723 dead and over 2 million people homeless.

Chilean authorities on Monday tried to help hundreds of thousands of earthquake victims lacking water, electricity and food after last weekend’s temblor.

The death toll from Saturday’s magnitude 8.8 quake stands at 723, while some 2 million people have been affected by the disaster.

On Monday, authorities commenced the shipment south from Santiago of food rations, which will be distributed in many affected towns throughout the region.

Also, authorities are working to open up the highway connections between the capital and the southern part of the country, while domestic flights were set to resume from Santiago’s airport, where the arrivals of flights from abroad have been increasing given that the runways and control tower systems were not damaged by the quake.