A devastating magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, shattering buildings and bridges, killing at least 78 people and setting off a tsunami that threatened every nation around the Pacific Ocean – roughly a quarter of the globe.
UPDATE 5:21 P.M. EST: The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, on its Web site reported that “the tsunami has reached Hawaii and is just beginning to register on Big Island gauges.” But the first wave had not perceptibly hit the eastern side of Hawaii Island as of 11:45 a.m. local time, 25 minutes after it was expected to hit. (WSJ)
Free video chat by Ustream
Chilean TV showed devastating images of the most powerful quake to hit the country in a half-century: In the second city of Concepcion trucks plunged into the fractured earth, homes fell, bridges collapsed and buildings were engulfed in flames. Injured people lay in the streets or on stretchers.
Many roads were destroyed and electricity and water were cut to many areas.
There was still no word of death or damage from many outlying areas that were cut off by the quake that struck at 3:34 a.m. (1:34 a.m. EST, 0634 GMT) 200 miles (325 kilometers) southwest of Santiago.
Experts warned that a tsunami could strike anywhere in the Pacific, and Hawaii could face its largest waves since 1964 starting at 11:19 a.m. (4:19 p.m. EST, 2119 GMT), according to Charles McCreery, director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. (KMOX: All Hawaiian islands ordered evacuated as officials urge “urgent action to protect lives and property.”)
Tsunami waves were likely to hit Asian, Australian and New Zealand shores within 24 hours of the earthquake. The U.S. West Coast and Alaska, too, were threatened.
A huge wave swept into a populated area in the Robinson Crusoe Islands, 410 miles (660 kilometers) off the Chilean coast, President Michele Bachelet said, but there were no immediate reports of major damage there.
Bachelet said the death toll was at 78 and rising, but officials had no information on the number of people injured. She declared a “state of catastrophe” in central Chile.
“We have had a huge earthquake, with some aftershocks,” Bachelet said from an emergency response center. She urged Chileans not to panic.
“Despite this, the system is functioning. People should remain calm. We’re doing everything we can with all the forces we have. Any information we will share immediately,” she said.
Powerful aftershocks rattled Chile’s coast – 21 of them magnitude 5 or greater and one reaching magnitude 6.9 – the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
Bachelet urged people to avoid traveling, since traffic lights are down, to avoid causing more fatalities.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
