Marco Fredes / Reuters
Cars are overturned after the highway they were on in Santiago was destroyed in the earthquake.
Cars are overturned after the highway they were on in Santiago was destroyed in the earthquake.
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updated 15 minutes ago
SANTIAGO, Chile - A devastating magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, toppling homes, collapsing bridges and spawning a tsunami that threatened every nation around the Pacific Ocean — roughly a quarter of the globe.
Chileans near the epicenter were tossed about as if shaken by a giant. It was the strongest earthquake to hit the country in 50 years and one of the strongest ever measured anywhere. President-elect Sebastian Pinera said more than 120 people died and the toll could climb higher.
Local radio reported 100 people were missing in a collapsed building in the hard-hit city of Concepcion. Firefighters were working to put out fires throughout the city, and most of the buildings in the city center were destroyed.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake struck 56 miles northeast of the city of Concepcion at a depth of 22 miles at 3:34 a.m. (1:34 a.m. ET).
The quake shook buildings in Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires, and was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil — 1,800 miles to the east.
Blazing buildings
Chileans near the epicenter were tossed about as if shaken by a giant. It was the strongest earthquake to hit the country in 50 years and one of the strongest ever measured anywhere. President-elect Sebastian Pinera said more than 120 people died and the toll could climb higher.
Local radio reported 100 people were missing in a collapsed building in the hard-hit city of Concepcion. Firefighters were working to put out fires throughout the city, and most of the buildings in the city center were destroyed.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake struck 56 miles northeast of the city of Concepcion at a depth of 22 miles at 3:34 a.m. (1:34 a.m. ET).
The quake shook buildings in Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires, and was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil — 1,800 miles to the east.
Blazing buildings
At least 23 aftershocks were reported, including one registering at 6.9 on the Richter scale.
TV Chile reported that a 15-story building collapsed in Concepcion, where buildings caught fire, bridges collapsed and cracks opened up in the streets. Cars turned upside down lay scattered on one damaged highway bridge.
In the town of Talca, about 65 miles from the epicenter, Associated Press journalist Roberto Candia said it felt as if a giant had grabbed him and shaken him.
Map locates offshore epicenter in Chile
The town's historic center, filled with buildings of adobe mud and straw, largely collapsed, though most of those were businesses that were not inhabited when the quake struck. Neighbors pulled at least five people from the rubble while emergency workers, themselves disoriented, asked for information from reporters.
Many roads were destroyed, and electricity, water and phone lines were cut to many areas — meaning there was no word of death or damage from many outlying areas.
In the capital of Santiago, 200 miles northeast of the epicenter, a car dangled from a collapsed overpass, the national Fine Arts Museum was badly damaged and an apartment building's two-story parking lot pancaked, smashing about 50 cars whose alarms rang incessantly.
The jolt set off a tsunami that raced across the Pacific, setting off alarm sirens in Hawaii, Polynesia and Tonga. Tahitian officials banned all traffic on roads less than 1,600 feet from the sea and people in several low-lying island nations were urged to find higher ground.
Hawaii could face its largest waves since 1964, according to Charles McCreery, director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
"Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property," the Warning Center said in a bulletin. "All shores are at risk no matter which direction they face."
Tsunami waves were likely to hit Asian, Australian and New Zealand shores within 24 hours of the earthquake. The U.S. West Coast and Alaska, too, were threatened.
Reuters reported that a tsunami caused by the quake caused "serious damage" to Chile's sparsely populated Juan Fernández Islands, where Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was marooned in the 18th Century inspiring the novel Robinson Crusoe.
Santiago's international airport was closed as the quake destroyed passenger walkways and shook glass out of doors and windows.
In the moments after the quake, people streamed onto the streets of the capital, hugging each other and crying.
Several hospitals suffered structural damage and were evacuated.
'Houses were really shaking'
Many roads were destroyed, and electricity, water and phone lines were cut to many areas — meaning there was no word of death or damage from many outlying areas.
In the capital of Santiago, 200 miles northeast of the epicenter, a car dangled from a collapsed overpass, the national Fine Arts Museum was badly damaged and an apartment building's two-story parking lot pancaked, smashing about 50 cars whose alarms rang incessantly.
The jolt set off a tsunami that raced across the Pacific, setting off alarm sirens in Hawaii, Polynesia and Tonga. Tahitian officials banned all traffic on roads less than 1,600 feet from the sea and people in several low-lying island nations were urged to find higher ground.
Hawaii could face its largest waves since 1964, according to Charles McCreery, director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
"Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property," the Warning Center said in a bulletin. "All shores are at risk no matter which direction they face."
Tsunami waves were likely to hit Asian, Australian and New Zealand shores within 24 hours of the earthquake. The U.S. West Coast and Alaska, too, were threatened.
Reuters reported that a tsunami caused by the quake caused "serious damage" to Chile's sparsely populated Juan Fernández Islands, where Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was marooned in the 18th Century inspiring the novel Robinson Crusoe.
Santiago's international airport was closed as the quake destroyed passenger walkways and shook glass out of doors and windows.
In the moments after the quake, people streamed onto the streets of the capital, hugging each other and crying.
Several hospitals suffered structural damage and were evacuated.
'Houses were really shaking'
In the coastal region of Parral, huge waves rushed inland, sweeping cars full of people out to the ocean, ADN Radio reported. Parral’s hospital was partially collapsed.
"We don’t have a single service. It is as if you were sitting in a small boat in the middle of a gale," said Maria Elizabeth Soto in Chillan, a rural area near the epicenter. "It is incredibly complicated, all the houses are full of cracks, we have no communication," she told ADN Radio.
Simon Shalders, who lives in Santiago, told Sky News: "There was a lot of movement. The houses were really shaking, walls were moving backwards and forwards, and doors were swinging open.
"Santiago has got a history of earthquakes and basically there's not a lot of old construction in Santiago because of these earthquakes.
"The new buildings in Santiago are designed to withstand fairly strong quakes and they probably held up pretty well."
There were blackouts in parts of Santiago and communications were still down in the area closest to the epicenter.
Santiago resident Leo Perioto told CNN that "windows were wobbling a lot" in his six-story building.
"The whole building was shaking," he added. "We could feel the walls moving from side to side."
Early Olympics homecoming
Chile's athletes and coaches planned to skip the Olympics closing ceremonies in Vancouver, Canada, to get home as soon as possible.
Chile has three alpine skiers representing the country at the Vancouver Games. They've all finished competing, so they won't miss any events.
An earthquake of magnitude 8 or over can cause "tremendous damage," the USGS said. The quake that devastated Port-au-Prince on Jan. 12 was rated magnitude 7.
According to a 2002 census, Concepcion is one of the largest cities in Chile with a population of around 670,000.
In 1960, Chile was hit by the world's biggest earthquake since records dating back to 1900.
The 9.5 magnitude quake devastated the south-central city of Valdivia, killing 1,655 people and sending a tsunami which battered Easter Island 2,300 miles off Chile's Pacific seaboard and continued as far as Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines.
Msnbc.com staff, NBC News, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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