Restless Earth Strikes Again

The country of Chile occupies the western coast of South America.

At 0334 Saturday morning local time, a 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit Chile. The temblor was centered about 70 miles northeast of Concepcion, Chile's second largest city, and 200 miles southwest of Santiago, Chile's capitol and largest city. The quake was 500 times more powerful then the Haiti quake. Damage in Chile has been extensive, but not as severe as Haiti. Chile has had earthquakes in the past, and many of their buildings are built to withstand quakes. Some older historical buildings did collapse, and freeways, overpasses, and parking garages failed at a higher rate then occupied dwellings. Some buildings were reported to be damaged, but not collapsed. Initially, it appears that there will be lives lost, but generally not in massive numbers.

AP gathered video images from surveillance cameras around the affected area:

The photos are from the gallery put together by the Kansas City Star.

Californians might recognize this type of scene resulting from roads and bridges damaged by the quake.

A complete bridge failure near Camarico 112 miles south Santiago, putting it closer to the epicenter. There were probably fatalities here.

A policeman pauses to look at a leaning quake-damaged building.

The people of Chile are somewhat quake hardened--they send teams of search and rescue experts to other countries--but Chile may need some help in the coming days. The people certainly need our prayers. Thankfully, so far, the tsunami that resulted from this quake has not been reported to be very bad at this time.