Groups Prepare Aid as Chile Assesses Need

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said Sunday her staff was reviewing offers of assistance that would address urgent needs such as field hospitals, mobile bridges, water-purification equipment and rescue workers. With search-and-rescue missions fully under way, the death toll rose to more than 700 from 147 Saturday afternoon, and was expected to rise further.

All the major international aid groups were prepared Sunday to dispatch workers and supplies while maintaining their commitments to the massive relief effort continuing in Haiti, which was devastated in January by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 220,000 people.

Multimedia
View Slideshow

Reuters

People observed a highway destroyed in an earthquake in Santiago, Chile, on Saturday.
Chile Quake Caught On Surveillance Camera
1:36
Chile is assessing the damage from one of world's largest earthquakes in a century. Video courtesy of Reuters.
View Interactive

More Coverage
Why Bigger Quake Sows Less Damage Groups Prepare Aid as Chile Assesses Need Chile Suffers Massive Quake Hawaii Unaffected by Tsunami Eastern Japan Fears Tsunami Earthquake Resonates in Haiti More Updates From WSJ's Dispatch Blog Video Report | Photos | Map Earlier: Refining the Art of Quake Alerts Video
Displaced in Chile Pope Prays for Victims Devastation After Earthquake Seeking Help in Chile 8.8-Magnitute Earthquake Hits Chile Chile's needs may not be as severe as Haiti's. Though the strength of the quake in Chile was greater, registering an 8.8, the country appears to have sustained far less damage to both life and property. In addition, according to many aid organizations, Chile is more accustomed to earthquakes and has strengthened construction codes so that buildings can better withstand tremors. They also say that because Chile is a far more prosperous nation than Haiti—the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere—its government has resources to respond effectively.

"It is not necessarily unusual for a country like Chile to not ask for international assistance," said Kate Conradt, spokeswoman for Save the Children, a Connecticut-based nonprofit that operates in more than 100 countries. "The United States did not call for outside help after Hurricane Katrina, nor did China after the major quake hit Szechuan. In the case of this earthquake, it happened in a more remote area, affected half the number of people that the Haiti quake affected and occurred where the population was less concentrated."

Aiding Chile could extend organizations already pouring enormous resources into Haiti.

"It stretches us, but we can handle it," said United National Children's Fund spokesman Patrick McCormick. "We would never say to Chile if they contacted us, 'Sorry, we're too busy in Haiti and can't help.' We would definitely respond somehow." For Unicef, Haiti is its biggest single emergency in a few years, requiring nearly 200 people there providing food, medicine, shelter and water, but it says it stands ready to aid Chile.

Save the Children has nearly 1,000 workers in Haiti, running mobile medical clinics, providing shelter and food, reuniting families and helping to restore potable water and sanitation. "We do have the capacity, but, yes, it does complicate it that we have a major response going on in Haiti," Ms. Conradt said.

While awaiting word from the Chilean government, groups like Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children have sent in disaster-response specialists to assess the extent of the damage.

Most groups said they are accustomed to responding to multiple disasters at once, particularly in the past couple of years: a cyclone in Myanmar and an earthquake in western China in May 2008; Typhoon Morakot in southeast Asia, a tsunami in American Samoa and an earthquake in Indonesia between last August and September.

The world-wide network of Red Cross agencies was among the responders to each of those disasters. Red Cross officials say they are prepared for simultaneously occurring incidents in part because of well-fortified storage facilities strategically located in Panama, Dubai and Malaysia that allow swift deliveries of supplies and equipment to disparate regions.

In Chile, Red Cross authorities are in the process of assessing the needs in and around Concepción, a spokesman said. The American Red Cross has made $50,000 available to the Chilean Red Cross, and other Red Cross groups in other countries have pledged $300,000.

Tracy Reines, director of the American Red Cross's international-response operations center, said Chilean Red Cross workers accompanied government officials Sunday in assessing the damage from the air. "It still is early days. You saw the increase in the official toll. I don't think anyone is saying they are out of the woods," Ms. Reines said.

Just as for Haiti, efforts are under way to solicit donations for Chile. The Mobile Giving Foundation has set up a service to collect $5 or $10 donations via phone text messages. Donors can earmark their pledges to Habitat for Humanity, World Vision or the Salvation Army.

President Barack Obama said Saturday he had talked with Chile's President Bachelet and pledged U.S. help in rescue and recovery efforts, if asked.

Source:wsj.com

Man, daughter fall 13 floors in Chile quake

CONCEPCION, Chile — When their 13th-floor apartment began to shake, Alberto Rozas pulled his 7-year-old daughter into the bathroom doorway and waited for it to stop.

Instead, they fell.

Plummeting as their brand-new apartment building toppled like a felled tree, they hugged each other all the way down.

Rozas had no idea which way was up until he looked through his apartment's shattered window and spotted light — "the light of the full moon."

Rozas and his daughter, Fernanda, clambered up and to safety with nothing more than a few cuts, scrapes and bruises.

"The earthquake and the fall were one single, horrible thing," Rozas told The Associated Press on Sunday. "I held onto her and she never let me go."

Rozas' neighbors who lived on the other side of the hall found themselves trapped beneath the structure, while rescuers painstakingly used electric saws and a generator-powered hammer to cut into the concrete.

"We don't have any listening devices or cameras," said Ian Argo, a firefighter commander.

As of Sunday, 23 people had been pulled alive from the 15-story Rio Alta building and seven bodies had been removed. An estimated 60 people remained trapped inside.

Socovil, the company that opened the concrete-and-glass structure last June, issued a statement saying it had complied with all building codes. But many residents were angry.

"The construction was obviously poor," Rozas said.

Abel Torres, 25, had a view of the Bio Bio River from his sixth-floor apartment. He had just gotten home from his job at a nightclub when the quake hit at 3:34 a.m.

"My TV fell on top of me and suddenly I saw stars shooting across my window," he said.

Torres and his roommate stacked furniture to reach that window — now a skylight — and escaped without clothes, coated in dust.

On the second floor, Maribel Alarcon and her husband Gunther rushed to comfort their 2-year-old son Oliver when he started crying moments before the temblor.

Their concern was their salvation: Oliver's bedroom was the only place spared in their apartment.

"We prayed a lot," Alarcon said. "And if God let us survive, that was because someone was going to rescue us."

Much higher in the building, Rozas was sleeping alongside his daughter when the shaking began.

"There was dust, noise, everything falling," he said. "We went to the bathroom doorway. Then there was the fall. Finally it stopped."

After they climbed out of the wreckage, Rozas took Fernanda to her mother's house, then returned to help firefighters understand the layout of the toppled building.

He retrieved medicine and clothes for Fernanda. And his own guitar.

Source:AFP

Rescuers search for Chile quake survivors; at least 392 people killed

Reporting from Bogota, Colombia - Rescuers searched for survivors on Sunday, a day after one of the biggest earthquakes in recorded history rocked Chile, killing at least 392 people, leaving many more missing, toppling buildings and freeways, and setting off sirens thousands of miles away.

Authorities lifted tsunami warnings Sunday after smaller-than-feared waves washed shores across the Pacific, including Southern California, Hawaii and Japan.

Scattered looting broke out Sunday in some of the most heavily damaged areas of Chile, where residents were without water or electricity. Crowds overran a supermarket in the city of Concepcion, which sustained widespread damage, and were making off with food, water and diapers but also television sets.

Police in armored vehicles sprayed looters with water cannon and made several arrests, mostly of young men. "The people are desperate and say the only way is to come get stuff for themselves," Concepcion resident Patricio Martinez told reporters. "We have money to buy it but the big stores are closed, so what are we supposed to do?"

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet declared parts of the country "catastrophe zones" in the wake of the magnitude 8.8 quake, which was centered offshore, about 70 miles north of the port city of Concepcion.

With images of Haiti's devastation from an earthquake last month still fresh, the world woke up to a new disaster and fears of another catastrophic toll. But the Chile quake's epicenter was relatively deep, at 21.7 miles, and building codes are strict in a country that 50 years ago was struck by the biggest earthquake ever recorded: a magnitude 9.5.

Nonetheless, Bachelet said in an address to the nation Saturday night that a million buildings had been damaged. And with television stations showing topsy-turvy structures, severed bridges and highways whose pavement looked as if it had been tilled by some giant farm machine, the death toll was expected to rise.

Concepcion resident Alberto Rozas said his building began to shake and he grabbed his daughter in terror amid shattering glass and an ungodly roar.

"It was awful," said Rozas, who lives next to a 15-story apartment building that was reduced to rubble. "The only thing I did right was throw clothes on the floor so my daughter and I could escape without ruining our feet. But we're still covered with cuts."

As a flurry of 30 aftershocks, some measuring greater than magnitude 6.0, continued to strike the region all day, Chile's Interior Ministry said tsunami surges reaching heights of 10 feet hit the nation's Juan Fernandez Islands, leaving three people dead and 13 missing.

Memories of the tsunami that was unleashed on Southeast Asia and around the Indian Ocean five years ago haunted governments across the Pacific on Saturday. In Hawaii, 100,000 people were evacuated to higher ground, and the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet sent four warships out to sea as a precaution against damage near shore at Pearl Harbor.

A series of small 3-foot tsunamis hit Hawaii's Big Island shortly after 1 p.m., churning up sediment but causing no apparent damage. Early Sunday, Japan's Meteorological Agency warned that a "major" tsunami of up to 10 feet could hit northern coastal areas, although initial waves that reached outlying islands posed little threat.

The U.S. moved briskly to offer assistance to Chile. President Obama spoke with Bachelet to offer condolences, praising the country's quick response and reiterating the United States' readiness to aid in rescue and recovery.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she planned to visit the region Sunday. "Our hemisphere comes together in times of crisis, and we will stand side by side with the people of Chile in this emergency," she said.

Some observers, however, worried that international relief efforts could be stretched thin by the continuing response to the Haiti earthquake, which left more than 215,000 people dead and a million homeless.

In Chile, television images showed collapsed highway overpasses and buildings in southern Santiago, the capital, and in Concepcion, 300 miles to the south. Bachelet was reported to be headed to the region to inspect the damage.

President-elect Sebastian Pinera, who will take office in two weeks, told reporters that in addition to scores of deaths, the country suffered damage to its infrastructure, including highways, airports and housing.

"This earthquake has delivered a tremendous blow to Chilean society," Pinera said, adding he would request emergency funds totaling 2% of the budget to help rebuild. "Our government will do everything for the recovery and to accelerate reconstruction."

Santiago's international airport will be closed at least through Monday, officials said. Although the runways are in good condition, the control tower and customs facilities suffered extensive damage, officials said.

Key structures in Santiago, including ministry buildings, suffered heavy damage, said Education Minister Monica Jimenez. Government employees will be asked to stay home Monday as officials assesses structural safety, she said. Public schools that were to have reopened Monday after summer vacation are now scheduled to reopen March 8.

The quake, lasting 30 seconds or more, struck about 3:30 a.m. Saturday. Santiago residents, many of them in their pajamas, poured into the streets.

A chemical fire at a factory raged out of control and there was smoke in much of the city. Telephone service and electricity were still out in one-third of the capital as of the afternoon and communication was problematic because of the collapse of several cellphone towers.

Santiago faces possible mass transit chaos, with the city's subway system closed indefinitely while the tracks are inspected.

Bachelet urged drivers to not use major thoroughfares because traffic lights were out and many pedestrian bridges had collapsed.

Major damage was reported in Concepcion, the country's second-largest city and the one closest to the epicenter. Several fires due to gas leaks were reported. A multi-story building also collapsed.

The mayor of Concepcion, Jacqueline van Rysselberghe, described her city as "Dante-esque" in the aftermath of the quake, saying two bridges over the Biobio River had collapsed and others were damaged. She said officials still were not sure of the death toll.

The city is home to one of the largest universities in the South American nation, Universidad de Concepcion, a public school with a decidedly liberal student body. Its grounds are often the site of socialist protests.

Kraul is a special correspondent. Times staff writers Janet Hook in Washington and Robert Faturechi in Los Angeles, and special correspondents Andres D'Alessandro in Buenos Aires and Eva Vergara and Lauren Williams in Santiago contributed to this report.

Source:latimes.com/

Looters Surface in Quake-Torn Concepcion, Chile’s Second-Largest City

SANTIAGO — Widespread looting has broken out in Chile’s second-largest city a day after a devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake.

Television images showed people running from supermarkets in Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city and an industrial hub, carrying diapers and powdered milk. In other places, young men carried out armloads of cigarette cartons. People were also loading up pick-up trucks with clothing and in some cases smaller appliances from department stores.

One piece of video footage showed police shooting tear gas into a supermarket, dispersing looters fleeing with food and other basic necessities.

President Michelle Bachelet earlier met with officials at Onemi, the country’s National Emergency Office, which was created to coordinate relief and recovery efforts following natural disasters in the earthquake-prone country. She left the meeting without making any public comment.

Concepcion, with roughly a million residents, is 70 kilometers from the epicenter. It suffered considerable destruction. Aftershocks from Saturday’s quake have continued to rattle the country.

Officials are expected to make a public address later Sunday.

People hoping to buy things in areas that haven’t been hit with looting may be out of luck if they’re running short on cash. Automatic teller machines aren’t yet operative. Telecommunications and Internet service also remains spotty.
In Santiago, the capital, people are lining up to buy food at upscale supermarkets. Sunday newspapers had gone to print, with advertisements listing which supermarkets would be open.
By Jeff Fick and Carolina Pica

Source:blogs.wsj.com/

Chile Copper Mines Shut for Second Day After Quake Cuts Power

Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Chilean copper mines accounting for about 16 percent of the nation’s output were halted for a second day after a magnitude-8.8 earthquake cut electricity to the plants and damaged installations.

Codelco, the world’s biggest copper producer, said its Andina mine suffered power losses and installations were damaged by a five-ton boulder. The mine could reopen “in the coming” hours, said a spokesman for the state-owned producer, who declined to be quoted, citing company policy. El Teniente, the world’s biggest underground copper mine, also remains closed.

More than 50 aftershocks followed yesterday’s pre-dawn quake, which was stronger than last month’s temblor in Haiti that killed 300,000. Disruptions to copper mines in Chile, the world’s largest producer, may cause prices to rise when markets open, according to Macquarie Group Ltd. analyst Jim Lennon.

“We see copper as the tightest of the base metal markets,” Lennon said late yesterday in a telephone interview from London. “Even if it’s just 1 percent of global supply that is affected, it would be significant.”

Copper exports made up about half of Chile’s $53 billion of exports last year. Production rose 0.7 percent to 5.4 million metric tons in 2009. Prices more than doubled in the past year as the world economy recovered and demand increased. State-owned Codelco produces about 600,000 tons combined from the El Teniente and Andina operations.

Chuquicamata

Codelco’s mines in northern Chile, including Chuquicamata, are operating normally, said the spokesman. There are no reports of injuries to workers or damage, he said.

ENAP, as Chile’s state oil company, plans to import diesel fuel to ensure domestic supply after shutting the two refineries, according to an e-mailed statement.

Copper mines in northern Chile operated by BHP Billiton Ltd. weren’t affected by the earthquake that shook the country today, company spokesman Mauro Valdes said yesterday.

Rio Tinto Group, a shareholder in the world’s largest copper mine, Escondida, located in northern Chile and owned by BHP Billiton Ltd., also had no reports of damage, London-based spokeswoman Christina Mills said by telephone.

Empresa Nacional de Petroleo’s halted Aconcagua oil refinery may be fixed within six days, while the state oil company’s Bio Bio unit will take longer to resume operations, Mining Minister Santiago Gonzales said yesterday. He didn’t say how long it would take to restart the mines.

ENAP, as Chile’s state oil company is known, plans to import diesel fuel to ensure domestic supply after shutting the two refineries, according to an e-mailed statement.

--With reporting by Heather Walsh in Colombia, Steve Bodzin in Caracas and Sebastian Boyd in Santiago. Editors: Dale Crofts, Theo Mullen

Source:businessweek.com/

Turkish Red Crescent forms crisis desk for quake-hit Chile

Three experts from the team of the Turkish relief agency in Haiti will travel to the quake-stricken Chile.

Turkish Red Crescent said in a statement that a crisis desk was established at the agency following the Chilean quake.

"We contacted with Chilean authorities and Chilean Red Cross through the Prime Ministry Natural Disaster and Crisis Management Administration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to let them know that we are ready to provide them with any kind of assistance," it said.

The agency said that three experts from the team in Haiti would travel to Chile via Panama, Peru and Argentina to determine the most urgent requirements of quake survivors.

Another team formed by the Turkish Red Crescent and Turkish search-and-rescue team AKUT is kept ready to leave for Chile.

An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Chile early Saturday, ripping apart buildings, highways and bridges before sending waves rumbling across the Pacific Basin. At least 300 people died and more than 2 million people were displaced. The death toll is expected to rise, particularly around Concepción, Chile's second-largest metropolitan area which is close to the quake's epicenter. President Michelle Bachelet said at a news conference on Saturday night that the quake was one of the worst tragedies in the last 50 years and declared a "state of catastrophe".

Source:worldbulletin.net/

Clinton heading to Latin America after Chile quake

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's weeklong, five-nation tour of Latin America is certain to focus on the earthquake in Chile while she also tries to build support for fresh penalties against Iran.

The schedule released before the quake Saturday included a visit to Santiago, Chile's capital, beginning Monday night. Aftershocks have rattled Chile and authorities were assessing damage, raising the possibility of changes to her itinerary.

But Clinton, set to depart Sunday evening, made clear she would show U.S. support for disaster rescue and recovery operations.

"Our hemisphere comes together in times of crisis, and we will stand side-by-side with the people of Chile in this emergency," Clinton said Saturday after President Barack Obama called Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to offer assistance.

Clinton starts her trip in Uruguay at Monday's inauguration of the country's new president, ex-guerrilla Jose Mujica. Mujica's election in November won praise from other left-leaning populist leaders in the region, including Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, a perennial thorn in the side of the U.S. who is cultivating closer ties with Iran.

In the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo, Clinton will see Mujica and Argentine President Cristina Kirchner. U.S. officials say she has no plans for separate meetings with other inauguration guests — for example Chavez or other like-minded leaders such as Ecuador's Rafael Correa or Bolivia's Evo Morales.

The Obama administration has been pleased by Uruguay's contributions to U.N. peacekeeping forces and Argentina's stance on Iran's nuclear program, and Clinton will encourage Mujica and Kirchner to continue those policies, U.S. officials said.

Kirchner may raise Argentina's dispute with Britain over the Falkland Islands, but Clinton is not expected to bring it up. "This is a matter for Argentina and for Britain and it's not a matter for the United States to make a judgment on," the top U.S. diplomat for the Americas, Arturo Valenzuela, said Friday.

Clinton's announced schedule puts her in Chile late Monday for talks with Bachelet and President-elect Sebastian Pinera, who takes office March 11.

Her visit was intended to showcase U.S. enthusiasm for Bachelet's message of social inclusion, particularly women's empowerment. It may take on more urgency as Chile struggles to recover for the quake. Clinton also visited Haiti days after a powerful earthquake hit that nation in January.

In Brazil, the chief U.S. diplomat plans talks with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose support the U.S. is seeking for a new round of U.N. Security Council penalties against Iran over its nuclear program.

Brazil, a voting member of the Security Council, has been reluctant to additional penalties. Its leaders have expressed a desire to improve relations with Iran, and Lula plans to visit Tehran in May.

Clinton hopes to win Brazil's backing for sanctions as well a commitment to press Iran to comply with international demands to prove that its nuclear intentions are peaceful.

"We will be telling our Brazilian counterparts that we encourage them to encourage Iran to regain the trust of the international community by fulfilling its international obligations, which we feel that they have not fulfilled," Valenzuela said before Clinton's trip.

Clinton also will attend a meeting in Costa Rica of regional foreign ministers that will focus on improving economic conditions in the hemisphere. She expects to see outgoing President Oscar Arias, who brokered an accord that ended the political crisis in Honduras last year.

Clinton will also meet with incoming Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla before wrapping up her tour in Guatemala on Friday.

In Guatemala, Clinton will meet a group of Central American leaders, including Honduran President Porfirio Lobo, who took over in late January from an interim government that had ousted leader Manuel Zelaya in a coup last June, leading to a political crisis.

Source:AFP

Chile earthquake: 214 killed and fears over tsunami

A MASSIVE earthquake has devastated parts of Chile, killing at least 214 people and causing {tsunami warnings around the Pacific.

The quake which sent a wave across the sea towards Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and the US, sparking tsunami alerts measured 8.8 on the Richter Scale.

The disaster struck Chile at 6.34am UK time yesterday, with some of the worstdamage in the second biggest city Concepc on,


When rescue workers reached the city, which has a population of 200,000, they found dozens of {injured people lying in the streets. Others wandered around in a daze wrapped in blankets, some carrying infants in their arms.


Homes and bridges were destroyed, buildings engulfed in flames as gas pipes burst and trucks plunged into vast cracks which {had appeared in the road.

Someof the worst affected regions had their communications from the rest of the {countrycut off. One man in the city of Temuco said: Never in my life have Iexperienced a quake like this. Its like the end of the world.


The capital city of Santiago, 200 miles from the epicentre, shook for about a minute-and-a-half, bringing {buildings crashing to the ground.

Minutes after the quake, terrified residents streamed on to the streets crying and hugging each other for comfort. Many were too scared to return to their homes.Throughout the morning aftershocks of up to 6.9 on the Richter Scale shook the city. The Foreign Office last night said there were no reports of UK casualties but warned Britons not to travel to Chile.

Source:mirror.co.uk/

Locals anxious to hear from Chilean relatives in wake of earthquake

Maria Cuevas, Consul General of Chile in Vancouver, is urging the city’s Chilean community to be patient in trying to reach family and friends in the wake of the devastating earthquake.

“The situation in Chile is very delicate, and of course it’s a big disaster and we don’t know the extent of the damage yet,” she said Saturday.

The consulate fielded calls all day from people anxious to hear from loved ones in Chile.

An estimated 15,000 Chilean-Canadians live in B.C. and Alberta, and the consulate is suggesting that people try to reach family and friends through email or social networking sites such as Facebook, as phone lines are still down in quake-affected areas.

Cuevas was also in touch with the Chilean Olympic team Saturday as they prepared to return home as soon as possible.

Luis Alberto Santa Cruz, president of the Chilean Ski Federation, who is with the country’s small Olympic delegation, said the athletes’ have all heard from their families, who fortunately survived.

“Of course, we’ve been very affected by what’s happened in Chile, there’s a lot of destruction,” said Santa Cruz.

Alpine skier Noelle Barahona, 19, is one of three Chilean skiers at the Games. She will stay on for the closing ceremonies Sunday, along with Santa Cruz and two other members of the Chilean Olympic team.

The nation’s two other Olympians, Jorge Landru and Maui Gayme, have already left Vancouver, having completed their races. Landru was in Seattle and Gayme in France when the earthquake struck their native country.

Source:theprovince.com/

Coastal Chile prone to temblors, say experts at Golden center

Coastal Chile has been rocked by severe earthquakes numerous times in the past, with 13 events of magnitude 7.0 or greater since 1973, according to the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden.

The strongest quake ever recorded in the world — 9.5 in 1960 — occurred about 140 miles south of Saturday's 8.8-magnitude temblor. In 1922, an 8.5-magnitude quake struck about 540 miles to the north.

"This is one of the most seismically active regions in the world," said Dale Grant, a geophysicist with the national center. "This is very normal. It's the way the Earth releases stresses over time."

Saturday's quake occurred at the boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates, which are converging at a rate of about 3 inches per year.

The Nazca plate is moving down and below the South American plate, Grant said.

The 8.8-magnitude temblor originated from about 22 miles below the surface and could be felt throughout South America.

More than 70 aftershocks, most in the 5.0-magnitude range but a few as strong as 7.0, were recorded by Saturday afternoon. Grant said "good-sized" shaking will continue for weeks.

"Basically, after an earthquake like this ruptures over such great distances, the Earth tries to reset itself," Grant said. "With a shallow quake, it keeps bouncing back and forth."

Strong earthquakes have been reported worldwide in the past few months. Haiti's quake measured 7.0 on Jan. 12; a 7.0 quake hit Japan's Ryukyu Islands on Friday; and a 4.4 quake struck central Oklahoma on Saturday.

But Grant said nothing unusual is going on.

"This is the way the Earth behaves, and it is behaving badly right now," he said.

Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chile's strongest earthquakes
May 22, 1960: A magnitude- 9.5 earthquake in southern Chile and ensuing tsunami killed at least 1,716 people. It is the strongest quake ever recorded in the world.

Aug. 13, 1868: A magnitude- 9.0 quake in Arica, Peru (now Chile) generated catastrophic tsunamis; more than 25,000 people were killed in South America.

July 8, 1730: A magnitude-8.7 quake in Valparaiso, Chile, killed at least 3,000 people.

Sources: U.S. Geological Survey; Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology; WHO's International Disaster Database

Source:denverpost.com/

METALS-Chile quake seen lifting copper prices

* Copper seen up on Monday; risk premium after Chile quake * Supply uncertainty to remain supportive in days ahead By Nick Trevethan SINGAPORE, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Copper prices are expected to
rise when trading gets under way on Monday, lifted by supply
uncertainty in the wake of the deadly 8.8 magnitude earthquake
in Chile, traders and analysts said Sunday. The earthquake, one of the world's most powerful in a
century battered Chile, the world's biggest copper miner,
killing more than 300 people as it toppled buildings and
triggered tsunamis that ravaged a port town and prompted
tsunami warnings around the Pacific basin. [ID:nLDE61Q02] For a graphic showing the location of the earthquake,
click:
here The quake forced the suspension of up to a fifth of Chile's
mine capacity -- estimated at around 4.5 million tonnes of
copper in concentrate annually -- and even though government
officials said exports would continue unhindered, market
watchers said prices would rise when trading started on Monday. "Copper's sensitivity to Chile is analogous to oil's
sensitivity to tensions in the Middle East. Copper is already a
tightening market and this could accentuate that story," ANZ's
senior commodity analyst Mark Pervan said. "And even if the mines themselves haven't been directly
affected, there is a whole lot of infrastructure running
through the whole thing -- roads, rail and hydropower that
could have been damaged." State miner Codelco halted operations at its El Teniente
and Andina mines, and Mining Minister Santiago Gonzalez said it
could take two days for production to resume. He also said
production at the Caletones smelter had halted. Other Codelco operations were unaffected. Gonzalez added Codelco had enough stocks to be able to meet
its export commitments, and a union leader said the key copper
ports of Antofagasta and Mejillones were operating normally,
although the smaller copper port of San Antonio was closed. Anglo-American's (AAL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) Los Bronces and El Soldado mines,
which together produce about 280,000 tonnes of copper annually,
also halted operations, but other major mines were running as
usual. For a factbox on Chile copper mines, click on
[ID:nN27183634] "The situation is still in flux and I don't want to call
the market 24 hours before it opens. but there is a great deal
of uncertainty about the conditions in Chile, and that
typically results in higher prices," a dealer in Singapore
said. "The government has said shipments will continue normally
but people will try to stock up on metal -- the 30,000 tonnes
that landed in Shanghai warehouses in the past two weeks will
probably find eager buyers -- and we may also see some
tightening in London Metal Exchange spreads." The benchmark LME three-month copper contract CMCU3
closed on Friday at $7,195 a tonne, having rallied 2.8 percent
on the day. Traders said prices could rally by a similar amount
on Monday. "(This) means copper up to $7,400 Monday," another
Singapore trader said. Copper stocks in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai
Futures Exchange jumped 28 percent to almost 150,000 tonnes in
the past two weeks and had looked like a potential drag on the
market, but following the quake, Chinese merchants and
consumers were likely to pick up the metal to ensure supply. "The kneejerk will be to cover. The Chinese are starting to
get into full swing after the holidays," Jonathan Barratt,
managing director of Commodity Broking Services, said. "We have seen a steep correction in the past two weeks, but
the market closed well bid and people will start to build in a
risk premium early on Monday. That will remain for as long
uncertainty exists and things like assessing the impact on fuel
supplies and so on will take some time." Copper prices surged
140 percent last year after a huge sell-off in 2008, but are
down around 36 percent so far this year. Many of the more distant mines rely on diesel to power
generators to provide electricity and disruption to supply --
either due to problems at the nations oil refineries, near the
epicentre of the quake, or because the fuel is diverted to help
with the relief effort -- could have implications for output. State oil company ENAP said diesel imports were being
stepped up to ensure there were no shortages. ENAP general manager Rodrigo Azocar said the refineries had
energy supply problems and structural damage that "had together
forced production to be paralyzed". He added that the company had sufficient gasoline stocks to
last for two weeks and enough diesel for 10 days.
(Additional reporting by Alonso Soto in Santiago; Editing by
Alex Richardson)

Source:in.reuters.com/

Aid agencies working to help earthquake battered Chile

Aid agencies surveyed the damage in Chile Saturday after a deadly earthquake shattered parts of the country in the worst disaster to hit the area in 50 years.

"In the downtown, the oldest part of the city, houses just collapsed, there was a wall that destroyed a row of cars, said a weary Paula Saez, an aid worker for World Vision Canada, as she described the situation in Santiago.

While she worked to help assess the damage, she said people in Concepcion, the epicentre of the quake, were unreachable.

The Chilean government declared a state of catastrophe following the massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake, which sent tsunami warnings from coastal areas of British Columbia to countries in the Asian-Pacific region. The quake has killed at least 214 people, authorities said.

But some officials have said the country will not see a repeat of the dire aftermath that Haiti experienced last month after its earthquake.

"We're certainly not facing the same kind of magnitude of disaster as we were in Haiti," said Jean-Pierre Taschereau, Senior Manager, Emergency Response, International Operations, with the Canadian Red Cross.

Taschereau said as far as he knows, the (Chilean) government has not requested international assistance yet.

"We still have plenty of people we can deploy regionally to support the efforts in Chile if necessary," he said.

Across the country, Chilean-Canadians frantically tried to contact friends and family in the country on Saturday.

There are an estimated 40,000 Canadians of Chilean descent living across Canada.

"It's a lot of collapsed buildings, lot of bridges, most of them fairly new and they all just came down like paper," said Jose Astorga, president of the Winnipeg Chilean Association, whose members have been able to contact some family in Chile, but have not been able to account for all their relatives.

In Montreal, the vice-president of the Quebec Chilean Association, Ledda Urbani, said her organization has opened its doors to community members desperate for information.

"We have many, many people calling, calling, calling. But there's no communication by telephone," said Urbani.

Urbani said Chilean news is blaring from the centre's television, and computers have been set up so people can try to contact relatives. So far, email and social networking sites have been the best way to contact people.

Urbani used the Internet to reach her extended family early Saturday.

"Nobody is sleeping since this happened," she said. "Some don't have electricity. It's terrible," she added.

Vince Rozas, 27, of Toronto also learned through social networking sites that family on his mother's side in Santiago were all safe.

"I can't believe Facebook has been so useful," he said. "All of my cousins have been on Facebook. That's how we've gotten our news."

Rozas' brother-in-law told him they were woken up by the massive quake.

"He said it was really violent, it felt really rough," he said.

Members of the Chilean Olympic team were feeling for their countrymen on Saturday.

The Chef de mission Luis Alberto Santa Cruz said all three members of the team and their families are doing well.

"I heard about this late last night right after the earthquake took place, and I was able to get in contact with them," he said. "Telephones are not working now, but I've been in contact with mail and messenger and they're all fine."

The team's single athlete, alpine skier Noelle Barahona, had planned to fly out of Vancouver airport Saturday morning but was turned away.

Officials tried to establish communications with Canadians who may be in the affected zone.

"Canadian officials in Santiago and Ottawa are currently assessing the situation to clarify the extent of the damage as well as to determine the potential impact on Canadians who are currently in Chile," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a written statement.

There are some 1,100 Canadians registered as being in Chile, said Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon.

But the earthquake has devastated phone services in the South American country, he said.

"Communications are extremely sporadic," Cannon said in an impromptu teleconference.

Cannon said Canada has stockpiles of emergency supplies that it could provide to non-governmental aid organizations in Chile, should the government there issue a request for help.

However, the minister ruled out sending Canada's military disaster assistance response team, commonly referred to as the DART team.

Harper extended sympathies to those affected by the quake.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Chile as they respond to this emerging natural disaster," he said.

A big concern in the aftermath of the quake was the question of what kind of damage could be caused by tsunamis, which are often created by underground tremors.

A tsunami that swamped San Juan Bautista village on Robinson Crusoe Island off Chile, killing at least five people and leaving 11 missing, Chilean officials said.

It then raced across the Pacific, setting off alarm sirens in Hawaii, Polynesia and Tonga and prompting warnings across all 53 nations ringing the vast ocean, including Canada.

Tsunami waves washed across Hawaii, where little damage was reported.

An advisory issued for British Columbia was cancelled late Saturday and little activity was observed, said Steve Bachop, a spokesman for B.C.'s Provincial Emergency Program.

"Vancouver Island certainly didn't sink," Bachop said in a phone interview. "We did see a little increased activity or wave height...but for the most part it looks like a fairly minor event by the time these waves reached the West Coast."

The tsunami advisory couldn't keep dozens of local residents and tourists out of the water and off a beach near Tofino, B.C., Saturday afternoon.

RCMP Const. Rochelle Carr said she counted as many as 50 people on Chesterman Beach - despite a recommendation to stay out of the water because of the possibility of strong currents.

At one point, Carr said she warned two surfers about entering the water.

"I advised them of the advisory and they didn't seem to care," said Carr. "I think it's a little but irresponsible."

She said the surfers weren't only putting themselves in danger. She said they were putting any potential rescuers in danger, too.

Carr said she saw others set up chairs to watch the water.

Doris McLachlan, a West Vancouver resident who owns property in Tofino, said she wasn't worried about the advisory because nothing had hit Hawaii by the time she was on the beach.

So McLachlan said she decided to take her dog, Tia, for a walk.

"We decided just to stay here and watch the waves," she added.

With files from Keven Drews of Westcoaster.ca.

Source:coastreporter.net/

EU pledges three million euros to quake-stricken Chile

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement he was "deeply shocked at the extent of the devastation" in Chile as he announced the European Union's intention to do whatever it took to help.

"As a first step, the European Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) of the Commission stands ready to launch a fast-track humanitarian funding decision for 3 million euros to relieve suffering and meet the immediate needs," the statement said.

The magnitude 8.8 quake struck in the early hours of Saturday, February 27, while most Chileans were asleep. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed in the city of Concepcion and damage was also reported in the capital, Santiago. Over 300 people are currently believed to have been killed.

International aid charities said they were dispatching experts to Chile but predicted that the devastation would be far lower than in Haiti, where a January 12 quake killed 200,000 people.

Bildunterschrift: The quake dealt a serious blow to Chile's infrastructure
Spain coordinates EU contribution

Spain, which holds the rotating six-month presidency of the EU, offered to help coordinate relief efforts for quake-hit Chile.

The Spanish government also called a meeting on Sunday of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation.

"Spain, is prepared to offer, as in the case of Haiti, all its available capabilities in the region to provide a coordinated response to this new disaster that has rocked a friendly and brother country," the Madrid government said in a statement.

EU leaders unify in sympathy

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Several states around the Pacific are on tsunami warning
Other EU leaders joined Spain in offering sympathy and aid to the South American state.

"The people of Chile are in agony today but Britain stands ready to help," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. "We will do whatever we can."

President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his "deep emotion" at the tragedy, while French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Paris was "in consultation with its European Union partners, and is ready to respond to the Chilean demands for assistance."

EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva has activated the group's crisis monitoring unit and told its aid experts "to undertake urgent needs assessments if required."

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Germany would be sending a relief team from the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) to the region. He added that there was no news on whether any Germans had been killed or injured by the earthquake.

Source:dw-world.de/

Tsunami alert for New Zealand downgraded after massive Chile quake

Civil Defence has downgraded New Zealand's tsunami warning to an advisory.

However, the Ministry warned there was still a likelihood of surges and rapid sea level changes in New Zealand following a massive earthquake in Chile which killed at least 300 people. The surges could continue for up to 24 hours after the initial wave arrivals.

"Wave heights could be larger than what we have currently experienced but within the threat levels and wave height estimates that have been previously forecast," it said in its latest statement.

Surges have been reported at beaches around the country, including in Northland, East Cape, Canterbury, Otago and Chatham Islands.

Strong currents were still expected in harbours and restricted waterways such as estuaries and river mouths while there was still a possibility of surges between one and three metres at the Chatham Islands and Banks Peninsula.

"This represents risks to people in boats and on beaches for coastal communities in the east coast of the North and South Island and particularly Chatham Islands and Banks Peninsula," national Civil Defence said.

Tsunami expert and Canterbury University emeritus professor of coastal studies Bob Kirk said based on the first two tsunamis in Lyttelton harbour today, a third was likely around 5pm, which is high tide.

The first tsunami was "of the order of 2m" in height. If it had hit at high tide it would have caused extensive flooding along the coast, around the Avon-Heathcote estuary, and in river mouths.

"That first wave is not chicken feed at all, that's a big one. If you were to mentally translate that to the. . .same position with the predicted high tide you can see 1m 60 or so of water there that would be over and above the high tide, and that's not trivial.

"They'll (civil defence) be watching this closely. It's a bit of a tense time until midnight tonight," Kirk said.

There was no guarantee the gap between the surges would remain at two hours, he said.

In the May 23, 1960 event, a 5m tsunami at high tide sent waves rushing into the estuary at 25km/h, flipped a cabin cruiser, set yachts adrift and left dinghies on the main road to Sumner.

Northland Civil Defence spokesman Matt Johnson said they were still experiencing "reasonably interesting fluctuations in sea levels and tidal surges" but expert advice suggested the main threat had passed.

They were not concerned about the possibility of high tide adding to the threat of the surges, saying the initial wave action had arrived not long after high tide this morning.

They still advised Northlanders to be cautious.

NZ FAMILY CAUGHT UP IN QUAKE DRAMA

Christchurch man Sean Gosling had a nervous wait as he sought news of his wife and daughter who were near the epicentre of last night's devastating earthquake in Chile.

Chile was rocked by an 8.8 magnitude quake last night which has killed at least 214 people, knocked down buildings and prompted a Pacific-wide tsunami warning.

Evelyn Fabiana Matamala Rojas and Paloma Sefia Gosling, 4, had been in Concepcion, the closest major settlement to the earthquake's epicentre for three weeks visiting Evelyn's family, Mr Gosling said.

The desperately worried father and husband had been frantically trying to get hold of the pair, trying friends, embassies, and any other methods of communication in a bid to try and track them down.

This morning, a friend in northern Chile, who had been given a long list of numbers to try by Mr Gosling, had managed to get hold of Evelyn's father who lives about 20 minutes out of Concepcion.

KEY SAYS NZ READY TO HELP

Prime Minister John Key today expressed sympathy on behalf of New Zealand, saying he was "shocked by the devastation".

"More than 200 people have died, but it's clear from media reports that the toll may rise.

New Zealand's government would priovide assistance to Chile on request, he said.

Source:stuff.co.nz/

Elliot Yamin Survives Chile Earthquake

The third placer of season 5 of the popular competition show American Idol was in Vina del Mar, Chile representing the United States for the city’s annual Festival Internacional de la Cancion de Vina del Mar, Latin America’s largest music festival. He sang Rock Around the Clock.

Hours after he performed a Twitter message came from the entertainer saying that a huge earthquake just hit Chile. “I swear I thought this was the end of my life!!!!!” He said that power was cut and together with his crew, went outside of their hotel wrapped in blankets. Yamin was staying at a sixth floor room. Three minutes later, the ground was shaking again.

The airport in Santiago, the capital, was closed after a tarmac was reduced into rubbles. Yamin was hoping to fly home Sunday as he is running out of insulin. He is a type 1 diabetic.

One of his twitter messages said that they experienced around 30 aftershocks while on their way to the next nearest airport.

Yamin‘s twitter messages were used and monitored by CNN on its coverage of the earthquake.

Source:dailycontributor.com/

Tsunami waves hit Russia but residents calm

MOSCOW : Tsunami waves measuring up to 80 centimetres hit Russia's Pacific coast on Sunday after the Chile earthquake, but there was little sign of panic or damage in the largely uninhabited region, officials said.

The highest wave of 80 centimetres (30 inches) was recorded on the southeast of the Kamchatka peninsula, the Tsunami Centre on Russia's Pacific island of Sakhalin said, while waves also hit the Kuril islands chain.

"This is the eighth wave that has hit the (Kamchatka) peninsula, there will be others," a spokeswoman for the centre was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.

Russia issued a tsunami warning after Saturday's massive earthquake in Chile and launched evacuation procedures in areas of Kamchatka and the Kuril islands amid warnings the waves could reach up to two metres.

It later cancelled the warning on Kamchatka, RIA Novosti reported, although it was not immediately clear if the alert remained in place for the Kuril islands.

With the wave heights so far lower than feared and the remote area far from major population centres, evacuations were largely small in scale and there were no reports of damage.

Some 100 employees of the port and fish factory on the island of Severo-Kurilsk were evacuated, and residents of five houses that could be struck by the tsunami would be transported to safe areas, officials said.

"Even on the Kuril islands, where there has been evacuation, there has been no panic," an official for the Far East branch of the emergency situations ministry told RIA Novosti.

"People are relating to the requests to evacuate to higher ground with understanding," the official added. The Sakhalin Tsunami centre said the waves hitting the Kuril islands had so far reached only 10 centimetres (four inches).

Reports said that inhabitants of the main city on Kamchatka, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, were taking their usual Sunday excursions to go fishing or walk on the flanks of the local volcanoes.

The Kuril islands, which lie north of Japan's Hokkaido island, have been controlled by Moscow since they were seized by Soviet troops in 1945 but are claimed by Japan and their status still harms Moscow-Tokyo relations.

The 8.8-magnitude quake that struck off the coast of Chile before dawn on Saturday killed more than 300 people and affected as many as two million as it left a trail of destruction through a swathe of central Chile.

One of the largest earthquakes on record, it sent tsunami waves crashing into coastal areas of the South American nation of 16 million people, and then roaring across the Pacific Ocean as far as New Zealand and Japan. - AFP/ms

Source:channelnewsasia.com/

Powerful earthquake kills scores in Chile, triggers tsunami

CONCEPCION, Chile — One of the most powerful earthquakes in decades battered Chile on Saturday, killing more than 200 people, knocking down buildings and triggering a tsunami that rolled menacingly across the Pacific.

Buildings caught fire, major highway bridges collapsed and debris lay in the streets across large swaths of central Chile affecting about two million people.

A 15-storey building collapsed in Concepcion, the closest major city to the epicentre, and overturned cars lay scattered below a fallen overpass in the capital Santiago. Telephone and power lines went down, making it difficult to assess the full extent of the damage and loss of life.

Chilean president-elect Sebastian Pinera said more than 200 had died in the 8.8-magnitude quake, which struck at 3:34 a.m., sending many people rushing from their beds and onto the streets in fear.

“It came in waves and lasted so long. Three minutes is an eternity. We kept worrying that it was getting stronger, like a terrifying Hollywood movie,” said housewife Dolores Cuevas.

“My house is completely destroyed, everything fell over,” said one elderly man in central Santiago. “It has been destroyed. Me and my wife huddled in a corner and after hours they rescued us.”

U.S. authorities reported more than 50 aftershocks continued to shake Santiago after the earthquake, with magnitudes ranging between 4.9 and 6.9.

Hundreds of people remained on the streets later in the day, with residents fearing return to their homes because of the risk of further shocks.

Following the quake, tsunami warnings were posted around the Pacific, including in Japan, Russia, and coastal British Columbia.

The warning for Hawaii was cancelled Saturday afternoon, after surges subsided without causing significant damage.

No major damage was expected along the B.C. coast, but low-lying coastal areas and beaches and marinas could be flooded, officials said. The first waves were expected to hit the southern B.C. coast sometime after 3 p.m. local time.

On Vancouver Island, the communities of Victoria, Tofino and Ucluelet were suggesting people move away from the water, beach, harbours and marinas.

“There is nothing to panic about,” said Amanda Ward, District of Ucluelet manager of emergency services. “We’re expecting heavy currents and tide surges around 3 p.m. to go for a few hours.”

U.S. President Barack Obama called Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and said the United States was ready to help.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon also extended sympathies to those affected by the Chilean earthquake on behalf of the Canadian government

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the people and the government of Chile as it responds to the emerging natural disaster,” he said.

There were no reports of Canadians missing or injured in the South American country, but about 1,100 Canadians are currently registered as visitors to Chile.

Cannon said the federal government stands ready to provide “any necessary assistance” to the government of Chile, but he said that so far, there had been no request for international aid.

Although one emergency official said Chile’s death toll was unlikely to increase dramatically, the quake was one of the 10 biggest quakes recorded since 1900.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicentre of the earthquake struck 110 kilometres northeast of Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city, at a depth of 35 kilometres.

The capital Santiago, about 325 kilometres north, was also badly hit, leaving the international airport closed for at least 24 hours as the quake destroyed passenger walkways and shook glass out of doors and windows.

News of the earthquake left frustrated Canadians glued to television reports as they tried desperately to reach loved ones in Chile.

Hugo Torres, 65, a restaurant manager in Ottawa, moved to Canada from Chile in 1974. His mother, two siblings and a large extended family remain in Santiago.

Torres was trying to reach his family by telephone Saturday, but had been unable to get any kind of phone signal.

“I am very worried,” he said. “My whole family is there.”

Five decades ago, another earthquake measuring 9.5 hit Chile. It was the largest known tremor the world has seen in the past 200 years.

The May 1960 quake spawned a tsunami that engulfed the Pacific Ocean and killed about 1,600 in Chile and another 200 in Japan, Hawaii and the Philippines.

WSource:vancouversun.com/

Charities send teams to quake-hit Chile

LONDON — British charities were preparing Saturday to send specialists to Chile after an earthquake which left more than 200 people dead, as Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain stood ready to help.

Oxfam said it would dispatch a five-strong team from Colombia of water engineers, logistics specialists and its humanitarian coordinator for Latin America in response to the massive 8.8-magnitude quake.

The charity has teams operating in Haiti, which is struggling to get back on its feet after an earthquake which devastated the capital Port-au-Prince on January 12.

Jeremy Loveless, Oxfam's Deputy Humanitarian Director, said: "Chile is a developed country with a very capable government and while it is unlikely that this disaster will be as severe as what we saw last month in Haiti, we want to be in place to help as soon as possible."

Save the Children said it was assessing the situation and ShelterBox, which sends emergency tents into disaster zones, said it would send staff to Chile.

Brown said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Chile.

"The people of Chile are in agony today but Britain stands ready to help. We will do whatever we can."

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was "shocked and saddened" by the news of the second major earthquake to hit the Americas in as many months following the Haiti quake.

"I send my deepest sympathy to all those affected," he said in a statement, and echoed Brown's pledge of support for the Chilean people.

Miliband said he had no information yet of any British casualties, but he added that the efforts of British embassy staff in Santiago to trace British nationals was being hampered by "significant communications difficulties".

Source:AFP

Chile quake toll tops 300

One of the largest earthquakes on record has killed at least 300 people in Chile and sent giant waves roaring across the Pacific Ocean that forced Japan on tsunami alert almost a day later.

In an address to the nation, President Michelle Bachelet said two million Chileans had been affected by Saturday's quake but, after touring the worst-hit areas by plane, she found it hard to spell out the magnitude of the disaster.

"The power of nature has again struck our country," Bachelet said, declaring six of Chile's 15 regions "catastrophe zones" in the aftermath of the 8.8-magnitude quake.

Click for more photos Damaged buildings in Santiago. The massive quake plunged much of the Chilean capital into darkness as it snapped power lines and severed communications. Photo: AFP


Highways in the South American nation of 16 million were sliced to pieces, bridges imploded and buildings collapsed as the 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck some 325km southwest of the capital Santiago at 3.34am local time (5.34pm AEDT).

"This is a catastrophe of immense proportions, so it will be very difficult to give precise figures," Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma said. Officials later said at least 300 people had been killed.

Waves well over two metres high crashed into the Chilean coast after the quake struck at and tore out into the Pacific, killing at least five people in the remote Robinson Crusoe islands.

In the Chilean port of Talcahuano, trawlers were sent shooting inland to the town square where they lay oddly marooned next to abandoned cars.

About 50 countries and territories along an arc stretching from New Zealand to Japan braced for giant waves, five years after the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster that killed more than 220,000 people.

The ominous sound of evacuation sirens blared in Hawaii, French Polynesia and the South Pacific as a tsunami raced around the "Ring of Fire", but authorities in Hawaii later gave the all clear.

The Japan Meteorological Agency warned that waves of up to three metres could hit the northern coastal areas and issued tsunami warnings for up to two metres along the entire Pacific coastline of the Japanese archipelago.

The massive quake plunged much of the Chilean capital Santiago into darkness, snapping power lines and severing communications. The international airport was closed after sustaining significant damage to the terminal.

Many Chileans were still in nightclubs partying at the start of the weekend when the quake struck before dawn, ripping up roads, bringing roofs crashing down and toppling power lines.

"It was the worst experience of my life," said 22-year-old Sebastian, standing outside his house in eastern Santiago.

AFP journalists spoke of walls and masonry collapsing in Santiago while people in pyjamas fled onto the streets as buildings "shook like jelly".

"Friends who were at clubs said it was pandemonium," said Santiago resident Maren Andrea Jimenez, an American expert working for the United Nations.

"It was scary! Plaster began falling from the ceiling. My dogs freaked out."

President Barack Obama said the United States "stands ready to assist in the rescue and recovery efforts, and we have resources that are positioned to deploy should the Chilean government ask for our help."

"Early indications are that hundreds of lives have been lost in Chile and damage is severe. On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the Chilean people," he said at the White House.

Despite officials saying up to 1.5 million homes could be affected, Chile's Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez asked countries that had offered aid to hold off until local authorities could assess the emergency needs.

Chile does not want "aid from anywhere to be a distraction" from disaster relief, Fernandez said, adding: "Any aid that arrives without having been determined to be needed really helps very little."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, due to leave Sunday on a Latin American tour that includes Chile, said she was in close contact with Bachelet and that "our thoughts and prayers" went out to the victims.

The European Union said it would provide 3 million euros ($4.58 million) in immediate assistance. Unlike Haiti, struck by a devastating earthquake last month, Chile is one of Latin America's wealthiest countries.

The US Geological Survey said it had recorded more than 51 aftershocks ranging from 4.9 to 6.9 since the quake. A second 6.1-magnitude quake, said to be an entirely separate event, killed two people in neighbouring Argentina.

Earthquake-prone Chile lies along the Pacific rim of fire and is regularly rocked by quakes, but damage is often limited as they mostly hit in remote desert regions.

It was the second major earthquake to hit the Western hemisphere in seven weeks after more than 200,000 people were killed in Haiti last month by a 7.0-magnitude quake.

The epicentre was just a few hundred miles north of the biggest earthquake on record, a 9.5-magnitude monster in May 1960 that killed between 2200 and 5700 people and triggered a huge tsunami that reached as far as eastern New Zealand.

Source:smh.com.au/

Codelco Copper Mines to Reopen Shortly, Chilean Minister Says

Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Codelco’s El Teniente and Andina copper mines in central Chile will reopen “shortly” after inspectors failed to find major damage from the earthquake that hit the country, Mining Minister Santiago Gonzalez said.

Empresa Nacional de Petroleo’s halted Aconcagua oil refinery may be fixed from earthquake damage within six days, while the state oil company’s Bio Bio unit will take longer to resume operations, Gonzales said. He didn’t say how long it would take to restart the mines.

Chile’s magnitude-8.8 earthquake early this morning, which killed at least 214 people, led four copper mines that produce about 16 percent of the country’s output and two oil refineries to halt operations because of power cuts. The temblor also severed the country’s main highway, destroyed bridges and apartment buildings and knocked out electricity.

Codelco, the world’s biggest copper producer, said yesterday the El Teniente and Andina mines halted operations because of the power outage. Anglo American Plc said its Los Bronces and El Soldado mines in Chile stopped operating for the same reason.

Copper accounted for about half of Chile’s $53 billion of exports last year. The country’s production of the metal used in pipes and wiring climbed 0.7 percent to 5.4 million metric tons in 2009. The metal’s price has more than doubled in the past 12 months as the world economic recovery boosts demand.

State-owned Codelco produces about 600,000 tons of the metal a year from El Teniente, the world’s biggest underground copper mine, and from Andina, according to its Web site. Anglo’s Los Bronces and El Soldado mines produce about 280,000 tons annually.

Northern Mines

Codelco’s mines in northern Chile, including Chuquicamata, are operating normally, said a spokesman, who requested not to be identified because of company policy. There are no reports of injuries to workers or damage to installations, he said. He didn’t say when the halted mines will resume operations.

Anglo spokesman James Wyatt-Tilby also didn’t say in an e- mailed statement when Los Bronces and El Soldado will return to normal operations.

ENAP, as Chile’s state oil company is known, plans to import diesel fuel to ensure domestic supply after shutting the two refineries, according to an e-mailed statement.

Copper mines in northern Chile operated by BHP Billiton Ltd. weren’t affected by the earthquake, company spokesman Mauro Valdes said.

Rio Tinto Group, a shareholder in the world’s largest copper mine, Escondida, located in northern Chile and owned by BHP, also had no reports of damage, London-based spokeswoman Christina Mills said by telephone.

--With reporting by Heather Walsh in Colombia, Steve Bodzin in Caracas and Sebastian Boyd in Santiago. Editors: Carlos Caminada, Ann Hughey.

Source:businessweek.com/

Chile earthquake causes surge of water to hit Central Coast shores Saturday afternoon

A surge of water generated by Chile’s 8.8 magnitude earthquake rushed onto the shores of the Central Coast Saturday afternoon, drawing many onlookers but no damage reports.

In Morro Bay’s harbor — shielded by the long sand spit and jetties — a small surge of seemed to arrive about 3:30 p.m., tipping buoys to where they faced the shore before being righted upward.

The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center had estimated that the surge would reach Port San Luis at 12:35 p.m.

The tsunami-driven surge added to higher surf from the weekend storm, said John Lindsey — a media relations representative with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Central Coast weather expert and columnist.

A high-surf advisory remains in effect until 9 p.m. today, according to the National Weather Service.

Lindsey likened it to the cycle of high and low tides — usually a six-hour process of waters rising, and then receding — being compressed into a short period.

“You’re talking about something that takes six hours, and then you have this contracting the water within 20 or 30 minutes,” he said. “So the current would be much stronger.”

The quake prompted Warning Center to issue a tsunami advisory. Though devastating waves were not expected, people were advised to stay away from California beaches as a precaution.

Senior Chief Kirk McKay of the U.S. Coast Guard station in Morro Bay said that people should not venture onto beaches or marinas during these conditons.

“An advisory is to keep people away from beaches and marinas because there could be strong surges,” he said. An advisory means a tsunami is possible. Forecasters warned there may be strong currents, but did not expect widespread inundation or damage to occur.

The Warning Center dvised that its effects could last for hours after the surge’s arrival, and the initial wave is not necessary the largest.

Diana Henderson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, said an advisory is issued when waves are expected to increase in height by less than a meter.

The next and highest risk level, a warning, would be issued if a tsunami were imminent, and calls for more precautionary measures such as evacuations.

Nonetheless, Pismo Beach city officials cordoned off the pier and cleared eople from beaches late Saturday morning. In Santa Cruz harbor, its dredge dragged its anchor and the pipe that pumps sand out of the harbor bottom had coiled up on itself.

The Harbor Patrol there repositioned the dredge so it would not get damaged, and a boat hoist was knocked loose, officials there said.

Like Port San Luis, Santa Cruz is a south-facing shore so there was more potential for damage because the tsunami’s energy was coming northward, Henderson said.

There have been six tsunamis large enough to cause significant damage along the coast of California over the past 200 years, according to Gary Griggs, a Santa Cruz Sentinel columnist and director of the Institute of Marine Sciences and Long Marine Laboratory at UC Santa Cruz.

Crescent City on the California’s northernmost coast, was hit hard by a tsunami from the magnitude 9.2 Alaskan earthquake of 1964.

Water levels rose 8 feet, and much of the low-lying downtown area was inundated as waves washed 2,000 feet inland, drowning 11 people and destroying 150 businesses, according to Griggs.

Source:sanluisobispo.com/

'American Idol' survives quake in Chile

Elliot Yamin is in Chile and continues to be rocked by aftershocks of the massive 8.8 earthquake. According to his tweets, he was in Vina Del Mar (about 85 miles outside of Santiago) competing in some music festival when the quake hit. He's been keeping his faithful followers up to date from the very beginning starting with this.

"Huge earthquake just now in Chile!!....I swear I thought this was the end of my life!!!!!"

The earthquake's epicenter was about 225 miles to the south, just off the Chilean coast. And the panic has been evident.

"Complete and utter chaos on the streets...no power...my heart is beatin outta my chest!....tsunami warnin...I am only a mile inland!"

Yamin is a diabetic and has expressed some concern about keeping his condition in check.

"Just got word that the airport in Santiago is closed...the tarmac has been reduced 2 rubble...my blood sugar is really hi" "Imma Type 1 diabetic, and was sppsd 2 leave sunday.I only packed enuf insulin pump supplies 2 last til then....airports r closed!"

He has since been bussed from Vina Del Mar to Santiago.

"wow!!..a bit emotional as i am seeing for the first time since the quake hit, exactly what we endured!"
"so far, we are the lucky ones!!...please cont 2 pray 4 the victims and their families!!...im overwhelmed w emotion right now!!"

Many of the national news networks have reached out to Yamin and he's granting interviews as possible. In fact, he just Skyped with Larry King on CNN.

You can follow Elliott's tweets here: http://twitter.com/elliottyamin

Source:seattletimes.nwsource.com/

World pledges aid to quake-hit Chile

PARIS, Feb 28 (AFP) - The United States and Europe vowed to come to Chile's aid as relief workers rushed to the Western hemisphere's second enormous earthquake in seven weeks.

But the Latin American country, reeling from the deaths of at least 300 people and a trail of destruction caused by Saturday's 8.8-magnitude quake, appealed for foreign donors to wait until the scale of the task is clear.

"We are very grateful for people's good intentions, but let's let the (Chilean) emergency office get its very specific report on needs done," Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez told reporters.

Chile does not want "aid from anywhere to be a distraction" from disaster relief, he said. "Any aid that arrives without having been determined to be needed really helps very little."

At least 1.5 million homes were damaged in the pre-dawn quake, roads were torn up and buildings reduced to rubble in the nation of 16 million people. The main international airport in the capital Santiago suffered heavy damage.

Much of Santiago was plunged into darkness. The country's second largest city, Concepcion, south of the capital, was near the epicenter of one of the largest quakes on record.

"We anticipate the situation in the worst-affected areas closer to the epicentre to be much more serious," said Pete Garratt, the disaster relief manager for Britain's Red Cross.

"Our fear is that this quake will have had large-scale impact."

UN chief Ban Ki-moon is "very closely monitoring developments, including the risk of Pacific Rim tsunamis, after the huge earthquake in Chile," his office said. A Pacific-wide tsunami alert was lifted, but Japan and Russia were still braced for super-sized waves.

US President Barack Obama pledged to meet any request for help from Chile, while the European Union offered three million euros (four million dollars) in immediate aid.

The United States "stands ready to assist in the rescue and recovery efforts, and we have resources that are positioned to deploy should the Chilean government ask for our help", Obama said in a televised address.

Spain, which holds the EU's rotating six-month presidency, offered to help coordinate relief efforts once the damage and requirements are assessed.

The Madrid government said it was "prepared to offer, as in the case of Haiti, all its available capabilities in the region to provide a coordinated response to this new disaster that has rocked a friendly and brother country".

Unlike impoverished Haiti, which was pulverized by an earthquake last month, Chile is one of Latin America's wealthiest countries.

Nevertheless international aid charities said they were dispatching experts to Chile but predicted that the devastation would be far lower than in Haiti, where the January 12 quake killed 200,000 people.

British charity Oxfam said it was sending five water engineers and logistics experts from Chile to Colombia.

Disaster relief charity ShelterBox said it was mobilising an initial response team from Britain and the United States, and the Swiss government said it too was deploying an assessment team to Chile.

The US group Mobile Giving Foundation enlarged a cellphone donation drive that has so far raised 41 million dollars for Haiti.

By texting the word "Chile" to a five-digit phone number, Americans and Canadians can give five or 10 dollars to groups including Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army or World Vision, it said.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso announced in Brussels that the EU's executive arm was sending three million euros in fast-track aid to Chile.

"I am deeply shocked at the extent of the devastation that is emerging," Barroso said, as European leaders joined Obama in sending heart-felt condolences and offers of assistance to Chile.

"The people of Chile are in agony today but Britain stands ready to help. We will do whatever we can," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his "deep emotion".

The World Bank said it stood ready to "draw on its considerable expertise in catastrophe management and reconstruction" to support Chile.

Source:MySinchew 2010.02.28

Tsunami sweeps across Pacific after powerful Chile quake

NEW YORK, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- A magnitude-8.8 earthquake that struck Chile early Saturday morning has generated tsunami waves that hit islands and coastlines across the Pacific rim, though with only limited damage.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued the first tsunami warning at 0644 GMT, 10 minutes after the Chile quake. It was upgraded to a Pacific-Ocean-wide warning at 1043 GMT.

FRENCH POLYNESIA

In Hiva Oa in the north of French Polynesia, residents reported at least four big waves pushing in and the sea again retreating, Radio New Zealand International reported on Sunday.

Several waves have also passed other islands in French Polynesia without causing any major damage.

RFO radio in Papeete reported that a wave less than one meter high has passed the east of the Gambier islands.

In Rikitea on the island of Mangareva, several smaller waves are reported to have passed, ranging from 50 to 80 centimeters in height.

In Rapa, the sea was reported to drop and rise about every 30 minutes.

On Tahiti, only small waves were registered.

All road traffic closer than 500 meters to the shore has been forbidden, with police enforcing roadblocks.

People are advised to seek ground at least 10 meters high.

An Air Tahiti Nui plane due to arrive in Papeete from Tokyo has been diverted to Hawaii.

In the Cook Islands, people have moved inland.

Higher ground near the hospital on Rarotonga was already crowded as people fled the predicted impact zone.


Source: