CNN is reporting 78 people dead from the 8.8 earthquake that struck off the coast of Chile this morning (February 27, 2010) at 1:34 EST in Maule (about 200 miles southwest of Chile’s capital Santiago.)
Eight aftershocks were experienced in the hours after the quake, including one that registered at a 6.9 magnitude, and a tsunami is feared. To get a perspective on how big a 8.8 earthquake is, the Haiti earthquake was a 7.
Movements from the earthquake were felt far into Argentina, and if a tsunami forms it may affect the entire Pacific coastline. Right now people in California and Alaska are under an advisory to move to higher ground.
There is a tsunami warning for Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Central America and Pacific island nations.
This was the biggest earthquake to strike Chile since 1960, when a 9.5 magnitude quake (the greatest in the 20th century) occurred in Valdiva, killing 1655 people.
