SANTIAGO – Chile’s government says 76 people are confirmed dead in a giant earthquake that has collapsed buildings and set off a tsunami.
The death toll comes from the deputy interior minister, Patricio Rosende. His boss, Edmundo Perez Yoma says: “the death toll will continue rising.”
The magnitude-8.8 earthquake has caused a huge wave that reached a populated area in the Robinson Crusoe Islands off the Chilean coast. Tsunami warnings have been issued over a wide area, including South America, Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, Russia and many Pacific islands.
The earthquake struck early Saturday.