Destroyed roadway in Santiago, Chile after an 8.8 earthquake
struck on Saturday morning. (Creative Commons)

Three days after the deadly magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit Chile, the death toll has climbed up to 723, and an estimated 2 million people have been displaced, off what President Michelle Bachelet called, "an emergency unparalleled in the history of Chile."

Many Chileans camped outside on Sunday after over 100 after-shocks continued to be felt in cities along Chile's coastline, some reaching a magnitude of 6.9.

Chile's defense minister, Francisco Vidal, blamed the Navy on Sunday for not issuing a tsunami warning earlier.

Many of the dead were in Chile's coastal regions after 33-foot waves inundated coastal towns thirty minutes after the quake.

Karen Espinoza, owner of a bakery that was looted told Dow Jones. "What the earthquake didn't take away, the sea took away. And what the sea didn't take, the looters did."

ANIMATION: Tsunami wave animation showing wave propagation
after the Chile earthquake.
 

Credit: NOAA / PMEL / Center for Tsunami Research

The Chilean military were dispatched to impose curfews, and guard shops from looters. The Los Angeles Times reports that dozens of curfew violators and looters were arrested by the military Monday. 

The worst damage appears to be in the coastal town of Constitucion, where 350 people were killed and hundreds of survivors who were struggling to find food, ransacked the main supermarkets.

President Bachelet said that basic foods will be given away for free by the country's major supermarkets, and troops are also distributing food and water.

Meanwhile, Southern California's small Chilean community of around 8,000 people, are desperately trying to contact their loved ones in Chile, and have began organizing fundraisers to help the victims. The San Bernardino group, Club de Huasos, planned to meet with the consul general Monday to ask how they might help the victims.

Debris covers a car in Chile. Damage in Santiago has been isolated to older
parts of the city.(Creative Commons)

Many have made the comparison to Haiti's magnitude 7.0 earthquake, which killed more that 200,000. Chile's economic strength and stricter building codes were said to have been some of the reasons why fewer people died. In addition the epicenter was further from populated areas.

Apu Patel, who is leading the Chilean earthquake response for the American Red Cross, said that the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile are very different disasters.

"Unlike, Chile, the Haitian government was not capable of addressing the needs of the affected. Chile has a much stronger support structure," said Patel.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to visit Chile on Tuesday, on a previously scheduled trip through Latin America. Clinton reiterated her solidarity with Chile on Monday, and said that the United States is ready to provide disaster assistance to the victims.

"Our hemisphere comes together in times of crisis, and we will stand side-by-side with the people of Chile in this emergency," said Clinton.