Chile's national blue, red and white flag fluttered at half-staff from buildings across the coun-try Monday at the start of three days of national mourning, in a week in which president-elect Sebastian Pinera is due to be sworn in.

Religious ceremonies, some taking place in the open air, brought Chileans together to remember their dead – now officially estimated at 452 after officials revised an initial toll of 802 when some missing people turned up alive.

Many of the nation's 16.8 million inhabitants joined in a wave of solidarity alongside public and international aid efforts, and some looters handed back stolen goods under threat of arrest.

President Michelle Bachelet visited a depot of returned goods Sunday, promising jus-tice.

"This looting has nothing to do with survival," Bachelet told journalists, putting the estimat-ed value of the returned goods at $2 million. "It had everything to do with people trying to make a profit on the suffering of others."

The looting broke out in the wake of the devastating 8.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Chile on February 27.

Demolition and reconstruction efforts have begun slowly in badly hit areas.

Aid has poured in from across the world but, with severed bridges, fractured freeways and villages washed off the map, the nation has struggled to deliver relief to many, including about 2 million homeless survivors.

Costs to repair damaged infrastructure, not including repairs on public buildings or damaged ports, could amount to between $1 billion and $1.2 billion, Sergio Bitar, the minister of public works, estimated Sunday.

Bachelet winds up a four-year term on Thursday and faces criticism for a slow response to the quake.

More than 60 percent of residents of Santiago deemed the government's quake response "slow or inefficient," according to a survey published Sunday in El Mercurio newspaper.

With half a million homes destroyed, sanitary conditions for many people still on the streets were a growing concern.

AFP