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The tsunami that devastated parts of Japan managed to sidestep Latin America – saving the region from potential catastrophe. Ports and beaches were temporarily shut and islanders and coastal residents ordered to higher ground up and down Latin America's Pacific seaboard before the tsunami surge triggered by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan. There were few reported damages. By the time the tsunami waves traveled across the wide Pacific Ocean and into the southern hemisphere, only slightly higher waters than normal came ashore in Mexico, Honduras and Colombia, Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, Chile's Easter Island and Peru and Chile's mainlands. Waves as high as 6 feet (almost 2 meters) crashed into South America into early Saturday— in some cases sending the Pacific surging into streets — after coastal dwellers rushed to close ports and schools and evacuated several hundred thousand people. Major evacuations were ordered in Ecuador and Chile, where hundreds of thousands of people moved out of low-lying coastal areas. After the devastating tsunami that Chile suffered following its major quake just over a year ago, authorities weren't taking any chances. Read more: latino.foxnews.com...
Correa said earlier that the 242,000 people who were evacuated from low-lying areas, most of them on the mainland, would be kept on higher ground until officials determined it was safe. Chile also evacuated hundreds of thousands from areas vulnerable to coastal flooding, and refused to let residents go home even when the tsunami clearly lost steam. With last year's 524 quake- and tsunami-related deaths weighing heavily on everyone's minds, Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter insisted on "prudence." Read more: latino.foxnews.com...