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ILLAPEL, Chile (AP) — Authorities in Chile say at least ten people were killed by the powerful earthquake that struck the northern part of the country last night. And the number could climb as emergency crews reach the areas that were hardest-hit.
The 8-3 quake has been followed by dozens of aftershocks.
In Chile's inland cities, people slept outside overnight. Along the coast, people got in their cars to seek higher ground, fearing a tsunami.
An Interior Ministry official says a million people were forced out of their homes, and electrical power was cut off to about a quarter of a million. Many had returned home by midday.
The quake appeared to have a much smaller impact than the 2010 earthquake in Chile that killed more than 500 people and destroyed 220,000 homes. That quake released so much energy, it shortened the Earth's day by a fraction of a second by changing the planet's rotation.
Still, the latest quake was strong enough to be felt in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the other side of the continent.
%@AP Links
171-c-17-(Luis Andres Henao (loo-EES' ahn-DRAY'-uhs ehn-OW'), AP correspondent)-"their destroyed homes"-AP correspondent Luis Andres Henao reports about a million people have been evacuated after a magnitude-8.3 quake struck off northern Chile, shaking the Earth so strongly the tremor was felt across South America. (17 Sep 2015)
<<CUT *171 (09/17/15)££ 00:17 "their destroyed homes"
172-c-20-(Luis Andres Henao (loo-EES' ahn-DRAY'-uhs ehn-OW'), AP correspondent)-"they're just frightened"-AP correspondent Luis Andres Henao reports Chileans are frightened because many aftershocks, including one a magnitude-7 and four others above 6, have been shaking the region. (17 Sep 2015)
<<CUT *172 (09/17/15)££ 00:20 "they're just frightened"
APPHOTO XNP119: Women look a the destruction left behind by an earthquake-triggered tsunami in Concon, Chile, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. Several coastal towns were flooded from small tsunami waves set off by late Wednesday's magnitude-8.3 earthquake, which shook the Earth so strongly that rumbles were felt across South America. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) CHILE OUT - NO USAR EN CHILE (17 Sep 2015)
<<APPHOTO XNP119 (09/17/15)££
APPHOTO XNP120: People embrace amid the destruction left behind by an earthquake-triggered tsunami in Concon, Chile, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. Several coastal towns were flooded from small tsunami waves set off by late Wednesday's magnitude-8.3 earthquake, which shook the Earth so strongly that rumbles were felt across South America. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) CHILE OUT - NO USAR EN CHILE (17 Sep 2015)
<<APPHOTO XNP120 (09/17/15)££
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