Post by Sapphire on Feb 27, 2010 14:04:06 GMT -5
At least 147 dead; dangerous waves threaten countries around Pacific
SANTIAGO, Chile - A devastating magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, toppling homes and buildings, collapsing bridges and spawning a tsunami that rolled menacingly across the Pacific.
At least 147 people were killed in the strongest earthquake to hit the country in 50 years and one of the strongest ever measured anywhere, according to Carmen Fernandez, director of the National Emergency Agency.
"Unfortunately, Chile is a country of catastrophes," President-elect Sebastian Pinera said, adding the quake heavily damaged many of the country's roads, airports and ports.
President Michelle Bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe" in central Chile and said hundreds of homes, schools, hospitals and other structures were flattened or damaged.
Chileans near the epicenter were tossed about as if shaken by a giant. Local radio reported 100 people were missing in a collapsed building in hard-hit Concepcion, one of Chile's largest cities with around 670,000 inhabitants. Firefighters were working to put out fires throughout the city, and most of the buildings in the city center were destroyed.
At least three people were killed by huge earthquake-triggered waves that smashed into Chile's Robinson Crusoe Island, a remote, rocky island named for the fictional, stranded sailor, Reuters reported.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake struck 56 miles northeast of the city of Concepcion at a depth of 22 miles at 3:34 a.m. (1:34 a.m. ET). The quake shook buildings in Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires, and was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil — 1,800 miles to the east.
At least 23 aftershocks were reported, including one registering at 6.9 on the Richter scale.
TV Chile reported that a 15-story building collapsed in Concepcion, where buildings caught fire, bridges collapsed and cracks opened up in the streets. Cars turned upside down lay scattered on one damaged highway bridge. Some residents looted pharmacies and a collapsed grains silo, hauling off bags of wheat, television images showed.
In the town of Talca, about 65 miles from the epicenter, Associated Press journalist Roberto Candia said it felt as if a giant had grabbed him and shaken him.
The town's historic center, filled with buildings of adobe mud and straw, largely collapsed, though most of those were businesses that were not inhabited when the quake struck. Neighbors pulled at least five people from the rubble while emergency workers, themselves disoriented, asked for information from reporters.
Many roads were destroyed, and electricity, water and phone lines were cut to many areas — meaning there was no word of death or damage from many outlying areas.
In the capital of Santiago, 200 miles northeast of the epicenter, a car dangled from a collapsed overpass, the national Fine Arts Museum was badly damaged and an apartment building's two-story parking lot pancaked, smashing about 50 cars whose alarms rang incessantly.
Tsunami warnings
The jolt set off a tsunami that raced across the Pacific, setting off alarm sirens in Hawaii, Polynesia and Tonga. Tahitian officials banned all traffic on roads less than 1,600 feet from the sea and people in several low-lying island nations were urged to find higher ground.
Hawaii could face its largest waves since 1964, according to Charles McCreery, director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
"Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property," the Warning Center said in a bulletin. "All shores are at risk no matter which direction they face."
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.
Reuters reported that a tsunami caused by the quake caused "serious damage" to Chile's sparsely populated Juan Fernández Islands, where Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was marooned in the 18th century, inspiring the novel "Robinson Crusoe."
"There was a series of waves that got bigger and bigger, which gave people time to save themselves," pilot Fernando Avaria told TVN television by telephone from the main island. Three people were killed and four missing there, he said.
Bachelet said residents were evacuated from coastal areas of Chile's remote Easter Island, a popular tourist destination in the Pacific famous for its towering Moai stone statues.
Santiago's international airport was closed as the quake destroyed passenger walkways and shook glass out of doors and windows.
View the complete story at:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35615455/ns/world_news-americas/
SANTIAGO, Chile - A devastating magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, toppling homes and buildings, collapsing bridges and spawning a tsunami that rolled menacingly across the Pacific.
At least 147 people were killed in the strongest earthquake to hit the country in 50 years and one of the strongest ever measured anywhere, according to Carmen Fernandez, director of the National Emergency Agency.
"Unfortunately, Chile is a country of catastrophes," President-elect Sebastian Pinera said, adding the quake heavily damaged many of the country's roads, airports and ports.
President Michelle Bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe" in central Chile and said hundreds of homes, schools, hospitals and other structures were flattened or damaged.
Chileans near the epicenter were tossed about as if shaken by a giant. Local radio reported 100 people were missing in a collapsed building in hard-hit Concepcion, one of Chile's largest cities with around 670,000 inhabitants. Firefighters were working to put out fires throughout the city, and most of the buildings in the city center were destroyed.
At least three people were killed by huge earthquake-triggered waves that smashed into Chile's Robinson Crusoe Island, a remote, rocky island named for the fictional, stranded sailor, Reuters reported.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake struck 56 miles northeast of the city of Concepcion at a depth of 22 miles at 3:34 a.m. (1:34 a.m. ET). The quake shook buildings in Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires, and was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil — 1,800 miles to the east.
At least 23 aftershocks were reported, including one registering at 6.9 on the Richter scale.
TV Chile reported that a 15-story building collapsed in Concepcion, where buildings caught fire, bridges collapsed and cracks opened up in the streets. Cars turned upside down lay scattered on one damaged highway bridge. Some residents looted pharmacies and a collapsed grains silo, hauling off bags of wheat, television images showed.
In the town of Talca, about 65 miles from the epicenter, Associated Press journalist Roberto Candia said it felt as if a giant had grabbed him and shaken him.
The town's historic center, filled with buildings of adobe mud and straw, largely collapsed, though most of those were businesses that were not inhabited when the quake struck. Neighbors pulled at least five people from the rubble while emergency workers, themselves disoriented, asked for information from reporters.
Many roads were destroyed, and electricity, water and phone lines were cut to many areas — meaning there was no word of death or damage from many outlying areas.
In the capital of Santiago, 200 miles northeast of the epicenter, a car dangled from a collapsed overpass, the national Fine Arts Museum was badly damaged and an apartment building's two-story parking lot pancaked, smashing about 50 cars whose alarms rang incessantly.
Tsunami warnings
The jolt set off a tsunami that raced across the Pacific, setting off alarm sirens in Hawaii, Polynesia and Tonga. Tahitian officials banned all traffic on roads less than 1,600 feet from the sea and people in several low-lying island nations were urged to find higher ground.
Hawaii could face its largest waves since 1964, according to Charles McCreery, director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
"Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property," the Warning Center said in a bulletin. "All shores are at risk no matter which direction they face."
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.
Reuters reported that a tsunami caused by the quake caused "serious damage" to Chile's sparsely populated Juan Fernández Islands, where Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was marooned in the 18th century, inspiring the novel "Robinson Crusoe."
"There was a series of waves that got bigger and bigger, which gave people time to save themselves," pilot Fernando Avaria told TVN television by telephone from the main island. Three people were killed and four missing there, he said.
Bachelet said residents were evacuated from coastal areas of Chile's remote Easter Island, a popular tourist destination in the Pacific famous for its towering Moai stone statues.
Santiago's international airport was closed as the quake destroyed passenger walkways and shook glass out of doors and windows.
View the complete story at:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35615455/ns/world_news-americas/