Chile Earthquake 2015 Update: President Bachelet Cancels Independence Day Festivities

President Michelle Bachelet canceled major Independence Day activities after a magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck the central region of Chile on Wednesday.

Thousands of Chileans were on their way to the coast when the quake hit at 19:54 local time, according to BBC.

At least 10 people were killed, as residents of Illapel, which was close to the quake's epicenter, fled into the streets in horror as their homes began to shake.

Waves as high as 4.7 meters (15 feet) hit the coastal town of Coquimbo, as authorities issued a tsunami alert for the entire Chilean coast which has since been lifted.

Illapel officials said that at least 1,800 people did not have access to potable water. Hundreds of thousands of residents were also left without power.

"I'm on the coast about 130km (80 miles) south from the worst affected area of Coquimbo. Our house is on top of a cliff and made of wood. It was shaking and shuddering," said freelance journalist Jane Chambers

"At first I thought it was just a tremor but it was really strong and went on for around three minutes. It was much stronger than any tremors I had ever felt before," she added.

Based on readings by the US Geological Survey (USGS), the tremor struck off the coast of Coquimbo, 46km (29 miles) west of the city of Illapel.

The USGS measured the quake's depth at a depth of 25km, while Chilean seismologists calculated its depth at 11km.

According to Jonathan Amos, BBC Science correspondent, the Chile quake was five times stronger than the tremor that hit Nepal in April of this year.

"And yet the early indications are that the death toll will be a fraction (perhaps a thousandth) of what it was in the Himalayan nation," Amos said.

He attributed that the low casualty count to the country's disaster preparedness .

"This was Chile's third massive quake in five years; the region all too frequently experiences magnitude 8 events. As a consequence, the building codes are strict and generally well enforced," he explained.

In the meantime, Paciific-wide Tsunamis have been reported following the 8.3 earthquake which hit Chile, reported weather tracking site Weather.com.

Among the highest recorded tsunamis was a 4.5 foot wave that struck the country's Merquesas Islands.

In Hawaii, tsunami waves reached 3 feet at Hilo and 2.2 feet in Kahului, Maui, early Thursday morning.

The highest waves that hit the state occurred between 4 and 5 a.m. local time (9 and 10 a.m. EDT).

Tags
Join the Discussion

Latest Photo Gallery

Real Time Analytics