One of the largest earthquakes ever recorded tore apart houses, bridges and highways in central Chile on Saturday and sent a tsunami racing halfway around the world. Chileans near the epicenter were tossed about as if shaken by a giant, and authorities said at least 214 people were dead. The magnitude-8.8 quake was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil - 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) to the east. The full extent of damage remained unclear as dozens of aftershocks – one nearly as powerful as Haiti’s devastating Jan. 12 earthquake – shuddered across the disaster-prone Andean nation.
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