Chile Earthquake and Tsunami warning
 

USGS reports that on February 26, 2010, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck offshore from central Chile, and waves have been reported. Chile and Peru are under a tsunami warning. Antartica, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica are under a tsunami watch. Earthquake was recorded at 10:34 pacific time.

There are now reports of power and communication outages. Deaths have been reported. TV CHile is still online in the U.S. Mass panic is being reported and seen on tv reports.


News updates are being posted at:

http://www.latinamericatraveler.com/...uake__2010.htm

from LATIN AMERICA NEWS AGGREGATOR
http://www.lanewsupdate.com

I just read about this tragedy on my Yahoo news. My sister is traveling in Colombia. I am trying to contact her...

condu

Columbia is no where near Chile. I'm sure your sister did not even feel it.

Living in earthquake country, myself, we are always advised that after an earthquake it is not helpful to flood the phone lines trying to track down relatives etc, it just impedes any critical communications.

So if anyone does have someone traveling around Chile, or Argentina, or Peru (where the earthquake was felt), please wait a few days and allow them to contact you, if possible, first.

Google has a Person Finder set up:
http://chilepersonfinder.appspot.com/
Please be patient while you wait for friends and family to contact you. Communications are difficult at the moment. Some towns and cities are without phone lines or mobile coverage. Some without electricity. Internet is affected.

Condu: Remember L and J are with her mother in Santiago. I was worried but she skyped this morning to say they are ok.
kodi's flight was cancelled from Bs As

mlgb:

My sister was actually still in Panama. The ONLY way that I would contact her was via email.

The following is her answer to my email. You can see why I was so, concerned.

"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."

I'm glad you heard from your sister, condu. And for posting that first-hand account.

It is natural to be concerned, believe me, I've been through a few of them. After one of our bigger ones here, I was able to place a call out within seconds and asked my relative to pass word around to others.

MsLizzy;

I bet Kodi is happy to spend a little more time in BA. I know I would be!

Yes, I heard from canuck50 on their experience, see my post above.