Tsunami warnings from California to New Zealand after 8.3 quake hits Chile: live
An earthquake of 8.3 hits giving way to Tsunami warnings in Chile and PeruPicture: earthquake.usgs.gov
Waves are beginning to hit the coast of Chile amid tsunami warnings after an earthquake hit the north, killing at least one woman and flooding the town of Coquimbo. Latest updates here
• Five dead as 8.3 magnitude earthquake hits Chile
• 15ft waves detected off the Chilean coast
• Waves are now hitting Chile
• Epicentre is 144 miles north of Santiago
• Evacuations taking place along the Chilean coast
06.05
Events so far
At least five people have been killed and a million people evacuated after an earthquake hit Chile.
The earthquake also triggered tsunami warnings across a wide area stretching north to the California Coast and across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii and even as far as New Zealand.
Three-feet waves are expected to hit the coast of New Zealand by midnight local time.
Measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale, the earthquake struck at 7.54 pm, with its epicentre 34 miles west of Illapel, a town of 30,000 people.
Such was the force of the tremor that it was felt by people living in Buenos Aires, 970 miles away.
In the aftermath of the earthquake some people drove to higher ground to seek safety, while others just took to the streets.
It struck as thousands of Chileans were travelling to coastal areas to celebrate a week of national holidays.
Waves up to 15 feet high pounded the Chile coast.
This is the latest earthquake to hit Chile, a country of 17 million people.
In April last year eight people were killed in another powerful earthquake and there have been at least 30 in just over a century.
“Once again we must confront a powerful blow from nature," Chile’s President, Michelle Bachelet, said in an address to the nation.
Coquimbo, 287 miles north of Santiago, was particularly badly hit with roads flooded by a tsunami wave.
We're going through a really grave situation with the tsunami,” said Cristian Galleguillos, the town’s mayor.
“We have residential neighbourhoods that have flooded. The ocean has reached the downtown area.”
Earthquake drills are a way of life for Chilean children because of the frequency of the tremors.
They are taught to stay away from buildings and furniture and also are trained to identify the strongest parts of the buildings.
Architects also that new buildings are strong enough to withstand the force of seismic activity.
The roof of a shop is pictured on the ground after it was dislodged by waves in Concon city REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido
05.32
In California the tsunami advisory will cover the area from San Onofre State Beach in San Clemente to Ragged Point, which is nearly 200 miles south of San Francisco.
In Orange County, beaches, harbours and marinas have been shut down as a precaution.
05.14
Some more detail is coming out from New Zealand, with the country’s civil defence authorities warning that the “tsunami activity” could last for several hours.
The Pacific Tsunami centre in Hawaii has said that waves of up to one metre (39.4 inches) could hit New Zealand.
Similar sized waves could also hit New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa, the Cook Islands, Tonga along with other island nations.
05.00
Police patrol a debris strewn street in Valparaiso, Chile Pablo Ovalle Isasmendi/AGENCIA UNO via AP
04.50
According to the latest reports, the death toll has now risen to five.
04.33
People recover items from a destroyed shop caused by the waves in Concon city after a mass evacuation of the entire coastline during a tsunami alert after a magnitude 8.3 earthquake hit off the coast of Chile REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido
Michelle Bachelet has confirmed the latest death toll in a statement as more images emerge of the devastation
Once again we're having to deal with another harsh blow from nature. Unfortunately we've received information that as of now we are certain three people are confirmed dead,"
04.18
The death toll has now reached three, according to Reuters. Cristian Galleguillos, the mayor of Coquimbo, has painted a graphic picture of how his town has been hit.
We're going through a really grave situation with the tsunami. We have residential neighbourhoods that have flooded. .The ocean has reached the downtown area.
04.02
AFP is now saying at two people have been killed by the quake. One, the agency says, was a woman in Illapel, close to the epicentre and the other was an 86-year-old man in Santiago.
03.44
Chile's education ministry has suspended classes from the third region to the tenth - including in the capital.
It may seem a strange decision, given how far Santiago is from the coast, but it will be because authorities will want to check the safety of the school buildings.
03.40
This helpful graphic shows that any tsunami will be likely to reach California in the next eight hours or so.
Almost four hours have passed since the initial quake.
03.38
(AP) - New Zealand is warning residents that a tsunami could hit parts of the country after a powerful magnitude-8.3 earthquake struck off the coast of Chile.
The Ministry of Civil Defence said people living in some eastern areas should stay away from beaches and the shoreline.
Those areas include the East Cape, the Chatham Islands, the Coromandel and Banks Peninsula.
The ministry said if a tsunami did hit it would likely be soon after midnight Friday local time.
03.35
Chile has now cancelled the tsunami alert for the far south. It remains active along the rest of the coast, though.
03.23
Chile's government says that Michelle Bachelet, the president, is meeting her ministers and will travel to the region.
She is pictured with Rodrigo Valdes, housing minister; Jorge Burgos, the interior minister, and her two secretary generals of the presidency - Nicolas Eyzaguirre and Marcelo Diaz.
But on Twitter she is getting strongly criticised for not yet addressing the nation, three and a half hours after the quake hit.
If I were on her press team, I'd be issuing a statement shortly...
03.11
The US Geological Survey has revised its advice: the California "tsunami" will be less than a foot high...
NATIONAL TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER SAYS WAVES TO HIT PART OF CALIFORNIA EXPECTED TO BE LESS THAN 1 FOOT HIGH
03.07
As California issues an alert, it's well worth re-reading our story from last month about the state's concerns over "the big one".
Tom Brocher, a scientist at the USGS, spoke to CBS San Francisco and warned a big earthquake could happen at anytime.
“The past five major earthquakes on the fault have been about 140 years apart, and now we're 147 years from that 1868 earthquake, so we definitely feel like that could happen any time."
People return to their apatments after rushing down to the streets when a quake struck Santiago, Chile Matias Delacroix/AGENCIA UNO via AP
03.04
A tsunami alert has been issued for California.
02.56
The entire coast of Chile is now in a state of red alert - from the far north, in Arica, to the Chilean Antarctic.
It's the equivalent distance to that between Scotland and Egypt.
02.45
Chile's government will be heartened that the quake and tsunami hit in the winter.
The area is dotted with holiday homes, and many of the towns are packed with people in the summer. La Serena is a popular tourist destination: the beach at Pichilemu draws surfers from the whole continent.
But out of season, many of the towns are much quieter.
02.40
Video is emerging of the moment that the earthquake hit.
Our US correspondent, David Millward, spotted this:
02.32
The Atacama region - home to the driest desert in the world - has suspended classes in its schools tomorrow.
02.27
President Michelle Bachelet has returned to La Moneda, the Chilean presidential palace.
The first female president in Chile's history, she is now serving her second, non-consecutive, term. And in recent months her popularity has taken a hammering, thanks to a series of corruption scandals and a weakening economy.
How she handles the response to the earthquake and tsunami will be very important to her presidency: if she doesn't act quickly, she will be further diminished in the eyes of the Chilean people.
02.24
Chile's National Office of Emergency of the Interior Ministry is urging people not to return to their homes until they are told to do so.
02.19
Denis Cortes, mayor of Illapel - the town at the epicentre - says a 26-year-old woman has been killed in the quake, and others taken to hospital.
"There's an incredible silence in the city, which is worrying," he told Chile's Canal 13 television channel.
02.14
Reports suggest that the waves have reached the bus station in central Coquimbo.
Photos - which we cannot verify - seem to show roads being flooded in the town.
02.02
The Copahue volcano, on the Argentine-Chilean border, is still on amber alert - a level which it has maintained since June 3, 2013.
In May 2013 that alert was raised to red, and 2,000 people were evacuated. The following month it was lowered again.
It erupted in October 2013, and again in July 2014.
At the moment there is no immediate threat, but authorities say they are carefully monitoring the volcano.
01.50
America's National Tsunami Warning Center has said that 15ft waves were detected near Coquimbo.
OBSERVATIONS OF TSUNAMI ACTIVITY - UPDATED
VALPARAISO CHILE 0504 PM PDT SEP 16 4.5FT
COQUIMBO CHILE 0447 PM PDT SEP 16 15.1FT
CALDERA CHILE 0435 PM PDT SEP 16 1.3FT
JUAN_FERNANDEZ CHILE 0446 PM PDT SEP 16 2.1FT
CONSTITUCION CHILE 0444 PM PDT SEP 16 1.4FT
HUASCO CHILE 0424 PM PDT SEP 16 1.7FT
QUINTERO CHILE 0415 PM PDT SEP 16 4.8FT
SAN ANTONIO CHILE 0420 PM PDT SEP 16 2.3FT
HEIGHT - OBSERVED MAX TSUNAMI HEIGHT IS THE WATER LEVEL ABOVE THE TIDE LEVEL AT THE TIME OF MEASUREMENT.
01.47
Chile's Emergency Operations Committee is meeting now.
01.45
Around the region of Coquimbo, the sea level is 4.2m higher than normal, the Chilean authorities say.
Near Valparaiso, it's 1.7m higher.
01.40
Waves are beginning to hit the coast.
01.39
The Chilean government is issuing figures of how many people are being evacuated in the Maule region.
From Constitución, 8,000 people have left. From Llico, 1,500. From Boyeruca 200 people have moved, from Pelluhue 1,700, and a further 600 from Lipimávida.
01.30
So far, there are no reports of major damage or waves - but that could very easily change.
Since 1900, numerous magnitude 8 or larger earthquakes have occurred along the Nazca plate on which Chile sits, and many of them were followed by devastating tsunamis. The largest instrumentally-recorded earthquake in the world hit the region in 1960, with a 9.5 quake hitting southern Chile.
As a result of the frequent quakes, Chileans are well-practised in earthquake drills. Children learn from an early age where the strongest points in a building are, and to stay away from windows and furniture. Architects have ensured that modern structures are resilient.
01.25
Valparaiso is one of a number of cities being evacuated. A historic port city, Valparaiso is a Unesco World Heritage site, famed for its brightly-coloured buildings and historic elevators climbing the hillsides.
Video on social media showed people evacuating their homes in Valparaiso, and calmly walking up the hills.
01.22
Chilean emergency services are urging people to send text messages rather than make phone calls, to prevent the saturation of the networks.
"Use WhatsApp rather than call," the police said on Twitter.
01.12
A photo of Jorge Burgos, the interior minister, showed him attending a meeting of Onemi - the National Office of Emergency of the Interior Ministry.
12.58
Police are also telling people to switch off their gas supplies for the moment, and stay away from windows or furniture which could topple over.
Traffic lights are out in some parts of Santiago.
12.45
Thousands of people are being evacuated from their homes, and told to leave on foot rather than get into their cars. From the resort town of La Serena to Coquimbo, people were leaving their homes ahead of possible three metre-high waves.
Tsunami warnings have been issued in Chileand Peru, following a strong earthquake near Iquique.
12.38
Hawaii has been put on tsunami watch, with the US Geological Survey saying a wave - if it materialised - was predicted to hit at 3.06am UCT.
"Based on all available data, a tsunami may have been generated by this earthquake that could be destructive on coastal areas, even far from the epicentre," the USGS said.
"An investigation is underway to determine if there is a threat to Hawaii."
French Polynesia was also warned to brace itself for possible sea surges.
12.24
The country of 17 million is, however, well used to seismic activity.
In April 2014 a quake of 8.2 killed six peopleand sent waves over two metres high crashing on to the coast.
12.15
A large earthquake has been reported in Chile.
The 8.3 quake hit at 7.54pm local time in Chile (11.54pm in the UK), and was felt most strongly in the areas near the capital, Santiago, and the cities of Valparaiso and Maule.
The epicentre was 34 miles west of Illapel, a town of 30,000 people.
Buildings were shaken in Santiago, 140 miles away from the epicentre, and the city's metro was shut down as a precaution. Traffic lights are not working in some districts
• Five dead as 8.3 magnitude earthquake hits Chile
• 15ft waves detected off the Chilean coast
• Waves are now hitting Chile
• Epicentre is 144 miles north of Santiago
• Evacuations taking place along the Chilean coast
06.05
Events so far
At least five people have been killed and a million people evacuated after an earthquake hit Chile.
The earthquake also triggered tsunami warnings across a wide area stretching north to the California Coast and across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii and even as far as New Zealand.
Three-feet waves are expected to hit the coast of New Zealand by midnight local time.
Measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale, the earthquake struck at 7.54 pm, with its epicentre 34 miles west of Illapel, a town of 30,000 people.
Such was the force of the tremor that it was felt by people living in Buenos Aires, 970 miles away.
In the aftermath of the earthquake some people drove to higher ground to seek safety, while others just took to the streets.
It struck as thousands of Chileans were travelling to coastal areas to celebrate a week of national holidays.
Waves up to 15 feet high pounded the Chile coast.
This is the latest earthquake to hit Chile, a country of 17 million people.
In April last year eight people were killed in another powerful earthquake and there have been at least 30 in just over a century.
“Once again we must confront a powerful blow from nature," Chile’s President, Michelle Bachelet, said in an address to the nation.
Coquimbo, 287 miles north of Santiago, was particularly badly hit with roads flooded by a tsunami wave.
We're going through a really grave situation with the tsunami,” said Cristian Galleguillos, the town’s mayor.
“We have residential neighbourhoods that have flooded. The ocean has reached the downtown area.”
Earthquake drills are a way of life for Chilean children because of the frequency of the tremors.
They are taught to stay away from buildings and furniture and also are trained to identify the strongest parts of the buildings.
Architects also that new buildings are strong enough to withstand the force of seismic activity.
The roof of a shop is pictured on the ground after it was dislodged by waves in Concon city REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido05.32
In California the tsunami advisory will cover the area from San Onofre State Beach in San Clemente to Ragged Point, which is nearly 200 miles south of San Francisco.
In Orange County, beaches, harbours and marinas have been shut down as a precaution.
05.14
Some more detail is coming out from New Zealand, with the country’s civil defence authorities warning that the “tsunami activity” could last for several hours.
The Pacific Tsunami centre in Hawaii has said that waves of up to one metre (39.4 inches) could hit New Zealand.
Similar sized waves could also hit New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa, the Cook Islands, Tonga along with other island nations.
05.00
Police patrol a debris strewn street in Valparaiso, Chile Pablo Ovalle Isasmendi/AGENCIA UNO via AP04.50
According to the latest reports, the death toll has now risen to five.
04.33
People recover items from a destroyed shop caused by the waves in Concon city after a mass evacuation of the entire coastline during a tsunami alert after a magnitude 8.3 earthquake hit off the coast of Chile REUTERS/Rodrigo GarridoMichelle Bachelet has confirmed the latest death toll in a statement as more images emerge of the devastation
Once again we're having to deal with another harsh blow from nature. Unfortunately we've received information that as of now we are certain three people are confirmed dead,"04.18
The death toll has now reached three, according to Reuters. Cristian Galleguillos, the mayor of Coquimbo, has painted a graphic picture of how his town has been hit.
We're going through a really grave situation with the tsunami. We have residential neighbourhoods that have flooded. .The ocean has reached the downtown area.04.02
AFP is now saying at two people have been killed by the quake. One, the agency says, was a woman in Illapel, close to the epicentre and the other was an 86-year-old man in Santiago.
03.44
Chile's education ministry has suspended classes from the third region to the tenth - including in the capital.
It may seem a strange decision, given how far Santiago is from the coast, but it will be because authorities will want to check the safety of the school buildings.
03.40
This helpful graphic shows that any tsunami will be likely to reach California in the next eight hours or so.
Almost four hours have passed since the initial quake.
03.38
(AP) - New Zealand is warning residents that a tsunami could hit parts of the country after a powerful magnitude-8.3 earthquake struck off the coast of Chile.
The Ministry of Civil Defence said people living in some eastern areas should stay away from beaches and the shoreline.
Those areas include the East Cape, the Chatham Islands, the Coromandel and Banks Peninsula.
The ministry said if a tsunami did hit it would likely be soon after midnight Friday local time.
03.35
Chile has now cancelled the tsunami alert for the far south. It remains active along the rest of the coast, though.
03.23
Chile's government says that Michelle Bachelet, the president, is meeting her ministers and will travel to the region.
She is pictured with Rodrigo Valdes, housing minister; Jorge Burgos, the interior minister, and her two secretary generals of the presidency - Nicolas Eyzaguirre and Marcelo Diaz.
But on Twitter she is getting strongly criticised for not yet addressing the nation, three and a half hours after the quake hit.
If I were on her press team, I'd be issuing a statement shortly...
03.11
The US Geological Survey has revised its advice: the California "tsunami" will be less than a foot high...
NATIONAL TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER SAYS WAVES TO HIT PART OF CALIFORNIA EXPECTED TO BE LESS THAN 1 FOOT HIGH
03.07
As California issues an alert, it's well worth re-reading our story from last month about the state's concerns over "the big one".
Tom Brocher, a scientist at the USGS, spoke to CBS San Francisco and warned a big earthquake could happen at anytime.
“The past five major earthquakes on the fault have been about 140 years apart, and now we're 147 years from that 1868 earthquake, so we definitely feel like that could happen any time."
People return to their apatments after rushing down to the streets when a quake struck Santiago, Chile Matias Delacroix/AGENCIA UNO via AP03.04
A tsunami alert has been issued for California.
02.56
The entire coast of Chile is now in a state of red alert - from the far north, in Arica, to the Chilean Antarctic.
It's the equivalent distance to that between Scotland and Egypt.
02.45
Chile's government will be heartened that the quake and tsunami hit in the winter.
The area is dotted with holiday homes, and many of the towns are packed with people in the summer. La Serena is a popular tourist destination: the beach at Pichilemu draws surfers from the whole continent.
But out of season, many of the towns are much quieter.
02.40
Video is emerging of the moment that the earthquake hit.
Our US correspondent, David Millward, spotted this:
02.32
The Atacama region - home to the driest desert in the world - has suspended classes in its schools tomorrow.
02.27
President Michelle Bachelet has returned to La Moneda, the Chilean presidential palace.
The first female president in Chile's history, she is now serving her second, non-consecutive, term. And in recent months her popularity has taken a hammering, thanks to a series of corruption scandals and a weakening economy.
How she handles the response to the earthquake and tsunami will be very important to her presidency: if she doesn't act quickly, she will be further diminished in the eyes of the Chilean people.
02.24
Chile's National Office of Emergency of the Interior Ministry is urging people not to return to their homes until they are told to do so.
02.19
Denis Cortes, mayor of Illapel - the town at the epicentre - says a 26-year-old woman has been killed in the quake, and others taken to hospital.
"There's an incredible silence in the city, which is worrying," he told Chile's Canal 13 television channel.
02.14
Reports suggest that the waves have reached the bus station in central Coquimbo.
Photos - which we cannot verify - seem to show roads being flooded in the town.
02.02
The Copahue volcano, on the Argentine-Chilean border, is still on amber alert - a level which it has maintained since June 3, 2013.
In May 2013 that alert was raised to red, and 2,000 people were evacuated. The following month it was lowered again.
It erupted in October 2013, and again in July 2014.
At the moment there is no immediate threat, but authorities say they are carefully monitoring the volcano.
01.50
America's National Tsunami Warning Center has said that 15ft waves were detected near Coquimbo.
OBSERVATIONS OF TSUNAMI ACTIVITY - UPDATED
VALPARAISO CHILE 0504 PM PDT SEP 16 4.5FT
COQUIMBO CHILE 0447 PM PDT SEP 16 15.1FT
CALDERA CHILE 0435 PM PDT SEP 16 1.3FT
JUAN_FERNANDEZ CHILE 0446 PM PDT SEP 16 2.1FT
CONSTITUCION CHILE 0444 PM PDT SEP 16 1.4FT
HUASCO CHILE 0424 PM PDT SEP 16 1.7FT
QUINTERO CHILE 0415 PM PDT SEP 16 4.8FT
SAN ANTONIO CHILE 0420 PM PDT SEP 16 2.3FT
HEIGHT - OBSERVED MAX TSUNAMI HEIGHT IS THE WATER LEVEL ABOVE THE TIDE LEVEL AT THE TIME OF MEASUREMENT.
01.47
Chile's Emergency Operations Committee is meeting now.
01.45
Around the region of Coquimbo, the sea level is 4.2m higher than normal, the Chilean authorities say.
Near Valparaiso, it's 1.7m higher.
01.40
Waves are beginning to hit the coast.
01.39
The Chilean government is issuing figures of how many people are being evacuated in the Maule region.
From Constitución, 8,000 people have left. From Llico, 1,500. From Boyeruca 200 people have moved, from Pelluhue 1,700, and a further 600 from Lipimávida.
01.30
So far, there are no reports of major damage or waves - but that could very easily change.
Since 1900, numerous magnitude 8 or larger earthquakes have occurred along the Nazca plate on which Chile sits, and many of them were followed by devastating tsunamis. The largest instrumentally-recorded earthquake in the world hit the region in 1960, with a 9.5 quake hitting southern Chile.
As a result of the frequent quakes, Chileans are well-practised in earthquake drills. Children learn from an early age where the strongest points in a building are, and to stay away from windows and furniture. Architects have ensured that modern structures are resilient.
01.25
Valparaiso is one of a number of cities being evacuated. A historic port city, Valparaiso is a Unesco World Heritage site, famed for its brightly-coloured buildings and historic elevators climbing the hillsides.
Video on social media showed people evacuating their homes in Valparaiso, and calmly walking up the hills.
01.22
Chilean emergency services are urging people to send text messages rather than make phone calls, to prevent the saturation of the networks.
"Use WhatsApp rather than call," the police said on Twitter.
01.12
A photo of Jorge Burgos, the interior minister, showed him attending a meeting of Onemi - the National Office of Emergency of the Interior Ministry.
12.58
Police are also telling people to switch off their gas supplies for the moment, and stay away from windows or furniture which could topple over.
Traffic lights are out in some parts of Santiago.
12.45
Thousands of people are being evacuated from their homes, and told to leave on foot rather than get into their cars. From the resort town of La Serena to Coquimbo, people were leaving their homes ahead of possible three metre-high waves.
Tsunami warnings have been issued in Chileand Peru, following a strong earthquake near Iquique.
12.38
Hawaii has been put on tsunami watch, with the US Geological Survey saying a wave - if it materialised - was predicted to hit at 3.06am UCT.
"Based on all available data, a tsunami may have been generated by this earthquake that could be destructive on coastal areas, even far from the epicentre," the USGS said.
"An investigation is underway to determine if there is a threat to Hawaii."
French Polynesia was also warned to brace itself for possible sea surges.
12.24
The country of 17 million is, however, well used to seismic activity.
In April 2014 a quake of 8.2 killed six peopleand sent waves over two metres high crashing on to the coast.
12.15
A large earthquake has been reported in Chile.
The 8.3 quake hit at 7.54pm local time in Chile (11.54pm in the UK), and was felt most strongly in the areas near the capital, Santiago, and the cities of Valparaiso and Maule.
The epicentre was 34 miles west of Illapel, a town of 30,000 people.
Buildings were shaken in Santiago, 140 miles away from the epicentre, and the city's metro was shut down as a precaution. Traffic lights are not working in some districts
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