3.35pm: This is a quick wrap of what's gone in in Chile earlier today Australian time:

A powerful 8.2-magnitude earthquake has struck off northern Chile’s Pacific coast.

- The quake struck at 8.46pm on Tuesday (10.46am Wednesday AEDT) at a depth of 20 kilometres, 95 kilometres from the port town od Iquique, the United States Geological Survey says.

- The death toll stands at five. This includes two men who regional governor Mitchel Cartes said had suffered fatal heart attacks. Three other people are reported to be seriously injured.

- A tsunami warning is in place and an evacuation order is expected to maintained for the next several hours.

- Landslides have blocked roads in the area where thousands have been affected by blackouts. An airport’s been damaged and several businesses caught fire.

- About 300 inmates have escaped from a women’s prison in the city of Iquique, and officials say Chile’s military is sending a plane load of special forces to guard against looting.

3pm: Reports are coming through about some of the damage caused by the 8.2 magnitude quake.

There were landslides and at least one fire in Iquique, Television Nacional reported. A church tower in the town of Huara collapsed after the tremor, the local mayor Carlos Silva told TVN.

Air force troops are bolstering police guarding supermarkets and petrol stations. There was an attempt at looting in Iquique, regional governor Gonzalo Prieto told Radio Cooperativa.

2.54pm: Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing the coast right along the length of the country, causing traffic jams on routes heading to higher ground. Ships have been ordered to weigh anchor and move away from the shoreline.

‘‘At the beginning it was chaotic as people started evacuating in cars, which is not allowed,’’ said Justin Sturrock, a resident in the northern city of Antofagasta told Bloomberg News. ‘‘The highway is blocked and there are traffic jams everywhere.’’

The government expects to maintain the evacuation order until at least 5.30am - that's about the next five hours

2.43pm: The first two victims of the earthquake both died of heart attacks, according Chilean television. However, the report also says the cause of the deaths is still being investigated. One is a firefighter. 

The network also says that some vehicles are trapped on roads around Iquique and Alto Hospicio.

2.31pm: Authorities say that at least 16 prisoners attempting to escape from a women’s prison in the wake of the 8.2 magnitude earthquake have been recaptured.

Armed forces have been dispatched to Iquique following reports that up to 300 inmates broke out.

2.24pm: The quake has left two dead and three others seriously injured, the governor of Iquique Gonzalo Prieto told local radio station Cooperativa. It struck about 83 kilometres off the coast of Iquique, a key copper exporting port in the country's north.

2.14pm: The interior minister has also advised that the country's tsunami warning is expected to be in place for hours, ABC News in the US is reporting. 

Chile's National Seismology Centre has recorded 12 aftershocks since the 8.2 quake.

1.57pm: The Chilean interior minister has told Chilean television that about 300 women inmates from a prison had escaped following the earthquake, according to the BBC. No further details were immediately available.

1.49: Tsunami warnings have been cancelled for Ecuador, Colombia and Panama.

Tsunami warnings remain in place for Chile and Peru, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre.

1:46pm: Professor James Goff, a tsunami scientist from the University of New South Wales, said today’s earthquake occurred in the same area where another major earthquake struck in 1868, causing a tsunami.

He said the 1868 tsunami was the largest to hit New Zealand. It also affected Australia's east coast, including Tasmania as well as around Sydney and parts of the NSW south coast.

‘‘Today’s earthquake is smaller than the 1868 earthquake, which was an 8.5 and was also shallower, but it will still undoubtedly generate a tsunami that will affect New Zealand," he said.

"But at the moment we’re just not sure of the size, but it will not be large. It’s a delicate balance between the magnitude and the depth of the quake.

‘‘We’re just not sure right now how big the tsunami will be. It’s a case of waiting to see the reports of wave heights around Chile and as it comes across the Pacific. We’re just watching and waiting.”

1:19pm: The US Geological Survey reports that the latest earthquake occurred as a result of "thrust faulting" at shallow depths near the Chilean coast.

It says: ‘‘The location and mechanism of the earthquake are consistent with slip on the primary plate boundary interface, or megathrust, between the Nazca and South America plates.

‘‘At the latitude of the earthquake, the Nazca plate subducts eastward beneath the South America plate at a rate of 65 mm/yr.

"Subduction along the Peru-Chile Trench to the west of Chile has led to uplift of the Andes mountain range and has produced some of the largest earthquakes in the world, including the 2010 M 8.8 Maule earthquake in central Chile, and the largest earthquake on record, the 1960 M 9.5 earthquake in southern Chile."

1:08pm: The US Geological Survey now has recorded nine aftershocks off the Chilean coast.

1:04pm: The Chilean interior ministry has told the BBC that one of the main roads outside Iquique has been cut off due to landslides.

The ministry says that partial landslides have also taken place between the towns of Putre and General Lagos.

1:00pm: The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has released measurements of tsunami wave activity following earthquake. The largest wave was 2.11 metres at Iquique. You can see the other measurements below.

ABC News in the US has quoted local officials as saying that the first waves were not necessarily the strongest, and evacuated residents should not return to the coastline until the tsunami alert was lifted.

12:56pm: Here's a rundown of the major developments in Chile:

- A powerful 8.2-magnitude earthquake has struck off Chile’s Pacific coast.

- The quake struck at 8.46pm on Tuesday (10.46am Wednesday AEDT) at a depth of 10 kilometres, 83 kilometres from Iquique on Chile’s northern coast, the United States Geological Survey says.

- Tsunami warnings have been issued for Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Panama.

- Tsunami waves up to two metres high have struck the coast of Chile, according to reports.

- The Chilean emergency services said they had not received any reports of major damage.