the coast of concepcion. we have learned some buildings have collapsed. goodn, that's close to the capital where people say they felt tremors. there are some collapsed buildings. again, this is an 8.8 magnitude. so this is a massive earthquake. so far we have not received reports of injuries, only damage estimates so far of the collapsed buildings. struck about 3:34 local time. joining us by phone is jen ross, she is a free freelance reporter. jen, can you hear me? >> i am here, yeah. >> did you actually feel the tremors? what was it like? >> yes, it was an earthquake. we were sleeping. the earthquake happened around 3:40 in the morning. immediately you could hear things falling off of the shelves, the door shaking, the whole apartment -- i live in an apartment on the 6th floor" everything was rattling and there was a lot of noise outside and pottery breaking. it was the largest earthquake that had happened in chile in more than 20 years. it was noticible by any means. >> and you know, jen, you are asleep. wh

you mentioned concepcion and talco. what is your sense of local officials there and how they are dealing with it at this time knowing chooil as do you? >> i think the whole country, and the people, too, we are born in a country where you feel earthquakes since you are very young. you get emergency drills at school very often. you more or less know what to do, where to look at and where to go if there is a earthquake. of course, not this big of an earthquake. in a situation like this, and especially during the night, it's very hard for people to react and do the right thing sometimes. i think it's not a lack of from structure or construction towards concepcion or talca, it's a matter of being close to the epicenter and that is what is worse for them. >> glad you were able to make contact with your family in chile. thank you for joining us to give us perspective on the ground. >> our eyes are on chile and across the pacific in hawaii and points in between as the earthquake sets off a tsunami that is still being felt. the

in concepcion, everything has really fallen apart. >> dozens of aftershocks have been reported including one that measured 6.9 just hours after the initial quake. >>> we're learning more almost by the minute about this massive earthquake and we're going to update you throughout the morning and the rest of the day right here on hln. >>> now let's get to some of the other top stories. tears and then cheers as seaworld in orlando gets back to business. some seaworld employees cried as a video montage of the late trainer dawn brancheau played at the amphitheater there. once it was over the famed orca show got under way. despite cold and rain, the attraction was about three quarters full. the crowd gave the trainers a standing ovation and clapped loudly for the whales as they performed the routine. but the trainers didn't swim or perform in the water with the whales. on wednesday, an orca named tilikum pulled the 40-year-old brancheau in the water and fatally injured her. >>> thousands of people in the northeast are sitting in the dark right now because of a massive snowstorm. repair crews fr

the mayor of concepcion says that more than 100 workers are stuck in a building. workers have still trying to get them out. bill? >> thanks to you. so far, chile has not asked for help. if it does, president obama says that we stand ready to help. the ambassador to chile joins us this morning. paul simons. thank you for joining us. glad you're safe. do you have a see of how many americans are in the country? are all accounted for? >> good morning. we've been working since 3:30 in the morning yesterday and our primary job has been to take a count, look at where the americans are. make sure that they are safe. we've been able to account for all of the approximately 100 americans that work for our embassy directly, in santiago. they're all fine. in addition to that, at any given time, we have about 18,000 americans that live here. we've activated a 24-hour system at our embassy. and we have reached out through our warden network. it's an e-mail and telephone network of local representatives to try to account for the bulk of the other americans. to this point, we have

. >> pero el sueño de concepción ha sido puesto en peligro debido al despido del 60% de los maestrosar. >> teníamos que esperar con esta, no que tenía seguridad. los es tenían señoría, la mayoría están buscando en cualquier otro lugar. >> (hablando en inglés) >> estos estudiantes están condenados a un sinfín de sustitutos sin experiencia educativa. >> señaló de la unión de libertades civiles junto con la oficina del defensor público. presentó una demanda del estado de california y el distrito escolar de los angeles a nombre de concepción, hay otros estudiantes de 3 escuelas de bajos recursos de los angeles. >> lo que demandamos es que primero que todo si hay cortes en el futuro en los próximos meses que no ocurran en estas escuelas y están dañadas. >> la idea de libertades civiles que en el estado de california está pasando por serios problemas económicos y recortar a los estudiantes más necesitados del estado es un sitio equivocado para balancear el presupuesto. áánoticiero univisiotyplwhiskp >> un juez estableció una fianza de un millón de dólares el hombre acusado de iniciar un t

i have dear friends still in concepcion. i went to school in university in that city. i have heard from my parents, my brothers, my sisters, they are all fine. there are dear, dear friends i haven't been able to locate yet but i'm hoping they are fine. >> do you think the experience your country has had is help something. >> reporter: well, larry. yes. we know there are several earthquakes you will live throughout your life. you cannot be prepared for an 8.8 earthquake. that will get you in the surprise. in the middle of the night sleeping and the light is out. yes. we all know what an earthquake means, what you should be doing, what you should do. >> thank you, carolinaa. we will check with you later as well. 214 are dead, 2 million affected, more reports from chile as this special edition of "larry king live" continues. [ female announcer ] now multigrain pops. ♪ ♪ hey, now, now, we're going down, down ♪ ♪ and we'll ride the bus there ♪ pay the bus fare ♪ or we find a new reason [ female announcer ] something unexpected to the world of multigrain... taste. ♪ hey, now

you may have heard 100 people are still unaccounted for inside a building in concepcion and the efforts have been very slow because moving and trying to blast through the side of the concrete of that building could dislodge it and cause more damage. rescue efforts are slow in some areas. as well, many people in small coastal towns hit with what they call high tides, not a tsunami, but when you are talking about five, six-meter high waves that came in up to kilometer or more, there are vast areas where the the downton core and houses that have been completely flooded or taken out to see. we're getting a lot of news about what is happening in much smaller areas that were cut off transportation and communication wise yesterday. >> shannon: jen, let me ask you. we heard so much throughout the day and the night about the shaking and tremors there. has the situation stopped or are you experiencing some of that today? >> reporter: we are still experiencing the tremors. now have the latest count i saw was 114 tremors. the latest was earlier in afternoon. the biggest one hit around 8:30 this mor

lots of concern for that building there in concepcion.he epicenter, i want to show you another piece of video that we have. this is from a smaller town talcahuano to give you an idea of the strength of the water, the waves that crashed into that port. a pier is totally destroyed. the boats have been tossed around like toys, crashed into each other. one on top of the other. and into each other. you see the force of this earthquake and the destruction it has caused. so strong that in neighboring argentina, 1300 miles away, people felt it and two people died. we have heard from the undersecretary of health saying that there has been major damage to the hospitals. however, they don't need outside assistance at this point. they're trying to tend to all patients at the hospital, tending to the patients on the streets, but they are managing. they have sent out a call to all doctors and nurses, wherever they are, to report to duty, asking people to go to the hospital, only in an absolute emergency, asking them to conserve power, to conserve elect

that is concepcion, and it is really everything is falling apart. >> a descripps there of the damage in concepcion, the city closest to the epicenter of saturday's earthquake and we kept asking about the city as the story unfolded almost 24 hours ago. there is the story that we predicted. here is the latest from chile and teams rescued 30 people from one collapsed building in that central coast city. the government confirms more than 300 people died in the quake. still, that number could rise with emergency management officials indicating 500,000 homes were severely damaged in that city. chile is well prepared for this kind of disaster and not asked for international assistance, and still u.s. president barack obama was briefed on the quake situation by his top advisers and at an afternoon conference, president obama promised support if chile wants it. >> earlier today, a devastating earthquake struck the city of chile affecting millions of people. this catastrophic event was followed by multiple aftershocks, and has prompted tsunami warnings across the pacific ocean. earlier today,

concepcion is a city known as being the college town of chile. four universities are there and a number of different programs and universities throughout the world with exchange students and i was speaking to a source about five minutes ago telling me they have been able to speak with family in the capital of santiago and some of their family, young people were heading in a car to concepcion overnight and they haven't been able to reach them. it's not unusual in an earthquake. the president declared an area of disaster. chile sits smack dab in the middle of the circle of fire. the reason it's called that is about 80% of all of the earthquakes that occur day in and day out around the world occur in this area. santiago and chile had a number of earthquakes in their history. some larger than others. the largest recorded in recent times in 1960, a 9 on the richter scale. they are used to earthquakes, although nobody can get used to an earthquake. the fact is that the newer construction is all been handled under a strict code. for example, the earthqu

it was centered off the coast near the city of concepcion. the earthquake triggered a tsunami, and witnesses say it lasted between three and five minutes. already there have been numerous aftershocks, including one that measured 6.9. most people were in bed so damage reports are still coming into us. one witness said he felt shaking and heard screaming in his building. >> people from higher floors started screaming. my glasses were broken. >> to give you an idea of how powerful this earthquake was. it was at least 1,000 sometimes stronger than the earthquake that recently hit haiti. >>> we're learning more almost by the minute on this massive earthquake. we'll update the story throughout the morning and the rest of the day on hln. right now we'll move on to some of the day's other top stories. >>> thousands of people in the northeast are sitting in the dark this morning because of that massive snowstorm. repair crews from new jersey all the way to maine have been working since thursday to fix broken power lines, but toppled trees and up to 30

people in concepcion say they have no food. now chile's government has been called in to provide relief help . the number of missing continues to rise. shortly after announcing they would not need help, the chilean president says, they will accept help. the first things they will need are field hospitals and more search and rescue teams. they hope to relieve the hardest hit spots. a curfew is now in place in hope of restoring order to those areas shattered in the quake. but with 1.5 million homes damaged, many chilean's will spend another night sleeping out on the street. at the united nations, karen brown, wjz news. >> today chile's president has announced supermarket basics will be given away for free along with water. >>> and we have more on that airplane that came down and nearly missed two homes. the pilot was the only person on board the plane when it struck some trees and then crashed just a few feet away from two homes. >>> jury deliberations are set to resume tomorrow. in prince george's county, wjz stays on that story

it hit 60 miles northeast of the heavily populated city of concepcion. so far, 214 are dead and the death toll is almost certain to climb. the quake toppled houses, bridges and highways, as well. chile's president declare ed a state of catastrophe. today president obama said the united states is ready to help. >> chile is a close friend and partner of the united states. i reached out to president bachelet to let her know we will be there for her should the chilean people need assistance, and our hearts go out to the families who may have lost loved ones. >> so far chile's leaders have not asked for american aid. at this point several hundred aftershocks have been reported since the quake hit. the chilean ambassador to the united states talked to news4 this afternoon. he was in chile as a child when a larger earthquake struck. >> event is going to have consequences for many years because it's not only the reconstruction of the infrastructure that is important, indeed it is, but especially the shock that you can imagine that the children, many people there

this morning we are getting word of at least 100 people trapped in a building in the city of concepcion near the epicenter. the quake affected at least two million people in chile. as the search continues today for more survivors, we are seeing dramatic video from cameras that were rolling as the quake was happening. nbc's george lewis has the latest. >> reporter: surveillance cameras caught the moment the earthquake hit. the ground shaking and shaking and shaking for a minute and a half. it seemed like an eternity to the three million people in chile exposed to the quake's severity. when it was over, there was this. in the capital, saunt yag owe buildings toppled. at least half a million homes destroyed or severely damaged. highways buckled and torn up. bridges destroyed. only a few pilings left standing. cars tossed around like toys. i don't know how i got out, this man said. but the building just fell. there was a gas leak and everything. those gas leaks and the electric lines touched off fires in many places. >> it got bigger and bigger and stronger and more intense and it was awful

. >>> one of our cnn international reporters ryan byrd, is traveling from santiago to concepcion, 70 miles away from the epicenter of the earthquake in chile. he is joining us now on the phone. brian, give me an idea what you have been able to see as you have been traveling. >> reporter: yes. i can tell you it has been a long and difficult journey for us today. we left santiago earlier this morning and traveling on route 5, pan american highway. i can tell you this highway is completely ripped off. obviously the earthquake caused a lot of damage on the highway. major deep and very, very deep dips in the road. the asphalt has been ripped up and fault lines are running along the lines of the highway. that makes the journey difficult for ourselves and other people heading south of santiago. let me give you a snapshot of other things we are seeing over the last couple of hours. seeing two different bridges. bridges that sit as high as four, five stories that collapsed completely into the ground. one that had collapsed into the rio, large river that runs through the area. another one coll

she went to concepcion herself.econd biggest city in chile and felt the brunt of this earthquake. >> geraldo: what is the situation on the streets of the capital city where you are now, jason? are there still sirens sounding or emergency service first responders still scurrying about or has the capital city settled down? has the dust settled or do the fires still burn? >> it is a lot calmer now. we are still feeling tremors, though. i felt a minor one a bit earlier. but we are not really seeing fire departments around there. we understand there have been 60 fatalities in the capital and some of the most historic building have come down here including part of the fine arts museum and some of the oldest churches in the city and some of the historic colonial districts have been badly damaged and i suppose in a way that comes back to buildings as well because they were older building and put up long before the new building codes were put in place. >> geraldo: a history of over 500 years from the spanish colonial days an

concepcion. >> welcome back to our special two hour presentation on the earthquake in chile and the tsunamiacing 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

surveillance camera struck in the early morning hours just outside of chile's second largest city, concepcion. president obama is in contact with the chillane government. >> i have reached tout to president bachelet, to let her know that we will be there for her, should the chilean people need assistance. >> earthquake triggered systems, some aimed at the hawaiian i'lls. hawaiian officials sounded sirens. the deadliest hawaiian tsunami back in 1946 was triggered by an 8.6 earthquake centered near alaska. >> i think people are very astute and careful now and i don't think people are afraid. i think they pay attention to the rules. >> reporter: many residents and tourists watched the waves roll in from high above safe hillsides, a close call according to scientists s at center. >>. >>> meanwhile back here in maryland tonight a deadly plane crash near lee airport in edgewater. it happened just feet away from two houses. wjz live on this story and we have more on the investigation. >> reporter: this was so massive that eyewitnesses could see large plumes of black smoke from miles away, but now of

. >> geraldo: any word, i know there were a thousand americans living in the secondcy, concepcion? >> about a half hour ago i spoke to a state department official and they are saying no known fatalities of americans in chilean at this point. there is (ty of americans down there as well as people vacationing so they are still use -- no reports of u.s. casualties down there. >> obama gets an a. he follows the huckabee plan? >> not so much the huckabee plan, i think it is the plan that any thoughtle american is going to pursue. we have to recognize the sovereignty of other countries whether it is haiti or chile and remember that we can offer assistance but it has to be received in the context of recognizing this is not u.s. soil. this is a sovereign country and they have a right to self-determination and to call it as they see it. the people of chile are fortunate to have a capable competent government preparing for this and looks like they are in command as much as anybody can be in command. i thought that the president handled this beautifully but i also thought that i handled haiti

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 t

not far from the city of concepcion. the toll death toll is believed to be around 300. half million homes are severely damaged. a pacific wide tsunami alert is called off without damage in california. waves are being reported as far away as russia and japan. >> reporter: the surveillance video keeps coming in, take a look at this shot as the earth begins to shake. notice the building in the background, it falls aspeople run. >> reports said nearly 1 million homes have been destroyed. the powerful quake caused numerous fires, one at a hospital medica patients out of the building to save their lives. the president of chie made a national televised address urging citizens to stay strong. meanwhile, experts are saying the hawaii dodged a bullet. tsunami sirens sounded throughout the day warning residents that coastal areas could be endanger. many people headed for higher ground and kept an eye on the water levels. >> we got a maximum wave height of about 3 feet then it went down, and so from the crest to the top was total distance of 6 feet. >> there were no reports of dama

conception will be offset by increase in emerging countries concepciÓn, india, brazil, others.the problem is that it doesn't add up as easy as will take a lot of times that the same kind of products, to shift in china. and so what we have been asked to do by the g-20 in the first one will be provided a minister in april is kind of a just assessment of what's going on. when you

in concepcion, police say criminals have taken to looting as well. >>> a family in new hampshire was connected to the earthquake in two ways, causing them to worry for quite a while. things got frantic for sue seidner because her brother-in-law was working in chile. then the family worry turned to hawaii, which was under a snaum warni tsunami warning. that's where their eldest daughter was camping on the beach. >> all i could think of were 30-foot waves crashing across some hawaiian beach and there my daughter would be sitting, catching some sun rays and not be aware. >> we're happy to be report neither family member was injured in the quake or the aftermath. >>> a noble prize winning group is asking for outside help with its global warming reports. the intergovernmental panel on climate change says it wants an independent review. the group is looking to calm recent criticism about its 2007 reports. critics found some errors in those reports. the ipcc says the errors are minor and don't impact its overall conclusions about global warming. >>> folks across the northeast are keeping th