At Least 8 Killed, 1 Million Evacuated In Chile’s 8.3-magnitude Earthquake

Tsunami Waves Reach Hawaii
Photo Courtesy: UPI

SANTIAGO, Chile, Sept. 17 (UPI) — At least eight people died and one million were evacuated in Chile after a powerful 8.3-magnitude earthquake struck near the country’s coast on Wednesday.

The epicenter of the earthquake was 29 miles west of the Chilean town of Illapel, where nearly 2,000 people are now without potable water, and 142 miles north of Santiago, the capital.

Waves up to 15 feet in height hit the coastal town of Coquimbo, where nearly all residents lost electricity. A tsunami alert was momentarily issued for the entire Chilean coast, but was gradually rescinded at different locations until it was completely lifted at 6:22 a.m. local time Thursday.

Victims include a 35-year-old woman who was killed by a falling roof, a 20-year-old woman killed by falling rocks and a man in his 80s who had a heart attack.

“Everyone ran. The windows shook. Things fell … The impact was strong,” Santiago resident Emily Hersh told CNN EspaƱol. “Even after I left, I felt the earth move.”

The earthquake was the result of “thrust faulting on the interface between the Nazca and South America plates in Central Chile,” the U.S. Geological Survey said.

There have been several aftershocks since the quake, all between magnitudes of 6.4 and 7.0.

Chile sits on very geologically active crust and there have been more than 15 other earthquakes of a magnitude of 7 or greater in the past century. The largest earthquake on record occurred in southern Chile in 1960 with a magnitude of 9.5.

An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile in 2010, causing more than 500 people to die due to the quake, a tsunami and a slow government response.

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