TERREMOTO DE 8.8 GRADOS SACUDIÓ A CHILE

La intensidad fue de 8.8 grados en la escala de Richter y hay varias ciudades gravemente afectadas, entre ellas la capital del país

TERREMOTO DE 8.8 GRADOS SACUDIÓ A CHILE

Santiago de Chile, Chile. La intensidad fue de 8.8 grados en la escala de Richter y hay varias ciudades gravemente afectadas, entre ellas la capital del país. El movimiento telúrico se produjo a 90 kilómetros de Concepción, ciudad costera del centro del país. La hora del evento fue las 3 y 36 de la madrugada, hora colombiana, y la cifra que ha entregado el gobierno local habla de 78 muertos. Los hospitales están en alerta roja, el aeropuerto de la capital chilena fue cerrado y el festival de Viña del Mar cancelado. Las autoridades se reportaron que la Alcaldía de Concepción se está incendiando.

Según CNN Noticias, el presidente electo Sebastián Piñera , dijo que ya subió a 122 muertos la cifra de muertos por el terremoto. Es una cifra mayor a la proporcionada por el ministro del Interior del país andino, Edmundo Pérez Yoma.

El presidente electo de Chile, Sebastián Piñera, aseguró que su gabinete trabajará de manera conjunta con el gobierno de la actual presidenta, Michelle Bachelet, para superar los estragos que causó el terremoto de 8.8 grados en la escala de Richter que sacudió al país andino a las 3:34 horas.

"Es probable que la cifra de muertos aumente, además, tenemos muchos heridos", aseguró Piñera; "por lo que quiero manifestar que vamos a poner a disposición del actual gobierno la colaboración de todo el futuro gabinete".

"Le he pedido a la directora de la ONEMI (Oficina Nacional de Emergencia del Ministerio del Interior), Carmen Fernández, que cuente con nuestra plena confianza para continuar con su labor para enfrentar este terremoto, incluso, más allá del 11 de marzo", declaró el presidente chileno.

Asimismo, Piñera aseguró que el terremoto causó estragos en la infraestructura de Chile, tanto en caminos, como en aeropuertos y puertos marítimos, al igual que en viviendas, por lo que reiteró su compromiso para trabajar en conjunto con el actual gobierno y pidió a loas autoridades de las regiones afectadas que sigan colaborando después del 11 de marzo.

"Ésta es una ocasión en que Chile debe unirse para ayudar a las víctimas, a los familiares de las personas que han perdido la vida, para recuperar y reconstruir lo que se ha destruido y para lograr que estemos más preparados para enfrentar este tipo de emergencias", dijo Piñera.

El presidente electo también recordó que Chile es un país que ha sufrido de varias catástrofes en los últimos años, sin embargo, este sismo ha sido el más fuerte en los últimos 30 años, por lo que significará "un esfuerzo nacional para enfrentar las consecuencias".

Earthquake Strikes Chile

A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake struckChile early Saturday, shaking the capital of Santiago for 90 seconds and sending tsunami warnings along much of the Pacific basin.

 

Chile’s TVN cable news channel was reporting 122 deaths, with the toll expected to rise, as communications were still spotty around the center of quake, near the city of Concepción in the south. Chile President Michelle Bachelet declared a “state of catastrophe.” The Associated Press quoted Mrs. Bachelet as saying that a huge wave had swept into a populated area in the Robinson Crusoe Islands, 410 miles off the Chilean coast, but there were no immediate reports of major damage there. Those reports bore out early fears that a major tsunami was on its way across the Pacific.

A Department of Homeland Security official said early Saturday that FEMA was monitoring the situation and was in contact with state emergency personnel in Hawaii, which is under a tsunami warning. But the decision to evacuate coastal areas and handling this evacuation is the responsibility of state and local officials in Hawaii, the Homeland Security official said.

The quake downed buildings and houses in Santiago and knocked out a major bridge connecting the northern and southern sections of the country.

It struck at 3:34 a.m. local time and was centered about 200 miles southwest of Santiago, at a depth of 22 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The epicenter was some 70 miles from Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city, where more than 200,000 people live.

Phone lines were down in Concepcion as of 7:30 a.m. and no reports were coming out of that area. The quake in Chile was more powerful than the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that caused widespread damage in Haiti on Jan 12, killing at least 230,000, earthquake experts reported on CNN International.

The U.S. Geological Survey and eyewitnesses reported more than two dozen aftershocks, including two measuring magnitude 6.2 and 6.9.

“We have had a huge earthquake,” Mrs. Bachelet said from an emergency response center in an appeal for Chileans to remain calm. “We’re doing everything we can with all the resources we have.”

Mrs. Bachelet said that the government had dispatched three emergency response teams to coastal areas. “Without a doubt, with a quake of this kind, of this size, of this magnitude, we can’t rule out that there are other deaths and probably injuries,” Mrs. Bachelet told reporters.

Witnesses on Facebook and Twitter reported that the quake was felt from Japan to Argentina. The quake struck at the end of the Chilean summer vacation, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to be traveling back home this weekend.

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. The White House said Saturday morning that it was closely monitoring the situation, “including the potential for a tsunami,” said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

“We are closely monitoring the situation, including the potential for a tsunami. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Chile, and we stand ready to help in this hour of need.”

Evacuation alarms sounded at 6 a.m. Saturday in vulnerable coastal areas in Hawaii, as the region prepares for what federal officials say could be a dangerous, but most likely not catastrophic tsunami to hit the islands in the aftermath of the earthquake in Chile.

Statewide television news was reporting that the southeast areas of all the islands would likely be the most impacted, which include the heavy tourist zones of Waikiki, and Poipu on Kauai. News reports said that a corridor to the airport on Oahu was being established, and that visitors should go to at least the third floor of their hotels

Brian R. Shiro, a geophysicist at NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, said that computer models show that the impact will be greatest in spots such as Hilo Bay on Hawaii Island and Kahului Harbor in Maui.

In those areas, the tsunami waves could reach as high as 6 to 10 feet, Mr. Shiro said. Elsewhere in Hawaii, the waves will likely be only about two to three feet.

Already, some boat owners were moving their boats away from the coast, to avoid damage when the waves arrive. Beaches will be closed and pre-determined evacuation zones in certain coastal areas will be cleared.

 

Tourists saying in modern, high-rise resort hotels will be safe, Mr. Shiro said, as long as they are above the third floor. Anyone in the coastal areas should listen to directions offered from local authorities.

 “Get off the shore line. We are closing all the beaches and telling people to drive out of the area,” John Cummings, Oahu Civil Defense spokesman, told Reuters. Buses will patrol beaches and take people to parks in a voluntary process expected to last five hours, Reuters reported, adding that more than an hour before sirens were due to sound lines of cars snaked for blocks from gas stations in Honolulu.

Overall, the event should pass in Hawaii without widespread, catastrophic damage or major loss of life, Mr. Shiro predicted.

“We are taking it very seriously,” Mr. Shiro said. “But this is not a big one.”

But particularly in certain vulnerable harbor areas, he warned that area residents should take the warning seriously.

The tsunami was expected to arrive in Hawaii at 11:20 a.m., or 4:20 p.m. Eastern time.

A tsunami is essentially a wave. But it will look like a rise in sea level, or more like a flood, he said, and takes place very quickly. An initial wave will come in and then follow up waves will arrive, most likely 20 or so minutes later, in a pattern that could continue for several hours.

“The waves are so big that to the observer it looks like a very big tide,” he said.

The last time there was a Pacific wide tsunami warning—as has now taken place—was in 1964, Mr. Shiro said.

There have been past regional warnings in Hawaii, such as in 1964, that passed with no tsunami impact at all. But tsunamis historically have caused major damage and loss of life in Hawaii, most recently in 1975, when two people were killed in one event, Mr. Shiro said.

“So far, the models and based on the information we have, in Hawaii, most shores will experience two to three feet, which is not that big,” he said. “But you should still avoid swimming or surfing.”

Lying along the mountainous Andean coast, Chile is accustomed to earthquakes. The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same area as Saturday’s quake on May 22, 1960. That quake, which registered a magnitude 9.5, killed 1,655 people and left 2 million homeless. The tsunami that it caused killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines and caused damage to the West Coast of the United States.