The tsunami advisory for the state of Hawaii was canceled Thursday morning as officials reported no local problems resulting from the quake off the coast of Chile.
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Over 1 million residents on Chile’s 2,653 mile coastline have been evacuated due to tsunami warnings. If you are traveling, or live, in any of those areas use caution, get far away from the beaches and ocean and as high up as you can get.
There were no immediate reports on any injuries or damage, but communications were disrupted.
Authorities said some adobe houses collapsed in the inland city of Illapel, located about 280km north of Santiago.
The people of Chile are no strangers to earthquakes.
Ships are seen on the street after an quake hit areas of central Chile.
Chile is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries because just off its coast, the Nazca tectonic plate plunges beneath the South American plate, pushing the towering Andes cordillera to ever-higher altitudes.
The quake, which lasted over three minutes, was followed by multiple aftershocks above a magnitude of 6.0.
Toro emphasised the speed with which the navy’s Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service and the National Seismological Center issued the tsunami alert, a move that allowed the rapid evacuation of communities along more than 4,000 km of the country’s Pacific coast.
Chileans are rummaging through debris after an 8.3 magnitude quake killed at least eight people, sent huge waves into the coastal area and forced 1 million people to evacuate Wednesday.
The two dead were a woman in Illapel, close to the epicentre, and an 86-year-old man in Santiago, where there were scenes of pandemonium as thousands fled swaying buildings. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on Thursday declared a state of emergency for the coastal region of Coquimbo which bore the brunt of the 8.4-magnitude natural disaster on Wednesday night.
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Tsunami waves were also possible along French Polynesia, it said, as well as smaller waves as far afield as Alaska, Japan and New Zealand.
