Death toll in Chile could reach 1000 — army head

TALAC, Chile (AFP) -- A tsunami triggered by the Chile quake swept far inland and ravaged 200 kilometres (120 miles) of coastline, the head of army operations here said, warning the death toll could top 1,000 in the Maule area alone.

"The tsunami affected 200 kilometres of coastline, at places sweeping 2,000 metres inland," General Bosco Pesse, who is running emergency operations in the region of a quarter-million people, told AFP.

"Some 600 people died in this area, but the toll could climb to 1,000."

Chile's President Michelle Bachelet yesterday upped the official national death toll to 795, but many of the smaller coastal areas have not yet been reached with roads left impassable after Saturday's quake.

"Our emphasis is on the coastal areas for now," Pesse said. "People seem very happy to see the army moving in here to help after this disaster.

"We are bringing in engineers to clear roads, setting up mobile clinics and country hospitals, searching for corpses along the coast, stepping up night patrols to avoid mayhem."

Some 14,000 troops have been deployed to the quake-hit areas to help relief operations and also to crack down on a wave of violent looting.

Pesse said troop strength in Maule had been upped from 500 to 2,000 in just three to four days as the army cleared roads, and brought in food and medical aid after the 8.8-magnitude quake.

"We are building up our forces, intervening in sky, land and along seafront," he said, adding that international aid from Brazil, the United States and Peru was also beginning to arrive.

The army has set up an emergency headquarters in Talac, which was buzzing with soldiers yesterday consulting maps and computers.

Regional administrator Fernando Coloma Amaro said drinking water was being restored in most places, except along the coast. "We have dispatched trucks of water and food to Constitucion," he added, referring to a town badly damaged in the quake.

"We are continuing to search for corpses in the coastal region," he said, adding one of the major tasks was identifying the missing.

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