SANTIAGO (AFP) – Flags were lowered across Chile on Sunday, marking the start of three days of mourning for the hundreds who died in last week’s powerful earthquake and tsunami. Aid has poured in from across the world — from Bolivian bottled water to Chinese tents, Russian water cleaners or French seismic equipment — in a response reflecting the scale of the 8.8-quake on February 27, which, along with subsequent tsunami waves, affected one in eight Chileans.

But, with severed bridges, fractured freeways and villages washed off the map, the nation proud to be a model of Latin American stability still struggled to deliver relief to some two million hungry and homeless survivors.

Officials have almost halved an initial death toll, from 802 to 452, after finding that missing people had been listed as dead in several parts of Chile. (Yahoo News)