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CONCEPCION, Chile: Rescuers with sniffer dogs worked through the night in a wrecked 15-floor apartment block while authorities enforced a curfew aimed at stopping looters in the rest of the stricken city of Concepcion.
Firemen and civil emergency workers said 48 people were trapped in the apartment building in the centre of the Chilean city and that eight bodies had been recovered since the magnitude 8.8. quake struck on Saturday.
The apartment block fell on its side while residents slept in their beds.
The floors of the building were aligned vertically on the ground, furniture piled up on the walls. Rescuers made their way slowly through each floor, digging small holes and lowering down detection equipment.
"There are believed to be 48 people trapped inside who we believe are alive," rescue team leader Ignacio Carrizo told AFP late Sunday. He said reported cries for help earlier had given hope that survivors could be found.
Concepcion mayor Jacqueline van Rysselberghe told national television it was now a race against time to save the residents. "It's a shame that rescue teams could not come to Concepcion yesterday."
Rescuers insisted they had got to the building as quickly as possible.
"We've been working hard from the very first minute. We got here just a few minutes after the earthquake struck, and we've not going to rest until we've rescued everyone," said firefighter Francisco Contreras.
Caretaker Ewin Jimenez said the building fell in a matter of seconds.
"First the pillars moved from side to side, then it collapsed and everything was destroyed," said Jimenez, who jumped out of a window.
The city was devastated by the quake with rows of buildings collapsed and cars crushed by chunks of concrete. There was no electricity and only patchy telephone communications.
In parts of Concepcion, looters ran amok grabbing all they could carry from shops reduced to rubble by one of the most powerful earthquakes on record.
Authorities declared a curfew but the people of Concepcion and surrounding suburbs sought desperately to stock up on supplies of basic products like water, milk and rice.
Residents and looters gathered as many bottles of water or food supplies as their arms could carry.
“I have four babies," explained a woman with bags of disposable nappies stuffed in her vest after rushing into the Unimarc supermarket through a window, apparently broken by nearby men with clubs and stones.
Police fired tear-gas and water cannons to disperse looters trying to empty a shop in another part of the city.
Van Rysselberghe warned against serious "social tension" in the city after the quake, which killed more than 700 people, according to the latest official toll.
"We need food for the people. We are without supplies, and if we don't resolve that we are going to have serious security problems during the night," the mayor said.
"We are at the end of the month, there are no stocks in the households. But nothing justifies looting, vandalism and theft. We have seen people coming out of supermarkets with plasma (TV) screens."
Chilean television showed youths fleeing stores with televisions and other appliances.
"If we don't resolve this problem of food today, we could have a very confrontational situation," the mayor warned.
Adding to the tension, aftershocks - well over 100 since Saturday - continued to shake buildings already teetering after the worst disaster to hit Chile in 50 years.
- AFP/yb
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