The Periscope Post

The large-scale earthquake that struck Chile at 3.34am on Saturday morning has had shattering effects up and down the length of the country. Periscope‘s Fiona Scott reports from Chile.

The quake,at a magnitude of 8.8 on the Richter scale, hit Chile’s seventh region the hardest, devastating the city of Concepción 70 miles away from the epicentre. The historic town of Talca, further north, was also severely effected. Waves were reported to reach heights of almost 50 feet on Easter Island off the coast of the country.

National radio stations have set up hotlines and are airing pleas for news of loved ones in the regions most badly affected.  Telephone communication is still unreliable and even non-existent in some areas.

The country’s capital Santiago felt the earthquake at a recorded magnitude of 8.0. While there is an air of relative calm across the city, the effects are certainly apparent: Four buildings in the area of Maipú have collapsed, and three factories went up in flames due to a chemical fire, the Divina Providencia church suffered significant damage, and one entrance of the national Bellas Artes museum crumbled during the quake. Barrio Brasil, one of the capital’s older and poorer neighbourhoods, has suffered substantial structural damage, with many houses reduced to rubble. Some of the population were forced or chose to sleep outside in some of the city’s parks for fear of further aftershocks.

The capital’s hotels are overflowing with tourists trapped in the country. Santiago airport was severely damaged and is currently shut down. The General Manager of the Marriot hotel said he has heard the airport is tentatively starting to operate with a handful of flights able to land this Sunday afternoon. It is still unclear as to when the airport will be able to operate at normal capacity.

Large queues have been forming outside petrol stations, and the supermarkets that are open are heaving with people concerned about shortages. Electricity and gas are still unavailable in parts of the city.

An overpass on one of the city’s major highways, Avenida Vespucio, also fell, taking eight cars with it – miraculously there were no fatalities in that case.

According to the National Office of Emergencies in Chile, the death toll has risen to more than 400 people, although other local news sources say that President Michelle Bachelete confirmed the death toll as over 700 and rising.

National newspaper El Mercurio reported 269 prisoners escaped from a prison in the southern town of Chillan when a fire broke out. President-elect Sebastian Piñera claims to have seen looting while flying over some of the effected regions.

Schools in the seventh region have closed until further notice and the headmasters of other schools across the country have been advised by the ministry of education to assess each facility on a case by case basis.

Aftershocks are still being felt across the country and El Mercurio reported that, due to the enormity of the earthquake, shocks could continue to be felt for months to come.

British Geological Survey, which has been monitoring the quake told The Guardian that the quake was around 500 times the magnitude of the one that devastated Haiti earlier this year. The effects are said to be less because the Chilean earthquake was deeper underground and the country’s building structures are generally sturdier.

This is the largest earthquake to hit Chile in 50 years and one of the strongest to be recorded anywhere. Buildings shook in Buenos Aires, Argentina and movement was felt as far away as Sao Paolo, Brazil.

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