Soon after the shake, which lasted for about 3 minutes and was followed by several dozen aftershocks, a tsunami warning was issued for the entire Chilean coast. It said the quake was 4.8 miles (5 kilometers) below the surface.
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U.S. Coast Guard officials in Hawaii said as of Thursday morning, there were no reports of any major impacts or damage to Hawaii boaters, harbors or ports.
In the past year, the nation of 17 million has endured devastating floods in the north, wildfires in the south and two volcanic eruptions.
Chilen officials reported the death of a second person, a man of 86, but did not say where he had died. “Once again, we’re having to deal with another harsh blow from nature”, President Michelle Bachelet said in a statement on TV, adding that she would tour the hardest-hit areas.
Overturned cars and splintered boats sat next to furniture, toppled adobe homes and fishing nets tangled in trees.
A magnitude 8.3 natural disaster rocked the the coast of central Chile, around 228 km northwest of the country’s capital Santiago just before 8 p.m. local time Wednesday.
The National Tsunami Warning Center says an advisory remains in effect for Ragged Point, California and San Onofre State Beach, California.
A strong 7.9-magnitude quake struck the center of Chile, U.S. seismologists said, triggering a tsunami alert that stretched to Peru and the evacuation of coastal areas.
The tsunami that hit the coastal ares of Coquimbo offset many activities and life overall for many Chileans.
According to The Weather Channel, in the US , initial tsunami waves arrived in the Hawaiian Islands, with a magnitude of 3 feet measured at Hilo and 2.2 feet in Kahului, Maui. “But it is true that preparedness and risk reduction in Chile is ahead of that in much of the world, and that makes a difference”.
Waves triggered by the quake have begun hitting the country’s coastline, the ONEMI emergency service said. He said the town of around 30,000 was without power.
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“But we keep calling on our residents to stay away from the coast for now”, he told AFP. The government was criticized for a slow response to the situation, but has since worked to improve its emergency alert system and safety measures.
