American Idol singer Elliott Yamin was Tweeting when in his hotel room when the Chile earthquake — reportedly one of the biggest ever — struck. Here’s his account:
And it has been a big subject on Twitter. Here are some of the latest if you search for “Chile earthquake”:Veni_Vidi_Vicii so haiti had a massive earthquake, chile jus had a 8.8 earthquake! & hawaii is abt 2 have a tsunami????…yea im goin 2 church tom less than 20 seconds ago from web
RT @iamtimyap: CNN says this was the 7th strongest earthquake in the world since 1700. In 1960-a 9.5 earthquake hit the same spot-Chile less than 10 seconds ago from Tweets60
PrincessSharonx Earthquake number 3. Haiti, Okinawa, & Chile… 🙁 and did anyone wake up at 3ish by the crazy ass weather?? So scary. less than 20 seconds ago from Echofon
WrecklessRae Dangg anotherr earthquake in chile less than 20 seconds ago from Sidekick
LABnormal @Youngciworld earthquake in japan. earthquake in chile & now a tsunami is hitting both chile & hawaii. less than 20 seconds ago from TwitBird iPhone
earthquake recorded struck same area of Chile on May 22, 1960. The magnitude-9.5 quake killed 1,655 people and left 2 million homeless less than 20 seconds ago from web
BmoreSchools RT @tonnet: A citizen image of what was like the earthquake in #Chile – http://twitpic.com/15n04s less than 20 seconds ago from web
GeekMommy Oh wow. Just saw on Twitter about earthquake & tsunamis. How scary. Stay safe my Hawaiian friends! Heart to Chile as well!! less than 20 seconds ago from SimplyTweet
ItsMeLMG #somewhererightnow someone is sufferin n Haiti, Japan, or Chile from a devasting earthquake b thankful 4 what u have because u r blessed! half a minute ago from UberTwitter
NOTE: For updates on the earthquake the New York Times The Lede blog has some updated stories and videos.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.