"The thugs have taken over the city. Now we are not afraid of the earthquakes, we're afraid of the criminals," Marcelo Rivera, the mayor of Hualpen, said on a Chilean radio station.

President Michelle Bachelet doubled the number of troops patrolling the worst-hit areas to 14,000, as people in the second largest city of Concepcion were slapped with an 18-hour curfew.

"Military personnel will be present in the streets of Concepcion until midday to maintain public order, and they will not waver in carrying out their duties," warned General Guillermo Ramirez.

The city resembled a war zone Tuesday with armored vehicles stationed in strategic places ensuring the curfew was respected.

A similar curfew was also imposed on three other towns badly damaged by Saturday's 8.8-magnitude quake, which was so strong it triggered a Pacific-wide tsunami and according to a NASA scientist probably shifted the Earth's axis.

The curfew, unprecedented since the end of the 17-year dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, is likely to trigger concern in the South American country.

But Bachelet defended her government's handling of the crisis as the first aid supplies began trickling into the quake-hit areas.

"We understand your urgent suffering, but we also know that these are criminal acts that will not be tolerated," Bachelet said.

The official death toll stands at almost 800, but looks set to rise sharply as relief teams reach more isolated areas.

"The tsunami affected 200 kilometers of coastline, at places sweeping 2,000 meters inland," General Bosco Pesse, who is running emergency operations in the Maule region where a quarter of a million people live, told AFP.

"Some 600 people died in this area, but the toll could climb to 1,000."

In Concepcion, some 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of Santiago, hungry, desperate residents roamed the streets looking for food and water.

Across many neighborhoods, people were taking matters into their own hands, organizing self-defense groups, barricading streets and preventing strangers from entering.

Hualpen mayor Rivera urged the government to send in a contingent of troops, and grimly warned: "If they have to kill, then let them kill."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Santiago Tuesday carrying communications equipment and said the United States stood ready to help.

Santiago, mostly built to strict earthquake codes, escaped the worst of the damage. But as journalists and aid workers slowly trekked south across damaged roads, the extent of the quake was gradually coming to light.

Two million people, or one-eighth of the population, are said to have been affected, and Bachelet admitted the rebuilding could take time.

"Chile has the capacity: We have the engineers, we have the people, we have the experience, we have people trained and all that. But I think it will take long, and it will mean a whole amount of money," she said as she met Clinton.

The temblor razed street after street of homes in the old heart of Talca where many people are now sleeping rough and there is little to no electricity, although water supplies are slowly returning for the 200,000 residents.

"We're scared, there are bad people about, so we do guard duty through the night," said Mario Saabedra, 76, whose wife suffered a diabetic attack in the early hours.

"We have no food or water, and no one, but no one, has come to check on us," he said.

And coastal areas, swamped by the massive tsunami, remained cut off Tuesday.

"This part was full of houses. There were more than 100," said Silvia Aparicio, a community leader, pointing to the beachfront in Pelluhue, turned into a sandy wasteland.

Rescue efforts also continued for those still trapped in the rubble, but many stories have tragic endings.

Restaurant worker Jorge Recabal in the town of Curanipe said he found a mud-covered body inside the restaurant. "I noticed a pair of sports shoes. I picked up one and there was a leg attached to it. It was a 14-year-old kid," he said.

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