Rescue Attempts Ramp up in Chile(1805b-2)

　　2月27日，智利发生了里氏8.8级地震。伴随着频繁发生的余震，智利各地开始了紧张有序的救援行动。

Rescue Attempts Ramp up in Chile

　　Acts of heroism can be seen on Chile’s shattered streets as rescuers brave (无畏地面对) aftershocks digging for survivors. The massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake is one of the biggest earthquakes in centuries. The death toll climbed to 708 on March 1, and the number is still increasing.

　　In Concepcion (智利中部城市康塞普西翁，位于此次地震震中), the largest city in the disaster zone, police officer Jorge Guerra took names of the missing from a stream of tearful relatives and friends. He told them to be optimistic because about two dozen people had been rescued from a 15-story building toppled on its side.

　　“There are people alive. There are several people who are going to be rescued,” he said — though the next few people pulled from the wreckage were dead. “It’s sad, but because of the situation you have to continue the search. It’s a matter of  life and death,” Guerra said.

　　In the hard-hit city of Concepcion, firefighters were pulling survivors from a toppled apartment block. Efforts to determine the full scope of destruction, however, were blocked by endless terrifying aftershocks that continued to turn buildings into rubble. Officials said 500,000 houses were destroyed or badly damaged. And President Michele Bachelet said “a growing number” of people were listed as missing.

　　“We are facing a catastrophe of such unthinkable magnitude that it will require a giant effort” to recover, Bachelet said after a six-hour meeting with ministers and generals in La Moneda Palace (拉莫内达宫，即智利总统府).

　　Bachelet, who leaves office on March 11, said the country would accept some of the offers of aid that have poured in from around the world. She said Chile needs field hospitals (临时医院) and temporary bridges, water purification plants (净水设备) and damage assessment experts — as well as rescuers to help relieve workers who have been working since the quake struck before dawn on February 27.