News
divisions mobilized to cover the 8.8 earthquake that hit central Chile late on
Friday (Feb. 26).
The
quake, the most severe in 50 years, has claimed over 700 lives so far, according to the
Chilean government. It also precipitated a tsunami warning in Hawaii.
Cable
news relied on video from TV Chile when the quake hit overnight on Friday.
CNN
Chile, a joint venture between CNN and Liberty Global's VTR, has a fully
staffed bureau in Santiago. The network also sent additional correspondents to
the site of the disaster including Soledad
O'Brien and John Zarella while Dan Simon was dispatched to Hawaii.
Several network
correspondents headed to Chile on Saturday including NBC News' Ann Curry, Mike
Taibbi and Mark Potter and CBS News' Mark Strassmann.
ABC News had a
producer in Chile on a separate story and also
dispatched correspondents Jeffrey Kofman and David Wright to Chile and
Mike Von Fremd to Hawaii.
