Chile launched a hepatitis and tetanus vaccination campaign as doctors warned of outbreaks of diarrhoea and infection among thousands of people displaced by the devastating earthquake.

CHILE’S president sent the army to help police attack looters yesterday and appealed for international help in the wake of an earthquake that shattered cities and killed at least 708 people.

The death toll is expected to rise in Chile after the country was hit by one of the most devastating earthquakes in history, leaving 1.5 million Chileans affected and 500,000 homes severely damaged.

Teenagers who ran along a Chilean beach claiming a giant tsunami was on its way are being blamed for the panic that sent thousands of people fleeing their homes in a chaotic stampede in the middle of the night.