[hennie pennie]

What do you believe was meant when a Chilean was quoted as having said, "The southern half of my country is falling apart."

That's waaaaaay too catastrophic an image for my poor little mind to deal with.

Could an 8.8, followed by massive aftershocks really rip a country to shreds, or might that "falling apart" been a really serious mistranslation?

[livius]

I didn’t hear the original Spanish, but the word might have been “colapsado,” which doesn’t so much mean “falling apart” as “shut down.” Traffic can be “colapsado,” for example, meaning that it’s completely stalled because of unusually heavy traffic or an accident or some other event.

I heard that they’re having trouble getting to the southern part of the country, partly because of the literal physical collapse of highways, etc., but also because communication has failed and everything is shut down. So I don’t think he’s really referring to part of the country physically falling apart.

[Godzilla]

"The southern half of my country is falling apart."

I think that is a bit hyperbolic. If the individual had never gone through such an event - it would seem all was falling apart