead showed that the coastal communities were the most severely affected, battered first by the quake and then struck from the sea by giant waves.

In the town of Constitucion, where as many as a third of the 60,000 people are said to be without homes, army helicopters brought 2.5 tonnes of aid on Tuesday including canned tuna, tea bags, and milk.

The government of President Michelle Bachelet, criticised for moving too slowly to confront the disaster, has poured 14,000 troops into quake-struck regions to stop looting and help organise relief efforts.

But outlying communities were among the last to be reached and the military said the full extent of the death and destruction was only gradually being revealed as its troops penetrated more isolated areas.

Broken roads and bridges, disrupted rail links, and damaged port facilities have compounded the difficulties in delivering relief to the hungry and homeless.

"The reconstruction task will be enormous," Bachelet said in an address to the country at the Chilean presidential palace.

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube