Three dead as powerful quake strikes Chile

Bachelet advised people in a televised address not to return to their homes yet and remain on high grounds, until authorities certify that it is safe for them to return at their homes.

She said in a televised statement: “Once again we’re having to deal with another harsh blow from nature”.

In New Zealand, authorities have urged residents in eastern coastal areas to stay out of the water and away from beaches amid expected “unusually strong currents and unpredictable water flows near the shore”.

Officials said that although it is too early to know for sure, it appears that yesterday’s quake had “a much smaller impact” than the 2010 tremor, AP reports.

In February 2010, a 8.8-magnitude struck off central Chile, killing more than 500 people.

A tsunami battered parts of the California coast in 2011 after the deadly natural disaster struck off the northeastern coast of Japan.

The US Geological Survey initially reported the tremor as magnitude 7.9, but then quickly revised the reading to 8.3.

WATCH: A powerful magnitude-8.3 quake hit off Chile’s northern coast Wednesday night, causing buildings to sway in Santiago and other cities and sending people running into the streets.

Of course the strongest quake to hit Chile was in 1960.

“Tsunami waves reaching more than three meters above the tide level are possible along some coasts of Chile”, warned the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The president confirmed that three people died, including one woman who was killed when a wall collapsed.

A Tsunami warning was also issued, with Chile’s government asking the people to vacate the coastline.

The tremor was so strong that residents in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the other side of the continent, reported feeling it. People in Peru and Brazil also felt the shakes, but no injuries were reported outside Chile.

Ricardo Toro, the director of Chile’s emergency agency, told reporters that there were no reports of major damage or deaths.

The quake, which comes as a result of thrust faulting between Central Chile’s Nazca and South America tectonic plates, has warranted a tsunami warning from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.