US ambassador: Chile devastated by earthquake

[March 01, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. ambassador to Chile says he knows of no American deaths from the earthquake in Chile, but stresses that officials are having a difficult time getting information from the most devastated region of Conception.

In an interview by telephone with CBS's "The Early Show" on Monday, ambassador Paul Simons said, "We do not have any confirmed reports of Americans who have died." He added that while officials have been able to contact "a few" of the estimated 1,000 Americans in Chile, "information is still very, very scarce."

Simons said that while life is returning to normal in the capital of Santiago, the Conception area near the epicenter of the magnitude 8.8 quake on Saturday suffers from "major devastation," where power is out and water is in short supply.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.