Members Chris Kraul in Bogota, Colombia, and Scott Martelle in Los Angeles hopped on coverage of the Chile disaster, with Kraul filing to the Los Angeles Times on the quake itself, and Martelle filing to AOL News on the anticipation in Hawaii over a powerful tsunami.
From Kraul's story:
One of the biggest earthquakes in recorded history rocked Chile on Saturday, killing at least 214 people, toppling buildings and freeways, and sending sirens wailing thousands of miles away as governments scrambled to protect coastal residents from the ensuing tsunami.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet declared parts of the country "catastrophe zones" in the wake of the 8.8 magnitude quake, which was centered about 70 miles offshore from the port city of Concepcion.
With images still fresh of Haiti's devastation from an earthquake last month, the world woke up to new disaster -- and fears of another catastrophic toll.From Martelle's story:
Residents of Hilo, on the Big Island, watched nervously as the ocean receded about three feet,then swelled, well aware of past tsunamis that killed more than 200 people and destroyed hundreds of buildings. This time, the surge came in like a rambunctious tide, but it didn't rise into the bayside downtown.
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"Unlike little islands, which a tsunami can just go flying past, the Big Island is large enough that it slows down the advancing tsunami waves and gives them a chance to build up, " Walter Dudley, a tsunami expert at the University of Hawaii-Hilo, said this morning from Hilo. "The other thing is Hilo Bay is funnel shaped ... Succeeding waves get bigger and bigger."
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