March 1, 2010 2:30 PM
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How Will Chile Rebuild?
On "Washington Unplugged" Monday, Global Post's Chile correspondent Pascale Bonnefoy and the State Department's Craig Kelly discussed this weekend s tremendous earthquake with CBS News' John Dickerson. The 8.8-magnitude quake Saturday was one of the most powerful ever recorded, and has left over 700 dead and millions without electricity or water. Bonnefoy said that although the capital city of Santiago had experienced minimal damage, the more substantial damage had occurred in the southern region, where looters stole food and electronics from decimated storefronts.
"Looting is a real problem," said Bonnefoy. "It started on Saturday afternoon, and it has been escalating ever since."
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe" over the weekend, which led to the deployment of 10,000 troops aimed at helping survivors and quelling the looting and stealing. But Bonnefoy said only around 2,000 of those troops had reached the southern region where looting was "massive" and order needed to be restored.
"At the beginning, it was out of panic and need," said Bonnefoy, "And the police kind of let people take food from the supermarkets and arrested them if they went into appliance stores and started stealing other things. But then it just became rampant, often violent, and people are stealing from private homes, apartments, whatever they can get."
But this earthquake differs greatly from the one that rocked Haiti earlier this year and left over 200,000 dead. For one, Chile is a much more developed nation than Haiti, and is used to dealing with earthquakes, Kelly said.
"It's important to keep in mind that the Chilean government has vast experience in this sort of thing," said Kelly, who is the State Department principal deputy assistant secretary for the bureau of western hemisphere affairs. "Their civilian rescue forces are first rate."
Kelly noted that Chile has a longstanding practice of building "seismic-sensitive" buildings, which helped minimize damage. The earthquake comes just days before Chile is set to transfer power to a new president, but Kelly said president-elect Sebastian Pi?era will be prepared to deal with the damage when he takes office March 11th.
Watch Washington Unplugged above, which also features CBS News Pentagon Correspondent David Martin on the military's new policy regarding women serving on submarines.
Chile Quake: Signs of Life amid Looting
Special Section: Chile Earthquake
"Washington Unplugged" appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. here to check out previous episodes.
"Looting is a real problem," said Bonnefoy. "It started on Saturday afternoon, and it has been escalating ever since."
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe" over the weekend, which led to the deployment of 10,000 troops aimed at helping survivors and quelling the looting and stealing. But Bonnefoy said only around 2,000 of those troops had reached the southern region where looting was "massive" and order needed to be restored.
"At the beginning, it was out of panic and need," said Bonnefoy, "And the police kind of let people take food from the supermarkets and arrested them if they went into appliance stores and started stealing other things. But then it just became rampant, often violent, and people are stealing from private homes, apartments, whatever they can get."
But this earthquake differs greatly from the one that rocked Haiti earlier this year and left over 200,000 dead. For one, Chile is a much more developed nation than Haiti, and is used to dealing with earthquakes, Kelly said.
"It's important to keep in mind that the Chilean government has vast experience in this sort of thing," said Kelly, who is the State Department principal deputy assistant secretary for the bureau of western hemisphere affairs. "Their civilian rescue forces are first rate."
Kelly noted that Chile has a longstanding practice of building "seismic-sensitive" buildings, which helped minimize damage. The earthquake comes just days before Chile is set to transfer power to a new president, but Kelly said president-elect Sebastian Pi?era will be prepared to deal with the damage when he takes office March 11th.
Watch Washington Unplugged above, which also features CBS News Pentagon Correspondent David Martin on the military's new policy regarding women serving on submarines.
Chile Quake: Signs of Life amid Looting
Special Section: Chile Earthquake
"Washington Unplugged" appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. here to check out previous episodes.
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