 The newspaper "El Mercurio" reported in its August 17 edition that "the earthquake was produced in a violent way since its beginning, and provoked an indescribable panic through all the four thousands of inhabitants of Santiago and an unprecedented terror in the last years.Two or three-story buildings, even the most solid ones such as the National Congress, were swinging like a vessel in the sea.The shakings were so strong that many people thought the earth was going to open itself in deep and long strips."