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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Chile to offer American support after the powerful earthquake that struck there on Saturday. Clinton brought with her satellite equipment to help the Chilean authorities improve shattered communications. Earlier, Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet said a huge aid effort was underway. She appealed for calm in the badly hit city of Concepción where she said order was being restored after looting. Bachelet said more than 11,000 troops had been sent to the area to maintain order and distribute aid. The BBC’s Andy Gallagher is in Concepción.
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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World. Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet says thousands of troops have been sent to the areas hit hardest by last weekend’s powerful earthquake. She’s appealed for calm in the city of Concepcion where there has been widespread looting. Today Bachelet met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who brought with her 25 satellite phones and promises of more aid. Bachelet says it’s too early to know exactly how much Chile will need from foreign donors.
MICHELLE BACHELET: We are more focused right now in doing all the emergency, the short term initial things that people need to assure, food, water, electricity and of course public order.
WERMAN: That’s Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet. The BBC’s Andy Gallagher is in Concepcion.
ANDY GALLAGHER: Well this city has been obliterated by this powerful earthquake. I can still see buildings burning here from last night’s looting. It’s now become more of a security situation than anything else here. Now there is a military presence on the ground here. It’s increasing moment by moment. The Chilean government says they want 7,000 troops on the ground in the city itself in the next few hours. But getting here is horrendous. The journey from Santiago is at least 15 hours by road. The roads have been torn and twisted by this earthquake and the situation on the coast may possibly be even worse. We haven’t even got a picture of what’s happened over there. We just know that communities were hit by the earthquake and then washed away by the ensuing tsunami.
WERMAN: Now you say the city of Concepcion has been obliterated. This is the second largest city in Chile. What does that actually mean? Are services completely shut down for the entire city and if so, for how long?
GALLAGHER: That’s a great question. How long any of this will take to repair or get the power back is a vital question, especially as the hours tick by. There is no electricity here. As far as I can tell there is no running water. There is certainly no telephone coverage so people can’t contact their families. But as I said, it’s really become less of a search and rescue operation and more of a containment operation. The military, the authorities, the Chilean government are worried about how people here will behave. You’ve heard the Chilean president saying looting is not right. But people here are simply desperate.
WERMAN: So 7,000 troops on the streets of Concepcion is the goal of the government. How are people reacting to the military there?
GALLAGHER: Well people here in Chile obey what the military tell them. Apart from since this earthquake happened we saw terrible scenes here in Concepcion last night with people looting and deliberately burning buildings and people who had taken things from stores and then were fighting amongst themselves for the scant supplies. So I think as the day draws towards dusk the situation here can only go downhill and I think that’s what the military are really worried about. They want to get here in big numbers, control the situation as soon as they can and get aid on the ground. But as I say, getting aid into the city at the moment is extremely hard. The airport is out of operation. The roads are barely passable in places. It would only take one or two more huge holes to suddenly appear for the entire route to be cut off completely.
WERMAN: Andy just remind us quickly, the population of Concepcion?
GALLAGHER: The population here is around half a million to six hundred thousand people. It’s a major city. It’s mostly fishing and industry. And it obviously has been hit very hard. But I have to say some of the communities on the coast still haven’t been heard from. We know that they were hit by this massive earthquake and then got hit again by the tsunami, so we don’t even know what the condition is over there.
WERMAN: And does the government feel that 7,000 troops on the ground will be enough to handle the population of over half a million?
GALLAGHER: To be honest, when they get 7,000 troops on the ground here, and I think it’s going to take a few days, that remains to be seen. But I think simply getting that amount of feet on the ground here is going to be a very hard logistical task. There is a very heavy military presence here now, but as the population starts to come out from inside their shattered homes, it’s going to be a lot for the military here on the ground to handle.
WERMAN: The BBC’s Andy Gallagher in the devastated city of Concepcion.
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