Earthquake Hits Chile

SANTIAGO, Chile - A monstrous earthquake pummeled Chile early Saturday, toppling homes, hospitals, bridges and highways and spawning a tsunami that splashed potentially dangerous waves ashore in countries across the Pacific.

At least 214 people were killed in the magnitude-8.8 quake, one of the strongest ever recorded, Interior Minister Edmundo Perez said.

Newly built apartment buildings slumped and fell. Flames devoured a prison. Millions of people fled into streets darkened by the failure of power lines. The collapse of bridges tossed and crushed cars and trucks.

"It came in waves and lasted so long. Three minutes is an eternity. We kept worrying that it was getting stronger, like a terrifying Hollywood movie," said Santiago resident Dolores Cuevas.

"Unfortunately, Chile is a country of catastrophes," President-elect Sebastian Pinera said, adding the quake heavily damaged many of the country's roads, airports and ports.

President Michelle Bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe" in central Chile. Officials said about 1.5 million homes were damaged across the Andean nation.

Hours after the quake, smaller-than-expected tsunami waves hit Hawaii and the U.S. Pacific Coast. There were no immediate reports of damage and a tsunami warning for Hawaii was soon lifted.

Japan issued a warning on Sunday for a tsunami of 10 feet or higher and warned coastal residents to evacuate to higher ground,

Dozens of aftershocks
Chileans near the quake's epicenter were tossed about as if shaken by a giant. Local radio reported 100 people were missing in a collapsed building in hard-hit Concepcion, one of Chile's largest cities with around 670,000 inhabitants. Firefighters rushed to put out fires, and most of the buildings in the city center were destroyed.

Image: Earthquake location
Map locates offshore epicenter in Chile

At least five people were killed by huge earthquake-triggered waves that smashed into Chile's Robinson Crusoe Island, named for the fictional, stranded sailor.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake struck 56 miles northeast of the city of Concepcion at a depth of 22 miles at 3:34 a.m. (1:34 a.m. ET). The quake shook buildings in Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires, and was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil — 1,800 miles to the east.

More than 60 aftershocks of magnitude 5 or greater were reported in the hours after the quake.

An earthquake also hit northern Argentina, causing a wall to collapse in Salta, killing an 8-year-old boy and injuring two of his friends, police said. The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.3 temblor was a "triggered earthquake" caused by ground waves from the Chilean quake.

Blazing buildings
A 15-story building collapsed in Concepcion, where buildings caught fire, bridges collapsed and cracks opened up in the streets.

"I was on the eighth floor and all of a sudden I was down here," said Fernando Abarzua, marveling that he escaped with no major injuries. He said a relative was still trapped in the rubble six hours after the quake, "but he keeps shouting, saying he's OK."

Upside-down cars lay scattered on one damaged highway bridge. Some residents looted pharmacies and a collapsed grains silo, hauling off bags of wheat, television images showed.

More than 200 inmates in a prison near Concepcion escaped when walls crumbled, Terra Networks reported.

Concepcion's city hall also collapsed, according to radio reports.

In the town of Talca, 65 miles from the epicenter, people were jostled from bed as their belongings cascaded around them from the shuddering walls.

A journalist emerging into the darkened street scattered with downed power lines saw a man, some of his own bones apparently broken, weeping and caressing the hand of a woman who had died in the collapse of a cafe. Two other victims lay dead a few feet away.

In the capital of Santiago, 200 miles northeast of the epicenter, a car dangled from a collapsed overpass, the national Fine Arts Museum was badly damaged and an apartment building's two-story parking lot pancaked, smashing about 50 cars whose alarms rang incessantly.

“I saw how the cars fell off and I didn’t know what to do. I was alone here,” said Mario Riveros, a security guard at a factory in Santiago, as he stood next to a bridge that had fallen, according to La Segunda newspaper. “ I felt like crying,” he added.

Three hospitals in Santiago collapsed, and a dozen more south of the capital also suffered significant damage, a health official said.

Tsunami warnings
The jolt set off a tsunami that raced across the Pacific, setting off alarm sirens in Hawaii, Polynesia and Tonga. Tahitian officials banned all traffic on roads less than 1,600 feet from the sea and people in several low-lying island nations were urged to find higher ground.

Tidal surges of up to 7 feet hit some Hawaiian islands Saturday afternoon but there were no reports of damage or injuries. In southern California, a tidal surge swept away most of the navigational buoys in Ventura's harbor but no boats sank, officials reported.

Tsunami waves were also likely to hit Asian, Australian and New Zealand shores within 24 hours of the quake.

On the island of Robinson Crusoe, a huge tsunami wave flooded the village of San Juan Batista, killing at least five people and leaving 11 missing, said Guillermo de la Masa, head of the government emergency bureau for the Valparaiso region. He said the huge waves also damaged several government buildings on the island.

Pedro Forteza, a pilot who frequently flies to the island, said, "The village was destroyed by the waves, including the historic cemetery. I would say that 20 or 30 percent has disappeared."

World Cup 2010

World Cup 2010 South Africa Group And Schedule has been determined, now I want to share info about the group and schedule of FIFA World Cup 2010 as below:

Groups Of World Cup 2010

GROUP A
1. South Africa
2. Mexico
3. Uruguay
4. France


GROUP B
1. Argentina
2. Nigeria
3. Korea Republic
4. Greece


GROUP C
1. England
2. USA
3. Algeria
4. Slovenia


GROUP D
1. Germany
2. Australia
3. Serbia
4. Ghana


GROUP E
1. Netherlands
2. Denmark
3. Japan
4. Cameroon


GROUP F
1. Italy
2. Paraguay
3. New Zealand
4. Slovakia


GROUP G
1. Brazil
2. Korea DPR
3. Ivory Coast
4. Portugal


GROUP H
1. Spain
2. Switzerland
3. Honduras
4. Chile

Time Schedule Of World Cup 2010

Group A
Jun. 11
South Africa vs. Mexico
10:00 am, Johannesburg

Jun. 11
Uruguay vs. France
2:30 pm, Cape Town

Jun. 16
South Africa vs. Uruguay
2:30 pm, Pretoria

Jun. 17
France vs. Mexico
7:30 am, Polokwane

Jun. 22
Mexico vs. Uruguay
10:00 am, Rustenburg

Jun. 22
France vs. South Africa
10:00 am, Bloemfontein


Group B
Jun 12
Argentina vs. Nigeria
7:30 am, Johannesburg

Jun. 12
South Korea vs. Greece
10:00 am, Port Elizabeth

Jun. 17
Greece vs. Nigeria
10:00 am, Bloemfontein

Jun. 17
Argentina vs. South Korea
2:30 pm, Johannesburg

Jun. 22
Nigeria vs. South Korea
2:30 pm, Durban

Jun. 22
Greece vs. Argentina
2:30 pm, Polokwane


Group C:
Jun. 12
England vs. United States
2:30 pm, Rustenburg

Jun 13
Algeria vs. Slovenia
7:30 am, Polokwane

Jun. 18
Slovenia vs. United States
10:00 am, Johannesburg

Jun. 18
England vs. Algeria
2:30 pm, Cape Town

Jun. 23
Slovenia vs. England
10:00 am, Port Elizabeth

Jun. 23
United States vs. Algeria
10:00 am, Pretoria

Group D:

Jun. 13
Germany vs. Australia
10:00 am, Durban

Jun. 13
Serbia vs. Ghana
2:30 pm, Pretoria

Jun. 18
Germany vs. Serbia
7:30 am, Port Elizabeth

Jun. 19
Ghana vs. Australia
7:30 am, Rustenburg

Jun. 23
Ghana vs. Germany
2:30 pm, Johannesburg

Jun. 23
Australia vs. Serbia
2:30 pm, Nelspruit



Group E:

Jun. 14
Netherlands vs. Denmark
7:30 am, Johannesburg

Jun. 14
Japan vs. Cameroon
10:00 am, Bloemfontein

Jun. 19
Netherlands vs. Japan
10:00 am, Durban

Jun. 19
Cameroon vs. Denmark
2:30 pm, Pretoria

Jun. 24
Denmark vs. Japan
2:30 pm, Rustenburg

Jun. 24
Cameroon vs. Netherlands
2:30 pm, Cape Town


Group F:

Jun. 14
Italy vs. Paraguay
2:30 pm, Cape Town

Jun. 15
New Zealand vs. Slovakia
7:30 am, Rustenburg

Jun. 20
Slovakia vs. Paraguay
7:30 am, Bloemfontein

Jun. 20
Italy vs. New Zealand
10:00 am, Nelspruit

Jun. 24
Slovakia vs. Italy
10:00 am, Johannesburg

Jun. 24
Paraguay vs. New Zealand
10:00 am, Polokwane

Group G:

Jun. 15
Ivory Coast vs. Portugal
10:00 am, Port Elizabeth

Jun. 15
Brazil vs. North Korea
2:30 pm, Johannesburg

Jun. 20
Brazil vs. Ivory Coast
2:30 pm, Johannesburg

Jun. 21
Portugal vs. North Korea
7:30 am, Cape Town

Jun. 25
North Korea vs. Ivory Coast
10:00 am, Nelspruit

Jun. 25
Portugal vs. Brazil
10:00 am, Durban


Group H:

Jun. 16
Honduras vs. Chile
7:30 am, Nelspruit

Jun. 16
Spain vs. Switzerland
10:00 am, Durban

Jun. 21
Chile vs. Switzerland
10:00 am, Port Elizabeth

Jun. 21
Spain vs. Honduras
2:30 pm, Johannesburg

Jun. 25
Switzerland vs. Honduras
2:30 pm, Bloemfontein

Jun. 25
Chile vs. Spain
2:30 pm, Pretoria



Round of 16, Quarter-finals, Semi-finals and final

SECOND ROUND


Quarter-finals
49 PARTIES
Saturday, June 26
Port Elizabeth:
Winner Group A vs Runner-up Group B (14:00 GMT)

PARTY 50
Rustenburg:
Winner Group C vs. Runner-up Group D (18:30 GMT)
Sunday, June 27

51 PARTIES
Bloemfontein:
Winner Group D vs. Runner-up Group C (14:00 GMT)

52 PARTIES
Johannesburg:
Winner Group B vs. Runner-up Group A (18:30 GMT)
Monday, June 28

53 PARTIES
Durban:
Winner Group E vs Runner-up Group F (14:00 GMT)

54 PARTIES
Johannesburg:
Winner Group G v Runner-up Group H (18:30 GMT)
Tuesday, June 29

55 PARTIES
Pretoria:
Winner Group F vs. Runner-up Group E (14:00 GMT)

56 PARTIES
Cape Town:
Winner Group H v Runner-up Group G (18:30 GMT)


Friday, July 2
57 PARTIES
Port Elizabeth:
Winner 53 vs. Winner Party Party 54 (14:00 GMT)

58 PARTIES
Johannesburg:
Winner 49 vs. Winner Party Party 50 (18:30 GMT)
Saturday, July 3

59 PARTIES
Cape Town:
Winner 52 vs. Winner Party Party 51 (14:00 GMT)

PARTY 60
Johannesburg:
Winner 55 vs. Winner Party Party 56 (18:30 GMT)


Semifinals
Tuesday, July 6
Cape Town:
Winner 58 vs. Winner Party Party 57 (18:30 GMT)
Wednesday, July 7
Durban:
Winner 59 vs. Winner Party Party 60 (18:30 GMT)

Third place TO-3


FINAL
Saturday, July 10
Port Elizabeth:
Losing teams competed in the semifinals (18:30 GMT)
Sunday, July 11
Johannesburg:


That World Cup 2010 South Africa Group And Schedule. Who is your favorite team? i believe Brazil will win the game, and you?