8.3 earthquake rocks Chile, tsunami warning issued along California coastline

Tremours were also felt on the other side of the continent, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

TV footage showed stores with floors strewn with a mess of broken bottles, jars and other spilled merchandise.

Authorities said early Thursday that five people had been killed and one person was listed as missing.

The death toll of eight was given by Interior Minister Jorge Burgos. But it was lifted before dawn Thursday.

Hamish says while most people are calm, it’s unclear the full extent of the damage.

And the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the place most at risk in the South Pacific was French Polynesia, which could get waves of up to three meters (10 feet). Costa Rica was not expected to be affected.

“Earthquake impact is a little like real estate: what matters is location, location, location”, said Susan Hough, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

The epicenter of the quake was about 35 miles west of Illapel and about 150 miles northwest of the Capital, Santiago.

The Chilean government put the main earthquake at 8.4 on a slightly different measurement, the Richter scale.

Women hug in fear after fleeing a building in Chile’s capital city Santiago during a strong 7.2-magnitude earthquake. “We are very scared”.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Civil Defence said people living in some eastern areas should stay away from beaches and the shoreline. Classes were cancelled in coastal areas. The epicentre of the earthquake was Illapel. Around a dozen people were injured.

In coastal La Serena, in the north of Chile, people were running in all directions, said resident Gloria Navarro.

Waves crashed across costal roads in the regions of Coquimbo and Valparaiso.

“We’re going through a really grave situation with the tsunami. We went out into the hallway and down the stairs”, Celina Atrave, 65, who lives in a 25-story tower near downtown Buenos Aires, told AFP.

“Once again we must confront a powerful blow from nature”, President Michelle Bachelet said in an address to the nation late Wednesday.

Less than an hour after the initial earthquake, three aftershocks all greater than magnitude 6.1 struck the region, and smaller quakes continue to shake the area, The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported.

Police patrol a debris strewn street in Valparaiso, Chile, after a tsunami, caused by an earthquake hit the area, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015.

In February 2010, an 8.8-magnitude earthquake in central-southern Chile triggered a massive tsunami, and more than 500 people were killed.

At least five people were killed by the quake about 280km north of Santiago, the biggest earthquake since 2010 to hit the world’s top copper producer.