One of the world’s most powerful earthquakes in a century battered Chile on Saturday, killing at least 214 people as it toppled buildings and triggered tsunamis that ravaged a port town and threatened Pacific coastlines as far away as Japan.
Buildings caught fire, others crumbled and bridges collapsed across swathes of central Chile, but the initial death toll was relatively low from a quake packing many times more power than the one that devastated Haiti last month.
An apartment block with up to 200 people inside collapsed in Concepcion, the closest major city to the epicenter, and rescue officials said they were unsure how many escaped.
Overturned cars lay scattered below a fallen overpass in the capital Santiago and telephone and power lines went down across the narrow country, making it difficult to assess the full extent of the damage and loss of life.
A huge 8.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Chile early on Saturday killing at least 78 people, toppling buildings and triggering a tsunami threatening the Pacific rim of fire, officials said.
The massive quake plunged much of the Chilean capital, Santiago, into darkness as it snapped power lines and severed communications.
AFP journalists spoke of walls and masonry collapsing while people in pyjamas fled onto the streets.
Television images showed destroyed or heavily damaged buildings and debris-strewn streets.
Vehicles that were driving along a highway that collapsed during the earthquake near Santiago are seen overturned on the asphalt Saturday Feb. 27, 1010 after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Chile early Saturday. The quake hit 200 miles (325 kilometers) southwest of the capital and the epicenter was just 70 miles (115 kilometers) from Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city.
A tsunami advisory announced shortly after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Japan’s Ryukyu Islands early Saturday has been canceled, Japan’s Meteorological Agency reported.
There was no tsunami damage "though there may be slight sea level changes from now on," it said, referring to the areas affected by the advisory — the Okinawa Islands, the Amami Islands and the Tokara Islands.
A massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake rocked Chile early Saturday, killing at least 78 people and triggering tsunami warnings for the entire Pacific basin.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said she expected the death toll to rise.
Numerous aftershocks — including one of magnitude 6.9 — were felt within hours of the initial quake, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Chile’s Chaiten volcano, which erupted spectacularly last year, spewed a vast cloud of ash on Thursday in what appeared to be a partial collapse of its cone.
Television footage showed a could of ash billowing into the sky over the town of Chaiten, which lies about six miles (10 km) from the crater.
Authorities evacuated about 160 people from the area. Most of the town’s 4,500 residents were evacuated last year after the volcano, dormant for thousands of years, erupted. The government is planning to relocate the town.
Twenty-four people, including seven children, have died after the plane they were flying in crashed in a river in the Brazilian state of Amazonas.
Four people survived the crash into the River Manacapuru.
The pilots had reportedly contacted air traffic control a short distance from their destination of Manaus to say they were turning back.
Forecasters are warning of more rain as Brazil reels from devastating floods caused by torrential rains this week.
Meteorologists have predicted at least some chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday.
At least a hundred people have died with more than a dozen still missing.
And tens of thousands of people in 14 cities have been forced to seek shelter in schools, churches and public buildings.
A powerful earthquake has struck south-western Panama, close to the border with Costa Rica, says the US Geological Survey (USGS).
The quake was reported with a magnitude of 6.2 and happened at a depth of 48.2km (30 miles), monitors said.
The epicentre was close to the Pacific coast and 55km (35 miles) west of David, Panama’s third-largest city and home to 125,000 people.
ST. JOHN, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — A strong earthquake jolted people awake Saturday in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and nearby Puerto Rico. There were no immediate reports of damages.
The magnitude 6.1 quake was the strongest to hit Puerto Rico in 20 years, according to Christa von Hillebrandt, director of the seismic network on the Mayaguez campus of the University of Puerto Rico.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck was centered about 70 kilometers (43 miles) northwest of Anegada in the British Virgin Islands.
