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/
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