Clinton in Quake-Hit Chile Offers Support
Saudi Arabia's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Ibrahim Naimi listens to a speech during a seminar of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), at Vienna's Hofburg palace, Austria, Wednesday, June 13, 2012. OPEC is holding its quarterly meeting Thursday against a backdrop of a 24 percent crude price decline over the last month or so. Some of the group's 12 members, such as Iran and Venezuela, will likely call on the cartel to cut output in a bid to boost prices. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak) / Ronald Zak
Last Updated 10:34 a.m. ET
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in earthquake-ravaged Chile on Tuesday to offer the devastated country moral and material support as it recovers from the deadly disaster.
Clinton flew into the capital of Santiago, delivering much-needed communication equipment and a technician. It's a first installment of what she says will be substantial U.S. relief assistance.
"We brought some satellite phones," Clinton told Chilean President Michelle Bachelet in a picture-taking session. "That was the one thing we could get on the plane right away."
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in Washington on Monday that Chile has also asked for a field hospital and water purification systems. Other details of U.S. aid are to be worked out during Clinton's visit.
U.S. officials said Chile would not have to repay any U.S. assistance.
Clintonb's Santiago visit was expected to be confined to the airport and its immediate vicinity, meeting with outgoing Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and President-elect Sebastian Pinera.
Special Section: Earthquake in Chile
How to Help: Aid Organizations, Mobile Giving
Little destruction was visible from the air as Clinton's plane descended. At the airport itself, pallets of various types of assistance were stacked in front of some hangars, and one military transport plane landed shortly after Clinton's U.S. Air Force jet.
Chile's neighbors have already acted.
Argentina on Monday flew in an Air Force C-130 with much of a hospital - including a surgical and intensive care unit, ambulance and laboratory - three water treatment plants and power generation units, the military announced.
Five other planeloads of aid were supposed to arrive by Tuesday night.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited Chile on Monday. He said a first planeload of aid would arrive Tuesday, followed later by a full army field hospital .
Peru, too, said it was sending in a hospital and doctors with 15 tons of blankets and tents.
WorldWatch: Small Plane Crashes While Carrying Aid in Chile
Before the weekend quake struck, Clinton had planned a longer stay in Chile, but she will now only spend a few hours there before heading to Brazil. Clinton is in the midst of a weeklong, six-nation tour of Latin America that has taken her already to Uruguay and Argentina.
Santiago is the second major earthquake zone Clinton has visited in the past two months. Four days after Haiti was hit with a devastating temblor in January, she was on the ground at the Port-au-Prince airport, meeting with Haitian officials and assessing damage with disaster relief experts.
In addition, since she has been secretary of state, Clinton has also been traveling abroad and present in at least three foreign countries - Honduras, Japan and Pakistan - when they have been struck by quakes or strong aftershocks.
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in earthquake-ravaged Chile on Tuesday to offer the devastated country moral and material support as it recovers from the deadly disaster.
Clinton flew into the capital of Santiago, delivering much-needed communication equipment and a technician. It's a first installment of what she says will be substantial U.S. relief assistance.
"We brought some satellite phones," Clinton told Chilean President Michelle Bachelet in a picture-taking session. "That was the one thing we could get on the plane right away."
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in Washington on Monday that Chile has also asked for a field hospital and water purification systems. Other details of U.S. aid are to be worked out during Clinton's visit.
U.S. officials said Chile would not have to repay any U.S. assistance.
Clintonb's Santiago visit was expected to be confined to the airport and its immediate vicinity, meeting with outgoing Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and President-elect Sebastian Pinera.
Special Section: Earthquake in Chile
How to Help: Aid Organizations, Mobile Giving
Little destruction was visible from the air as Clinton's plane descended. At the airport itself, pallets of various types of assistance were stacked in front of some hangars, and one military transport plane landed shortly after Clinton's U.S. Air Force jet.
Chile's neighbors have already acted.
Argentina on Monday flew in an Air Force C-130 with much of a hospital - including a surgical and intensive care unit, ambulance and laboratory - three water treatment plants and power generation units, the military announced.
Five other planeloads of aid were supposed to arrive by Tuesday night.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited Chile on Monday. He said a first planeload of aid would arrive Tuesday, followed later by a full army field hospital .
Peru, too, said it was sending in a hospital and doctors with 15 tons of blankets and tents.
WorldWatch: Small Plane Crashes While Carrying Aid in Chile
Before the weekend quake struck, Clinton had planned a longer stay in Chile, but she will now only spend a few hours there before heading to Brazil. Clinton is in the midst of a weeklong, six-nation tour of Latin America that has taken her already to Uruguay and Argentina.
Santiago is the second major earthquake zone Clinton has visited in the past two months. Four days after Haiti was hit with a devastating temblor in January, she was on the ground at the Port-au-Prince airport, meeting with Haitian officials and assessing damage with disaster relief experts.
In addition, since she has been secretary of state, Clinton has also been traveling abroad and present in at least three foreign countries - Honduras, Japan and Pakistan - when they have been struck by quakes or strong aftershocks.
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But that's okay; you gotta do, what you gotta do.
by observer2020 March 2, 2010 12:25 PM EST
"Where is the US?"
You also make out like you are the only ones being asked for help. They asked Canada for help, too. And I would imagine they have asked others, too.
Now I agree that we need to look after our own first, something the U.S. does have a problem with, but quit whining. The world is watching and it ain't pretty.
Hey, why didn't she just text the Chilean president? How come she doesn't use a web cam? How come she just can't send a post card; Dear Chile, seem like you are out in the cold, wish you were here, Hillary.
What a bunch of Maroons.