The city has been left devastated after a massive 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck 30km west of the city at 4.35am this morning.

The quake was at a depth of 33km and was centred near Darfield, and has left large parts of the area without power, water or telephones.

Mr Parker said he did not want to overstate the level of damage “but I think it’s like an iceberg. There is, in a sense, below the visible line significant structural damage.”
CCID: 16375

“There would not be a house or a family in our city that has not in some way had damage done to their person and or their property,” Mr Parker said.

“Our thoughts are with our people.

“We know that a lot of people will be very nervous, deeply disturbed.”

Scientists have described this morning’s earthquake as the most significant since the 1931 magnitude 7.8 Hawke’s Bay earthquake.

Mr Parker said electricity was being slowly restored to the city but there were still concerns about the situation with water and waste water.

Mr Parker said the inner city was being closed down, city residents are being asked to save water and not flush the toilet, not to go to “rubbernecking”, and check on their neighbours.

Mr Parker said the worst problems seem to be centred in the city’s eastern suburbs and rural areas in outlying Christchurch.

State of emergency

Civil Defence declared a state of emergency around 10am this morning.

New Brighton and other seaside areas are bracing for possible evacuation.

Prime Minister John Key has travelled to the area.

Christchurch Hospital inundated

Christchurch Hospital siad two men have been seriously injured by the earthquake.

One man in his 50s is in a serious condition in intensive care at Christchurch Hospital after a chimney collapsed on him.

Another man, also in his 50s, was seriously injured by falling glass.
The main Christchurch Hospital is being inundated by residents arriving with broken limbs, bruises and cuts.

A spokeswoman, Michelle Hider, asked residents with minor injuries to go to 24-hour surgeries for treatment rather than the hospital.

Christchurch Airport closed

All flights to Christchurch have been cancelled until at least 1pm. All flights from Auckland to Christchurch once flights resume are booked out.

Residents desperate for emergency supplies

Panicked residents have been queuing to buy water as uncertainty surrounds the stricken city’s water supply.

But many businesses are unable to open their doors as the massive cleanup gets underway.

Nigel Bond, owner of the New World on Colombo Mall says he could barely see the floor of the supermarket this morning for stock, much of it now unusable. His staff have been working to clean up damaged stock since 5.30am.

“Unfortunately our big water shelf has collapsed and most of that stock has been lost,” he told nzherald.co.nz.

“There’s a bit of structural damage, like cracks in the floor and fallen ceiling tiles. Nearly everything’s on the floor. Red wine, olive oil, you name it – it’s not pretty.”

Buildings, roads devastated across Christchurch

Street surfaces have risen up into a peak in the middle of a Christchurch road, while craters in the road have filled with water from ruptured mains. People in vehicles are trying to avoid them.

Among the affected streets are Hills Rd in Shirley and others in the suburb of St Albans and New Brighton.

In other areas roads have been blocked by debris after several buildings collapsed onto the streets, leaving their interiors visible and the central city resembling a war zone.

Large groups of onlookers have gathered to survey the damage and take pictures with their cameras and mobile phones.

Several large aftershocks have already struck the region, and wardens dressed in high-visibility gear are asking people to stay well clear of buildings because of the high risk of further collapses.

The city centre is now officially closed.

Traffic lights are still not working in several places around the central city, creating gridlock as the traffic flow increases.

Mayor ask residents to conserve water

Mayor Bob Parker has asked residents to conserve water.

Mr Parker has warned residents not to flush the toilet and to conserve water. There are fears the sewerage system has been damaged.

Engineers have been checking the city’s priority infrastructure.

Mr Parker urged Cantabrians affected by the earthquake to check on their neighbours to ensure they were safe.

Personal accounts: Residents ‘lucky to be alive’

Marsha Witehira, 30, was rescued by friend Tama Wharepapa, who literally pulled her to safety by her feet as a wall in her bedroom collapsed around her.

“It just missed my head,” Ms Witehira said. “I’m very lucky to be alive. If Tama wasn’t here to wake me from my sleep and pull me out, I really wouldn’t like to think what the result would be.”

Knee Doherty was asleep in her central Christchurch home when the building next door collapsed.

“We didn’t even notice the movement as much as the noise,” she said. “The back of the house is pretty much gone. All the house next door is gone. It was just a massive noise.”

‘A scary sight to see’

New Zealand Herald reporter Jarrod Booker,who lives in the central Christchurch suburb of Linwood, said he was woken by “extremely violent shaking.”

He said the chimney from his next door neighbour’s house had fallen and smashed through a car’s windscreen.

“There have been a number of aftershocks of a much lesser degree since then.”

Mr Booker’s partner, Kineta Knight, said it was a scary sight to see.

“The scariest thing was the quake just felt like it would never end. It wasn’t a sharp, sudden jolt. It was like being on a rollercoaster.

“Things were smashing everywhere, we could hear glass breaking.”

Newstalk ZB reporter Craig Kerr spoke to Auckland host Pat Brittenden from the Christchurch office, which he said had sustained damage.

“Basically, the place is destroyed. Desks that were standing up are flattened against the ground. The filing cabinets are tipped over. The lifts in the building are obviously out of action.”

“The building just along the road from us here has been flattened – it’s on the ground,” he said.

A Timaru resident told NZPA he was awakened by the shaking. His house was groaning and a bedside lamp crashed off its table.

- NZ HERALD STAFF / NZPA

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By PAISLEY DODDS and SYLVIA HUI

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LONDON (AP) – A lingering volcanic ash plume forced extended no-fly restrictions over much of Europe on Saturday, as scientists warned that activity at a volcano in Iceland had increased and showed no sign of abating – a portent of more travel chaos to come.

Scientists say that because the volcano is situated below a glacial ice cap, the magma is being cooled quickly, causing explosions and plumes of grit that can be catastrophic to plane engines if prevailing winds are right.

“The activity has been quite vigorous overnight, causing the eruption column to grow,” Icelandic geologist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson told The Associated Press on Saturday. “It’s the magma mixing with the water that creates the explosivity. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.”

An expansive cloud of grit hovered over parts of western Europe on Saturday, triggering extended flight bans that stranded people around the globe. Forecasters said light prevailing winds in Europe – and large amounts of unmelted glacial ice above the volcano – mean that the situation is unlikely to change in the coming days.

“Currently the U.K. and much of Europe is under the influence of high pressure, which means winds are relatively light and the dispersal of the cloud is slow,” said Graeme Leitch, a meteorologist at Britain’s National Weather Service. “We don’t expect a great deal of change over the next few days.”

Matthew Roberts, at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, said only about a third of the total quantity of glacial ice in the crater has melted. “There could be days’ worth of water and ice mixed with the eruptive products,” he told the BBC.

The ash plume was rising to about 30,000 feet (9,144 meters) with intensifying volcanic activity, Leitch said. It is possible for planes to fly over the ash cloud, he said, although it is up to individual countries to decide whether they should open higher airspace.

Aviation experts say the volcanic plume has caused the worst travel disruption Europe – and the world – has ever seen, except during wars.

“I’ve been flying for 40 years, but I’ve never seen anything like this in Europe,” said Swedish pilot Axel Alegren, after landing his flight from Kabul, Afghanistan, at Munich Airport; he had been due to land at Frankfurt but was diverted.

Anxious passengers have told stories of missed weddings, graduations, school and holidays because of the ominous plume, and some world leaders canceled plans to attend Sunday’s state funeral for Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria in the southern city of Krakow.

President Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel still planned to attend. Slovenian President Danilo Turk will travel to Poland by car.

Most of northern and central Europe’s airspace has been shut down, affecting airports from New Zealand to San Francisco.

On Saturday, the French prime minister extended the closure of airspace in northern France until Monday morning. British airspace is closed until at least 0600 GMT Sunday, and forecasters said the ash cloud would progressively cover the whole of the U.K. later Saturday. British Airways is canceling all flights to and from the U.K. Sunday.

Authorities in the U.K. and Iceland told people with respiratory problems to stay indoors, and the World Health Organization said Europeans should not go outdoors if ash starts settling.

Stranded passengers reported the delays were causing financial hardships. Some had to check out of hotels and sleep in the airports.

“I have been staying in a hotel but have now checked out and do not know what I am going to do – I have limited financial resources here,” said Anthony Adeayo, 45, who was due to travel from Britain to Nigeria with British Airways.

Others, desperate to return home or get to meetings, rushed to book a ride on ferries, in rental cars or taxis.

Hundreds of weary British travelers were forced to queue up in France for ferry tickets, and P&O Ferries said it was inundated by thousands of calls from stranded air passengers. Ferry crossings between Britain and Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands were also fully booked, while a Virgin Holidays Cruises phone operator said dozens of people have called in to ask about trans-Atlantic crossings to New York aboard the Queen Mary 2 cruiser.

A British taxi firm said it pocketed a fortune from driving a group of clients hundreds of miles to Switzerland. International trains on the continent beefed up services, and the Eurostar was running eight supplementary trains Sunday.

Shoppers were warned Saturday that continued flight bans could spark shortages of imported fresh fruit and vegetables.

“There are no shortages yet, but we may start to see certain ranges affected if this carries on,” said Christopher Snelling, head of global supply chain policy for the Freight Transport Association.

The Belgian and Swiss governments extended their ban until Saturday evening. Italian aviation authorities were closing airspace in northern Italy on Saturday until 1800 GMT. Spain’s Iberia airline is canceling most of its European flights until further notice.

In the Nordics, air space in the central and southern parts of the region was expected to remain closed at least until Sunday afternoon.

At least 45 flights between Europe and Asia were canceled Saturday. Australia’s Qantas canceled all flights to Europe, and passengers were being offered refunds or seats on the next available flight. The airline said it was not known when flights would resume. Cathay Pacific was already canceling some Europe-bound flights leaving Hong Kong on Sunday.

“The British Airways telephone message says check the Web site for updates, but when you check the site it says call the customer services number,” said James Kirkman, 41, who was visiting family in Australia with his two children. “There’s no information. The kids were due back at school on Monday.”

Southern Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH’-plah-yer-kuh-duhl) volcano began erupting for the second time in a month on Wednesday, sending ash several miles (kilometers) into the air. Winds pushed the plume south and east across Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and into the heart of Europe.

The European air navigation safety agency Eurocontrol says that only some 5,000 flights will take place in Europe on Saturday compared to 22,000 in normal circumstances. On Friday, U.S. airlines canceled 280 of the more than 330 trans-Atlantic flights of a normal day.

The International Air Transport Association says the volcano is costing the industry at least $200 million a day.

The disruptions hit tourists, business travelers and dignitaries alike.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had to go to Portugal rather than Berlin as she flew home from a U.S. visit. China, Japan and Russia and five other Asian nations were missing finance talks with the European Union in Spain.

The military also had to adjust.

Five German soldiers wounded in Afghanistan were diverted to Turkey instead of Germany, while U.S. medical evacuations for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan had to be flown directly from the warfronts to Washington rather than to a care facility in Germany. The U.S. military has also stopped using temporarily closed air bases in the U.K. and Germany.

In Iceland, torrents of water have carried away chunks of ice the size of small houses. Sections of the country’s main ring road were wiped out by the flash floods.

More floods from melting waters are expected as long as the volcano keeps erupting – and in 1821, the same volcano managed to erupt for more than a year.

Iceland, a nation of 320,000 people, sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic’s mid-oceanic ridge and has a history of devastating eruptions. One of the worst was the 1783 eruption of the Laki volcano, which spewed a toxic cloud over Europe, killing tens of thousands.

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* Iceland volcano erupts Slideshow:Iceland volcano erupts
* Iceland volcano cloud brings European air chaos Play Video Video:Iceland volcano cloud brings European air chaos AFP
* Raw Video: Ash cloud disrupts air travel Play Video Video:Raw Video: Ash cloud disrupts air travel AP

Fri Apr 16, 8:51 am ET

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) – An Icelandic volcano is still spewing ash into the air in a massive plume that has disrupted air traffic across Europe and shows little sign of letting up, officials said on Friday.

One expert said the eruption at the volcano, about 120 km (75 miles) southeast of capital Reykjavik, could abate in the coming days, but a government spokesman said ash would keep drifting into the skies of Europe.

The thick, dark brown ash cloud that shot several kilometers (miles) into the air and has drifted away from the north Atlantic island has shut down air traffic across northern Europe and restrictions remained in place in many areas.

Norway and Sweden said they would resume limited flights in their northern areas, but Poland and the Czech Republic joined the list of countries with closed airports.

“It is more or less the same situation as yesterday, it is still erupting, still exploding, still producing gas,” University of Iceland professor Armann Hoskuldsson told Reuters.

“We expect it to last for two days or more or something. It cannot continue at this rate for many days. There is a limited amount of magma that can spew out,” he added, saying it was the magma, or molten rock beneath the Earth’s surface, coming out of the volcano that turned into ash.

Environment Ministry spokesman Gudmundur Gudmundsson said no variation was expected in the outflow of ash.

“The eruption is ongoing and we are not expecting any change in the production of ash…High level winds will keep dispersing the plume over Europe,” he said.

The eruption has taken place under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, normally a popular hiking ground in southern Iceland.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Urdur Gudmundsdottir said there was some damage to roads and barriers protecting farms.

“There is still an evacuation of around 20 farms, which is 40 to 50 people,” she added, noting this was less than the 800 people who had been evacuated earlier this week.

FLOODS

People living close to the eruption said the main impact on their lives was the flood waters running off the glacier, which have closed roads.

“Obviously it’s all been a bit unreal. One is just managing from day to day and doing one’s best,” said Hanna Lara Andrews, a resident of a farm at the foot of the mountain, who had traveled to Reykjavijk with her one-year-old son.

Speaking by telephone, she said she and her family had felt a big earthquake last week. When the eruption came this week they could see a big white cloud and then ash forming behind it.

Another professor said on Thursday that the heat had melted up to a third of the glacial ice covering the crater, causing a nearby river to burst its banks.

Icelandic radio said part of the ring road that goes around the small north Atlantic island had been swept away.

To the east of the volcano, thousands of hectares of land are covered by a thick layer of ash.

The cloud of ash from the eruption has hit air travel all over northern Europe, with flights grounded or diverted due to the risk of engine damage from sucking in particles of ash from the volcanic cloud.

The volcano under the Ejfjallajokull glacier, Iceland’s fifth largest glacier, has erupted five times since Iceland was settled in the ninth century.

Iceland sits on a volcanic hotspot in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and has relatively frequent eruptions, although most occur in sparsely populated areas and pose little danger to people or property. Before March, the last eruption took place in 2004.

(Reporting by Omar Valdimarsson in Reykkavik and Patrick Lannin in Stockholm; writing by Patrick Lannin; Editing by William Maclean)

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Update time = Sun Apr 4 15:43:17 PDT 2010
Here are the 30 most recent earthquakes and all M>4 earthquakes on this map…

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y/m/d h:m:s deg deg km

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The volcano near Eyjafjallajoekull glacier began to erupt just after midnight, sending lava a hundred metres high.

Icelandic airspace has been closed, flights diverted and roads closed. The eruption was about 120km (75 miles) east of the capital, Reykjavik.

About 500 people were moved from the area, a civil protection officer said.

“We estimate that no-one is in danger in the area, but we have started an evacuation plan and between 500 and 600 people are being evacuated,” Sigurgeir Gudmundsson of the Icelandic civil protections department told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

The area is sparsely populated, but the knock-on effects from the eruption have been considerable.

A state of emergency is in force in southern Iceland and transport connections have been severely disrupted, including the main east-west road.

“Ash has already begun to fall in Fljotshlid and people in the surrounding area have reported seeing bright lights emanating from the glacier,” RUV public radio said on its website.

Map

“It was a bit scary, but still amazing to see,” Katrin Moller Eiriksdottir, who lives in Fljotshlid, told the BBC News website.

“The ash had started falling and we couldn’t leave the car.”

Three Icelandair flights, bound for Reykjavik from the United States, were ordered to return to Boston, RUV radio reported.

Domestic flights were suspended indefinitely, but some international flights were scheduled to depart on Sunday.

There had initially been fears that the volcano could cause flooding, as it causes ice to melt on the glacier above it, but that scenario appears to have been avoided.

However, it could cause more activity nearby, scientists say.

“This was a rather small and peaceful eruption but we are concerned that it could trigger an eruption at the nearby Katla volcano, a vicious volcano that could cause both local and global damage,” said Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland’s Institute of Earth Science, Associated Press news agency reported.

As the eruption is taking place in an area that is relatively ice free, there is little chance of a destructive glacier burst like the one that washed away part of the east-west highway four years ago, after an eruption under the vast Vattnajoekull glacier.

Iceland lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the highly volatile boundary between the Eurasian and North American continental plates, with quakes and eruptions.

The last volcanic eruption in the Eyjafjallajoekull area occurred in 1821.

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A strong earthquake has struck eastern Turkey, killing at least 57 people, officials have said.

The 6.0-magnitude quake, centred on the village of Basyurt in Elazig province, struck at 0432 (0232 GMT). It has been followed by more than 40 aftershocks.

Officials said the nearby village of Okcular had been almost destroyed and several others badly damaged.

A number of people were trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings, many of which were built of mud-bricks.

“Villages consisting mainly of mud-brick houses have been damaged, but we have minimal damage such as cracks in buildings made of cement or stone,” Elazig Governor Muammer Erol told CNN Turk.

Everything has been knocked down – there is not a stone in place Yadin Apaydin Administrator for Yukari Kanatli.

At least 17 of the dead came from the hillside village of Okcular, where up to 30 houses collapsed, rescuers said.

“The village is totally flattened,” Okcular’s administrator, Hasan Demirdag, told NTV.

Television footage from Okcular showed rescue workers and soldiers digging among the rubble of collapsed buildings as villagers looked on.

Ali Riza Ferhat, a resident, said he had been asleep in his home when the earthquake struck.

“I tried to get out of the door but it wouldn’t open. I came out of the window and started helping my neighbours,” he told NTV. “We removed six bodies.”

The nearby villages of Yukari Kanatli, Kayalik, Gocmezler and Yukari Demirci were also badly damaged and each reported several deaths.
Map showing Turkey quake location

“Everything has been knocked down – there is not a stone in place,” Yadin Apaydin, the administrator for Yukari Kanatli, told CNN Turk.

At least 50 people have been taken to hospital, officials say. Some were reportedly hurt during the panic after the first earthquake, when they jumped from windows or balconies.

Residents of the affected villages have been warned not to return to damaged homes while the area continues to be hit by aftershocks, the strongest of which have so far measured 5.1 and 5.5.

The government disaster management centre and Turkish Red Crescent have set up tents to help survivors cope with the harsh winter weather, and are also distributing food and blankets.

Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek and three other ministers have travelled to the earthquake zone to provide assistance.

Elderly woman stands next to her collapsed home (8 March 2010)
We’ve experienced so many earthquakes in the last 20 years, yet no measures have been taken to strengthen the buildings
Volkan Durkal

In Ankara, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan lamented the lack of earthquake-safe buildings and said he had ordered the start of a reconstruction project in the area.

“Mud-brick construction is undoubtedly a local tradition. But unfortunately, it has proved to have a heavy price,” he said.

A BBC News website reader who visited the village of Basyurt after the earthquake said its residents blamed the government for the destruction and loss of life.

“This is a seismic area. We’ve experienced so many earthquakes in the last 20 years, yet no measures have been taken to strengthen the buildings,” Volkan Durkal said.

“Most houses are not made with cement, they are not well-built and the people are not well-educated about what to do and where to take cover during an earthquake.”

Turkey is plagued by earthquakes – generally minor – because of its location on the North Anatolian fault line.

A 7.4-magnitude tremor which hit the western city of Izmit in August 1999 killed more than 17,000 people.

The BBC’s Jonathan Head in Istanbul says poor quality buildings were also blamed for the high death toll then and there is still concern in Turkey’s largest city, where seismologists predict a major earthquake will occur within the next few decades.

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By MICHAEL WARREN and EVA VERGARA

PELLUHUE, Chile (AP) – The 40 retirees enjoying summer vacation at a seaside campground nestled under pine trees knew they had to move fast after Chile’s powerful earthquake struck.

They didn’t make it. The tsunami came in three waves, surging 200 meters (yards) into this Pacific Ocean resort town and dragging away the bus they’d piled into, hoping to get to high ground. Most of those inside were tourists, and only five of their bodies had been found by Monday, firefighters and witnesses said.

Pelluhue’s horror underscored the destruction wrought by Saturday’s pre-dawn 8.8-magnitude quake and the tsunami that ravaged communities along Chile’s south-central coast – those closest to the quake’s epicenter. Chile’s death toll reached 723, and most died in the wine-growing Maule region that includes Pelluhue.

Survivors here found about 20 bodies, and an estimated 300 homes were destroyed. Most residents were aware of the tsunami threat; street signs pointed to the nearest tsunami evacuation route. The ruins of homes, television sets, clothes, dishwaters and dead fish cover the town’s black sand beaches.

“We ran through the highest part of town, yelling, ‘Get out of your homes!’” said Claudio Escalona, 43, who fled his home near the campground with his wife and daughters, ages 4 and 6. “About 20 minutes later came three waves, two of them huge, about 6 meters (18 feet) each, and a third even bigger. That one went into everything.”

“You could hear the screams of children, women, everyone,” Escalona said. “There were the screams, and then a tremendous silence.”

Destruction is widespread and food scarce all along the coast – in towns like Talca and Cauquenes, Curico and San Javier. In Curanipe, the local church served as a morgue. In Cauquenes, people quickly buried their dead because the funeral home had no electricity.

President Michelle Bachelet said authorities were flying hundreds of tons of food, water and other basics into the region.

After the quake rocked the gritty port town of Talcahuano, Marioli Gatica and her extended family huddled in a circle on the floor of their seaside wooden home, listening to the radio by a lantern’s light.

They heard firefighters urging citizens to stay calm and stay inside. They heard nothing about a tsunami – until it slammed into their house with an unearthly roar. Gatica’s house exploded with water. The family was swept below the surface, swirling amid loose ship containers and other heavy debris that smashed buildings into oblivion all around them.

“We were sitting there one moment and the next I looked up into the water and saw cables and furniture floating,” Gatica said.

Two of the giant containers crushed Gatica’s home. A third grounded between the ocean and where she floated, keeping the retreating tsunami from dragging her and other relatives out to sea. Her 11-year-old daughter, Ninoska Elgueta, clung to a tree as the wave retreated.

All the family survived except Gatica’s 76-year-old mother, Nery Valdebenito, Gatica said. “I think my mother is trapped beneath” the house.

Firefighters with search dogs examined the ruins of her home. The group leader drew his finger across his neck: No one alive there.

Close to 80 percent of Talcahuano’s 180,000 people are homeless, with 10,000 homes uninhabitable and hundreds more destroyed, Mayor Gaston Saavedra said.

“The port is destroyed. The streets, collapsed. City buildings, destroyed,” Saavedra said.

In Concepcion, the biggest city near the epicenter, rescuers who had paused in a search for survivors resumed their hunt on Tuesday at a toppled 70-unit apartment building. Firefighters had pulled 25 survivors and nine bodies from the structure.

Chile’s defense minister has said the navy made a mistake by not immediately activating a tsunami warning. He said port captains who did call warnings in several coastal towns saved hundreds of lives.

In the village of Dichato, teenagers drinking on the beach were the first to shout the warning when they saw a horseshoe-shaped bay empty about an hour after the quake. They ran through the streets, screaming. Police joined them, using megaphones.

The water rose steadily, surging above the second floors of homes and lifting them off their foundations. Cars were stacked three high in the streets. Miles inland along a river valley, cows munched next to marooned boats, refrigerators, sofas and other debris.

“The maritime radio said there wouldn’t be a tsunami,” said Rogilio Reyes, who was warned off by the teenagers.

Dichato Mayor Eduardo Aguilera said 49 people were missing and 800 homes were destroyed. Some people fled to high ground, only to return too early and get caught by the tsunami, he said.

The World Health Organization said it expected the death toll to rise as communications improve. For survivors, it said access to health services will be a major challenge.

In Geneva, U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said Chile was seeking temporary bridges, field hospitals, satellite phones, electric generators, damage assessment teams, water purification systems, field kitchens and dialysis centers.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was bringing 20 satellite phones Tuesday as a first piece of a much larger U.S. aid package. Argentina was sending six aircraft carrying a field hospital, 55 doctors and water treatment plants – all of which should arrive by Tuesday night. Brazil was rushing in a field hospital and rescue teams.

Security remained a concern. Most markets in Concepcion were ransacked by looters and people desperate for food, water, toilet paper, gasoline and other essentials Sunday, prompting authorities to send troops and impose an overnight curfew. The interior ministry extended the city curfew to run from 8 p.m. Monday to noon Tuesday.

When a small convoy of armored vehicles drove along a downtown street, bystanders applauded, shouting: “Finally! Finally!”

—

Associated Press Writer Roberto Candia contributed to this story.

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March 1 (Bloomberg) — The earthquake that killed more than 700 people in Chile on Feb. 27 probably shifted the Earth’s axis and shortened the day, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientist said.

Earthquakes can involve shifting hundreds of kilometers of rock by several meters, changing the distribution of mass on the planet. This affects the Earth’s rotation, said Richard Gross, a geophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who uses a computer model to calculate the effects.

“The length of the day should have gotten shorter by 1.26 microseconds (millionths of a second),” Gross, said today in an e-mailed reply to questions. “The axis about which the Earth’s mass is balanced should have moved by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters or 3 inches).”

The changes can be modeled, though they’re difficult to physically detect given their small size, Gross said. Some changes may be more obvious, and islands may have shifted, according to Andreas Rietbrock, a professor of Earth Sciences at the U.K.’s Liverpool University who has studied the area impacted, though not since the latest temblor.

Santa Maria Island off the coast near Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city, may have been raised 2 meters (6 feet) as a result of the latest quake, Rietbrock said today in a telephone interview. He said the rocks there show evidence pointing to past earthquakes shifting the island upward in the past.

‘Ice-Skater Effect’

“It’s what we call the ice-skater effect,” David Kerridge, head of Earth hazards and systems at the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, said today in a telephone interview. “As the ice skater puts when she’s going around in a circle, and she pulls her arms in, she gets faster and faster. It’s the same idea with the Earth going around if you change the distribution of mass, the rotation rate changes.”

Rietbrock said he hasn’t been able to get in touch with seismologists in Concepcion to discuss the quake, which registered 8.8 on the Richter scale.

“What definitely the earthquake has done is made the Earth ring like a bell,” Rietbrock said.

The magnitude 9.1 Sumatran in 2004 that generated an Indian Ocean tsunami shortened the day by 6.8 microseconds and shifted the axis by about 2.3 milliarcseconds, Gross said.

The changes happen on the day and then carry on “forever,” Benjamin Fong Chao, dean of Earth Sciences of the National Central University in Taiwan, said in an e-mail.

“This small contribution is buried in larger changes due to other causes, such as atmospheric mass moving around on Earth,” Chao said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: March 1, 2010 14:11 EST

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The devastating earthquake in Chile has triggered a tsunami which is radiating across the Pacific and has already caused serious damage on the islands said to have inspired Robinson Crusoe.

By David Barrett
Published: 1:37PM GMT 27 Feb 2010

Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet declares a ’state of catastrophe’ Photo: AP

An evacuation of coastal areas on Easter Island was under way as the tsunami was expected to make landfall there imminently.

An image generated by NOAA West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center shows the projected tsunami travel times following an earthquake that struck Chile Photo: REUTERS
Michelle Bachelet, the Chilean President, said an evacuation of coastal areas on Easter Island, the Chilean territory famous for its monumental statues, was under way as the tsunami was expected to make landfall there imminently.
British experts said a tsunami was now radiating from the epicentre towards Hawaii and other settlements on the Pacific Ring of Fire.

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The extent of the tsunami’s ferocity is not yet known, but it has already reached the southern Juan Fernandez Islands, about 400 miles off the coast of Chile, where it was reported to have caused “serious damage”.
The islands include one named after Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe’s protagonist, and another named after Alexander Selkirk, the Scottish sailor whose real life experiences as a castaway are said to have inspired the 1719 novel.
An alert was issued by the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre which predicted damage to the Hawaiian coast from 9pm GMT today.
“Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property,” the centre said in a bulletin. “All shores are at risk no matter which direction they face.”
The centre had earlier issued a tsunami warning for Chile and Peru, and a tsunami watch for Ecuador, Colombia, Antarctica, all of Central America and French Polynesia.
New Zealand also issued a tsunami alert, warning of a wall of water up to 10 feet high, with landfall due there at just after 6pm GMT.
The New Zealand National Crisis Management Centre warning said the greatest wave heights were expected between six and 12 hours after the initial arrivals.
Dr Brian Baptie, the British Geological Survey’s Head of Seismology, said: “This is largest earthquake to strike central Chile since a magnitude 6.7 earthquake in 2001.
“A 1.3 metre tsunami wave was observed at Valparaiso, 200 kilometres north of the epicentre about 20 minutes after the earthquake.
“Tsunami waves in the deep ocean travel about the same speed as a jet plane and would take about 15 hours to reach Hawaii and about 20 hours to reach the other side of the Pacific.”
Dr David Rothery, from the Open University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, said: “This morning’s magnitude 8.8 earthquake close to the Chilean coast has caused a tsunami that is now radiating away from the epicentre and travelling at several hundred kilometres per hour across the Pacific Ocean.
“The first waves are expected to Hawaii at 11:19 Hawaii Standard Time but are also travelling along the South America coast and will reach Colombia and Costa Rica after 1300 GMT.
He added: “A magnitude 8 quake is a rare event. On average there is only about one of these per year globally.”
Japan’s meteorological agency warned of a tsunami risk across large areas of the Pacific, as far away as the Antarctic, and in the Philippines officials warned low-lying coastal areas to prepare for a possible evacuation.

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EWA BEACH, Hawaii – A tsunami triggered by the Chilean earthquake raced across the Pacific Ocean on Saturday, threatening Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast as well as hundreds of islands from the bottom of the planet to the top.

Sirens blared in Hawaii to alert residents to the impending waves, with authorities asking people living near the water to evacuate. On several South Pacific islands hit by a tsunami last fall, police evacuated tens of thousands of residents from the coast.

The first waves in Hawaii are expected to hit shortly after 11 a.m. Saturday (4 p.m. EST; 2100 GMT) and measure roughly 8 feet (2.5 meters) at Hilo. Most Pacific Rim nations however did not order evacuations, but advised people in low-lying areas to be on the lookout.

Unlike other tsunamis in recent years, emergency officials along the Pacific have hours to prepare and possibly evacuate residents.

“We’ve got a lot of things going for us,” said Charles McCreery, the director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which issues warnings to almost every country around the Pacific Rim and to most of the Pacific island states. “We have a reasonable lead time.

“We should be able to alert everyone in harm’s way to move out of the evacuation zones,” he said.

In Hawaii, boats and people near the coast were being evacuated. Hilo International Airport, located along the coast, was closed. In Honolulu, residents lined up at supermarkets to stock up on water, canned food and batteries. Cars lined up 15 long at several gas stations.

“These are dangerous, dangerous events,” said John Cummings, spokesman for the Honolulu Emergency Management Department.

In Tonga, where nine people died in a Sept. 29 tsunami, police and defense forces began evacuating people from low-lying coastal areas as they warned residents that tsunami waves about three feet (one meter) high could wash ashore within three hours.

“I can hear the church bells ringing to alert the people,” National Disaster Office deputy director Mali’u Takai said. “We will move up to 50,000 people to the interior and away from the coasts.”

Waves 6 feet (1.8 meter) above normal hit near Concepcion, Chile shortly after the quake.

On the island of Robinson Crusoe, a huge wave from the tsunami covered half the village of San Juan Batista and three people were missing, said Ivan de la Maza, the superintendent of Chile’s principal mainland port, Valparaiso.

A helicopter and a Navy frigate were enroute to the island to assist in the search, he said.

A tsunami warning — the highest alert level — was also in effect for Guam, American Samoa, Samoa and dozens of other Pacific islands. An advisory — the lowest level — has been extended to include Oregon, Washington state, parts of Alaska, and coastal British Colombia.

British Columbia is hosting the Winter Olympic Games, but provincial officials said the venues are not under threat.

The White House is keeping close watch on the Chilean quake, which has raised the possibility of a tsunami striking Hawaii. Presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs said the U.S. stands ready to help the Chilean people “in this hour of need.”

American Samoa Lt. Gov. Aitofele Sunia activated emergency services and called on residents of shoreline villages to move to higher ground. Police in Samoa issued a nationwide alert to begin coastal evacuations. The tsunami is expected to reach the islands Saturday morning.

In French Polynesia, tsunami waves up to 6 feet (2 meters) high swept ashore, but no damage was immediately reported.

Meanwhile, disaster management officials in Fiji said they have been warned to expect waves of as high as 7.5 feet (2.3 meters) to hit the northern and eastern islands of the archipelago and the nearby Tonga islands.

A lower-grade tsunami advisory was in effect for the coast of California and an Alaskan coastal area from Kodiak to Attu islands. Tsunami Center officials said they did not expect the advisory would be upgraded to a warning.

Waves were likely to hit Asian, Australian and New Zealand shores within 24 hours of Saturday’s quake. A tsunami wave can travel at up to 600 mph, said Jenifer Rhoades, tsunami program manager at the National Weather Service in Washington, DC.

The sirens in Hawaii will also be sounded again three hours prior to the estimated arrival time.

McCreery said he didn’t know how big the waves will be, but expected them to be the largest to hit Hawaii since 1964.

“If you’re in an evacuation zone, police or civil defense volunteers would instruct you to evacuate, or instructions will come out over the radio and TV,” said Shelly Ichishita, spokeswoman for the state’s civil defense.

If coastal areas are evacuated, visitors in Waikiki would be moved to higher floors in their hotels, rather than moved out of the tourist district, which could cause gridlock.

Some Pacific nations in the warning area were heavily damaged by a tsunami last year.

On Sept. 29, a tsunami spawned by a magnitude-8.3 earthquake killed 34 people in American Samoa, 183 in Samoa and nine in Tonga. Scientists later said that wave was 46 feet (14 meters) high.

Past South American earthquakes have had deadly effects across the Pacific.

A tsunami after a magnitude-9.5 quake that struck Chile in 1960, the largest earthquake ever recorded, killed about 140 people in Japan, 61 in Hawaii and 32 in the Philippines.

That tsunami was about 3.3 to 13 feet (one to four meters) in height, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted earthquake experts as saying the tsunami would likely be tens of centimeters (inches) high and reach Japan in about 22 hours.

A tsunami of 28 centimeters (11 inches) was recorded after a magnitude-8.4 earthquake near Chile in 2001.

The Meteorological Agency said it was still investigating the likelihood of a tsunami in Japan and did not issue a formal coastal warning.

Australia, meanwhile, was put on a tsunami watch.

The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning Saturday night for a “potential tsunami threat” to New South Wales state, Queensland state, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island.

Any potential wave would not hit Australia until Sunday morning local time, it said.

New Zealand officials warned that “non-destructive” tsunami waves of less than three feet could hit the entire east coast of the country’s two main islands and its Chatham Islands territory, some 300 miles east of New Zealand.

The Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology issued a low-level alert saying people should await further notice of a possible tsunami. It did not recommend evacuations.

Seismologist Fumihiko Imamura, of Japan’s Tohoku University, told NHK that residents near ocean shores should not underestimate the power of a tsunami even though they may be generated by quakes on the other side of the ocean.

“There is the possibility that it could reach Japan without losing its strength,” he said.

___

Associated Press writers Mark Niesse in Honolulu, Kristen Gelineau in Sydney, Chris Havlik in Phoenix, Ray Lilley in Auckland, New Zealand, Eric Talmadge in Tokyo, Alan Clendenning in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Charmaine Noronha in Toronto contributed to this report.

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