Photos: 8.8 earthquake rocks Chile

The Silva family, who have lived in Caleta del Medio outside Dichato for four generations, try to salvage any valuables from what is left of their ruined home. They have pledged to rebuild, but not on the coast, but on a hill that overlooks the bay. “Never again,” said Enrique Silva, the head of the family.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Dichato, a town of 5,000, is deserted in the wake of the Chile earthquake. Few families have returned to their homes, most preferring the relative safety of overlooking hills. Residents said organized bands arrived the day after the earthquake to loot homes.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A small clinic has been set up for those living on Dichato’s hillside, which escaped the fury of the tsunami. The Araneda family, seated center rear, lost their home and restaurant which was on the waterfront. Dichota lies in a large protected bay and residents said they rarely see big waves.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A small medical clinic has been serving families from Dichato who have been living in camps on the hillside. Signs abound at the hillside encampments: “We need food.”  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Message boards outside the clinic announce services available and information on those still missing in Dichato.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

The Silva family, which has lived in Caleta del Medio, outside Dichato, for four generations burn the detritus of their ruined home.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A fishing boat tossed inland by the tsunami lies in a meadow in Dichato. The tsunami proved more destructive than the earthquake.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

At least 4 massive waves swept through Dichato over several hours after the early morning earthquake on Feb. 27. Residents described the sound as that of breaking trees and splintering wood.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Chileans who lost their homes and are staying at a school in Constitucion flee as a tsunami warning is issued over the radio following an aftershock. Fortunately, there was no tsunami on this occasion.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Chileans left homeless by the quake head for higher ground after a tsunami warning, later deemed a false alarm.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

At the Chacarillas school in Constitucion, residents left homeless by the quake search through donated clothing for their families.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Residents from surrounding hillsides line up for a meal of lentils and rice provided by the municipal government in Constitucion.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A boy waits as his family registers for aid in Constitucion, where government forces have restored a measure of order.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

The cleanup process is beginning in the coastal city of Constitucion where whole blocks have been reduced to rubble.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Workers in Constitucion clean up after the earthquake.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Empty coffins are stacked outside the hospital morgue in Constitucion.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Soldiers apprehend two suspected looters who were inside a wrecked pharmacy near the city center in Concepcion, Chile. The city suffered heavy damage in Saturday’s magnitude 8.8 quake and has been the scene of widespread looting.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Chilean troops who arrived in Concepcion to help quell the disturbances apprehend looting suspects, who are later released.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A resident distraught over a friend’s arrest navigates a street in earthquake-ravaged Concepcion.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A group of residents guards the entrance to the Villa Rene Schneider neighborhood on the outskirts of Concepcion. Residents formed their own neighborhood defense squads to guard their homes from roving bands of thieves and looters.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Residents of the Villa Rene Schneider neighborhood in Concepcion complain to a Chilean soldier about the lack of food and water in the city after the quake. There was little evidence of government assistance there other than the presence of soldiers and police. Many complained that the government forces had arrived too late to prevent massive looting.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

In the city of Constitucion, where water and food were in short supply after the quake, residents wait to fill up at municipal water trucks.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Outside Constitucion, family members bury a 4-month-old baby killed in Saturday’s massive earthquake. The family also lost a 2-year-old.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Dead fish in the coastal town where a tsunami struck after the 8.8-magnitude earthquake.  (Ricardo Mazalan / Associated Press)

Residents rescue items from destroyed homes.  (Fernando Vergara / Associated Press)

Firefighters search for victims under a collapsed bridge in Curanipe.  (Martin Berntti / AFP / Getty Images)

Firefighters search for victims amid the debris in Curanipe.  (Martin Bernetti / AFP / Getty Images)

A street that was was destroyed by the 8.8-magnitude earthquake, which affected the south and center of the country.  (Leo La Valle / EPA)

Residents erect a barricade to deter looters. Thousands more troops were deployed across Chile on Tuesday as residents took up arms to stop a wave of mass looting in the nation’s second-largeset city, slapped with an 18-hour curfew. President Michelle Bachelet doubled the number of troops patrolling the worst-hit areas to 14,000, as people in ravaged Concepcion were barred from leaving their homes from 6 p.m. to midday.  (AFP / Getty Images)

Chilean soldiers patrol the streets during the curfew in Concepcion. Foreign aid has started after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake killed at least 763 people.  (Ian Salas / EPA)

Chilean troops in combat gear check IDs during the curfew. President Michelle Bachelet doubled the number of troops patrolling the worst hit areas to 14,000 as people in ravaged Concepcion were barred from leaving their homes from 6 p.m. to midday.  (AFP / Getty Images)

Local residents walk by a boat grounded by the earthquake and ensuing tsunami in the fishing village of Constitucion in central Chile , where more than 300 bodies have been found.  (Martin Bernetti / AFP / Getty Images)

With her parents looking on, the body of 7-year-old Cecilia Rojas is placed in a casket in the gymnasium which was converted into a morgue. The coastal city took the brunt of casualties with over 100 dead.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

The working class town of Constitucion suffered some of the worst damage with entire houses and buildings swept away by the tsunami that followed the quake.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

The town of Constitucion was hit hard by both the 8.8 quake that rocked the central coast of Chile during the early hours of Feb. 27, 2010 and by the series of tsunamis that followed.   (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Parishioners gather outside Constitucion’s cathedral for a Mass and memorial for the dead on the Sunday following the quake and tsunamis.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Fishermen attempt to upend a boat over that was carried over 10 miles from Concepcion’s port and deposited on a debris-strewn beach.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Residents in the coastal city of Constitucion assess the damage. The city was hit hard by both the magnitude 8.8 earthquake and the ensuing tsunami. Many citizens complained of a lack of government assistance and search and rescue crews. The mayor said that he expected the official death toll to climb to 500.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Buildings in Constitucion’s older downtown suffered major damage; a store near the Plaza de Armas was little more than a pile of rubble. Little or no help has reached Constitucion and several other coastal towns.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Residents in Constitucion pass a sign pointing to an evacuation route in the event of a tsunami. After the earthquake hit people had approximately 20 minutes to make for higher ground, which many did. Some credited their knowledge of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that began off the coast of Sumatra in making a quick escape.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A woman is seen in quake-ravaged Constitucion. President Michelle Bachelet imposed emergency decrees, including putting the army in charge of hard-hit areas, measures not taken in more than 20 years.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

In Constitucion, the massive tsunami washed boats ashore, including into the main bus station which stands a few blocks inland from the river and about a mile from the ocean.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

In Constitucion, people take goods from a supermarket near the center of the city. Looting has become a major problem in several Chilean cities.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A woman and her daughter weep as they watch a supermarket in Constitucion burn after it was looted. “We need food! We need water!” said a beleaguered Cesar Arrellano, a municipal comptroller who received unrelenting reports of damage, death and the desperate need for help.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Victor Lucero, right, stands outside his daughter’s home in Constitucion. She, along with her husband and two children, perished in the earthquake; Lucero is waiting for search and rescue teams to bring the bodies out.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A man moves a mattress in the city of Constitucion. People are out salvaging and scavenging whatever possessions they can find. Along the waterfront the destruction was near total in the wake of the tsunami that came up the River Maule.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

People carry out the body of Graciela Aguilar from the makeshift morgue at the high school gymnasium in Constitucion. She died with a rosary in her hand, said her daughter, Maria Graciela Ceballos.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

In Constitucion, a woman looks at the list of casualties posted outside the gymnasium that is being used as a makeshift morgue.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Residents assembled at a high school gymnasium to look among the bodies for missing loved ones.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Maria Graciela Ceballos is consoled after identifying her mother’s body at the makeshift morgue in Constitucion.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

People outside a store in Constitucion warn friends and family looting inside to leave after a fire breaks out. In Concepcion, looters were reported to be attacking firefighters and others trying to distribute aid.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A soldier confronts a woman who was trying to cut a line outside a pharmacy where people were lined up in hopes of filling their prescriptions. It was one of the few businesses still operating.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A Chilean flag is all that stands in an area of Constitucion ravaged by the tsunami.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Victims of the earthquake line up to receive potable water.  (Roberto Candia / Associated Press)

A man walks through the rubble in the destroyed central square.  (Leo La Valle / EPA)

An armed man stands guard on his rooftop as outbreaks of looting have led to a curfew being imposed. In the background are shipping containers that were scattered amid houses by the quake-induced tsunami.  (Daniel Garcia / AFP/Getty Images)

A woman guards the few belongings she has left after civil unrest and incidents of looting broke out.  (Daniel Garcia / AFP/Getty Images)

A street in Talcahuano shows the effects of the tsunami that hit about half an hour after Saturday’s earthquake. The disaster killed scores and covered shattered homes with thick mud.  (Martin Bernetti / AFP / Getty Images)

A man pushes a coffin. Victims’ bodies are lined up at a gym in Constitucion.  (Roberto Candia / Associated Press)

Talcahuano was among the most heavily damaged quake areas in Chile. On Sunday, rescuers raced to find survivors and the grim extent of the disaster emerged in coastal areas where homes were washed away by a giant wave.  (Martin Bernetti / AFP / Getty Images)

Containers were hurled aground by the tsunami in downtown Talcahuano.  (Martin Bernetti / AFP / Getty Images)

The tsunami shoved fishing boats in Talcahuano.  (Martin Bernetti / AFP / Getty Images)

A man rides a bike next to a destroyed building in Concepcion, Chile, the day after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake. By Sunday afternoon, the death toll was pegged at 708.  (Ian Salas / EPA)

The earthquake, which hit early Saturday in Chile, toppled buildings, including this one in Concepcion, and buckled freeways. As of Sunday, it was estimated that about 2 million people were wounded, displaced or otherwise affected by the disaster.  (Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press)

Firefighters work at the site of a collapsed building.  (Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press)

Rescue workers enter and exit from a hole in a severely damaged building as they search for victims.  (Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press)

Workers search for victims in Concepcion, Chile.  (Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press)

A rescue worker takes a break on the sidewalk outside a collapsed building in Concepcion, Chile.  (Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press)

A man carries goods out of a supermarket in Concepcion. Looting was a problem in heavily damaged areas of Chile on Sunday. “The people are desperate and say the only way is to come get stuff for themselves,” Concepcion resident Patricio Martinez told reporters. “We have money to buy it, but the big stores are closed, so what are we supposed to do?”  (Aliosha Marquez / Associated Press)

A woman carries bags of toilet paper out of a supermarket. A mass of people are seen, in the background, carting away goods. Crowds overran supermarkets in the port city of Concepcion and were making off with food, water and diapers but also television sets. Several banks also were hit. Police in armored vehicles sprayed looters with water cannons and made several arrests, mostly of young men.  (Daniel Garcia / AFP/Getty Images)

Police officers tried to halt the looting in Concepcion by firing tear gas.  (Aliosha Marquez / Associated Press)

Women with a cart full of provisions looted from a Concepcion supermarket walk by a police officer.  (Daniel Garcia / AFP/Getty)

Rescue workers carry the body of an earthquake victim recovered from a collapsed building in Concepcion, Chile.  (Aliosha Marquez / Associated Press)

A girl opens a tent in a park in Santiago, where her family is camping the day after the 8.8 quake.  (Daniel Caselli / AFP/Getty Images)

In Pelluhue, about 200 miles southwest of Santiago, a home shows the extent of the devastation.  (Roberto Candia / AP Photo)

Claudina Retamal, 42, searches for belongings in the rubble of her destroyed house.  (Roberto Candia / Associated Press)

A portion of Pelluhue, Chile, is flooded following the massive earthquake that hit early Saturday.  (Roberto Candia / Associated Press)

A home in the tourist town of Pelluhue was knocked askew by the 8.8 quake.  (Roberto Candia / AP Photo)

Rescue workers help a woman out of the rubble.  (Francesco Degasperi / AFP / Getty Images)

Cyclists pass the damaged San Francisco church in Curico.  (Martin Bernetti / AFP/Getty Images)

People pass damaged buildings and rubble in Concepcion, about 300 miles south of Santiago, capital of Chile.  (Francesco Degasperi / AFP/Getty Images)

A resident removes the rubble of a destroyed house Saturday.  (Roberto Candia / Associated Press)

A man takes pictures of a destroyed monument in downtown Talca, Chile.  (Roberto Candia / Associated Press)

A resident looks at a destroyed building in downtown Talca.  (Roberto Candia / Associated Press)

Several people walk by a destroyed road in Santiago, Chile, after a the 8.8-magnitude earthquake. The death toll has risen to more than 140 in Chile.  (Ian Salas / EPA)

A man stands at the edge of a collapsed road. The quake hit 200 miles southwest of the capital and the epicenter was just 70 miles from Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city.  (Carlos Espinoza / Associated Press)

A couple look at the debris of their house.  (Cristobal Saavedra / EPA)

A woman remains outside her building which was damaged in the quake.  (Claudio Reyes / EPA)

A resident walks along a damaged street in Talca, Chile, on Saturday.  (Roberto Candia / Associated Press)

A patient is seen outside a hospital in Talca, Chile, on Saturday after an 8.8-magnitude struck central Chile.  (Sebastian Martinez / Associated Press)

A resident recovers items from the rubble in downtown Talca, Chile, on Saturday.  (Roberto Candia / Associated Press)

A resident sits next to a destroyed building in downtown Talca, Chile, on Saturday.  (Roberto Candia / Associated Press)

A man removes debris from a house which was affected in Valparaiso, Chile after an earthquake of 8.8 on the Richter scale. The quake has inflicted major damage on the South American country.  (Claydui Reyes / EPA)

A woman sits in front a quake-damaged house in Talca, Chile.   (Sebastian Martinez / Associated Press)

The inside of a pharmacy in Santiago. The massive quake plunged much of the Chilean capital, Santiago, into darkness as it snapped power lines and severed communications.   (Ivan Zapata / AFP / Getty Images)