My sister was in Panama. I contacted her was via email.
The following is her answer to my email. You can see why I was so, concerned in getting in touch with her!

"I am safe but as you know the whole Pacific Coast is under a Tsunami warning. When I was running along the Causeway this morning (about a 3 km strip of man made land out into the Pacific) I kept thinking that if I saw the water act strangely I would run like mad up the highest hill or into one of the three story buildings and go to the top floor. When I was in Sri Lanka last year I was in one of the areas where the Tsunami killed so many people and wiped out so many villages it was shocking. I stayed in a Hotel that had been flooded to the top of the second floor so I figured if I could get to the third floor here I would probably be safe."

LOL! My sister is a fast runner...but, not that fast!

I sent an email out to check on canuck50, her DH and her Mom as I didn't know if, they were still in Santiago.

They were, and they experienced the quake!

Here is what she wrote me:

"We are fine and survived a very scary earthquake. I awoke immediately and we are all on the floor with a mattress overhead in seconds. It lasted much longer than I thought it would - well over a minute. It was damn sacry. Once it was over we went downstairs - fortunately mom had brought a flashlight! We were a couole of hours out on the street....virtually no sleep after that. The aftershocks have continued and this morning was the most recent and strongest! Fortunately our hotel has only suffered from plaster damage etc. The airport will be closed for 72 hours and Air Canada has no idea when mom can fly home - she was due to leave last night. It will not be before Tuesday apparently, but we are checking in constantly."

Thanks for posting those emails. My relatives are on a cruise ship off the coast of Chile but at the tip. They are not suppose to fly back until next Sunday after docking at Valaprasio. If you get any more info about canuck50 and her mom flying out, that would be great. I am hoping the ship decides to turn around and head back to Buenos Aires.

I live in California so we are in earthquakes all the time. They are very scary. I am glad Canuk50 and her family are safe.

There was some minor tsunami action in California and Hawaii, but I'd rather have them over-warn than not warn at all. A quake off of Chile caused the big Hilo tsunami in the 1960s.

Here is info I saw in todays LA Times about Santiago damages:

"Santiago's international airport will be closed at least through Monday, officials said. Although the runways are in good condition, the control tower and customs facilities suffered extensive damage, officials said...Telephone service and electricity were still out in one-third of the capital as of the afternoon and communication was problematic because of the collapse of several cellphone towers...Santiago faces possible mass transit chaos, with the city's subway system closed indefinitely while the tracks are inspected."

When I was in Chile a year ago, I noticed a lot of decals posted inside stores and offices identifying the best places to stand during a quake.

photos of Santiago airport...judge for yourself.

http://www.fotos.emol.com/?G_ID=13641#

Also I'd recommend going over to Tripadvisor as there are a few people there posting their experiences with some of the airlines. Questionable that Smartours would be able to reschedule anything soon since the people that have not had to wait until Monday are having first dibs at alternative dates and locations.

The metro opened today with only line 5 closed.
Only 20% of Santiago is still without electricity.
All mobile phone services are working as far as I know.
The 'first dibs' at the airport will be the 5 LAN planes flying the Chilean passengers back from Lima. Next will probably be planes bringing much needed relief aid.

mlgb: those photos were heart-breaking...

We are 2 Irish people holidaying in Pucon. We were due to fly to Santiago on Saturday and fly to San Pedro on Sunday. Obviously all cancelled. We felt the aftershocks quite badly here in Pucon. It was defo scary but not as scary as what we can see and are reading about what others are going through so we are considering ourselves lucky.
We are due to fly to Auckland from Santiago on Saturday - we may try to do that earlier but not sure what the chances of that are !!! We'll see !!

shellie_13

Good luck on your connections...and yes, you are very lucky!