More than 300 dead in massive Chilean earthquake

Hundreds of people were missing and
feared trapped under the rubble of
buildings that buckled under the force of
the 8.8 magnitude quake, the strongest
to hit the South American nation since
1960.
The earthquake occurred at 3:34 am
(0634 GMT) Saturday, some 90 kilometres
north-east of Concepcion, a city of
630,000 in Chile's central coastal region.
Significant damage was reported in the
capital Santiago, 320 kilometres north of
the epicentre, affecting buildings, roads
and closing the international airport.
Waves of 1.5 metres or less were
reported in Hawaii, New Zealand and
Australia. Comprehensive coastal
warnings were issued in Japan, where the
Chilean tsunami was expected Sunday
afternoon with a height of up to 3 metres,
and coastal residents on the Philippines
Pacific shores fled for high ground in fear
of the waves.
Some coastal areas of Chile were quickly
struck by a post-quake wave, devastating
some communities.
A wall of water swept across the Chilean
island of Robinson Crusoe, 670 kilometres
off the coast. Three people were reported
missing on the island.
President Michelle Bachelet declared a
state of disaster in the worst-hit regions
south of Santiago. "I have no doubt that
we will make it through this," she said in a
nationally televised address.
Sebastian Pinera, who takes over from
her as head of state on March 11,
appealed for solidarity.
The death toll rose throughout Saturday,
reaching more than 300 by sundown.
Authorities warned that more fatalities
were likely.
In Conception, 150 people were feared
trapped in a fallen, 14- storey apartment
block.
"From the street we can hear the
screaming of those who were caught
under the new, 14-floor building," one
man said looking at the pile of rubble.
There were reports of unrest in one
Santiago neighbourhood over shortages of
water and power outages.
Santiago's international airport was
ordered closed to incoming and outgoing
flights for at least three days, with a
collapse reported in the terminal building.
The city's underground rail network was
also closed.
Overturned cars littered motorway
flyovers, which buckled and crumbled
during the quake.
Power lines were down, water supplies
were cut and burst gas pipes raised fears
of explosions. Internet communications
were disrupted and mobile phone
networks badly damaged.
In Concepcion, damage was widespread.
The offices of the region government
were reported to have been destroyed,
and the walls of the city's prison
collapsed, with hundreds of convicts
reported to have escaped.
Chilean television showed footage of
collapsed hospitals, burning buildings and
wrecked bridges. Modern, high-rise
buildings in Santiago were relatively
unscathed by the quake and the scores of
aftershocks.
With Chile's prosperity and seismic
history, the country has for decades
required new construction to conform to
earthquake-zone engineering standards.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
offered "rapid assistance" if sought by
Chile. In Washington, President Barack
Obama offered to deploy US resources
"should the Chilean people need our
help."
The quake was 50 times more powerful
than the one that claimed more than
200,000 lives on January 12 Haiti, said the
head of the University of Santiago's
Seismological Institute, Sergio Barrientos.
The worst earthquake to hit Chile
occurred in 1960, when a 9.5-magnitude
quake and tsunami claimed 6,000 lives.