Chile will need international loans and three or four years to rebuild after a massive earthquake killed more than 800 people and ravaged its infrastructure, President Michelle Bachelet said today.
The 8.8-magnitude quake on Saturday destroyed or seriously damaged hundreds of thousands of homes, broke bridges and highways, cracked modern buildings in the capital's suburbs, shattered vats at Chile's famous vineyards and briefly shut down some of the world's biggest copper mines.
"We will undoubtedly need to turn to international lenders," Ms Bachelet said today.
"We are going to have to ask (for credit) and hope that via the World Bank or other mechanisms we can count on sufficient funds."
Ms Bachelet's government initially said it would be able to cope with reconstruction costs out of its budget, but it underestimated the scale of the damage, which is estimated at up to $30 billion, or nearly 15 per cent of its gross domestic product.
The quake and the tsunamis it triggered demolished coastal towns and villages and caused serious damage across a large area of south-central Chile, including the country's second largest city Concepcion.
Terrified by dozens of powerful aftershocks, survivors in some of the worst-hit towns are camping out on hillsides as rescue workers search the rubble for survivors and troops patrol the streets to quell looting.
Corpses have started to wash ashore in the wrecked coastal town of Constitucion and search teams with dogs scoured a tsunami-battered island in the quake-hit zone where hundreds of people had been camping.
Ms Bachelet, a popular leader who steps down next week, has pleaded with Chileans to stop hoarding supplies as aid reaches the Pacific coast towns.
The incoming finance minister, Felipe Larrain, said yesterday he was studying different options to raise funding for reconstruction, which analysts expect to include issuing sovereign debt and tapping into around $18 billion in copper boom savings.
The quake death toll stood at 802 today and hundreds more were still unaccounted for. Rescue teams working with search dogs scoured collapsed buildings in Concepcion through the night, including one destroyed 15-storey building where a handful of people were thought to be trapped.
But officials in some areas said they had called off the search for survivors and were focusing on distributing aid.
Panicked over a possible repeat of the ferocious tide, people scurried up the hills near hard-hit Concepcion after one particularly strong aftershock yesterday. Hours later, a 6.1 magnitude tremor jolted the country.
Friends and relatives at home and abroad used Facebook, Twitter and Google to post messages and pictures of the missing as well as of young children found alive without families. Local radio stations broadcast names of those yet to be traced.
Very few survivors emerged from the water after enormous waves sucked them out to sea on Saturday.
Ms Bachelet told Chileans there was enough food, water and energy to go around, and called for calm after the army stepped in to arrest looters. Curfews were still in place in some areas to prevent more disorder.
Reuters