Thousand of miles of the South American coastline were on tsunami alert on Saturday after one of the biggest earthquakes in modern times struck southern Chile.
By Colin Freeman
The quake, registered at magnitude 8.8 on the Richter scale, caused buildings to collapse and led to power-black outs in parts of the Chilean capital, Santiago, 200 miles from the epicentre.
Eyewitnesses spoke of panicking crowds pouring onto the streets of the city, hugging each other and crying. The Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet, said that six people were killed, but that more deaths were possible. Telephone and power lines were down, making a quick assessment of the damage difficult in the early morning darkness. Read More…
