Deadly earthquake shakes Chile

A powerful earthquake rattled Chile's remote northern Andes region near the Bolivian and Peruvian borders, killing at least eight people and causing widespread damage in several mountain villages.

Interior Minister Jorge Correa said that there may be more victims in some small isolated mountain villages where most of the damage was centred.

No details were immediately available due to communications difficulties with the remote region.

The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.9, according to both the US Geological Survey and Chilean officials, making it the world's third strongest since a mammoth quake set off the deadly Asian tsunami in December.

The quake struck at 6.44pm (11.44pm Irish time yesterday) and was centred on a remote, sparsely populated area in the Andes Mountains, about 1,200 miles north of Santiago, the capital.

The quake was also felt in several cities in southern Peru and Bolivia, but no casualties or major damage were reported in either country.

The quake shattered windows in Arequipa, Peru's second largest city, about 470 miles south of the capital, Lima, according to a correspondent for Radioprogramas. In the Bolivian capital of La Paz, many people took to the streets in panic.

In Chile, Correa said a huge rock fell on a car, killing all five people inside - three adults and two children, near the port city of Iquique. Three elderly men were killed in two different Andean villages, including a disabled 80-year-old man who died when a wall in his home collapsed and he could not escape, he said.

Correa said some people were injured and taken to hospitals, but he could not provide more specific figures.

The quake was also felt in other cities in the area, including Calama, next to Chuquicamata, the world's largest open pit copper mine. Operations at the mine were briefly disrupted.

Government spokesman Osvaldo Puccio said Vice President Francisco Vidal and the ministers of Interior, Public Works, Health and Housing were flying to the quake area early today to co-ordinate help.