Authorities lifted tsunami warnings for Chile’s long coastline early yesterday after an earthquake measuring 8.2 on the Richter scale struck the South American country’s northern coast.
Six people were crushed to death or suffered fatal heart attacks, a remarkably low toll for such a powerful shift in the Earth’s crust.
The extent of damage from Tuesday night’s quake could not be fully assessed before daybreak, President Michelle Bachelet said.
She declared a state of emergency in the region and sent a military plane with 100 anti-riot police to join 300 soldiers deployed to prevent looting and round up escaped prisoners.
Thousands of people were evacuated from low-lying areas but most began to return home as the tsunami alerts were gradually lifted along Chile’s coast.
The shaking set off landslides that blocked roads, knocked out power for thousands, damaged an airport and sparked fires that destroyed several businesses.
About 300 inmates escaped from a women’s prison in the city of Iquique, forcing the closure of the border with Peru. Officials said some two dozen had been recaptured early yesterday.
In Arica, another city close to the quake’s offshore epicentre, hospitals treated minor injuries, and some homes made of adobe were destroyed, authorities said.
Mining in Chile, which is the world’s top copper-producing nation, was not affected, although world prices for the metal jumped as the quake raised supply concerns because most of the Chilean mining industry is in the northern regions.
The US Geological Survey initially reported the magnitude of the quake, which struck 61 miles north-west of Iquique, at 8.0 but later upgraded that.