Authorities issued several tsunami alerts for Chile's entire Pacific coast in the wake of the tremor, which occurred 141 miles northwest of the capital Santiago.

Strong aftershocks shook the region - including one with a magnitude of 7.0 - as residents were ordered to evacuate the coastline.

A series of waves have been reported along Chile's coast and tsunami alerts remain in place for Peru, Ecuador and Hawaii.

As the alerts were issued, fishing boats headed further out to sea for the safety of deep water.

Many residents also packed their cars and drove inland to seek higher ground.

"People started screaming that everything was shaking," said Jorge Medina, a Santiago resident.

Footage aired on Chilean state TV showed water flowing into the streets of Concon, a coastal town near Valparaiso.

Other footage showed the walls and ceilings of buildings shaking as people rushed to safety.

In the inland city of Illapel, around 175 miles from Santiago, a woman was killed and the town's electricity supply was disrupted.

"We are very scared. Our city panicked," said the city's mayor Denis Cortes.

It was the first major earthquake to strike Chile since hundreds died following an 8.8-magnitude quake in 2010.

"Once again we must confront a powerful blow from nature," Chile's President Michelle Bachelet said while addressing the nation.

Chile is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries.

The Nazca tectonic plate which lies off the coast plunges beneath the South American plate, causing major seismic activity.

The strongest earthquake ever recorded occurred in Chile - a 9.5-magnitude tremor in 1960 that killed more than 5,000 people.

Sky News witnessed a pregnant woman being stretchered from the scene and footage later emerged of distressed and injured children who had been in the line of fire when police used tear gas and water cannon.

A nearby medical centre in Serbia reported that two people had been seriously injured and up to 300 sought treatment.

Some 1,500 refugees who had been hoping to travel through Hungary are now blocked by a 3.5m-high fence.

Tensions spilled over at about 3pm when some migrants responded to the police tactics by throwing rocks and house bricks.

The majority ran desperately from the scene.

Sky News' Colin Brazier described the scene at the Roszke-Horgos border crossing as clashes broke out around him.

"It's very fractious," he said. "There are young men who are really angry. It's a determined hard core of maybe a score - and behind them children and mothers.

"The imagery of this is being beamed around the world - people are going to look at this in other European capitals and be concerned."

Brazier said refugees had been left at the fence without food, water and information.

Hungary arrested 29 migrants during the riot, including one it described as a "terrorist".

Serbia sent ambulances to the crossing, where thick smoke billowed after the clashes.

The country reacted furiously to Hungary's tactics.

"This is being thrown across the border line, which no state has the right to do and because of that I protest in the strongest terms," Serbian minister Aleksandar Vulin said.

Serbia later said it would send extra police to the crossing to "prevent further attacks on the Hungarian police from our territory and in a humane and respectful way distance the migrants from the fence and the Hungarian police".

It is such a new route that the refugees have no idea what to expect.

All they do know is that Hungary is inhospitable and now violent and dangerous.

It has never been very welcoming but now it is shut and intends to defend its borders with as much force as its government deems necessary.

Fences, water cannon, gas, the military and the law are all being deployed with equal vigour.

On buses and in taxis they arrive at an informal junction on the old road to Croatia outside the town of Sid.

They shoulder their bags, grab a packed lunch from waiting NGOs and head off on a farm track through cornfields to yet another unofficial crossing point.

Some have done this through four or five nations.

By coming through Croatia and Slovenia to Austria, what should have been the last and arguably quickest leg of their journey has now been doubled.

I spoke to a number of the refugees who had made it to the Hungarian border.

They are all uniformly unhappy.

"It is terrible the way we have been treated," a young man from Damascus told me as he trudged with a group of friends towards the border.

"It is wrong, there are women and children in this heat, without food, without any respect being shown to them.

"Hungary is a big problem but we will keep going this way (through Croatia) and then eventually we will get there."

The Serbian authorities have shown remarkable flexibility in dealing with the tide of refugees but they still insist on keeping the official border crossings open, so they direct the refugees to what are basically illegal crossing points.

I've been on the road, following the migration route through Hungary, Austria and into Germany.

I wanted to find out more about the people travelling through Europe. Who are they? What is their profession? How did they get here? Where are they going?

And to ask: What drives a person to leave their home and everything they know behind and set off on a very long journey in search of a new life?

Here are some of the stories I found along the way.

RAAFAT: 37

At the border crossing from Serbia into Hungary I meet Raafat from Damascus in Syria. He wants to build a new future with his son in Norway. His journey has taken him via Lebanon and Turkey, where he says he swam at night for seven hours to reach Greece and Europe.

FADI: 38

I find Fadi taking shelter from the rain in a tent near Roszke. He's a professional artist from Damascus in Syria. He's travelling with his Nephew and wants to go to Germany. He left Syria 9 months ago, and took a boat from Turkey to Greece before travelling up through Macedonia and Serbia.

MUSTAFA: 14

In the refugee camp at Roszke in Hungary, 14-year-old Mustafa tells me his story through the fence. He's from Idlib in Syria where he says he went to school every day, until the building was destroyed by a bomb. He wants to go to Germany to be "free" and go to school.

AHMED: 19

At the border crossing between Hungary and Austria 19-year-old Ahmed is travelling with his mother, brother and little sister. He says they lost their home in Aleppo in Syria and escaped to Europe via Turkey by boat. He wants to go to Germany to study and become a dentist or a doctor.

The 11 candidates, selected on the basis of recent polls, went head-to-head at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Senator Rand Paul said Mr Trump's habit of hurling personal insults made him "worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal".

Mr Trump hit back, saying: "I never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there."

The mudslinging didn't end there. Mr Trump threw a jibe at Jeb Bush, saying he liked that he was "showing energy", having previously said that he lacked it.

Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina gave a strong performance with detailed answers on foreign policy and powerful attacks on Hillary Clinton's achievements.

She attacked Mr Trump's business acumen, reminding the millions of viewers that he filed for bankruptcy four times.

She said: "That is precisely the way you ran your companies.

"You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money. Why should we trust you to manage the finances of this nation?"

Earlier they bickered over Mr Trump's recent insult to Ms Fiorina, saying people might not vote for her because of her face.

"I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr Trump said," she said.

Mr Trump's reply got a more muted response: "I think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman."

Mr Trump also sparred with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, with Mr Bush hitting back at criticism of his brother George's presidency by saying: "One thing about my brother - he made us safe."

The epic debate covered a swathe of issues from the Iran nuclear deal to defunding planned parenthood.

Real estate tycoon Mr Trump, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Ms Fiorina have enjoyed a recent rise in the polls thanks to a growing contempt for the perceived establishment elite.

The three-year-old girl is one of the youngest people ever to have the type-2 form of the condition, according to her doctor.

Dr Michael Yafi, from Houston in Texas, said that when he made the diagnosis the anonymous girl tipped the scales at 35kg (5st 7lb).

He told the European Association for the Study of Diabetes conference in Stockholm that the family had "poor nutritional habits, with uncontrolled counting of calories and fat".

Both parents were obese, but there was no family history of diabetes.

The girl was given the drug metformin to bring her blood sugar under control.

Her parents were also told to control her food portion sizes, count calories and increase the amount of exercise she did.

Six months later the girl had lost 9kg (1st 7lb) and her blood sugar levels were within the healthy range.

Dr Yafi said the growing obesity epidemic meant doctors should be alert to lifestyle-related diabetes even in young children.

"Reversal of type-2 diabetes in children is possible by early screening of obese children, early diagnosis, appropriate therapy and lifestyle modification," he said.

Tam Fry of the UK's Child Growth Foundation told Sky News: "Fifteen years ago it was rare even for an adolescent to have type 2 diabetes.

"It was thought to be a mid-life disease.

"In those 15 years it has gone from being something that nobody got in childhood to being quite common at the age of 10.

"We have taken the eye off the ball in preventing obesity and none of this should happen."

Douglas Twenefour, clinical advisor at Diabetes UK, said that "probably less than 100" young children have been diagnosed with type-2 diabetes in the UK.

"This highlights how important it is that children get a healthy start to life, which includes a healthy diet and regular exercise," he said.

Later this year the Government will publish a new plan to tackle the one in five children who are now obese.

The strategy will include measures to stop children putting on weight over the summer holidays, when they're not being given portion-controlled meals at school.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "The obesity epidemic and particularly childhood obesity has now taken over as the biggest health challenge of our time and it's a challenge we are determined to rise to."

The blaze began in a paper flower shop on the floor below the kindergarten in Ningde City, in China's Fujian province. 

All 303 children were rescued, with some being hurled from windows onto blankets as smoke filled the building.

TV pictures also showed adults running from the building with children in their arms.

Some 92 children and 12 adults were taken to hospital and all are said to be in a stable condition.

Despite the chaos, firefighters were able to extinguish the fire in around half an hour.