extent of the destruction is becoming more painfully evident with each passing day. for the latest on emergency relief efforts in chile, our correspondent tonight is nbc news ann curry. >> flying into the destruction zone for the first time today, evidence of the power of one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded. >> reporter: from the air you can begin to see the extent of the destruction. over hundreds of miles, town after town, flattened by mother nature. 500,000 homes damaged or destroyed. major bridges down. some coastal towns hit with both the quake and tsunamis washed away. 2 million people affected. rescuers are struggling against exhaustion to find people buried alive, especially in hard-hit concepcion, chile's second largest city. even closer to the epicenter, today chaos. more than two days after the quake, fires are still burning in concepcion. this building burning out of