Constitución during the 2010 quake

On Feb. 27, 2010, an 8.8 earthquake struck the central coast of Chile, triggering a tsunami. The city of Constitución was devastated, with buildings swept from their foundations, sometimes more than a kilometer inland.

(Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

June 4, 2015 10:16 PM PT

In early 2010, Chile was devastated by a 8.8 earthquake that leveled structures all along the central portion of the country. But no city was as damaged as Constitución, which not only faced the earthquake, but the powerful tsunami that followed.

The quake claimed more than 500 lives all over Chile’s central region, with roughly a fifth of the dead in Constitución. Buildings in the older center of town were especially hard hit — such as this store near the Plaza de Armas.

(Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Constitución, a lumber industry town that sits at the mouth of the Maule River, is susceptible to storm surges.

(Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

After the earthquake hit, people had approximately 20 minutes to make for higher ground, which many did. Building along the riverbanks had put human settlement right along the edge of the water. When the tsunami came, there was no buffer to absorb it.

(Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Parishioners gather outside Constitucion’s cathedral for a mass and memorial to the dead on the Sunday following the quake and tsunami in March 2010. The cathedral was heavily damaged, but has since been rebuilt.

(Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Citizens transformed the gymnasium into a makeshift morgue to identify the dead and the missing. The city has bounced back, but scars of the earthquake remain.

(Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)