Estimated Tsunami Travel Times to Coastal Locations. - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
SANTIAGO: A powerful 8.3-magnitude earthquake struck off Chile on Wednesday, killing at least five people, forcing the evacuation of one million and sparking warnings that tsunami waves could reach as far as Japan.
Buildings swayed as far away as in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In Chile, people ran out into the streets in terror.
TV footage buildings showed stores with floors strewn with a mushy mess of broken bottles and other spilled merchandise.
It was the sixth biggest most powerful quake in the history of quake-prone Chile and the strongest anywhere in the world this year, Deputy Interior Minister Mahmoud Aleuy said.
Giving the death and evacuation toll, Aleuy said 245,000 families were left without power.
Central Choapa province closest to the epicenter was declared a catastrophe zone and placed under military rule.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) put the shallow offshore quake at a magnitude of 8.3 and said it hit 228 kilometers (about 140 miles) north of Santiago, a city of 6.6 million people.
“The motion began lightly, then stronger and stronger,” said Santiago resident Jeannette Matte.
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