A 3-meter tsunami wave hit on Saturday the Robinson Crusoe island, the largest in the Chilean Juan Fernandez archipelago, following a powerful earthquake which struck Chile earlier in the day, the country's president, Michelle Bachelet, said.

"A village on the island is half-flooded, people have been evacuated to higher elevations," the president said, adding there had been extreme damage from the tsunami.

The 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit the Latin American country in the early hours of Saturday. The tremor occurred some 89 kilometers (55.3 miles) to the north of Chile's second largest city Concepcion, some 341 kilometers (212 miles) from the capital of Santiago.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center put out a warning along the coastlines of Chile and Peru, and issued a tsunami watch for Colombia, Ecuador, Antarctica, Panama and Costa Rica.

Some 50 nations have been placed under a tsunami advisory. Areas of concern are the Hawaiian Islands, French Polynesia, Australia, and Japan. Russia's Far Eastern region was also advised, but local emergency authorities have stated that the region is in no danger.

BUENOS AIRES, February 27 (RIA Novosti)