Chile quake leaves hundreds dead

At least 300 people have been confirmed dead after a devastating earthquake struck Chile and triggered tsunami warnings across the Pacific ocean. The 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck early on Saturday 92km northeast of Concepcion, Chile's second largest city, at a depth of 63km at 3:34am local time (06:43 GMT). The quake, which lasted for one minute, damaged buildings and caused blackouts as far away as Santiago, 320km northeast of the epicentre. Michelle Bachelet, the outgoing president, declared a "state of catastrophe" and warned that more deaths were possible. "I want to call on all the people of Chile to remain calm ... There have been some aftershocks, but so far our national organisations are still up and running," she said. Jason Mitchell, a freelance journalist in Santiago, told Al Jazeera: "A new president takes over Chile in about 12 days time, so this was a transitional time. "Sebastian Pinera, the incoming president ... His ministers have all met with the outgoing ministers and they're trying to build a co-ordinated response." He continued: "Chile's a country that has earthquakes before, so it was reasonably well prepared for this. The country has some of the most strictest building laws in the world."