Chile quake death toll hits 708 amid looting chaos

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.

President Michelle Bachelet announced the higher new death toll after a six-hour meeting with aides and emergency officials struggling to cope with one of the most powerful earthquakes in centuries.

“We face a catastrophe of such unthinkable magnitude that it will require a giant effort” for Chile to recover, Bachelet told a news conference at the presidential palace, which itself suffered minor cracks in Saturday’s magnitude-8.8 quake.