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A highway near Santiago is strewn with overturned vehicles after
an 8.8-magnitude earth quake hit
Concepcion, a city of 630,000 in
Chile’s central coastal region |
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Santiago
(DPA): Chilean authorities were assessing the damage from a massive
earthquake that killed more than 300 people, as Asian nations braced
Sunday for the resulting tsunami that was still racing across the
Pacific Ocean.
Hundreds of people were missing and feared trapped under the rubble
of buildings that buckled under the force of the 8.8 magnitude
quake, the strongest to hit the South American nation since 1960.
The
earthquake occurred at 3.34 a.m. (0634 GMT) Saturday, some 90 km
north-east of Concepcion, a city of 630,000 in Chile’s central
coastal region.
Significant damage was reported in the capital Santiago, 320 km
north of the epicentre, affecting buildings, roads and closing the
international airport.
Waves of 1.5 metres or less were reported in Hawaii, New Zealand and
Australia. Comprehensive coastal warnings were issued in Japan,
where the Chilean tsunami was expected Sunday afternoon with a
height of up to 3 metres, and coastal residents on the Philippines
Pacific shores fled for high ground in fear of the waves.
Some
coastal areas of Chile were quickly struck by a post-quake wave,
devastating some communities.
A
wall of water swept across the Chilean island of Robinson Crusoe,
670 km off the coast. Three people were reported missing on the
island.
President Michelle Bachelet declared a state of disaster in the
worst-hit regions south of Santiago. “I have no doubt that we will
make it through this,” she said in a nationally televised address.
Sebastian Pinera, who takes over from her as head of state March 11,
appealed for solidarity.
The
death toll rose throughout Saturday, reaching more than 300 by
sundown. Authorities warned that more fatalities were likely.
In
Conception, 150 people were feared trapped in a fallen, 14-storey
apartment block.
“From the street we can hear the screaming of those who were caught
under the new, 14-floor building,” one man said looking at the pile
of rubble.
There were reports of unrest in one Santiago neighbourhood over
shortages of water and power outages.
Santiago’s international airport was ordered closed to incoming and
outgoing flights for at least three days, with a collapse reported
in the terminal building. The city’s underground rail network was
also closed.
Overturned cars littered motorway flyovers, which buckled and
crumbled during the quake.
Power lines were down, water supplies were cut and burst gas pipes
raised fears of explosions. Internet communications were disrupted
and mobile phone networks badly damaged.
In
Concepcion, damage was widespread. The offices of the region
government were reported to have been destroyed, and the walls of
the city’s prison collapsed, with hundreds of convicts reported to
have escaped.
Chilean television showed footage of collapsed hospitals, burning
buildings and wrecked bridges. Modern, high-rise buildings in
Santiago were relatively unscathed by the quake and the scores of
aftershocks.
With
Chile’s prosperity and seismic history, the country has for decades
required new construction to conform to earthquake-zone engineering
standards.
UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered “rapid assistance” if sought
by Chile. In Washington, President Barack Obama offered to deploy US
resources “should the Chilean people need our help”.
The
quake was 50 times more powerful than the one that claimed more than
200,000 lives Jan 12 in Haiti, said the head of the University of
Santiago’s Seismological Institute, Sergio Barrientos.
The
worst earthquake to hit Chile occurred in 1960, when a 9.5-magnitude
quake and tsunami claimed 6,000 lives.
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