5 dead, tsunami warning issued as 8.3 in Chile

A powerful magnitude-8.3 earthquake hit off Chile’s northern coast Wednesday night, causing buildings to sway in the capital of Santiago and bringing flooding from small tsunami waves in some shore towns. Five deaths were reported by AFP. It also reported that about one million were evacuated. Officials were still checking the region late into the night.

Authorities had issued a tsunami alert for Chile’s entire Pacific coast, and the tremor was so strong that people on the other side of the continent, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, reported feeling it. Numerous strong aftershocks, including one measuring 7.0 magnitude and three above 6, rattled the region after the first major tremor since a powerful quake and tsunami killed hundreds in 2010 and leveled part of the city of Concepcion in south-central Chile. “Once again we must confront a powerful blow from nature,” President Michelle Bachelet said, addressing the nation late Wednesday.