Chile, Georgia have strong business ties

“There is a lot of interest in Chile” on the part of Georgia officials, she said. They are also interested in bringing Chilean companies to Georgia, she said.

Atlanta-based companies such as Coca Cola and UPS have offices in the country, Monckeberg said.

“We have free trade with the U.S., and there is a close relationship with Georgia,” she said.

CNN Chile's offices did not suffer structural damage, said a spokesman, but it was knocked off the air for a time due to power outages and problems with fiber optic lines. The news agency's 135 employees were all accounted for and collecting information for CNN since the quake struck at 3:34 a.m.

UPS told the AJC that no serious damage was known to have occurred at its facilities in Chile.

There are also about a half dozen Chilean companies that have offices in Georgia.

They include Arauco, which is a lumber and wood products company. Also, there is SQM North America, which provides lithium.

Monckeberg said she has family in Santiago, but it has been difficult reaching people there because so many phone lines are down. She did reach some family members and they were alright.

She said the buildings are strong there because of the history of earthquakes. But one family member said the shaking inside the home was so bad that the refrigerator fell over.

Chileans in Atlanta worry for family, friends

Angelica Ariztia, 40, of Marietta, called her mother and sister in Chile about a half hour after the earthquake and was relieved to learn that everyone was OK.

"They said it was very, very strong," Ariztia said.

Ariztia experienced Chile's severe earthquake in 1985, but her sister said this one was worse and more jolting.

"She felt like the entire floor of the house was jumping up and down," said Ariztia, a copy editor at CNN en espanol. In contrast, the earthquake in 1985 felt more like a roller coaster on a wave, she said.

Ariztia's mother's house in Santiago appears to be sound, but the contents are a jumble.

"Everything in the house is on the floor – the pictures, the plates – everything that can fall, is on the ground," said Ariztia.

After her brief talk early this morning, Ariztia could not get through to her mother's land line again and she can't reach anyone on a cell phone.

"I've been trying to get through the entire day."

Other area residents had trouble connecting to family and friends in South America.

“My relatives, they are elderly, the ones I’ve been trying to call … and I get nothing,” Patricia Monahan of Dallas, Ga., told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Monahan, 58, is from Chile but has lived most of her life in the United States. She has family in the major cities of Santiago and Concepcion, as well as in Temuco and a small village of Vilcun.

Monahan said she’s been watching news reports on TV but also getting what she can from TV Chile, which is being streamed online.

Monahan said Chile is “amazingly well equipped” to handle a major natural disaster such as an earthquake.

“They have emergency services that are already out trying to clean up areas,” she said. “They are warning people to stay away from the highways … it’s just a matter of evaluating the full brunt of the earthquake.”

Monahan hasn’t been back to her native country since 1990. It’s just too expensive, she said. Right now a plane ticket averages $1,200, she said.

She said she has relatives in the country that are her age and younger. It’s the ones who are older that she’s worried about.

“The phone does ring, but it is busy,” she said.

Most of Hector Leon’s immediate family is north near the border of Peru.

They are out of harm’s way, he said.

But his extended family is in Santiago, the capital city. The airport there will be shut down for at least the next 24 hours, as the passenger terminal has suffered major damage, according to news reports.

Leon, 26, has other family in Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city, which was 70 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter.

Leon, who was born in Chile, emigrated to the United States when he was 21. The last time he visited was Christmas 2005.

Leon said the country is used to earthquakes, though it’s been a long time since a major one hit.

Saturday’s quake ranks 7th on the U.S. Geological Survey’s all-time list.

“It’s pretty much embedded in the culture to be prepared for earthquakes,” he told the AJC. “People have a fairly good idea of what to do.”

Others began posting messages for help on Twitter and Facebook.

“God please protect my fam in Colombia! Prayrs 2 Chile,” wrote Atlanta resident Saudhy Sanjuanelo.