8.8 earthquake in Chile

SANTIAGO, Chile — Saturday's massive quake left a Utah man vacationing in Chile in fear for his life.

Francisco "Pancho" Ovalle, a full-time youth coach who works for La Roca Soccer Club in northern Utah, was spending the night at a friend's seventh-floor apartment near downtown Santiago when the rumbling started.

A native Chilean who is accustomed to occasional small temblors, Ovalle remembered the quake's initial wave feeling fairly mild. Seconds later, the shaking turned violent.

Ovalle was terrified.

"It was the worst experience of my life," he said. "I thought I was going to die."

Ovalle said his fear was exacerbated by the screams erupting from neighboring apartments.

"I could hear people yelling and crying out, 'Please make it stop,' " he said.

Power was lost immediately, Ovalle said, leaving the Chilean capital largely in the dark. He rushed outside, jumped in a friend's car and made his way through the panic and sudden traffic to his mother's home nearby. She was fine.

Communication also proved problematic. Ovalle was unable to make phone contact with his worried wife, Trellis, at their Farmington home until hours after the quake.

When daylight arrived, he visited other sections of Santiago with his brother. In one poor section of the city, Ovalle saw collapsed buildings and overturned cars. One local hospital suffered severe damage.

Ovalle said the police and fire departments were working hard to preserve order in Santiago and head off looting.

"The people on TV were telling everyone to stay home and let (the police and fire departments) do their job," he said.

Ovalle said he was relieved that his family in Chile had plenty of water and other provisions. Food and emergency items in the local grocery stores disappeared quickly, and some stores were forced to close.

The Farmington man's heart was still racing hours after the early morning earthquake. He'd counted 43 aftershocks.

"The floor moves every 10 minutes," he said.

At 3:30 a.m. Saturday, Erika Villarreal woke up to the earth shaking around her.

She grabbed her husband, Christhian Tomaduz, their children, 3-year-old Lucas and 4-year-old Micaela, and Tomaduz's mother, Gloria Auguita, and huddled under a door frame of their Santiago home.