SANTIAGO: Chile’s 2010 budget will be altered to fund urgent reconstruction efforts in the wake of last month’s devastating earthquake, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said.

“We will send to Congress in the coming days an emergency bill to use all resources available to accelerate” rebuilding efforts, the newly anointed leader announced in Talcahuano, one of the central cities worst hit by the tremor and subsequent tsunami on February 27.

Reconstruction will mean “a deep reformulation of the budget for 2010... because the priorities have certainly changed,” he said. “There are sectors that were harder hit than others. The hardest hit need further assistance, the less affected need more aid, and that will be part of this reconstruction bill.”

Pinera estimated on Friday, a day after being sworn in as the South American country’s new leader, it would cost $30 billion to rebuild the nation after the 8.8-magnitude quake.

He vowed to “reassign some resources from

the national budget” to help bear the costs of reconstruction, adding he would urge other nations to pitch in and draw on “international credits” to finance reconstruction projects.