Tsunami flattens a Chilean town

Some of Chile's coastal areas were engulfed in a tsunami after a violent seismic last weekend.

When the shaking of the earthquake stopped, Marioli Gatica and the big family gathered in a circle on the beach house on the beach, listening to the radio in the light of the lantern.

They heard firefighters urging residents of the port city of Talcahuano to calm down and stay indoors. They were not informed of the tsunami, only an hour after the earthquake hit 8.8 on the Richter scale on February 27.

A boat is on the street of Talcahuano on March 1.Photo: AP.

Gatica's house is submerged in water. She and her family were swept away, spinning between containers and huge crumbling pieces."Just before that, we were sitting here, just a little while later when the four sides were water, we saw cables and furniture floating, " AP quoted Gatica.

She grabbed the 11-year-old daughter, but the big wave made it slip from her hand. After that, the water receded quickly, also surprisingly as when it came.

Two containers of containers crushed Gatica's house. However, another box was located between her family and the sea, helping her and her relatives not to be swept out to sea. Gatica daughter was lucky enough to grab a tree and climb down when the water receded. Everyone in her family and her sister was fine. The only person missing is a mother, 76 years old.

"I think my mother got stuck under the house," Gatica said.

Firefighters and professional dogs scrutinized the ruins of the house. A few minutes later they announced that no one survived below.

Such tragedies can be found in communities around the devastated coastline of central and southern Chile. The country is suffering from the consequences of the two disasters on February 27th at the same time as the earthquake and tsunami. Of the 723 people killed, most lived in the Maule wine making area, including Tacahuano - once home to 180,000 people - was now a muddy and desolate town.

Mayor Gaston Saavedra said nearly 80% of Talcahuano residents lost their homes. 10,000 houses cannot be found anymore and hundreds of houses are destroyed. "The port was destroyed, the street was damaged and the house was destroyed," Saavedra said.

Chile's defense minister said the navy had made a mistake when not immediately issuing a tsunami warning after the earthquake. He also praised the actions of the port leaders in some towns, warning people, thereby saving hundreds of lives.

The tsunami was so sudden that a group of 40 retirees were on vacation in the Pelluhue coastal region, west of Chile, unable to catch up. They died in a bus swept into the sea. Firefighters said they found the bodies of 5 people. The rest is still missing.

The residents of Pelluhue mostly received information about the tsunami threat. "We ran to the highest part of the town, shouting: " Run out of the house, " Claudio Escalona, ​​43, who ran away with his wife and two daughters, said. " About 20 minutes later, Dad. The wave struck. Two giant waves 6 meters high, the third wave is even bigger, it hits everything ".

"You can hear the screams of children, women, everyone," Escalona recalled. "The screams, and then the overwhelming silence."

In the village of Dichato, the beach drinking youths were the first to see the tsunami. They ran all the way, alerting everyone. The police also used speakers to join them.

Water rises very fast, up to the second floor of the houses, causing them to turn on their nails. Cars piled up on the roads. The street on March 1 flooded with rubble, boats, refrigerators, or sofas.

"But the radio station said there would be no tsunami," said Rogilio Reyes, who survived the warning by the youth group.