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Chile begins searching for
people lost in earthquake
The Chilean army and its
Military Police Special
Operations Group (GOPE) on
Sunday's morning began searching
for the 10 people who remain
missing after an earthquake in
Aysen, in the far south of
Chile, Interior Ministry
reported.
The 6.2 Richter scale quake hit
Aysen at 1:50 p.m. local time on
Saturday (1750 GMT). It was the
strongest event since Jan. 22,
when a series of moderate quakes
hitting at regular intervals
began.
Aysen Governor Viviana
Betancourt said most of the
missing had worked for a salmon
farm, and that another two were
part of a boat crew, led by
Puerto Aysen's Mayor Oscar
Catalan, who had not been given
authority to sail.
"We do not now have the official
roll of those who formed this
committee, but at least we have
some information about who the
two missing people might be,"
Betancourt said.
Catalan said that he had seen a
15 or 20 meter high wave sweep
away six people including two of
his crew.
Chile's president will travel to
the area to check the territory
and supervise the search, the
ministry said.
A smaller quake, registering 5.3
on the Richter scale, hit
central Chile on Sunday, at 6:22
a.m. local time (1022 GMT). The
Ministry said that no one had
been hurt.
The epicenter was 16 kilometers
north of Papudo, 186 kilometers
north of Santiago.
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