Exclusive: Chile Earthquake Aerial Pictures

Destroyed Bridge

Photograph by Nicolás Piwonka

Like a set of falling dominoes, sections of a major bridge collapsed into the Tubul River near the tiny seaside fishing village of Tubul following the February 27 earthquake in Chile. Photographer Nicolás Piwonka captured the scene from a small plane on March 6, 2010.

Repairing damaged infrastructure in Chile—not including destroyed public buildings and ports—will cost up to U.S. $1.2 billion, said the country's public works minister Sergio Bitar, according to the U.K.'s Telegraph newspaper. (Video: Earthquake 101.)

In general, however, "Chile's infrastructure held up well," Bitar added.

Published March 9, 2010

Collapsed Houses

Photograph by Ariel Marinkovic, AFP, Getty Images

A March 4, 2010, bird's-eye view reveals the devastation left by tsunamis triggered by the February 27 Chileearthquake in the small coastal village of Tubul (see regional map).

Up to five powerful waves hit Tubul a half hour after the quake, smashing fishing boats and literally carrying some houses hundreds of yards away, the New York Times reported.

Boat captain Humberto Hernández told the Times that people in Tubul ran "screaming in all directions" in the minutes after the Chile earthquake, and that people left their belongings behind as they rushed for the hills.

"It was like an apocalypse that night, just like that movie 2012," he said.

Published March 9, 2010

Destroyed Houses

Photograph by Nicolás Piwonka

Smashed houses and other debris lie scattered in the mud left after waters receded from the village of Tubul, Chile, as seen in a March 6, 2010, aerial photograph.

Following the February 27 Chileearthquake, many of the seaside houses in the 3,000-person village were inundated by both a succession of tsunami waves and the overflowing Tubul River, according to the New York Times.

As of March 2, the rural, mostly poor village had not yet received any aid from local or federal officials, residents told the Times, though people there are desperate for drinkable water, food, and fuel.

Published March 9, 2010

Empty Containers

Photograph by Nicolás Piwonka

Like jumbled pieces of chalk, empty shipping containers picked up by tsunami waves lie in the devastated town of Talcahuano, Chile, on March 6, 2010.

Tsunami deaths were particularly high along the Pacific coastline, because the Chilean government failed to warn residents about tsunami risks following the magnitude 8.8 earthquake, Chilean Defense Minister Francisco Vidal acknowledged last week. (See: "Chile Tsunami Pictures: Earthquake's Other Aftermath.")

Photographer Nicolás Piwonka, who snapped this shot from a small plane, hopes the pictures will remind people of the danger of tsunamis. In Chile "there is not much education of what people must do," he said. "When there's an earthquake, everyone should go up the hill—automatically."

Published March 9, 2010

Earthquake Landslide

Photograph by Nicolás Piwonka

The February 27, 2010, Chileearthquake loosened a big chunk of land, which fell into the sea near the town of Colcol, as seen in a March 6 picture.

In addition to documenting the human tragedy—nearly 500 people died and more than a million were displaced—photographer Piwonka said that he took the aerial pictures because he wanted to record how these forces of nature can change the environment.

Published March 9, 2010

Smashed Boats

Photograph by Nicolás Piwonka

Powerful tsunami waves triggered by the February 27 Chileearthquake traveled upriver, smashing boats together and running them aground near the village of Lebu (see map), about 546 yards (500 meters) from the ocean.

More than 1,100 tons of humanitarian aid has been poured into Chile's ravaged south-central regions, Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez said Tuesday, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Published March 9, 2010