Magnitude 8.8 earthquake rocks Chile

[Fiyero]

200 miles southwest of Santiago. Tsunami warnings issued for the entire Pacific, with waves expected to hit Hawaii at 12:30 this afternoon.

8.8 = 880 times more powerful than the 7.0 that shook Haiti. Glass shattered at the Santiago Marriott even though it was 200 miles away.

Start saving your money now. Maybe Clinton & Bush will launch a fundraiser.

[Indy Coug]

WOW!

God bless everyone that is or will be affected by this.

[Babs]

how awful. My stomach hit the floor just reading the headine. Hopefully it was in an unpopulated area.

[Indy Coug]

how awful. My stomach hit the floor just reading the headine. Hopefully it was in an unpopulated area.

CNN.com reports over 100 death so far, so I'm guessing it was in a relatively unpopulated area.

[TripletDaddy]

Although the quake is allegedly centered 60 miles offshore of Concepcion, looks like there was some population involved

[Fiyero]

how awful. My stomach hit the floor just reading the headine. Hopefully it was in an unpopulated area.

The epicenter was near the coast of the Maule region, which is roughly a 640 square mile area (80x80) with a total population of 1 million. The city of Talca has 200,000, the rest are in towns scattered all over.

[All-American]

My brother served his mission in Concepcion. How awful.

[UtahDan]

Can't wait to hear his explanation.

[RobinFinderson]

Yikes! My heart goes out to the people hit by this. I've also got to wonder if all of this seismic shifting is going to domino over to the San Andreas.

[Surfah]

Man earthquakes are some scary shiz. You can prepare for an evacuate a hurricane. A tsunami for the most part and even a tornado. But all you can really do is keep shoes by your bed and a flashlight if you live in a seismic zone.

[FN Phat]

Man earthquakes are some scary shiz. You can prepare for an evacuate a hurricane. A tsunami for the most part and even a tornado. But all you can really do is keep shoes by your bed and a flashlight if you live in a seismic zone.

The entire state of Hawaii is on a tsunami watch/warning. They are expecting the largest waves to hit the islands since 1960. IIRC, that is when the school near Hilo was hit and it killed 60+ children and teachers.

[MarkGrace]

My little sister just called me and said "Grandma wants to know why you haven't called her to make sure she's ok with the tsunami coming." I didn't even know a tsunami is headed for Hawai'i.

I guess my sis. is chilling out at my Grandma's right now because all the beaches are evacuated and they don't want people going out. I didn't even know my sister was in Hawai'i.

[Katy Lied]

They are taking this seriously in Hawaii.

My sister's family has packed up, and are headed to my other sister's house in the inland hills. They are leaving 3 hours before the tsunami is due to hit to avoid traffic. I hope my BIL filled the cars this morning because all of the gas stations have shut down. They put the hamster's cage in a second floor bedroom, and are taking the dog. They would have gone to the church but rumors are that the church will be packed with nonmembers. (It's on a hill on the only high ground in that area).

Worried about my dad who lives on the beach by himself. Just called him and asked him to pack his cell phone charger and a blanket and some food in the car now in case he has to move out in a hurry. His high ground is a hospital, about a mile away.

[wuapinmon]

Yikes! My heart goes out to the people hit by this. I've also got to wonder if all of this seismic shifting is going to domino over to the San Andreas.

In all seriousness, it's always a good idea to keep a 72-hour kit handy, and to remove anything over you bed areas that could fall on you in case of a seismic event.

I was just joking with my wife last night that this has been the worst Winter I ever remember in my whole life, and that "with my luck" some island volcano like Krakatoa will erupt in the Spring and make the Summer one of those cold ones like the Mount Tambora eruption did 200 years ago.

[il Padrino Ute]

Awful news.