A huge magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck Chile early on Saturday, killing at least 122 people, knocking down homes and hospitals, and triggering a tsunami that rolled menacingly across the Pacific.
Buildings caught fire, major highway bridges collapsed and wide cracks opened up in streets. A 15-storey building collapsed in the city of Concepcion, near the epicenter, and overturned cars lay scattered below a fallen overpass in the capital.
Chilean President-elect Sebastian Pinera said at least 122 people had died in the quake, which struck at 3:34 a.m. (0634 GMT), sending many people rushing outside in their pajamas
"Unfortunately, Chile is a country of catastrophes," Pinera said, adding the quake dealt a heavy blow to the country's roads, airports and ports.
He said the death toll could still rise, but an emergency official said it was unlikely to increase dramatically.
Tsunami warnings were posted around the Pacific, including the U.S. state of Hawaii, Japan and Russia.
Telephone and power lines were down across large swathes of central Chile, making it difficult to assess the full extent of the damage close to the epicenter.
one day before earthquake in Chile, there was a Richter scale 7.2 earthquake in Okinawa and 4.2 in Szechuan. Good that no one died from the Japan earthquake yesterday - 2 pipes were broken and 2 old people had minor injuries from falling. But yeah... it's getting dangerous
發表於 2010-2-27 09:54
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