海角大神

The damaged highway connecting Santiago to the south-central regions hardest hit by Saturday鈥檚 monster 8.8-magnitude Chile earthquake is now open, but help is slow to arrive for the disaster zone鈥檚 desperate survivors.

Makeshift signs posted along the road to Constituci贸n, one of dozens of coastal towns socked first by the quake and then, soon after, by a deadly tsunami, offer a sad synopsis of the recovery effort to date: 鈥淲e need food. We need diapers.鈥�

In Constituci贸n itself, the devastation is overwhelming.

IN PICTURES: Images from the magnitude-8.8 earthquake in Chile

Along the shore a long row of seaside restaurants and shops were literally wiped off the map, dashed by the raging sea against the cliffs behind. There are just tangled pieces left. Police and teenage soldiers patrol the debris-covered streets in the town center, where almost every single building suffered major damage. As night approaches, M-16 wielding troops remind passersby of the pending curfew. Already people are lighting campfires to cook and stay warm.

鈥淗ere the sea just lashed its anger out at everything,鈥� says Daniel Aredano, a man from northern Chile who had been vacationing in the area at the time of the quake. 鈥淣othing was left standing. Everything is destroyed. I saw the film 鈥楾ornado鈥� and this is the same thing.鈥�

Farther inland, in the city of Curico, residents are still trying to clear the streets and rescue belongings from badly damaged homes and shops. Just across from the main plaza, the building that for 111 years housed La Prensa de Curico, the local newspaper, has spilled its contents into the street. A small van 鈥� loaded and ready to deliver the Feb. 27 edition 鈥� is sandwiched under heaps of brick and concrete. The driver barely avoided also getting crushed, leaping to safety just in time, explains Raul Paredes, La Prensa鈥檚 maintenance chief. Two other late-night workers were caught inside the collapsed building but once the dust settled were able to crawl out to safety.

鈥淚t was just a complete earthquake. A complete disaster. I鈥檇 say 60 percent of the homes here are damaged,鈥� says Paredes.

The staff has since relocated and returned to work. On Thursday, Paredes explains, the paper 鈥� paralyzed for the first time in a century 鈥� will finally run a new edition. 鈥淭omorrow we鈥檒l be back in kiosks,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he Prensa never dies. Plus we鈥檝e got families at home. We need to feed them.鈥�

In Santiago groups like the University of Chile鈥檚 Student Federation, the FECH, say help is on the way. On Tuesday some 500 student volunteers spent the day preparing boxes of foodstuffs, loading trucks and organizing transportation south. According to FECH coordinator Suzanna Zu帽iga, however, the group鈥檚 still not ready to send volunteers en masse. 鈥淲e still need a good diagnosis of what they need,鈥� she says.

The people of Constituci贸n and other communities in Chile鈥檚 Maule and Bio Bio Regions 鈥� the areas closest to the epicenter 鈥� say they鈥檝e already waiting long enough.

鈥淩eally what people need is water, non-perishable food, warm clothes, and medicine,鈥� says Aredano. 鈥淗elp is arriving, but only a bit at a time. It should have come more quickly. That鈥檚 why people got so desperate and started looting supermarkets.鈥�

IN PICTURES: Images from the magnitude-8.8 earthquake in Chile

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