Chileans Defend Themselves From Looters

Scary stuff. 

Garrido’s son armed himself with a garrote and joined a local crime watch whose other members wielded knives and pistols. But it didn’t make Garrido feel much safer. She worries they’ll kill someone.

She also worries that criminals will get in anyway, simply by wearing twisted plastic bags that patrol members use as armbands to identify themselves.

“I’m destroyed,” Garrido said. “Last night I heard gunfire all around me. They’re looting things and walking around with rifles doing anything they want. Nowhere is safe.”

Like her neighbors, she must make the stressful decision each day of briefly abandoning her home so she can fill a wheelbarrow with water from a system that in normal times irrigates a traffic circle.

Under a state of emergency declared by Bachelet on Sunday, about 14,000 troops were sent into the quake zone. They can shoot to kill if necessary. The military says that hasn’t happened.

A homeowner shot and killed a young man entering his house in the town of Chiguayante, El Mercurio newspaper reported.

In Concepcion, an unknown number of looters set fire to the El Polar department store Tuesday and were caught inside by the flames. Their bodies have yet to be recovered.

It’s a good lesson that when society breaks down, you will have to rely on yourselves and your neighbors.  Prepare for it before it happens.