2 Dead As Magnitude-8.2 Quake Hits Northern Chile

A fire burns at a restaurant after an earthquake in Iquique, Chile, Tuesday, April 1, 2014. A powerful magnitude-8.2 earthquake struck off Chile's northern coast Tuesday night. There were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage, but buildings shook in nearby Peru and in Bolivia's high altitude capital of La Paz.

SANTIAGO, CHILE (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — A powerful magnitude-8.2 earthquake struck off northern Chile on Tuesday night, setting off a small tsunami that forced evacuations along the country's entire Pacific coast. Officials reported two deaths and several serious injuries, but the area apparently escaped major damage as landslides blocked roads, power failed for thousands, an airport was damaged and several businesses caught fire.

About 300 inmates escaped from a women's prison in the city of Iquique, and officials said Chile's military was sending a planeload of special forces to guard against looting. In the city of Arica, 86 miles (139 kilometers) from the quake's epicenter, hospitals were treating minor injuries, and some homes made of adobe were destroyed and 90 percent of customers were without power, authorities said.

The quake also shook modern buildings in nearby Peru and in Bolivia's high altitude capital of La Paz. Iquique Gov. Gonzalo Prieto told Radio Cooperativa that two people were known to have died after the quake hit at 8:46 p.m. and several others had serious injuries. The mayor of Tarapaca attributed the deaths to heart attacks.

Hours later, tsunami warnings or watches remained in effect for the coasts of Peru and Chile, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. Shortly before midnight, Chile's Emergency Office said its tsunami watch would remain in effect for six more hours, meaning hundreds of thousands of people along the coast would not sleep in their beds. Authorities in the U.S. state of Hawaii were on alert, but no tsunami watch was issued.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially reported the quake at 8.0, but later upgraded the magnitude. It said the quake struck 61 miles (99 kilometers) northwest of Iquique, hitting a region that has been rocked by numerous quakes over the past two weeks.

Psychiatrist Ricardo Yevenes said he was with a patient in Arica when the quake hit. "It quickly began to move the entire office, things were falling," he told local television. "Almost the whole city is in darkness."

The quake was so strong that the shaking experienced in Bolivia's capital about 290 miles (470 kilometers) away was the equivalent of a 4.5-magnitude tremor, authorities there said. More than 10 strong aftershocks followed in the first few hours, including a 6.2 tremor. More aftershocks and even a larger quake could not be ruled out, said seismologist Mario Pardo at the University of Chile.

Chilean Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo said President Michelle Bachelet was closely watching the situation and was ready to take "any measures" to ensure people's safety. Hundreds of soldiers were being deployed in the quake zone, and a flight would be leaving soon with 100 special forces on board, he added.

"We have taken action to ensure public order in the case of Iquique, where we've had a massive escape of more than 300 female prisoners from the Iquique jail, so that the armed forces and police can coordinate and provide tranquility and security to the residents," he said.

Some roads in northern Chile were blocked by landslides, causing traffic jams among people leaving the coast. But coastal residents remained calm as they head inland while waves measuring almost 2 meters (6 ½ feet) struck their cities.

Evacuations also were ordered in Peru, where waves 2 meters above normal forced about 200 people to leave the seaside town of Boca del Rio. But there were no injuries or major damage, said Col. Enrique Blanco, the regional police chief in Tacna, a Peruvian city of 300,000 near the Chilean border. "The lights went out briefly, but were re-established," Blanco said.

Chile is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries because just off the coast, the Nazca tectonic plate plunges beneath the South American plate, pushing the towering Andes cordillera to ever-higher altitudes.

The latest activity began with a strong magnitude-6.7 quake on March 16 that caused more than 100,000 people to briefly evacuate low-lying areas. Hundreds of smaller quakes followed in the weeks since, keeping people on edge as scientists said there was no way to tell if the unusual string of tremors was a harbinger of an impending disaster.

The last recorded big quake to hit far northern Chile around Iquique was a devastating magnitude-8.3 in 1877. It unleashed a 24-meter-high (nearly 80-foot-high) tsunami, causing major damage along the Chile-Peru coast and fatalities as far away as Hawaii and Japan.

A magnitude-8.8 quake and ensuing tsunami in central Chile in 2010 killed more than 500 people, destroyed 220,000 homes, and washed away docks, riverfronts and seaside resorts. That quake released so much energy, it actually it shortened the Earth's day by a fraction of a second by changing the planet's rotation.

The strongest earthquake ever recorded on Earth also happened in Chile — a magnitude-9.5 tremor in 1960 that killed more than 5,000 people. Chile is the world's leading copper producing nation, and most of its mining industry is in the northern regions. Top mining companies said there was no serious damage to their operations so far.

Associated Press writers Eva Vergara in Santiago and Frank Bajak in Lima, Peru, contributed to this report.

American and Chilean photojournalists take top prizes at “Visa pour l’image” photojournalism festival

By Steve Meltzer, Imaging Resource

“Visa pour l’image” is the largest exhibition of photojournalism in the world and this year’s top awards went to Chilean photographer Tomas Munita and American Stephanie Sinclair.

Munita received the top award, the ‘Visa d’or’ (Gold medal: daily press photography) for his photography of the effects of war on the lives of ordinary Syrians, while Sinclair received the Arthus-Bertrand ‘Visa d’or’ (best news or feature report) for her portfolio of images of child brides in Afghanistan, India, Nepal, and Nigeria. Sinclair is the first photojournalist to win this prize three times, in 2010 for her series on polygamy in America and in 2004 for images of self-immolation among Afghan women. Despite this recognition, her work is relatively unknown to the public.

Now in its 24th year, the Festival, held in Perpignan, France, is a celebration of the work of the world’s finest photojournalists however, this year there was an especially tragic note to the event. Rémi Ochlik was one of those young photojournalists who went where the action was, whether assigned to it or not. Smuggling himself into Syria, he was at a makeshift pressroom in Homs when it was struck by a government fired missile, killing him and colleagues Gilles Jaquier and Mary Colvin.

Ochlik came from the South of France, and had shown work at Visa several times. To honor him, the Visa awards jury created the “City of Perpignan Rémi Ochlik” award to be given to each year to the “best young photojournalist.”

That is one of the most admirable aspects of “Visa pour l’image” is its openness in seeking out new work and new photojournalists. Any photographer can submit a portfolio at their web site and there is no requirement for affiliation with a press organization. The awards, the recognition, and the cash prizes are all part of Visa’s commitment to helping photographers and to building public awareness of photojournalism.

Perpignan is near the Mediterranean, a few miles from the Spanish border and it is very hot and humid in late August, something I learned, when I exhibited a portfolio there, called, “Too Many Flags” in 2003. A medieval city with narrow, winding streets and a claustrophobic atmosphere; Perpignan is a fittingly appropriate, if troubled setting, for a photojournalism festival. Outside the exhibition halls, neighborhood gangs of Gypsy and North African kids battle over drugs and cigarette smuggling.

In the evenings, Perpignan cools a little. As is the custom in the South, dinners do not begin until 8 PM and after eating Festival attendees will leisurely stroll over to the “Campo Santo,” the former graveyard of the city’s medieval church, outdoor multimedia shows. Projected on huge screens, videos show behind-the-scenes looks at the Festival, interviews with photojournalists, presentations of awards and showings of various participant portfolios.

Overall, while the work presented at Visa is extraordinary, in my experience, few images seem to rise to the level of a Robert Capa or a Don McCullen. Each year, the wars look the same, the pain equally unbearable, but the images blur together.

Several years ago, standing in front of a large color photo of a burning Iraqi tank, a charred body lying across its turret, I was surprised at my response to it “So what.” I thought, “I have seen this image a thousand times before, what am I supposed to make of this one?”

Much of the war photography at Visa can be remote and cold. The photographers record the blood, but sometimes miss the humanity of their subjects. While victims abound, individuals are rare.

Few images have the emotional power of W. Eugene Smith’s work, although Stephanie Sinclair’s “Child Brides” was an exception. Her photographs were both approachable and saddening.

Nonetheless, I believe in the importance of “Visa pour l’image.” It is a bulwark of photojournalism and its support of photographers is inspirational. Personally, I am looking forward to seeing the next Festival next year, Visa’s 25th: blood, warts, and all.

Sidebar note: Getty Images awarded $80,000 in grants at the Festival supporting the work of four international photojournalists. Bharat Choudhary, Kosuke Okahara, Paolo Marchetti and Sebastian Liste each received $20,000 prizes and editorial support as winners of the 2012 Getty Grants for Editorial Photography. An additional $20,000 was pledged to the Chris Hondros Fund in order to further support photojournalism and public awareness initiatives through an award given to Andrea Bruce and Dominic Bracco in June.

Watch the Visa Pour I'Image Video: