(Reuters) — A major earthquake of magnitude 8.2 struck off the coast of Chile on Tuesday, triggering a tsunami, causing landslides that blocked highways and leading to five deaths.
Officials said the dead included people who were crushed by collapsing walls or were killed by heart attacks.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was shallow at 12.5 miles (20.1 km) below the seabed and struck about 100 km northwest of the mining port of Iquique near the Peruvian border.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake generated a large tsunami with the biggest wave reported at 2.3 meters. The Chilean navy said the first big wave hit the coast within 45 minutes.
Iquique is a key copper exporting port, close to Chile’s main copper mines. The area has been on high alert in recent weeks after an unusual number of tremors.
The city’s residents immediately evacuated the low-lying city and headed up the mountainside on the city’s eastern border.
Speaking to reporters at 0230GMT, Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo said that the tsunami warning will remain in effect for at least six more hours.
“The information we have right now is that a tsunami alert for the entire country will remain effective for at least six more hours. So we are going to have to take all necessary measures, given that the city, which is now evacuated, will have to remain where they are for several more hours, awaiting for SHOA (Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy) to say definitively that there is no risk of danger,” Penailillo said.
The government evacuated Chile’s northern coast and a tsunami warning was issued for the Pacific coast of Mexico through Central and South America.
The government said it had no reports of significant damage to coastal areas, but around 300 prisoners took advantage of the confusion and escaped from a female penitentiary in Iquique, Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo said.
About 16 of the women were soon recaptured, Chile’s investigative police said, while security forces fanned out through the area amid reports of power outages.
Chile is the world’s No. 1 copper producer but key mining firms said there was no serious damage to their operations.
In 2010, an 8.8-magnitude quake triggered a tsunami that devastated several coastal towns in central-south Chile, a disaster that killed 526 people.
Chile’s ONEMI emergency office said late on Tuesday that landslides were partially blocking some roads and highways.
