>> this this is a fox news alert. the earth shook under the south american nation of chile today. as one of the most power. earthquakes in history knocked down buildings, seffed highways, crushed and it collapsed bridges, ignited fires and shattered lives, killing hundreds. tonight president obama addressed the nation and the chilean people. >> earlier today i was briefed by my security team on the steps that we're taking to protect our own people and stand with our chilean friends. we have resources that are positioned to deploy should the chilean government ask for help.

chile is a close parer of the united states. and we'll be there should the chilean people need assistance and our hearts go out to the families who may have lost loved ones. >> felt as far away as argentine a. the earthquake, the 5th most powerful in 100 years, spawned a tsunami, spreading terror from the galapagos islands to tahiti and hawaii before the energy was disappointed before it unheart attacked the sun am outlook in a couple. hello, and i'm geraldo rivera, the awesome earthquake unleashed energy 900 times stronger than the earthquake that reacted so

much havoc in haiti. but unlike haiti with grinding poverty and government incompetence and corruption, chile was ready for this. the 15th worst earthquake since 1973. right now airports are closed. and there are widespread power outages. the world's largest copper mines have suspended operations and the vital pan american highway is cut. before we bring you up to the minute coverage on the extent of today's disaster, the headline tonight has to be just how lucky the world is to have mostly dodged the deadly 1-2 punch from quake and wave. tonight as long as we're on the

air, the science channel am eachio joins us. the physicist and scientist. first of all, what a gigantic earthquake, nichio. >> we're talking about greater than a hydrogen bomb 20 miles underground, carrying a gigantic tsunami, which will go all the way to japan in a few more hours. >> i have think that japan has been taken off the tsunami list, and only japa jap -- >> should where did the wave go? >> it went across the pacific, and it was upon, and it was a dress rehearsal for something thathat could happen in los angeles, san francisco, tokyo and istanbul. and this could be a dress rehearsal for a big one that could hit the united states. >> we'll get to the tsunami.

and back to the earthquake though, and it's epic proportions. 8.8 on the richter scale is a factor, a multiple of times greater than the meetinge meaget caused such great devastation in haiti, and why was this one, i'm not down playing all of the collapsed buildings and devastation that i've noticed but why did this not cause the holocaust that the haitian quake did. >> earthquakes do not kill people. and it's buildings that kill people and corrupt building inspectors kill people. chile had the largest ever recorded, 9.5 on the richter dale in 1960. so the chill aias have had many

dress reversals. >> buildings that i have witnessed myself that squashed so many good people. made of cheap concrete and too much sand and no metal reinforcements. and in chile, i was in a high-rise hotel. there to cover the coup against the government. and we rushed out and it was okay. that earthquake, i'm sure measured about the same as the haitian earthquake, but clearly preparation and building codes and building inspectors made all the distance. >> right, and when we talk about the richter scales, that is the energy. to go from 7-8 is a factor of 32, and to go from 8 to 8.8 is a factor of 30 organization.

so do the math, 900 times the energy of the haitian earthquake concentrated in chile. >> and in the race eric eric, in haiti it happened right underneath importan port-au-prid here, it happened 70 miles south of the quake. and did that distance make a big difference? >> it did, and the earthquake in haiti took place near the surface of a populated area, and here, it was not as close to major population centers. so that's the reason why the death toll is not as great perhaps, but the main thing, the building codes we're not out the window. >> and clearly, i would hope that the situation in all of the developed world, certainly here

in north america, would be more than in line with chile than haiti. and i think there are building codes in virtually every area of the under. >> in our lifetime, we'll probably see the destruction of one of the big cities, los angeles or tokyo. be prepared for this. >> we have on the telephone from the capital. >> i was in bed when it hit and my room rattled for a good minute, and i thought the ceiling was about to collapse. i live on the 8th floor of an apartment building, and thankfully it didn't collapse, but it was certainly a very

scary moment. >> how long, jason, have you been in chile! >> only 5 months and i lived in argentina for 7 years. >> i should note, parenthetically, that it's the neighboring country to the east, also felt this earthquake and in fact, also had at least a few deaths as a result of it. so this was -- was this your first earthquake in chile? >> yes, it's the first earthquake i ever felt. i felt tremors about three weeks ago, and that didn't affect me too much, but it was a strange experience, but this last night was very drama, and i had friends on the 14th floor in a high-rise here, and they said to me that they were shaken from one side of the room to the other, and they really did think that they were about to die.

but they were safe as well. and i agree with you about building codes. that friend that i spoke to said that chile has some of the best building codes in the world. and i think that they really helped this time around. >> was it a fact that the government and the officials, including the president, were on the air or on the internet almost immediately reassuring the chilean people that all would be well. and they would help them find the missing or the injured. >> obviously the president has only 12 days or so in office, but she handle today very well. and she did manage to calm the people down. she went to the emergency center straight away and started to coordinate the efforts and find out what was happening, and she went to consepsion, the second

biggest city. >> what are the things happening? are there sirens or emergency responders scurrying about, or has the capital city dust settled or is the fire still burning? >> it's a lot calmer now, and certainly, we're still feeling tremors there. i felt a minor one earlier, but we're not really seeing fire engines around, we saw that earlier in the day. we understand that there have been 60 fatalitie fatalities ine capital, and some of the historic buildings have come down, including some of the fine arts museums, and some of the finest churches in the city, and some of the colonial districts have been badly damaged and i suppose that comes back to

buildings as well. these were older buildings, and obviously they were put up long before the new buildings were put in place. >> santiago has a history of over 500 years, from the spanish colonial days, and i remember well on my trips will, the grand colonial architecture. and hopefully it can be repaired and restored. jason, thank you. walter mooney, a geo physicist joins us from san francisco, and walter, thank you for being here. >> i don't know if you can ask hear me. >> who is this on the phone now? >> this is dale grand. >> i thought it was your colleague, walter, but thank you, we're live on television, and millions of people can now hear your impatience, but thank you for being with us, and tell us why, to the extent that you

feel able, the tsunami did not live up to the fears that we had when the warning was published. >> you guys have been talking about this, and this quake had a littldepth to t and being 25 kilometers deep, it mitigates the size of the wave quite a bit. and i have to say that they were very fortunate that this was not shallow. as was the earthquake in haiti t. the earthquake was extremely shallow and that's why there was so much damage. the depth is crucial because the deeper they are, the less energy reaches the surface. >> we're looking at footage of tara, chile and at the moment that the quake is hitting, the people are panicking and running

about. and do you believe that the importance of building codes and modern construction is the difference between this calamity and the incredible catastrophe that struck in haiti? >> absolutely, building codes are crucial in any city that is close to a fault line, and i think that kudos have to go to the chilean government. and it helps reduce the loss of life. >> ladies and gentlemen, for the next hour and 45 minutes, we'll show and you bring you up close and personally to every corner and every aspect of this disaster, this incredible 8.8 magnitude earthquake that caused all of these buildings to be leaning towers in santiago and

conception, and a tsunami, that may be a disaster yet to custom. live in chile and around the world woman down from nasal allergy attack. but we've got the ammunition she needs: omnaris. (troops) omnaris! to the nose. (general) omnaris works differently than many other allergy medications. omnaris fights nasal allergy symptoms that occur from allergic inflammation... relieve those symptoms with omnaris. side effects may include headache, nosebleed and sore throat. her nose is at ease. we have lift off. (general) remember omnaris! ask your doctor. in the battle against nasal allergy symptoms, omnaris combats the cause.

concepcion. >> welcome back to our special two hour presentation on the earthquake in chile and the tsunami racing across the pacific. secretary of state, hillary clinton, is heading to chile as part of a preplanned south american trip, but she'll be in the country on tuesday to see for herself the aftereffects of one of the strongest earthquakes in history s i would like to go to ben, refused to be evacuated

from the hotel in hawaii, and they are one of our favorite bounty hunters. come on, honey, sit down next to dog, and bring us back to the very beginning. dog, can you hear me? tell me, when you first got word, did you hear the sirens? is that how you woke up today. >> dog, you read me? hello. i hear beth in the background. can you hear me? >> hello. you look great, dog. all right, we were going to get back to dog as soon as we get that skype problem worked out. you know, that was amazing, this must help you scientists as well, the interconnected nature. and i mean, that skype was a bomb. and we had great connection, and

it was the internet, the twitters and the face books, and all of the other social networking systems out this, that allowed people to be up to date and find granny, and maria in the little town where she lived. >> that's right. >> this is a fox news alert from new york. i'm marianne rafferty, the first tsunami has now hit japan. the associated press reporting that the first waves are small, but the first waves are usually small and can get larger. japan had warned of tsunamis up to 10 feet off the coast. but the report is that japan has been hit benefit small tsunami waves. earlier today it hit hawaii but wasn't enough to do damage. the first waves have hit japan but the first waves were small.

stay with us for more on the developing story. >> earthquake, we're talking about a shake and bake that would dwarf everything beyond comprehension, a 9.5 in los angeles, and these are earthquakes waiting to happen. they're like time bombs. >> you're going with this nor log rhythmic expansion of powers, thank you go up the scale. 9.5 at the to end, and we have experienced 7s and 8s in california, and they have been awful, but they didn't make arizona beachfront. >> right, but remember, once a year, we have an earthquake of 8 or larger. >> the rim of fire. >> places where no one lives, so it doesn't make fox news, but an 8.8, that is almost beyond comprehension. almost every 50 years, we have something of that magnitude, and if it were to hit california, i

grew up in california and grew up with earthquakes, feeling tremors all the time. my grandfather was in the 1906 one, and a 9.0 could devastate. >> going back, isn't panic a huge factor in manipulate gating the sharp effects of something this awful. >> our tech has helped so much with this disaster, because instantaneous, we can get the word out. you realize that in hawaii, they knew it was coming, we clocked it. and we had bouys that gave us up-to-the-minute read outs of where the sun am ip was, and we could trace its evolution. this is amazing compared to where we were in 1960. >>. things that i found extremely interesting, as a sailor myself, how in hawaii, it the decision

was made by the united states navy and the historic pearl harbor base to send destroyers and trying at out to see where the impact of the a tsunami would not be female. is it like airwave on the ocean that doesn't break and you just float up and it crashes on the beach? >> if you're on annual ocean liner, you wouldn't notice it. but it goes all the way to the bottom of the ocean t. so this monster wave, it hits ground and the bomb hits ground and the top keeps going, and that effect, the wall of water can be up to 60 feet tall in a gigantic earthquake. and it really goes the speed of a jetliner, 500 miles per hour, and you can clock it.

but you have to realize that the pacific ocean is a pond compared to the energy released by these things, and it goes as fast as a jetliner. >> let me take a break right now, and when we come back, we'll continue our far flung coverage on today's twin disasters. stay tuned. [ male announcer ] how can rice production in india

affect wheat output in the u.s., the shipping industry in norway, and the rubber industry in south america? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual fds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses, and other information to read and consider carefully before investing. >> continuing our special fox news coverage on the earthquake in chile. 8.8 on the richter scale, one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history. this morning, of course the tsunami, we have been talking about. and joining me right now from washington d.c., chris mullen, the deputy secretary of state. and we heard the president

address today, he assured the people of chile that the people of the united states stand by them. and having been in chile and experiencing them sending aid and comfort to other nations affected by the natural disasters, is this the kind of is situation where they feel they can handle it on their own? what can the united states do to august meant or help in that process. >> let us just express again our condolences to the chilean people, and commend the president for what he did in those circumstances. chile is one of the best prepared for this kind of seismic event or tragedy. they were one of of the first countries to respond to the tragedy in haiti. and their military, they're members of the u.n. and peace keepers in haiti moved out and

the chilean government brought in supplies and teams. they have practiced many times for this type of thing, so my guess is whatever they have asked from us, and we have made an offer of assistance, and we have stand by teams now, and our agency for national development has two disaster and have relief teams ready to go, and our southern command, based in miami, has a team ready to go if they need it. and our ambassador has money to the chilean government. right now, the chilean government is assessing it's needs, and we'll get back to them on it. >> in haiti, the quake was so devastating to the government that it ceased to function. and we didn't even know if the president was alive or dead for 24 hours because the presidential palace had collapsed and he was almost, and

in this case, the president is on the phone immediately. and is that something that we can learn? it seems that we should borrow from the chilean ex per piece. and i know that's hard for we as americans to swallow, but it seems that communication was the ant don't to panic, mr. secretary. >> you're absolutely right. the president's government has done a terrific job across the board, not just in responding to this tragedy, but in other areas in the region. but beyond haiti, we're working with chile on cooperation and paraguay in central america, they have a very well developed assistance program. and their many ways that we can learn from the chileans, and they're one of our clopsest partners in the -- closest pa

partners in the region. president obama said that we want partners in the latin american region that we can work with. >> isn't that amazing how the country has evolved since the military coup in 1973, and the government then in disarray, taken over by the military in a dictator ship. and now it's one of the best government on the earth. >> they have a new alliance of a political party. so it shows a level of sophistication and maturity that's admirable. as you pointed out, they have had tremendous economic growth. and they have reduced their poverty level. and there are many ways that

chile is a free country. they have free trade agreements with other countries in the world. and it's a very sophisticated country and the most globalized country in latin america, and it's one that we want to work with as well as other countries in south america. >> thank you, secretary mcmullin, for being with us tonight. as the warning siren sounded across the length and breadth of the hawaiian islands, people evacuated the beaches and headed to higher grounds -- that's video from chile. but hawaii was waiting for the giant tsunami that experts feared would inundate the beach frogs. the tsunami never happened. and in the words of one expert, hawaii dodged the bullet. but dear friends of mine were there on vacation, and i hope

that scarjerry is here right no. >> i'm here with prominent new york attorney, gerald, who happens to be vacationing in hawaii. >> i'm in kona, looking in the easterly direction, and the seas are relatively calm, the wind has kicked up a little. and evan is waiting with bated breath to see what happens. they are still predicting a very serious tsunami. >> the small craft, what have they done? are they in the harbor or have they gone out to sea. >> they were advised to go out to sea. and i see a small cluster of small vessels, maybe 10, 12 sailboats and powerboats, and they were just waiting. i have to tell that you the authorities here did a very competent and efficient evacuation of the low-lying

areas. it worked like clockwork. and they made sure that everyone was up to higher ground and to safety. >> so i understand that you and your wife, terri, had a luxurious experience. >> i have to tell you, i'm sitting here at pool side, at the golf club, up the mountain from the four seasons, and you couldn't have a more luxurious evacuation. the superdome, it ain't. >> how did they tell that you you had to evacuate in what was the tone? >> they went, first we got messages in the room. and then they went door-to-door to alert the people. they have carefully defined zones that must be evacuated. and the places that you evacuate to are carefully defined, and

again, they work like clockwork. the island of oahu where the famous waikiki beach is, the story is entirely different. there was so much congestion, and i was over there this week. and people are inches away from each other on the beach. it's very crowded. the last time they tried to evacuate that section of honolulu, there was gridlock, and no one could get through. >> that did not happen this time. this time everyone was ordinarily and the wave never hit. craig is live at the waikiki yacht club, and hi, brother, i know that you only recently arrived and describe what you're seeing, and is everyone breathing a huge sigh of relief. >> everyone is, and i'm in front of the waikiki yacht club, and

as you see, the water is practical like glass here. the tsunami did strike, but the hawaiians were prepared. they received notification of the tsunami striking at 12:35, and they put out a warning which is a few miles from where i'm standing right now. i'm with ed tasherra, and how important was it to conduct those evacuations? >> it was important with an earthquake that was measuring in an 8.8 magnitude. even our tsunami warning officials were very very concerned. that an earthquake in chile, next to the water, along the coast with reads, would result in a very damaging earthquake to hawaii and other parts of the pacific. >> you know, they're predicting

40 feet surges, and not just the waves break on the coastline, but it's a surge that would last 15 minutes, completely inundating the coastal areas, and is that what you were afraid of. >> yes, coastal surges and overrunning many areas, like the beachfront properties, the hotels, and other areas like the roads and harbors. and we have many things to be concerned about. >> geraldo, ironically, general robert lee was sitting next to me, getting reports minute-by-minute from the capitacaptain and his men, and e about his response. >> first of all, before getting on the plane we ed tasherra and the governor and others, early in the morning, we were on video conferences on how to prepare the state and the counties for evacuations of the coastal areas, and when we would sound the sirens and how we would do

the evacuation. i appreciate the cooperation of the people of hawaii for following all of the guidelines set forth by the authorities, and there was virtually no traffic on the streets, and everybody cooperated and evacuated to the high levels of the hotels. >> so this is a little lessons learned from the tsunami where almost one quarter of a million people were killed. >> prior to the tsunami in indonesia, we had only seven of the deep ocean bouys to give us reads in the pacific, and today we have 43, so it's good to have technology backing us up, and giving the people, not only of hawaii but the united states and throughout the pacific the earliest warping possible. >> geraldo, the general's men did see a surge of water come in at he'll owe bay. >> that's correct, he'll owe hee

big island of hawaii. >> and they saw swirls of water, 200 meeters wide. >> they were in the helicopter. and they could see that hilo bay is normally very calm, and they could see all of the debris from the bottom of the bay start churning, and they knew that here's the surge of the tsunami from chile. >> it traveled 6500 miles, and the cruise ships, i notice that a lot of them are gone from the coastal area, but the smaller ones are still here. >> from the pacific warning center, making the decision to post a regional tsunami warning for the pacific, a lot of ample time. we were in a warning for 12 hours, and so therefore, he gave us enough time to plan for some

things ahead of time. so for example, we made plans to keep the cruise ships outside of the harbors, safely anchored offshore, and then enough time to evacuate our harbors and craft in a very effective manner outside of the harbors and so forth for the tsunami warning. >> and i understand that your governor, linda, spent the evening helping run the operations at the emergency operation center. >> our governor began to just giving me a call every hour for an update. and by 5:00 in the morning, she was in the emergency operating center ready to go to work. >> geraldo, our defense mechanism never left pearl harbor, they're in a very protected harbor, so they never had to set out to sea. >> and the general, craig, if he fears the fact that the tsunami

did not hit will make it much more difficult to make the population to budge to evacuate the next time around? >> general, geraldo is asking if this is going to cause the people to not move next time. >> i wouldn't use false alarm. this is an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, quite large, and all of models showed that will we could have 8-9-foot waves to hit the coastline for the state of hawaii. i think we got lucky, but i would not call it -- >> are you afraid that the hawaiians might not complacent next time. >> i think that all of the lessons learned front the indonesian tsunami, and all of the earthquakes in the state of hawaii, i think that the residents are much more prepared than in the past. and i hope this this will

continue to improve. >> general and ed, please stay with us, geraldo, we'll be standing by for the rest of the hour. >> thank you, craig, and thank you, general and coordinator there. but we'll be back to you, john cummins, of the oahu department of emergency management. from the science channel, with me, the science show. got it right. and i want to give you specific updates. japan did issue its first tsunami warning in decades, and they evacuated hundreds of thousands. and taiwan, the huge island, semi-nation there, feared that the tsunami could hit the island's east coast. and tonga where i spent the millennium, on the international dateline, they have had 50,000 people in the island nation

evacuate to higher ground. and samo a. samoa, i forgot th5 months ago, 580 people died in a tsunami, and were weren't they warned? what happened to the intricate system that has been developed since the soup, why weren't they warned this time. >> we have 53 bouys across the pacific, but if an earthquake happens close to the target zone, there's not enough time to warn the people. here we had plenty of warning because the wave travels at hundreds of miles an hour, but the distance is huge, thousands of miles. so the people of hawaii had warning but sometimes there's no time available. >> and do you think -- let's take malibu where i used to live for many years, where crusty residents have basically seen everything. do you think that cynicism or skepticism or the experience

that happened today, might blunt to the question that i asked those gentlemen, a citizen response. >> this is human nature. people will say, this is a dud. all of this preparation, where was the gigantic wave toppling the buildings in waikiki beach? it's human nature, but we have to take this into consideration to say that sometimes the monster event does han in our lifetimes. >> granted, and that's example so. but doesn't our experience today indicate to you that perhaps the scientists have not matched the reality yet in terms of prediction into. >> exactly, w predict how high t was. it was 6 feet when it hit maui and 5.5 feet when it hit the big island bump its difficult to predict because our science is not up to speed yet.

and we can't predict the exact height of the wave when it makes landfall. >> and handcuff how, on a typical stormy day, you have waves that would dwarf the tsunami, and here we see the surfers with the super waves, probably 10 times of what the tsunami was today. >> some would say, whalings all the fuss about? i have seen bigger waves before. >> i saw surfers out there today. >> we have to be on guard, look what happened with the tsunami of 2004. the wave was not that high, but it kept going, and it wiped out entire cities and areas, and so we have to be on alert for these things. everyone argues about and debates climate change, and whether or not it's real. or if it's just a creation of

people with a political agenda, but is it not the rim of fire surrounding the pacific where earthquakes and tsunamis are so commonplace, are they not increasing in activity where we can record and report the activity far more than we could before? >> mainly the latter. we have a larger population, and we have a media around the world. and okinawa, it had a 7.6 earthquake because there was no media. but in the last 15 years, there has been a slight uptick of earthquake f. but in the main, it's random because there's no media when most of these earthquakes do hit. >> and the uptick could not be related to human activity. >> probably not. i think it's a good -- we could

sigh that human activity does not affect the minute ip cycles in earthquake activity. >> i want to go back live to the nation of chile and our reporters there and around the world. give us a few minutes and come back to fox news and the special report and the earthquake of 2010.

>> beth chapman in hawaii, and donkey, can you hear me now. >> my brother, can you hear me? >> yes, you're looking good, and you're at the hotel and why didn't you evacuate. >> we were right on the other side of the evacuation lines, and we rode it out.

it was crazy, all of the whales stopped coming in, and all of birds kamin land. you could see the coral and we were like, okay get ready. and right to the last second, it was like an m80 firecracker and at the end it didn't blow. >> did you think it was the end of the world as you knew it. >> no, but you know, is we know how to dodge bullets and so on, but you cannot dodge mother nature. buff we were up high, so we were prepared. >> so did you -- were you ap wakened by the siren? is that the way it happened? why don't you describe your morning to us. >> last night, geraldo, we were doing an arrest on russell hamilton, and we captured him, and just as we were leaving the scene, all of the sirens started and we heard there had been an 8.5 earthquake and all of a

sudden, all of the hawaii sirens started, and that was it. the radio, television, police were evacuating everybody, and it was amazing. >> your signal is going in and out there. did you have a real feeling of drama, dog? as hardened as you are to action and danger, did you really believe that you were in the bulls eye for this tsunami? >> well, you know, we face danger every day. and this was really danger. this was, yes, the whole family was here, the kids, all of us, crazy, i said we got to stay, and she said no, you were the leader, let's get out of here, it was crazy, we're very very lucky to have dodged a huge bullet. >> and when that water emptied out and exposed the coral, that must have been fairly freakydiki. >> it was, and you saw the fish

flopping and it comes in not like airwave, but one minute one and five minutes another one and keeps coming and our governor has said all clear, but we're still watching because you never know how this happens. nature and the whales and all of that, all of those signs looked like it was coming. >> and then somehow, miraculously passed you buy, so dog, you're already one of the luckiest guys that i know, so maybe your luck spread to the hawaiian islands. >> i got a call from a very good man of god. and when he prayed, he said god, none of hawaii will be hurt right now, including dog and his family. and geraldo, you and i won't know until we get to heaven, but i think that god played a big part in saving he's islands.

>> all right, amen to that, and enjoy the rest of your vacation there. and hopefully it has passed you by, but dog, thanks a million, i love you, brother. >> thank you, we love up, brother. >> and dr., when they talked of the brown dirty consumed of water coming, could that possibly have been transported over 6,000 miles from chile, or was that just the bottom of the local waters being scooped up by the tsunami. >> i think the ladder. when the earthquake hit chile, the shock wave, and the disturbance went all the way. but not the substance itself. water doesn't move. it was just the wave itself. the vibration, the shock wave went across the pond called the pacific ocean. >> i've sailed across it, and tahiti had dramatic wave action

and more. and the beautiful gallopose islanding also experienced very very high water with the tsunami effect, but generally, it was not the disaster we have seen in some local areas, and of course we haven't heard the last from japan or russia or china. on the phone is another witness to what happened in chile where it all originated. matt is in the capital city of santiago. and give us from the reporter's point of view what your experience was when this thing hit at 3:30 local time this morning. >> yes, good evening, the earthquake hit at 3:35 am local time. and at that time, i was fast

asleep after a long hard work week, and i woke to what i would describe as a strong and steady but not a jarring and swaying movement back and forth. i live in a 25-floor apartment building, and i'm on the 14th floor, high off the ground. so i woke up and grabbed my things and had to start heading to the door, and suddenly, there's such an up tick in the movement and it became a lot more jarring, and at that point, it became a challenge to maintain my footing. and my girlfriend grabbed her stuff and ran out the door and ran down 14 flights of stairs, and didn't have time to grab her shoes, but we made it out okay and made it out onto the streets without any major problems. >> to the extent that you can recall with any accuracy, how long did the event last, matt?

>> it was definitely, from start to finish, it was long, more than a minute and a half, i would say between a minute and a half and two minutes. >> did it have a crescendo and easy off and did you feel the impact as we watch the incredible video of the shaking? the event from the surveillance cameras in chile, did you have the sense that it was going to get worse and worse, and you had no prediction of how bad it was going to be, and did it easy off or end suddenly. >> exactly, my perception was there was definitely a crescendo and it reached the high point, and 10, 20 seconds, perhaps 30 seconds, and then it korean stopped shaking. >> in terms of aftershocks? >> the aftershocks have been going on through most of the day, and it seemed to be less

frequent. again, i'm here in downtown santiago, there was a strong one at 4:00 p.m. and another strong one at 8 p.m., but it's still present frequent, but not as frequent as earlier in the day. >> did you make the decision to go up 14 flights of stairs. >> yes, i'm in the at now, and most people have returned. the neighbors have returned to the apartment. and the government officials are calling on people to stay home. and my perception of what i've seen, most of the residents in santiago are obeying the orders. >> i think they're sound advice from competent government. matt, i hope that your electricity is restored some time soon, so you don't have to keep going up and down the 14 floor plan walkup.

but on the phone now, us geophysicist, walter mooney and oh, good, you're on camera, and i appreciate your being there. and is it always the case that the aftershock is less than the major event itself. >> well, sometimes the aftershock can be larger than the main event, but that would only be one out of -- or two out of 100. but in this case, we expect that the aftershock will be less than 8.8. and probably they will be larger than the magnitude of 8.7. and it's larger than the haiti earthquake and that's just an aftershock. that tells you how big it was. >> i used to think that the earthquake was just the earth shaking before i understand the

tectonic plate business. the earth goes up and down, and huge swath of earth move up and down relative to each other. and is that more or less what happened? >> in this case, what's going on, the pacific ocean is being pushed beneath south america, but it doesn't slide under gracefully. it gets locked and stopped. and in this region, the pushing of the pacific basin under south america has been locked since 1835. and that's a long time. it suddenly let's loose, and when it does, it does so with a lot of shaking in the vertical motion and horizontal. and as you heard from your eyewitness, who just spoke from the telephone in santiago, it's a complicated pattern. first it crescendos because the waves come in that series, because it lasts a long time.

the earthquake takes 100 seconds to unzip. so this earthquake didn't happen all at once like you might think. the fault unzipped over a period of 100 seconds, and during those 100 seconds, we have a pretty complicated pattern of shake, so that's what your eyewitness reporters are telling us and we can confirm that request the seismographs and the equipment that records the earthquakes. >> i know you're not a sooth sayer, but our resident colleague predicts that we'll have one of these huge earthquakes on the west coast of the united states in our lifetime. and what's the official position of the u.s. geological survey. >> i can give you a clear answer on that. the last earthquake of this size that occurred in the united states was in 1700 in january. and we know that well from the records of the tsunami that

inundated japan. and statistically, on average, based on geological investigations, an earthquake of that size happens about every 500 years. with an uncertainty of 200 years. so i would agree with him that we were in the window. it could ham. but we migh might get past in or lifetime and not see that mega earthquake in north america, and again, there's a chance. so we can't say for sure, but it might not happen as well as it might. >> we'll hey! inrease in 6 mths. pete, back it up! ( marker squeaking ) when business travel leaves you drained, re-charge withomfo suites. spacious rooms, free hi-speed internet, d free hot breakfast.

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