The devastation wrought by the enormous 8.8 magnitude quake, which killed more than 700 people, is painfully evident from the innumerable collapsed buildings and the decimated infrastructure -- bridges torn apart and roads split asunder.

Total economic losses from the quake could exceed 15 billion dollars, according to EQECAT and AIR Worldwide, two firms which model the impact of disasters.

That could wipe out around 10 percent of the country's gross domestic product. A disaster with a similar economic impact in the United States would cost a staggering 1.42 trillion dollars.

The effects of the temblor rippled through world markets on Monday, as major exchanges opened for the first time since the quake. Initial economic concerns focused on the impact on copper supplies.

Chile produces around a third of the world's copper, propping up everything from Chinese manufacturing to shipping volumes through the Panama Canal.

Initially prices for the metal -- most commonly used in electrical wiring -- jumped more than five percent, but soon ebbed as it became clear that major Chile's mines were largely unaffected.

"Fortunately the major copper mines are located far to the north of the quake's epicenter," said Bill Witherell, chief global rconomist with Cumberland Advisors. "Damage to production facilities appears to have been minor, and the country's major copper exporting port is operating normally."

As for the wider impact of the quake on Chile's economy, foreign investors appear unfazed, putting faith in an economy that has long been held up as a model for Latin America.

Although Chile will get a relatively untested new president later this month, foreign lenders did not dramatically increase the risk premiums they charge for buying Chilean debt.

Much of the confidence has its roots in the 1970s, and the brutal rule of General Augusto Pinochet.

Along with political assassinations, the strong-man's rule also brought enthusiastic adoption of the policies touted by neo-liberal US economists and the International Monetary Fund.

The military government, unperturbed by public opinion, pursued tough growth-making policies -- from slashing public sector jobs to mass privatizations -- that would make more representative governments squeamish.

As a result, advocates say, the country was victim to few of normal economic afflictions that plagued the rest of the Latin America: hyper-inflation, loan defaults and banking crises.

That track record appears to be paying dividends.

Investors on Monday expressed confidence that the rebuilding effort would not cause major budget headaches.

President elect Sebastian Pinera is expected to tap the country's 11.3 billion dollar Social and Economic Stabilization Fund to pay for at least some of the rebuilding.

"Public debt runs very low, at around six percent of GDP, which also gives the upcoming administration leeway to seek external financing if the need for funding arises," IHS Global Insight said in a briefing note.

"Chile's infrastructural development... and solid economy guarantee a relatively rapid recovery, which could take mere months."

Chile still appears on track to become the first South American nation to join the OECD, a Paris-based club of the world's leading economies.

According to Cumberland Advisors's Witherell, short-term economic losses caused by the quake could be offset by that injection of cash.

"While there may well be a temporary near-term downturn in economic performance, we anticipate that the rebuilding effort will come to be the more lasting effect of the quake on the Chilean economy, providing an important positive stimulus later this year," he said.

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