Poll: Chileans Unhappy With Government Quake Response

CONCEPCION, Chile – While a poll suggests most Chileans are not happy with their government’s response to last weekend’s devastating earthquake, aid experts say they’re impressed with the speed of the disaster response.

The newspaper El Mercurio found 72 percent of Chileans polled believe the response was slow and inefficient. And 48 percent said they believe President Michelle Bachelet did not want to end her term by sending soldiers into the streets.

Bachelet declared a “state of catastrophe” less than three hours after the early-morning quake and subsequent tsunami, but she didn’t put the military in charge of the disaster response until the following afternoon. However, the government response since has been massive, deploying planes, ships, helicopters, trucks, heavy equipment and thousands of troops to deliver tons of aid.

The leader of a volunteer response team praises the Chileans as “can-do people” and questions whether the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency could have matched the effort.