Students’ screams of joy at finding their old friends rang throughout schools, while parents recounted the horror of days scrambling for food and water and sleepless, chilly nights outside their crumbled homes.

“It’s good for the children to go back to school, because they will focus on their stories,” a mother said as she dropped off her son at Subcaseaux Junior High School in Santiago.

Teachers had received training to receive with “lots of love, lots of willingness to listen” the young ones still in shock from the tremor that affected two million people, Education Minister Monica Jimenez said.

“I missed my friends, I’ve been afraid of the aftershocks,” a boy said just before entering class for the first time since the end of the southern hemisphere’s summer.

Only children in the hardest-hit regions of Maule and Bio Bio did not go back to school, with their return delayed until late March or late April because so many schools were destroyed in the February 27 quake.

During a visit to Subcaseaux, which is hosting students from affected areas, Jimenez said nearly 80 percent of children were returning to class.

Patricio Rosende, the deputy interior minister, said 45 new bodies had been identified, bringing the official death toll to 497 as search and rescue crews continued to comb Chile’s decimated coastline.

The figure does not include people who have been reported missing and were unaccounted for, and Rosende did not provide a tally of those. Initially the government mistakenly lumped the missing with the confirmed dead for a higher toll.

In all, 7,000 children whose schools were rendered unusable by the disaster were assigned to other institutions for a few weeks or sometimes even the whole year, Santiago Mayor Pablo Zalaquet told TVN television.

For some students in the capital region, home to more than a third of the country’s population, their return to school was delayed a few days so that their schools could be repaired.

In Concepcion, the second-largest city in the country, there was little talks of returning to school for students.

The playground was eerily empty at a Methodist high school, one of the quake-stricken coastal city’s largest. The structure seemed to have withstood the shock of the tremor, although the cross atop the chapel was crooked. Workers were busy at work below.

“Four of the gym’s beams collapsed, the library is unusable, same for one of the classrooms. And there are cracks everywhere,” one worker said.

Elsewhere in Maule and Bio Bio, power outages and the lack of drinking water kept many schools’s doors closed.

“Let them take their time,” Jimenez said.

Officials, meanwhile, began to get a better handle on the extent of the damage caused by the 8.8-magnitude quake and the giant waves that quickly followed.

Public Works Minister Sergio Bitar estimated that 1.2 billion dollars would be needed to rebuild crushed public transportation infrastructure, including around 40 bridges that snapped during the disaster.

Rebuilding health facilities and hospitals would cost 3.6 billion dollars, according to Health Minister Alvaro Erazo.

President-elect Sebastian Pinera, who takes office on Thursday, said his cabinet was preparing an emergency bill and a reconstruction law so that the 2010 budget could be “adjusted to reflect our needs and the reality on the ground.”

Current President Michelle Bachelet was on a tour of ravaged regions, visiting the coastal towns of Dichato and Constitucion.

Pinera blasted critics of the deployment of some 14,000 soldiers in quake-hit areas to quell riots and looting — a move unprecedented since the end of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in 1990.

“The military is an institution with very useful tools in times of disaster” to guarantee public order and prevent looting, Pinera told DNA radio.

“They are Chileans like everyone else,” he said of the soldiers. “This prejudice (toward the military) is absurd, we must eliminate it from our minds.”

Scientists from 30 countries focused on how to improve meteorological services in Haiti to prevent further disasters as they began three days of meetings in Bermuda.

“One of the areas they will be looking at will be better communications and dissemination possibilities,” Robert Masters of the World Meteorological Organization told AFP by telephone as the hurricane committee convened.

Masters said about 80 percent of Haitians would normally be informed of any imminent hurricane or storm threat by turning on their televisions or tuning in on their radios.

“But now with the earthquake this was reduced to 20 percent because people don’t have electricity, don’t have television and radios,” he said. “So it’s important to find new ways to disseminate information to be sure people are warned in the face of severe weather.”

The scientists are expected to recommend, when the meeting wraps up on Wednesday, that governments providing aid to Haiti seek to create a storm alert system to ensure new disaster is averted.

Haiti, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic is often hit by storms during the June to November hurricane season.

The Western hemisphere’s poorest nation, Haiti is also poorly equipped to deal with hurricanes because massive deforestation has left it with few moisture-absorbing tropical forests.

International aid groups have for weeks warned about the onset of the Caribbean’s rainy season, which begins in earnest late April, followed by the potentially disastrous hurricane season.

Violent storms could turn fields where homeless Haitians are camping out into unsanitary pools of overflowing sewage and trigger mudslides and flooding that would threaten precarious post-quake settlements made of tents and flimsy plastic.

In the 2008 hurricane season, Haiti was pounded by four storms that left more than 800,000 people homeless and devastated its agriculture.

Last year, Haiti, the Caribbean, and the US mainland were spared any major storms during a relatively calm hurricane season.

But the devastating earthquake that struck the country January 12 flattened most of the capital Port-au-Prince, killing more than 220,000 people and destroying half the nation’s economy, according to government estimates.

Another 1.3 million people have been left homeless since the quake.

The operation, organized by the World Food Program (WFP), expands on emergency rations already given away in the wake of the January 12 earthquake that killed more than 220,000 people. It was to continue to the end of the month.

Each family was being given rations that also included oil, salt and flour in exchange for coupons distributed days ahead of the food hand-outs, while UN peacekeepers stood guard to make sure there was no jostling or rush.

At the site of one distribution point, WFP spokeswoman Silke Buhr told AFP that the “surge” of free food did not threaten efforts to try to re-establish markets selling groceries.

“The fact is that a lot of these people who are receiving the food assistance here today would not be able to buy the products in the market at market prices,” which have in many cases tripled since the quake, she said.

She also said the rations were mainly going to women because “food distributed into the hands of women does tend to go to those who need it most.”

One of the few men carrying off his allotted sack of rice, Joseph Adelphi, 26, said his family was deeply grateful for the aid.

“Sometimes I spend all my money just to have something to eat with my mother, with all the family, because I’m the one who protects the family,” he said.

The anti-narcotics prosecutor in the port of Callao, Juan Mendoza, commented on the operation – dubbed “Sinaloan Cedar” – in a press conference.

As a result of the investigation, arrest warrants were issued for seven people belonging to the Multitex firm, ostensibly founded as a textile-export firm.

But the probe showed the company was a front for smuggling drugs from Peru to Mexico, and the northwestern state of Sinaloa in particular, which prompted suspicion among Peruvian prosecutors that the illegal shipment was intended for that region’s like-named cartel.

The 392 kilos that were seized included 102 kilos of cocaine chlorhydrate, while the rest was cocaine paste that presumably was to be processed at drug labs in Mexico.

Only one suspect has been arrested thus far, while warrants are out for six other people.

This latest shipment was reportedly the second that the group had tried to send to Mexico.

According to U.N. figures, Peru is the world’s second-leading producer of cocaine and its precursor, coca leaf, trailing only Colombia.

The main destination for Peruvian drugs is Europe, mainly entering via Spain and the Netherlands, although shipments of illegal narcotics from that South American country also make their way to Brazil and Mexico for later entry into the United States.

According to the newspaper, ETA fighters gave lessons in advanced explosives techniques in at least six Venezuelan camps between 2003 and 2008.

El Pais said the information came from witness statements made by four former FARC members to Spanish police in Bogota last October.

The ABC newspaper in Madrid quoted Spanish police reports saying ETA and FARC first made contact in Cuba in 1993 and held two training camps in 2003.

ETA members learned how to make and use grenades and surface-to-air missiles while FARC fighters were shown techniques for urban guerilla warfare, particularly how to use mobile phones as remote detonators for bombs, ABC said.

Last Monday a Spanish judge charged that ETA and FARC plotted to kill Colombian politicians in Spain, including President Alvaro Uribe, with Venezuelan “governmental cooperation.”

This move prompted tension between Madrid and Caracas, and led to the two governments issuing a joint statement stressing their ties in the fight against terrorism.

During the trip there, which included crossing Argentina and the Andes mountain range, studies were made of the climatic conditions in the lower-altitude area.

Above 10,000 meters, extra sources of oxygen would be necessary. The aircraft will be part of the humanitarian aid, including search and rescue efforts, in the regions affected by the earthquake and tsunamis. The Black Hawks can also be used for the transportation of food and medicine to isolated areas.

“We are not sure how much time we will spend there, because we know that many people need help. We all want to get there soon and see what we need to do and take action, regardless of the number of days that will be necessary or the amount of rest we will have,” explains a member of the Manaus Special Aviation Infantry Battalion (BINFAE-MN), Lieutenant Renan Antunes.

According to him, the Brazilian Air Force personnel are especially prepared to help with cases of broken bones and drowning.

“We are still unsure what we will encounter, but we are prepared. Because this involves earthquakes, we are carrying supplies for immobilization and first-aid kits, as well as rescue equipment for coastal areas,” he said, emphasizing that it is a source of pride to participate in such missions.

“It’s very rewarding to be able to help someone get back to a normal life. Every human being feels good being able to help others, Brazilians or not.”

Percy Cartolin Sinchi Tuyo was apprehended early Thursday in the city of Huanta, the minister told RPP radio.

Sinchi, who once indoctrinated new Shining Path members in the group’s Maoist-inspired ideology, was wanted in connection with a 2008 ambush that left three police officers dead.

Another guerrilla chief, Miguel Angel Abad, was detained later Thursday at a hotel in Huamanga, Salazar said.

“These apprehensions have been made outside the VRAE (Valley of the Apurimac and Ene rivers), but obviously they are people who have operations in that zone,” he said, referring to a cocaine-producing region where police and soldiers are pursuing an offensive against Shining Path units reputedly aligned with drug traffickers.

Shining Path launched its uprising on May 17, 1980, with an attack on Chuschi, a small town in Ayacucho.

A truth commission appointed by former President Alejandro Toledo blamed the Shining Path for most of the nearly 70,000 deaths the panel ascribed to politically motivated violence during the two decades following the group’s 1980 uprising.

Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman was captured with his top lieutenants on Sept. 12, 1992, signaling the defeat of the insurgency.

But remnants of the group in the VRAE and the coca-growing Upper Huallaga Valley did not comply with Guzman’s order more than a decade ago to end the armed struggle, and he does not recognize them as members of Shining Path.

As a demonstration of his understanding of earthquake victims, the Boricuan artist recalled in a press conference that he experienced the earthquake that struck Mexico City in 1985 and left ten thousand dead, according to official figures.

“We lived through the 1985 earthquake together; it was terribly sad,” said Chayanne, who this week reached first place on Billboard’s Latin Albums chart with his recent disc No hay imposibles [There are no impossible things], which he is promoting in Mexico.

The singer declared himself satisfied with the “very beautiful” Spanish version of “We Are the World,” recorded by various Spanish-speaking artists to benefit the Haitian victims.

With regard to Chile, he indicated, looking forward, that “there will be many shows to help the communities” affected by the recent earthquake.

On the morning of 19 September 1985, Chayanne was at Mexico City’s international airport, on board his plane and about to take off, when the 8.1-magnitude earthquake began that leveled a large part of the Mexican capital’s heart.

“Zico is our greatest idol, and we have to congratulate him every day of the year for existing and being a member of the team that wears red and black. In the end, he gave us so many occasions for happiness and helped to build our history, full of titles and conquests,” emphasized Patricia Amorim, president of the ‘Fla.’

The ‘Little Rooster’ (as he was nicknamed in his youth) is the idol of the ‘Mengão’ for leading the club to its greatest titles – the Liberators Cup and the Intercontinental Cup – in 1981, after winning the Brazilian tournament in 1980. ‘10,’ as he was known, was a defender for the red-and-black team between 1971 and 1983 and then again between 1985 and 1989 and was the club’s greatest striker with 508 goals.

Let go as a coach by the Olimpiakos in Greece in January, Zico will be recognized Wednesday night at the duel between the ‘Fla’ and the Madureira for the Carioca tournament.

“He was a great player, a great example, and also a sensational guy off the field,” his friend, former midfielder Junior, affirmed.

Born in Rio de Janeiro (1953), the former ‘crack’ player was considered by many to be the ‘white Pelé’ and was named by FIFA as the third greatest Brazilian soccer player in history, after Pelé and Garrincha.

Between 1983 and 1985 he played for the Udinese in Italy, and between 1991 and 1994 he competed for the Sumitomo Metals and the Kashima Antlers in Japan.

In his career as a coach he has also directed the CSKA in Moscow, the Fenerbahçe in Turkey, the FC Bunyodkor in Uzbekistan, and the Japanese national team (with which he won the Asian championship in 2004).

He has competed in five World Cups, three as a player (1978-82-86), one as a technical coordinator (1998), and one as a coach (with Japan in 2006).

Even the former world-champion striker (1994) Romario, who has been on bad terms with Zico, holding him responsible for his absence from the French World Cup in 1998, congratulated him on Twitter.

In July 2009 the documentary Zico na rede [Zico at the net] premiered in Brazil, telling the story of the soccer player’s twenty-three-year career through his greatest goals for club teams and for the national team, in addition to interviews with ‘10,’ old colleagues, and journalists.

“We need all families to be adequately prepared so that they know what to do in case of a very intense earthquake, they know what is the safest place from the structural and earthquake-safety point of view, and they reinforce that place,” the president told the press.

García indicated that the government will contract hundreds of engineers, in addition to the professionals employed by the state, to conduct a rapid survey of the most critical areas, such as housing built on hillsides and the oldest houses.

“In this way we will be able to detect housing that should not be inhabited, that has to be demolished, and the inhabitants of which need to be moved elsewhere. We have to anticipate the future; this is fundamental,” he said.

The head of state also announced that the government will purchase a tsunami early-warning system, something that the Geophysical Institute of Peru has been urging for years.

García’s announcements come one day after his trip to Chile, where Peru has sent humanitarian aid for the victims of Saturday’s 8.8-magnitude earthquake that has left at least 799 dead.

The following activities can be performed:
• first aid and treatment of common and contagious diseases;
• three to four surgeries per day (with anesthesia), such as laparotomy, appendectomy, thoracocentesis, debriding wounds, setting fractures, and amputations;
• emergency resuscitation, such as airway, breathing, and circulation management, intensive care (two beds), hemorrhage control, treatment for shock, and other life-saving emergency treatments;
• stabilization and evacuation, if necessary, for the next level of care;
• admission of up to eighteen patients for a maximum period of forty-eight hours for monitoring and treatment;
• up to forty basic X-ray and ultrasound exams per day;
• maintenance of an adequate inventory of medical supplies to ensure self-sufficiency for up to sixty days; and
• maintenance of an advanced medical team, consisting of one doctor and two nurses trained in prehospital emergency care.

Sanz, who began the Latin American leg of his “Paradise Tour” in Mexico this week, shared a meal of tacos with the residents of the “Coruña Center” shelter, who are between thirteen and twenty-one years old.

In order to welcome the artist, the young people decorated a wall with the singer’s face in graffiti style. The young people may spend up to a year at the center, sometimes more, preparing to reenter society and undergoing rehabilitation for addictions, if they have any.

In Mexico City 2,759 young people have been identified as living in the street, 81% of them between eighteen and thirty-nine years old. Most are male, single, and with an elementary education.

More than half come from other states within the country, according to official figures distributed by CIE.

28% are unemployed, and the remainder work in informal occupations such as vending, construction, garbage collection, and cleaning windshields. One out of two uses a substance like alcohol, marijuana, or solvents.

At the same time as the singer’s visit, a multinational food company made a donation of 200,000 pesos (around 15,515 dollars) for another project at the shelter.

This is the second occasion that Sanz has collaborated with the CIE Foundation, since in April 2007 he visited a women’s prison, where he sang for the 1,500 inmates and donated clothing for the children living with some of them, books, and a computer.

The CIE Foundation, which has worked with artists such as Shakira and Juanes, is an offshoot of the Ibero-American Entertainment Corporation (CIE), dedicated to organizing shows in various Latin American countries.

“Practically all of the next administration” will have to be dedicated to responding to the emergency and the rebuilding of the broad region affected by the earthquake, which has left 802 dead and an undetermined number of injured among its two million victims.

“Chile has to have confidence; we are in a position to move forward,” Bachelet affirmed, admitting – nevertheless – that “it’s going to take time.” The president considered unacceptable the failure of the alarm system set up to warn of the risk of ‘sea-quakes,’ a phenomenon that followed Saturday’s earthquake and flattened numerous coastal towns.

“The work we are doing today is to systematically walk through neighborhoods assessing damage,” said Vince Sobach, Joint Task Force Engineers, NAVFAC. “The primary goal is to get people back in their homes. The second part of the mission is training the local Haitian engineers. Basically we are doing a technology transfer. We are trying to both things at the same time since time is of the essence.”

“A lot of the residents of Tourgeau are in one of the local internally displaced persons’ camp that is very much overcrowded,” said Sobach. “So we are going to sweep this neighborhood and try to decompress that camp.”

The group of engineers walked from house to house knocking on doors, looking in and around buildings and talking to residents. All of the Haitian citizens opened their doors with no protests and confidently showed the cracks on the walls of their homes.

“We are here to do the assessments for two reasons,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Scott A. Shaulis. “According to a United Nations poll, it is estimated that the people living in the large displaced persons’ camp near the palace, about 85 percent of them are from Tourgeau.”

“If we find that their homes have little to no damage from the earthquake,” Shaulis said, “it is hoped that they will come home and alleviate the strain on that camp.”

The long term goal, said Shaulis, “is to compile all the information that we are gathering, give it to the Haitian government and they will decide what to do from there.”

Santiago’s damaged airport saw the first influx of supplies from the region since Bachelet’s formal plea for aid including mobile bridges, field hospitals, satellite phones, electrical generators and water purification systems.

Visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton brought 20 satellite telephones and a technician, while an Argentine military plane unloaded a field hospital to help treat victims of Saturday’s 8.8-magnitude quake.

President Alan Garcia of Peru, Chile’s neighbor to the north that has had tense relations in recent years over trade issues and a niggling border dispute, meanwhile announced he would fly to Santiago Tuesday to personally express his solidarity and supervise the delivery of 30 tonnes of humanitarian aid.

Lima was to send a field hospital, medical personnel and supplies including tents and blankets to aid hundreds of thousands of newly homeless quake victims.

Bolivia announced it was sending 60 tonnes of humanitarian aid and 60,000 liters of drinking water, while Chile’s ambassador in Cuba, Gabriel Gaspar, said Havana had promised to send a 27-person medical team.

Governments around the world made immediate pledges of aid after Chile said it needed help to deal with the aftermath of the historic quake, which left large swaths of the country a disaster zone.

Some two million Chileans, one eighth of the entire population, are estimated to have been affected by the quake, one of the most powerful on record, which caused a tsunami that swept away coastal villages.

Clinton also noted that US search and rescue teams were on standby in needed and her State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in Washington that the US was ramping up aid efforts.

“Chile has requested our help in terms of providing a field hospital, communications support, and water purification systems. And so we are mobilizing those capabilities as we speak and will be moving those down to Chile as quickly as possible,” Crowley said.

Russia will send two planeloads of humanitarian aid to Chile at the order of President Dmitry Medvedev, a Kremlin spokesman said.

The Emergency Situations ministry will “send two planes with tents, warm clothing, electrical generators and essential supplies,” the spokesman told ITAR-TASS news agency, without stating when the aid would be dispatched.

Australia, which along with most of the Pacific was placed on tsunami alert after the quake, pledged 4.5 million US dollars in emergency and reconstruction aid.

The European Union said it was ready to deploy “an assessing mission” to look at damage to hospitals, schools and other facilities, its foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.

The European Commission has already approved three million euros (four million dollars) in emergency aid for Chile, while Japan has pledged three million dollars and China one million.