SANTIAGO, Chile -- A violent earthquake shook the industrial city of Concepcion and a 200-square-mile surrounding area today.
The ministry of the interior announced at 11 a.m. that 91 persons were known dead in the area.
First reports coming in over damaged communications lines said 400 houses in the old section of Concepcion had collapsed and the city was without water or electricity.
The quake area centered in Concepcion province and ran northward toward Talca in the same area where 30,000 died in 1939. Talca is 150 miles south of Santiago, Chile's capital, and about 70 miles north of Concepcion.