Massive earthquake hits Chile
28. February 2010. | 00:01
Source: EMportal
Chile's interior minister says at least 214 people had been found dead as of Saturday afternoon, and the pre-dawn quake, the most powerful quake to hit the country in a half century, also cut electricity, water and phone lines to many outlying areas, meaning there was no immediate word of death or damage there.
Chile's president declared a state of catastrophe in the aftermath of a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake Saturday that left bodies, crumbled buildings and outages in its wake.
Chile's interior minister says at least 214 people had been found dead as of Saturday afternoon, and the pre-dawn quake, the most powerful quake to hit the country in a half century, also cut electricity, water and phone lines to many outlying areas, meaning there was no immediate word of death or damage there.
The quake also unleashed a tsunami across the ocean, putting much of the Pacific Rim on alert for potentially devastating waves.
The quake epicenter was just 70 miles 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.
In Santiago, modern buildings are built to withstand earthquakes, but many older ones were heavily damaged, including the Nuestra Senora de la Providencia church, whose bell tower collapsed.
In the coastal city of Vina del Mar, the earthquake struck just as people were leaving a disco, Julio Alvarez told Radio Cooperativa in Santiago.
Several hospitals have been evacuated due to earthquake damage, she said, and communications with the city of Concepcion remained down. She planned to tour the affected region as quickly as possible to get a better idea of the damage.
The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same area of Chile on May 22, 1960. The magnitude-9.5 quake killed 1,655 people and left 2 million homeless. The tsunami that it caused killed people in Hawaii, Jap
The United States "stands ready to assist in the rescue and recovery efforts, and we have resources that are positioned to deploy should the Chilean government ask for our help," President Barack Obama said in a televised address from Washington.
In Brussels, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso promised more help was ready, if needed.
"I am deeply shocked at the extent of the devastation that is emerging," Barroso said.
Αs a "first step", he said, the commission's humanitarian aid department would release the three million euros (four million dollars) "to relieve suffering and meet the immediate needs."
Barroso said the bloc "stands ready to do whatever it takes to help the Chilean authorities at this time of need."
Meanwhile, the British Red Cross released 50,000 pounds (76,000 dollars) from its disaster fund for Chile.
"We anticipate the situation in the worst affected areas closer to the epicentre to be much more serious," said Pete Garratt, the British Red Cross disaster relief manager.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon was "very closely monitoring developments, including the risk of Pacific Rim tsunamis, after the huge earthquake in Chile," his office said in a statement.
International aid charities said they were dispatching experts to Chile but predicted that the devastation would be far lower than in Haiti where a January 12 quake killed 200,000 people.
British charity Oxfam said it was sending five water engineers and logistics experts from Chile to Colombia. Disaster relief charity ShelterBox said it was mobilising an initial response team from Britain and the United States.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his "deep emotion," while Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Paris "in consultation with its European Union partners is ready to respond to the Chilean demands for assistance."
Argentine President Cristina Kirchner also pledged assistance.
For its part, Switzerland said it was sending a "small assessment team" to Chile to examine whether the country has any specific needs, Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman Erik Reumann told AFP.
EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said she had activated a crisis monitoring unit and told aid experts "to undertake urgent needs assessments if required".
For her part, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said she would be "in close contact" with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and her successor Sebastian Pinera.
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