This aftershock hit just as new Chilean president Sebastian Pinera was about to get inaugurated into office, which complicated things, as you might imagine. The quake was strong, but no reports of damage have come out yet. source
A lack of warning leD to hundreds of deaths. Surprising as it may seem, but there was never a nationally-issued tsunami warning in Chile. As a result, Commander Mariano Rojas, who was in charge of the Chilean navy’s Oceanography Service, has been sacked from his job. “People are dead as a result of the government’s mistakes,” said Miguel Rivera, a city councilman in Hualpén, a coastal town directly affected by the tsunami. “Sending out the word in time would have saved a lot of lives.” source