Chile wants loans, aid for earthquake areas

By Terry Wade and Mario Naranjo | China Daily | Updated: 2010-03-06 08:00

A Chilean flag flaps in the wind at a beach littered with debris from a major earthquake in Constitucion on Wednesday. Four days after the 8.8-magnitude earthquake killed around 800 people in south-central Chile, rescue crews with sniffer dogs fanned out around Chile's ravaged cities and villages, searching for survivors inside the mountains of rubble. Ivan Alvarado/REUTERS

CONCEPCION, Chile - Quake-hit Chile will need international loans and three to four years to rebuild after the most powerful earthquake in a century killed hundreds of people and demolished cities and towns, President Michelle Bachelet said on Thursday.