SANTIAGO - CHILE'S government conceded on Sunday that it committed an 'error' in initially downplaying the risk of tsunami from this weekend's massive earthquake - a mistake that may have cost many lives.
'There was a mistake,' said Defence Minister Francisco Vidal during a press conference held one day after coastal towns in southern Chile were enveloped by a wall of water unleashed by the historic 8.8-magnitude quake. Mr Vidal said officials with Chile's navy made the 'diagnostic error' of not issuing a tsunami alert after the mammoth quake.
On Saturday a giant wave generated by the quake - the biggest temblor to hit Chile in decades - engulfed seaside villages and washed away entire homes and livelihoods in the picturesque town of Penco and nearby villages. The wall of water was generated by the recordbreaking 8.8-magnitude quake that rattled southern Chile before daybreak on Saturday.
Immediately after the quake struck at 3.43am on Saturday, President Michelle Bachelet, tried to tamp down tsunami fears, and issued a call for calm.
Most of the more than 700 dead were in the very coastal regions where officials had urged inhabitants not to be worried. Chilean officials later revised their assessment, and activated the tsunami alert, which he said saved 'not hundreds but thousands' of lives, as residents fled the shorelines for higher ground.
Chile's earthquake toll soared past 700 on Sunday with more than 500 of the dead killed in coastal areas submerged by the tsunami. In addition to Penco, tesidents said the coastal town of Dichato had practically been washed away, while the hard-hit towns of Curico and Talco were without power or potable water on Sunday. -- AFP
(source: www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_496336.html)
My Comments:
Look, we are talking about Mother Nature. Haven't we learnt enough from 2004 Asian Tsunami which affected many countries on Boxing Day?
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