| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Quake kills at least 147 people in central Chile |
| 2010-02-28 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] One of the most powerful earthquakes in decades battered Chile on Saturday, killing at least 147 people, knocking down buildings and triggering a tsunami that rolled menacingly across the Pacific. Buildings caught fire, major highway bridges collapsed and debris blocked streets across large swathes of central Chile. A 15-storey building collapsed in Concepcion, the closest major city to the epicenter, and overturned cars lay scattered below a fallen overpass in the capital Santiago. Telephone and power lines went down, making it difficult to assess the full extent of the damage and loss of life. Chilean President-elect Sebastian Pinera said at least 147 people had died in the 8.8-magnitude quake, which struck at 3:34 a.m. (06: 34 GMT), sending many people rushing from their beds and onto the streets in fear. "It came in waves and lasted so long. Three minutes is an eternity. We kept worrying that it was getting stronger, like a terrifying Hollywood movie," said housewife Dolores Cuevas. Tsunami warnings were posted around the Pacific, including the U.S. state of Hawaii, Japan and Russia. One emergency official said Chile's death toll was unlikely to increase dramatically, but it was one of the 10 biggest quakes recorded since 1900 and dealt a blow to the economic infrastructure in the world's No. 1 copper producer and one of Latin America's most developed and stable countries. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 total known dead in the 7-800's now |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-02-28 14:05 |