Chilean authorities are having a hard time controlling the hordes of looters taking advantage of the chaos in the city of Concepcion, prompting residents to organize in order to defend their homes.

The city was among the areas hardest hit by Saturday’s devastating 8.8-magnitude earthquake. A dusk-to-dawn curfew has been extended to noon to help authorities deal with the lawlessness. President Michelle Bachelete condemned the “pillage and criminality” and sent an additional 7,000 troops to the area.

After raiding nearly all the major markets in the city, looters are now reportedly targeting homes and residents are banding together in groups to defend themselves and their properties.

Many Chileans have criticized the government’s slow response in delivering food and water, providing security and restoring power, but authorities have said badly damaged roads and highways are hindering their efforts to distribute aid.

So far, the quake is reported to have killed 723 people. The World Health Organization expects that number will grow as communications improve. More than 500,000 homes were destroyed or badly damaged. One group – the catastrophe modeling organization AIR Worldwide – has predicted the quake damage could exceed $15 billion.

The nation’s Pacific coast was devastated by the earthquake and tsunamis. Most of the people who died in the quake were in the wine region of Maule – 350 people were killed in the town of Constitucion alone.

South, in Talcahuano, approximately 180,000 people are homeless and the disaster left about 10,000 homes there uninhabitable.