Wary residents fearing aftershocks camped outside on mattresses and lawn chairs early Sunday after one of the most powerful earthquakes to hit the world in decades flattened buildings and blanketed the capital city in darkness. The 8.8-magnitude quake, that struck early Saturday, toppled 500,000 structures, affected two million people and dealt a serious blow to one of Latin American's most stable economies.
The quake spawned a tsunami that raced around the world, but initial fears of destruction similar to the devastating tsunami in 2004 went unrealised. The waves struck the island state of Hawaii as a series of small waves without causing damage. Saturday's quake was 700 to 800 times stronger than the 7.0-magnitude quake that struck Haiti in January. That quake left 212,000 people dead and more than a million homeless. The quake also occurred at a depth of 21.7 miles, compared to the shallow 8.1-mile depth of the Haiti quake, which contributed to much of the damage there.
Coastal Chile has a history of deadly earthquakes, with 13 quakes of magnitude 7.0 or higher since 1973, the U.S. Geological Survey said. As a result, experts said that newer buildings are constructed to help withstand the shocks. Still, the damage from Chile's earthquake was widespread. A 15-story high-rise near the southern city of Concepcion collapsed; the country's major north-south highway was severed at multiple points; and Santiago's airport was closed after its terminal sustained major damage. Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet, announced that all public events would be cancelled for the next 72 hours and that the start of the school year, originally scheduled for this Monday, would be delayed until March 8. “Our history is full of natural disasters that have tested our strength, but our history also has registered the perseverance of our people” she said in a televised address, adding, “we have done it before; I have no doubt that we will move forward once again”.
