CONCEPCION,
— The Chilean army marched into this wrecked city Tuesday, rounding up
looters and receiving the applause of besieged survivors of the
weekend’s massive earthquake.
Despite
tortured history with the military, the armed forces now are being
looked at by many here as their savior — a necessary, if
slow-in-coming, show of force in the face of utter disaster and
deteriorating security.
“They should have done this a long time ago,” civil engineer
pharmacy and loaded them into the back of a van. The crowd that
gathered applauded and shouted words of thanks. “If they need to, they
should shoot to kill,” Aguilar added, echoing the sentiments of
numerous people here.
three, said roving bands of vandals had been terrifying neighborhoods
in the aftermath of the magnitude 8.8 quake that roared through central
and southern
“It feels like we are living in a war zone,” she
said through tears, recounting the dark, sleepless nights in which her
husband and others stand guard, armed with sticks and clubs against
“thieves and vandals with pistols.”
“I believe in democracy,” she continued, “but right
now we have complete disorder. It is important to have a police and
army presence on the streets.”
A pall of acrid smoke hung over Concepcion on
Tuesday after vandals torched a downtown shopping center on Monday —
once they had finished clearing it of goods. Looting here in
“Our concern is to give security and calm to the
population,” Bachelet said Tuesday after announcing that nearly 14,000
army and navy troops had been deployed throughout quake-devastated
coastal communities. “We understand perfectly the anguish and
overwhelming needs of the people, but we know well that the criminal
actions of small groups of people are provoking enormous physical
damage … and will not be tolerated.”
Bachelet spoke shortly before meeting with U.S. Secretary of State
Bachelet said 50 military flights with supplies were
headed to the region Tuesday. But they were not immediately in
evidence. Most of the zone remained without electricity or running
water, with food and fuel acutely scarce. In places where staples like
bread were available, residents complained of soaring prices.
Within the first 48 hours of the temblor, one of the
strongest recorded, Bachelet declared a state of emergency in the
hardest-hit regions, putting them under military control, deploying
troops and instituting a curfew. For some Chileans, the extreme
measures were a throwback to the darkest moments of their national
history.
It was the first time such measures were taken in the 20 years since democracy was restored to
Thus far, however, reaction to the use of the
military has been positive, in part because the enormous scope of
destruction and recovery operations far exceeds what Chilean police and
civilian forces are capable of handling on their own. If anything,
Bachelet was criticized for responding slowly, having initially
declared international help was not necessary and failing to deploy the
army on the first day.
Analysts said they did not see the emergency decrees as a threat to
temporary measure authorized under the constitution in times of crisis.
“The important thing is that the military be seen as a resource and not a permanent nor complete solution,” he said.
Here in Concepcion, long lines formed at one city
office that was distributing water. Many residents, however, simply
took pots and pans to nearby rivers and lakes, scooping up dirty water
to use in cooking and bathing.
Survivors had begun to set up self-defense squads in
hopes, they said, of protecting their neighborhoods. They erected
barricades on their streets, piled high with wood, metal and other
debris to block access. Some built bonfires.
ear, said he and his comrades communicate with whistles to warn one
another of impending danger. He held a handmade spear with a sharpened
metal point.
“We’re here to take back our city,” he said.
Men with clubs and axes were patrolling
a neighborhood named for a native son who served as Chilean army
commander in chief until he was killed in 1970 because he stood in the
way of Pinochet’s coup.
“They should have sent the military here on the first day of the earthquake,” said
Outside the nearby Super 10 grocery store, already
picked nearly clean, a crowd gathered with the apparent intention of
seizing whatever goods were left.
Soldiers arrived, firing shots into the air to scatter the would-be looters.
“Please don’t go in, looting is not legal,” shouted
a military commander who declined to give his name. “We’ll arrest
anybody who loots.”
The crowd shouted back, saying they needed help, medicine, food for their children.
“The help is coming,” the officer insisted. “The
airplanes are coming in right now with food, they’ll be in Concepcion
shortly, but please, no looting—we’re here to maintain order.”
glasses, summed up the reason that public support for the army was so
high, at least for now.
“I support democracy 100%,” he said. “But now is not
the time to talk about democracy. Now is the time to talk about control
of gangs.”
(Times staff writer
—
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