Textos Mastigados: Security concerns spread as Chile quake death toll rises

Tempo de leitura: menos de 1 minuto

Security concerns [preocupações] spread [aumentam; se espalham (lit.)] as Chile quake [terremoto] death toll [número de mortos] rises [aumenta]

Santiago, Chile (CNN) — Heavily [densamente; pesadamente (lit.)] populated parts [regiões] of Chile still were without water service and electricity Sunday night because of Saturday’s 8.8-magnitude earthquake [terremoto], and reports of looting [saques] raised [eleveram] fears [receio, medo] about security in some [algumas] areas.

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The nation’s hardest-hit [mais atingida] major city [cidade grande, principal], Concepcion, declared an overnight [noturno] curfew [toque de recolher]. The death count [número de mortos] from the earthquake doubled on Sunday from a day earlier, to 708 deaths.

Calling Saturday morning’s quake an “unthinkable [impensável] disaster,” Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said a state of catastrophe [estado de emergência] in the hardest-hit regions would continue, allowing for the restoration of order [restabelecimento da ordem] and speedy [rápida] distribution of aid [ajuda, auxílio, assitência].

Looting broke out [eclodir] in parts of the country, including in Concepcion in central coastal Chile, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) from the earthquake’s epicenter [epicentro].

Desperate residents scrounged [vasculharam] for water and supplies [suprimentos] inside empty and damaged [danificados] supermarkets. On Sunday morning, authorities used tear gas [gás lacrimogêneo] and water cannons [mangueiras] to disperse looters [saqueadores] in some areas.

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The quake struck [atingiu] before dawn Saturday, toppling [derrubando] thousands of houses and dealing a serious blow [causando um impacto considerável; dando um golpe forte (lit.)] to one of Latin America’s most stable economies. The Chilean Red Cross reported that about 500,000 homes had considerable damage [estragos, prejuízos] as a result of the quake.

Cf. Qual é a diferença entre “HOUSE” e “HOME”?

Chilean President-elect [presidente eleito] Sebastian Piñera, scheduled to [que deverá; programado para (lit.)] take office [tomar posse] in March, warned Sunday that looting could grow worse [piorar] with nightfall [anoitecer]. He called for [requereu, exigiu] more government help in restoring order.

“Tonight we will experience a very, very difficult situation with public order, particularly in the area of Concepcion,” Piñera told Radio Bio Bio.

Concepcion, the capital of the Bio Bio region, didn’t have enough police to control all those seeking [à procura de, em busca de] food and supplies from stores [lojas, estabelecimentos comerciais]. Some became desperate as supermarkets closed and gasoline was unavailable [faltou, estava indisponível (lit.)], CNN Chile reported.

On Sunday afternoon, people were seen entering a mill [moinho] looking for ingredients for bread. In the evening, a CNN team passed a dozen gas stations [postos de gasolina] that were being looted, with people siphoning [bombeando gasoline com mangueiras] gas. Military officers [policiais militares] were guarding a few [alguns poucos] gas stations, but few [poucos (insuficientes)] other signs of a government response could be seen.

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Looting was being done not just by desperate residents [moradores], but by others who were merely opportunistic, said Concepcion mayor [prefeito] Van Rysselberghe.

“They are robbing [roubando] everything,” she said, asking for a stronger military response to restore calm.

Cf. Pronúncia: L mudo

In addition to food, gas and emergency supplies, looters were targeting [tinham como alvo] appliance and electronics stores, Van Rysselberghe said.

Some small business owners [pequenos comerciantes] resorted [recorreram] to protecting their shops with rifles and shotguns [espingardas], said Rysselberghe, who also considered the current [existente, atual] police force inadequate [insuficiente].

Concepcion is under curfew from 9 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday because of the looting. The city government is distributing water from the central plaza [praça].

Concepcion and its adjacent [vizinha, adjacente] sister city of Talcahuano, Chile, have a population of 840,000.

Video from Concepcion showed collapsed [desmoronadas] walls [paredes, muros] of buildings exposing twisted [retorcidos] rebar [vergalhões]. Whole sides [Laterais inteiras] of buildings were sheared off [arrancadas], and at least [pelo menos] two structures were on fire [em chamas].

Chile’s Office of Emergency Management launched [enviou; lançou (lit.)] a C130 helicopter Sunday with a contingent of 40 specialized firefighters [bombeiros] and 10 search dogs [cães adestrados (para missões de busca)] for the rescue effort [trabalho de resgate] in Concepcion.

People in their homes lacked [estavam sem] electricity. Hundreds faced [foram obrigados] sleeping in tents [barracas] on Sunday night.

Bachelet said her government reached an agreement [fez um acordo] with the country’s major [principais] supermarkets that would allow them to give away [doar] basic foodstuffs [alimentos, gêneros alimentícios] to those affected by the quake.

The armed forces [forças armadas] were available to help with security and the distribution of food, she said.

In Concepcion on Sunday, a long line [fila] of people waited for foodstuffs as military personnel [militares] stood watch [faziam a guarda, vigiavam]. “I have nothing,” one woman told CNN Chile. “I have no bread. I am a widow [viúva]. I am 81 years old.”

Of the 708 reported dead as of [até] Sunday afternoon, 541 had died in Chile’s Maule region, and 64 in the Bio Bio region, both in south-central Chile.

“I am certain that these are numbers that will continue to grow [aumentar],” Bachelet said.

Bachelet said Saturday that some [cerca de] 2 million people had been affected in one way or another, but she did not elaborate [não deu mais detalhes].

More than 90 aftershocks [abalos subsequentes] had been recorded [registrados], ranging [variando] from 4.9 to 6.9 in magnitude. A 6.2-magnitude aftershock was recorded near the earthquake’s epicenter on Sunday.

Chile has received many offers [ofertas] of international aid and will accept the help that it needs, Bachelet said. The U.S. military [forças armadas dos Estados Unidos] and the U.S. Agency for International Development were working to provide satellite phones, the State Department said Sunday.

“The Chilean government has not yet accepted additional offers of assistance, pending [dependendo, aguardando] the completion [conclusão] of an assessment [avaliação, análise] of specific needs,” State Department spokeswoman [porta-voz] Megan Mattson said, noting [observando] the airport in Santiago, Chile, was closed to foreign aid [ajuda estrangeira].

“As soon as [Assim que] the Chilean government establishes additional needs, the United States stands [estão, permanecem] ready [prontos] to assist [auxiliar, ajudar] in disaster response efforts,” she said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be traveling to Santiago on Tuesday on a previously scheduled trip [viagem previamente agendada] through Latin America. She had originally been scheduled to arrive [chegaria] Monday.

Bachelet said she hoped that the airport in Santiago, the capital, would reopen soon to private [privado], public and commercial air traffic [tráfego]. The country’s Department of Emergency Management said Sunday that repairs [consertos, reparos] at the airport would take [levariam, demorariam] 48 hours.

The airline LAN Chile said that three flights left from Peru to Chile on Sunday, one of them landing [pousando] in Santiago. These flights were not commercial, but were transporting Chileans stranded [em dificuldades] in Peru back to their country, LAN Chile spokesman Roberto Davila told CNN en Español.

Piñera sought to [procurou, tentou] rally spirits [animar, elevar o moral] in nationally televised remarks [observações, comentários, respostas] Sunday night, announcing a reconstruction plan called “Up With Chile.”

“We will raise [erguer] Chile,” he said. “It’s not going to be a short task [tarefa simples, curta (lit.)], it’s not going to be easy. It will require [exigir] a lot of effort, a lot of resources [recursos], and a lot of time.”

Saturday’s quake was 700 to 800 times stronger than the 7.0-magnitude quake that struck Haiti in January, which left about 212,000 people dead and more than 1 million homeless [desabrigados].

Chile’s quake also occurred at a greater depth [profunidade] — 21.7 miles — than the 8.1-mile depth of the Haiti quake, which contributed to much of the damage there.

Coastal Chile has a history [histórico] of deadly [devastadores; mortais (lit.)] earthquakes, with 13 temblors [tremores] of magnitude 7.0 or higher since 1973, the U.S. Geological Survey said. As a result, experts said that newer buildings are constructed to help withstand [suportar, aguentar] the shocks.

CNN’s Rolando Santos, Brian Byrnes, Karen Smith, Saeed Ahmed, Patricio Martinez and Patty Lane contributed to this report.