Chilean President Sebastian Pinera vowed Saturday to stand by victims of the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck one year ago this weekend, but civic organisations protested the slow reconstruction.
An 8.8 magnitude earthquake and tsunami on February 27, 2010, in central Chile killed 524 people, caused $30 billion dollars in damage and led to an inquiry over the lack of a timely tsunami warning.
"You haven't been on your own, you're not going to be on your own and our government is committed utterly and completely to rebuild stone by stone, brick by brick everything destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami," Pinera said from Tumbes, a fishing cove damaged last year.
Chile on Sunday plans to commemorate the anniversary with a vigil in the town of Cobquecura - at the epicenter of the quake. But in Concepcion, 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of Santiago, more than 2,000 people protested against the slow pace of reconstruction.