In wake of a massive, 8.3 earthquake off the coast of central Chile this afternoon, the NOAA has placed California under a tsunami alert with most shoreline from Newport Beach in Orange County to Port San Luis in San Luis Obisbo County supposedly predicted to experience less than a foot of sea surge.

And supposedly, too, we won’t feel anything up here on the North Coast. Hawaii also under tsunami alert, New Zealand and parts of Chile.

(Illustration: ‘Earthquake,’ by Jakara Art, found here).

Some details from Reuters this evening:

At least three people were killed by the quake about 280 km (175 miles) north of Santiago, the biggest earthquake since 2010 to hit the world’s top copper producer.
The quake, which was felt as far away as Buenos Aires in Argentina, also damaged homes, buildings and injured several people.
A 26-year-old woman was killed by a collapsing wall and another person died from a heart attack, according to media reports.
The coastal town of Coquimbo was hit by waves of up to 4.5 meters (15 feet) after the earthquake, Chile’s navy said.
“We’re going through a really grave situation with the tsunami. We have residential neighborhoods that have flooded …. the ocean has reached the (Coquimbo) downtown area,” said Coquimbo Mayor Cristian Galleguillos.

Check out earthquaketrack as it appears there were five aftershocks of 6.0 or better.
Living in earthquake country, news like this is a little frightful — I check my own local USGS site several times a day, but…all after the fact, of course.
Feeling is knowing…