Two days ago, a 8.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Chile. At the time of reporting, at least 11 people are dead. Buildings were toppled, and more than one million people were evacuated. The quake lasted just over three minutes, and a series of tsunamis occurred, the largest of which was 15 feet. Many towns along the coast of Chile were swamped. California, Hawaii, New Zealand, Russia, and Japan were all issued tsunami alerts.
Since the initial quake, dozens of aftershocks have struck the area, the worst of which measured in at 7 on the Richter scale. Footage released after the earthquake showed hundreds of miles of devastation along the Chilean coastline.
In Tongoy, a small fishing village, the first of the tsunami waves hit just half and hour after the earthquake. Buildings along the coastline were completely destroyed, according to The Guardian. In Concon, surf schools and restaurants were flooded, and roads were blocked by mud slides.
“I thought it was the end of the world and we were going to die,” Manuel Moya told the Associated Press.
The rest of the tsunamis, however, caused little damage in other parts of the world. Outside of Chile, the largest of the waves measured just under five feet, in French Polynesia’s Marquesas Islands. In the Iwate prefecture in Japan, a 31 inch wave reached the coastline. In Hawaii, after issuing a tsunami advisory, the sea level in Hilo rose just over two feet. There was no damage in area.
California’s Ventura County saw a surge of just over a foot, according to the National Weather Service.
