Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has appealed for international help as rescue efforts continue following Saturday’s devastating earthquake. The official death toll is at 723, but it is expected to rise. An estimated two million people were affected by the earthquake. Bachelet says Chile urgently needs mobile bridges, field hospitals, satellite phones, electrical generators, water purification systems and field kitchens. Troops have been dispatched to Chile’s heavily damaged south, where looting was reported. Some of the worst devastation has been reported along Chile’s central Pacific coast, which was also hit by a tsunami. Entire fishing villages were reportedly wiped out by the high waves. In Concepción, Chile’s second largest city, people are camped on the streets, cooking and eating outside.

Resident of Concepción: “What we need the most is food. Food and water. Let us not run out. We call on the authorities to make their presence known in this place, to not leave us so alone. Yesterday, the children were crying because they were hungry, and they were tearing their hair out, and there wasn’t anything to give them.”

Many residents along Chile’s coast said the tsunami was more devastating than the actual earthquake.

Jose Gonzalez: “I saw it very clearly. It looked like a massive snake, with water behind it. The mass of water was maybe a meter-and-a-half high, and it swept away everything in its path.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to briefly visit Santiago, Chile today as part of a regional tour of Latin America.