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| Photo by Freeimages.com/Nate Brelsford |
A major earthquake centered near Illapel, Chile, has prompted the evacuation of one million people and disrupted local events, BBC News reports.
At least eight people are dead, with one still missing, and 1,800 in the Illapel area have been left without drinking water.
Chile was set to celebrate its independence day next week. President Michelle Bachelet has said that some of the independence day events would be cancelled.
Hotel Update
In a statement on the situation, Singular Hotels said that its properties in Santiago and Patagonia remain unaffected and fully operational. Illapel, which is 150 miles north of Santiago and more than 2000 miles north of Patagonia, is mostly a grape growing, agricultural area and not a tourist area, Singular said. In Santiago, all of the hotel’s guests are safe and there is no reported damage to the hotel or the surrounding area.