SANTIAGO, CHILE -- One of the most powerful earthquakes on record jolted central Chile on Saturday, smashing homes and bridges and unleashing tsunami waves that coursed across the Pacific, prompting alerts in Hawaii and dozens of countries. More than 300 people have died in the coastal South American nation.
Waves generated by the 8.8-magnitude quake started to smack Hawaiian beaches about noon local time, but they were smaller than the six-foot monsters scientists had feared. The water surged more than three feet in Kahului Bay in Maui before the tsunami warning was canceled in the early afternoon, officials said.
Hawaiian residents had awakened at dawn to the blast of emergency sirens. Police closed roads and roped off coastal areas, and thousands of people were evacuated. But there were no reports of flooding or damage, and by Saturday evening, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had lifted its warning for the entire Pacific except for Russia and Japan.
Japan issued its first "major" tsunami warning in 17 years, predicting Sunday morning that nine-foot-high waves could strike its northern Pacific coast and ordering about 400,000 residents to evacuate. But by late afternoon, hours after the high water was expected, dangerously high waves had not shown up.
The predawn quake that hit Chile was far stronger than the temblor that rocked Haiti last month. But far fewer people died in Chile because the quake was farther from big cities and occurred deeper underground -- nearly 22 miles beneath the surface. The epicenter was 200 miles southwest of the Chilean capital, Santiago, while the Haitian quake was centered just a few miles outside its capital, Port-au-Prince.
In addition, better building materials were used in Chile, one of the most developed Latin American countries. In poverty-stricken Haiti, more than 200,000 people perished as flimsy homes of cheap concrete disintegrated.
"The people in Chile have lots of experience with earthquakes. They've done an excellent job of preparing," said Paul Caruso, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Still, the disaster wreaked havoc. Highway overpasses, buildings and bridges collapsed into mounds of twisted metal and chunks of concrete. Roads in Santiago were webbed with cracks and studded with holes big enough to swallow a motorcycle. In Concepcion, the country's second-biggest city, 70 miles from the epicenter, firefighters struggled to rescue dozens of people from a 14-story building that pancaked.
Incoming President Sebastian Piñera, who is set to take office March 11, said the quake had dealt "a very serious blow to the infrastructure of our country" and asked key disaster-relief officials to delay their planned departures. Dozens of aftershocks rattled the country, further imperiling fragile buildings.
About 600 travelers at the Santiago airport escaped when massive sections of the roof caved in, glass shattered and water poured through the terminal. Huddled under counters and inside gift stores, the travelers watched the newly renovated airport crumble around them. "Although the runways were cleared for takeoffs and landings, the airport was closed because of the internal damage.
Hundreds of prisoners in the city of Chillan, about 230 miles south of Santiago, escaped when a retaining wall collapsed. Rioting prisoners clashed with prison guards, leaving three inmates dead.
Earthquake survivors told of being flung around buildings in the dark as the temblor struck at 3:34 a.m.
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