SANTIAGO?(UPDATE) A huge 8.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Chile early Saturday killing at least 122 people, leaving a trail of twisted buildings and sending tsunami waves roaring across the vast Pacific Ocean.
Nations around the Pacific, the world's largest ocean, began scrambling to evacuate coastal areas as officials warned of possible "widespread damage" from walls of water that may reach as high as three meters (nine feet).
"The wave is spread out across the entire body of water in the Pacific," US National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Lau told AFP.
"It will stop once it hits the landmasses on the other side of the Pacific, in Asia," he added, saying "we could be looking at an all-day event."
The massive quake plunged much of the Chilean capital Santiago into darkness, snapping power lines and severing communications. The international airport was closed after being damaged.
"It was the worst experience of my life," said 22-year-old Sebastian, standing outside his house in eastern Santiago.
It was the second major earthquake to hit the region in seven weeks after up to 300,000 people were killed in Haiti last month.
AFP journalists spoke of walls and masonry collapsing in Santiago while people in pyjamas fled onto the streets as buildings "shook like jelly."
Many Chileans were still in nightclubs partying at the start of the weekend when the quake struck before dawn.
"Friends who were at clubs said it was pandemonium," Santiago resident Maren Andrea Jimenez, an American UN demography expert, told AFP.
"It was scary! Plaster began falling from the ceiling. My dogs freaked out. I ran out and found everyone was totally drunk, it was Friday night."
She added that since then the ground had not stopped shaking as the US Geological Survey said more than 34 aftershocks ranging from 4.9 to 6.9 in magnitude.
Pledges of aid also came pouring in with the European Union saying it would provide some three million euros in immediate assistance.
Television images showed destroyed or heavily damaged buildings and debris-strewn streets, while fires raged in some places.
A huge wave measuring 7.7 feet (2.34 meters) crashed onto the Chilean coastal town of Talcahuano just after the quake struck at 3:34 am (0634 GMT).
A partial evacuation of Easter Island, home to about 4,000 people and its mysterious statues, was also ordered, but the tsunami wave was not as big as feared reaching just over one foot.
Some 144,500 residents in coastal areas of Hawaii meanwhile were being told to evacuate Saturday as sirens sounded around the island chain for the first time in 16 years to alert residents to the possibility of destructive waves.
"If you live anywhere in the evacuation zone, you have to evacuate," John Cummings, Oahu Emergency Management Department spokesman, told local media.
"We're going to treat this as a destructive-type tsunami."
Emergency services in Hawaii were laying on fleets of public buses to provide free transport for anyone needing to leave evacuation zones.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake had hit some 115 kilometers (70 miles) northeast of Concepcion, and about 325 kilometers (200 miles) northeast of Santiago.
Concepcion was said by local TV to be among the first Chilean cities hit by tsunami waves, but a huge arc of nations around the Pacific, from New Zealand to Japan also went on tsunami alert.
Asian nations have been on heightened alert ever since a massive 2004 tsunami that killed more than 220,000 people around the Indian Ocean.
In the low-lying Philippines, officials warned residents in coastal areas to be on standby for an evacuation, and the Japanese government was on standby to help.
Earthquake-prone Chile lies along the Pacific rim of fire and is regularly rocked by quakes, but damage is often limited as they mostly hit in desert regions that are sparsely populated.
In May 1960 between 2,200 to 5,700 people were killed in the Great Chilean Earthquake, which was rated 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale, and triggered a huge tsunami that reached as far as eastern New Zealand.
