Following an 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Chile early Saturday, International Medical Corps’ Emergency Response Teams are on standby, preparing to deploy to Chile and potential tsunami areas, and are gathering the necessary medicines and supplies.
The quake struck at 3:34 a.m. local time and was centered about 70 miles from Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city, at a depth of 22 miles. There are reports of about 214 deaths, with the toll expected to rise. It downed buildings and houses in Santiago, about 200 miles away.  Outgoing president, Michelle Bachelet said some 2.2 million people have been affected by the quake–that is lost their home, injured in some way, lost a family member or missing a family member.  Major roads and bridges connecting the north of the country to the south have been destroyed.
According to CNN, the earthquake in Chile was more powerful than the 7.0 quake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, killing at least 230,000.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for Chile and Peru, and a less-urgent tsunami watch for Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Antarctica. Hawaii sounded tsunami-warning sirens as well.
Chile is relatively well-equipped to respond to natural disaster and had deployed teams to Haiti to assist.
