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SANTIAGO, Chile — A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake capable of tremendous damage struck central Chile early Saturday, shaking the capital for a minute and a half and setting off a tsunami.
Buildings collapsed and phone lines and electricity were down, making the extent of the damage difficult to determine. At least 6 people were killed, President Michele Bachelet said.
“We have had a huge earthquake,” Bachelet said, speaking from an emergency response center in an appeal for Chileans to remain calm. “We’re doing everything we can with all the forces we have. Any information we will share immediately.”
Bachelet said early reports were that six people had been killed, and “without a doubt, with an earthquake of this magnitude, there will be more deaths.” She urged people to avoid traveling in the dark, since traffic lights are down, to avoid causing more fatalities.
The quake hit at 3:34 a.m. (0634 GMT; 1:34 a.m. EST) and was centered 325 kilometers southwest of the capital, Santiago, at a depth of 35 kilometers the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
The epicenter was just 115 kilometers from Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city, where more than 200,000 people live along the Bio Bio river, and 60 miles from the ski town of Chillan, a gateway to Andean ski resorts that was destroyed in a 1939 earthquake.
An Associated Press Television News cameraman said some buildings have collapsed in Santiago, where power was out in parts of the city. An important church was among the buildings that came down in the central city of Providencia, where window glass shattered into the streets and people ran from multistory buildings, according to TV Chile.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for Chile and Peru, and a less-urgent tsunami watch for Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Antarctica. It said a tsunami could also hit Hawaii later in the day.
Tsunami warning has been strengthened:
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
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CNNi has great coverage of most vulnerable coastal cities. Several hundred of thousands living near epicenter with no chance of fleeing to higher ground. Reminds me of the Indonesian Aceh earthquake.
Panorama coastal areas in Chile
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.".
From your link, the warning message …
A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN GENERATED THAT COULD CAUSE DAMAGE ALONGCOASTLINES OF ALL ISLANDS IN THE STATE OF HAWAII. URGENT ACTION
SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT LIVES AND PROPERTY.
A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF LONG OCEAN WAVES. EACH INDIVIDUAL WAVE
CREST CAN LAST 5 TO 15 MINUTES OR MORE AND EXTENSIVELY FLOOD
COASTAL AREAS. THE DANGER CAN CONTINUE FOR MANY HOURS AFTER THE
INITIAL WAVE AS SUBSEQUENT WAVES ARRIVE. TSUNAMI WAVE HEIGHTS
CANNOT BE PREDICTED AND THE FIRST WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST.
TSUNAMI WAVES EFFICIENTLY WRAP AROUND ISLANDS. ALL SHORES ARE AT
RISK NO MATTER WHICH DIRECTION THEY FACE. THE TROUGH OF A TSUNAMI
WAVE MAY TEMPORARILY EXPOSE THE SEAFLOOR BUT THE AREA WILL
QUICKLY FLOOD AGAIN. EXTREMELY STRONG AND UNUSUAL NEARSHORE
CURRENTS CAN ACCOMPANY A TSUNAMI. DEBRIS PICKED UP AND CARRIED
BY A TSUNAMI AMPLIFIES ITS DESTRUCTIVE POWER. SIMULTANEOUS HIGH
TIDES OR HIGH SURF CAN SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE TSUNAMI HAZARD.
THE ESTIMATED ARRIVAL TIME IN HAWAII OF THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE IS
1119 AM HST SAT 27 FEB 2010
US west coast and Alaska advisory in effect
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.".
The Chile quake caused a minor tsunami because the epicenter was in shallow depth of the ocean, 3 mi. off the coast.
A magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the most powerful earthquake recorded in more than 40 years, struck underwater off the Indonesian island of Sumatra on December 26, 2004. The resulting tsunami caused devastation throughout South Asia, with the death toll now estimated at 150,000.
According to research geophysicist Steven Ward, an expert on tsunami hazards, the speed of a tsunami depends on the depth of the water, with waves traveling as fast as 400 miles per hour in the deep ocean.
When they come ashore, they are typically moving at about 30 miles per hour, he said, adding that tsunami waves are very different from the waves one usually sees at the beach.
“It’s like the ocean turns into a river and starts to flow onto the land. It’s not a big crashing wave like in the Hollywood movies,” Ward said.
Tsunamis can be generated not only by earthquakes, but also by undersea landslides and asteroid impacts.
UCSC Computer Simulation Of Indian Ocean Tsunami
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."