Thousands of Chileans returned to their homes on Wednesday after spending the night on the hills following a powerful 8.2-magnitude earthquake that killed six people and sparked tsunami alerts. The huge quake in the north of the major mining country sent copper prices jumping to a three-week high after Tuesday night's tremors caused nearly one million people to evacuate their homes along the coast.
Some 300 inmates escaped after the wall of a women's prison collapsed in Iquique, the city closest to the quake's epicenter. Authorities said 110 of them were recaptured while police and soldiers patrolled the streets to prevent any looting. Chilean television showed sagging roofs, broken windows and shelves and merchandise on the floor at shopping centers in Iquique, located about 1,800 kilometers (1,120 miles) north of the capital Santiago.
Thousands of people had slept in the open on hills surrounding the city during the night. Similar evacuation warnings were issued in a ripple effect up the Pacific coast of South America and into Central America. About 10 hours after the two-minute quake, the Chilean government lifted what remained of the nation-wide tsunami alert. "The earthquake was quite violent. The hardest was spending the night outside," Christian Martinez, a school director who returned to survey his classrooms in Iquique for any damage, told Channel 13 television.
Chilean Interior Minister Rodrigo Penalillo said six people - four men and two women - were killed in Iquique and the nearby Alto Hospicio municipality. Another nine people were injured in neighbouring Peru, where some homes were damaged. Some fires broke out, roads were damaged and power was knocked out in the northern city of Arica, although there was no widespread destruction, said disaster relief agency ONEMI.
"The street lights were busted, people ran terrified. After the earthquake there were several aftershocks," Veronica Castillo told AFP from Arica. In Iquique, the sea rushed 200 meters (yards) inland, flooding some streets, authorities said. Fishermen reported that 80 boats had been destroyed, sunk or floated out to sea. The city's airport control tower was damaged and flights to Iquique, Arica and the northern city of Antofagasta were cancelled, though they resumed on Wednesday.
Landslides covered the road linking Iquique with the rest of the country. The state-run Codelco mining company, the world's top copper producer, evacuated some facilities on the coast but none suffered damage. At 1230 GMT, world copper prices rose to $6,734 per tonne, striking the highest point since March 10 as traders worried about possible supply problems in the top global producer.
At least 20 aftershocks shook Chile and authorities warn that more may come in the next days. President Michelle Bachelet declared parts of northern Chile to be disaster zones and travelled to Arica and Iquique to survey the damage and lead relief efforts. She deployed troops to the areas to prevent looting and disorder from breaking out as they did after a deadly 8.8-magnitude quake in 2010.