Santiago, Chile (CNN) -- Nervous residents in Chile's capital woke up Sunday morning to more aftershocks, a day after one of the most powerful earthquakes to hit the world in decades left large swaths of their city in ruins.
"I've been using my glass of water to verify it's not just in my mind," said Luke Mescher, an American college student in Santiago. "You can see the water wobbling back and forth every time that it happens."
The 8.8-magnitude quake struck before dawn Saturday, toppling thousands of houses, affecting 2 million people and dealing a serious blow to one of Latin America's most stable economies.
Authorities placed the preliminary death toll at more than 300, but the government is expected to update the casualty count at 12 p.m. local time (10 a.m. ET).
"The number of victims could get higher," said President-Elect Sebastian Piñera, who will take office in March
cnn.com
