One of the world's most powerful earthquakes in a century battered Chile on Saturday, toppling buildings and triggering tsunamis that ravaged a port town and threatened Pacific coastlines as far away as Japan and Hawaii.
The government said at least 214 people were killed in the 8.8-magnitude quake, which struck at 3:34 a.m. (1:34 a.m. EST), sending people rushing from their beds and onto the streets in fear, hugging each other and crying.
It came in waves and lasted so long. Three minutes is an eternity. We kept worrying that it was getting stronger, like a terrifying Hollywood movie, said Santiago housewife Dolores Cuevas.
It was the fifth-largest earthquake since 1900 and dealt a blow to the economy and infrastructure of the world's No. 1 copper producer and one of Latin America's most developed and stable countries.
