Earthquake Rocks Chile

Chile has been hit by a magnitude 8.8 earthquake. Yikes.

Chilean Earthquake

How terrible!! This is the first I've heard of it.

Did you listen to Elliot Yamin's comments on CNN? Gosh, talk about a frightening experience! Sounds like his area was rather unharmed for the most part, but other areas are probably hit very hard.

Carol, did you see that California is under a tsunami advisory?! My best friend and her husband just left on a 5:00am flight for San Francisco for 9 days.

Follow tsunami warning information

California and Alaska are under a tsunami advisory.

"An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines near the epicenter within minutes and more distant coastlines within hours," the National Weather Service said in a statement.

USGS geophysicist Victor Sardina said several tsunami waves had come ashore along the Chilean coast; the largest was recorded at 9 feet near the quake's epicenter.

"I urge people in coastal zones to move to higher ground," Bachelet said at a morning news conference.

The earliest estimated arrival for a wave that could affect Hawaii was 12:46 a.m. local time (6:46 p.m. ET). But evacuations of coastal areas were to begin at 6 a.m. (12 p.m. ET).

This is so terrible! They say this quake had 500 times more energy than the Haiti earthquake.

Amy wrote:

Carol, did you see that California is under a tsunami advisory?! My best friend and her husband just left on a 5:00am flight for San Francisco for 9 days.

Yeah, some guys were out surfing in Long Beach because of the waves... police were letting them a little while ago but now they are getting people out of there and all the beaches are closing for now. They are moving cars out of parking lots close to the shore.

This picture of the Wave shows all the regions that are getting effected.

Explosions in Santiago by leaking gas

I have a good friend who lives in Hawaii, and he just sent me this report:

Starting at 10 a.m., Waikiki beaches were being cleared and hotels and buildings were evacuating visitors to third-floor levels.

Emergency vehicles are patrolling Kalakaua Avenue with sirens and loudspeaker warnings to move to higher ground.

As a tsunami driven by an earthquake in Chile closes on Hawaii, officials at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center are urging extreme caution.

The first wave is projected to reach the Big Island at about 11:05 a.m. It is expected to be about 8 feet high.

Waves of about 39 inches will reach Oahu at 11:19.

The center warned that tsunami wave heights cannot be predicted and that the first wave may not be the biggest. People are urged to stay away from shorelines.

"Even a small rise in sea level can inundate a significant part of Hilo," said Nathan Becker, an oceanographer with the tsunami warning center. "Fortunately, Hilo is built into a slope; you can go uphill and get away from the shoreline. But all low-lying areas could be at risk"

An 8-foot rise "doesn't sound like a lot but it's actually very significant if you're in low-lying areas," Becker said. "And a tsunami behaves kind of like a flash flood. It picks up debris and throws debris all around. This is not something you want to wade through or surf or anything like that.

"Hilo is especially vulnerable as are other harbors in Hawaii because the shape of the harbor is resonant with the period of the wave and what that means is it'll basically collect the energy of the wave and amplify if."

Besides Hilo Bay, other vulnerable areas are Kahului, Haleiwa and Hanalei bays.

"You're going to have some run-up and you're probably going to see some damage in the inundation zone area," said Victor Sardina, a geophysicist for the tsunami warning center. "I would hope people don't stay around the coastal area. Just go inward; stay away from the shore."

Because tsunami waves wrap around the islands, all shores are at risk no matter which direction they face, officials said.

Becker said even a half-foot tsunami could be dangerous.

"This is of great concern and could possibly do damage in Hawaii," Becker said. "This is the real thing, this is not a drill."

Just got off the phone with my friend. He lives about four blocks from the ocean, and was prepared to climb up on his roof and watch the action from there. But it looks like the tsunami isn't going to amount to anything dangerous.

Oh thank goodness. I am so relieved that the threat is dying down now!!

The church we attend has a missionary in Chili, named Harry Hamilton. We have been in contact with him, and he is fine. We have a group that was scheduled to go there in two weeks, not sure if they will now or not. We support a church there as well as an orphanage, so please keep these people in prayer.