Jorge Araya woke up Saturday morning to find a computer message from his daughter in Chile, telling him she was fine after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck the South American country.
“She just said, ‘There’s been a very large earthquake, but we are OK,'” said the Dalton, Ga., resident. “I tried calling her at that time, but I couldn’t get through.”
About 3:30 a.m. Chilean time Saturday, one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded struck near Concepción, Chile’s second-largest city, about 200 miles south of Santiago, the capital.
EARTHQUAKE HISTORY* Since 1973, there have been 13 quakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater in Chile.* In May 1960, there was a magnitude 9.5 earthquake – the largest earthquake worldwide in recorded history.* An estimated 1,600 lives were lost in the 1960 earthquake and tsunami in Chile, and another 200 lives in Japan, Hawaii and the Philippines.* In November 1922, there was a magnitude 8.5 earthquake in central Chile that killed several hundred people and caused severe property damage.* The 1922 quake generated a 9-meter tsunami that inundated the Chilean coast near the town of Coquimbo. The tsunami also crossed the Pacific, washing away boats in Hilo, Hawaii.Source: U.S. Geological Survey’s Earthquake Hazards ProgramFOR MORE INFORMATION* The U.S State Department has set up a number for Americans to call if they are looking for information about relatives and friends: 1-888-407-4747.GET INVOLVED* To find out how you can help, contact David Ramirez, Church of God World Missions field director for South America, at (423) 478-7014, (909) 945-7167 or send an e-mail to davidramirezs@mac.com.* To donate, call 1-800-SAL-ARMY, text the word “chile” to 52000 to make a one-time $10 donation billed to your cell phone account, or go to www.salvationarmyusa.org.* To make a donation to the Global Southern Baptist relief and development organization, visit www.gobgr.org.* Donate to the American Red Cross by calling 1-800-HELP-NOW or by visiting www.redcross.org. Donate also may be send to the local Red Cross chapter office at 801 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga, TN 37403.
The death toll has risen to more than 700 people and more than 500,000 homes are estimated to be destroyed, The Associated Press reports.