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UNCW students studying abroad in Chile are safe after an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8 hit the country last weekend.

Students were attending Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso in Valparaiso, Chile, which is a little over 200 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake in Concepcion, Chile.

Finding out the state of the students was an all-day event because of power outages, said Denise DiPuccio, the assistant provost of the Office of International Programs.

E-mails were sent to the students, their parents, the students’ host families, and the university in Chile by UNCW to find the whereabouts of the students.

“Our students were never missing or lying under rumble, “said DiPuccio. “The university is open today and they are monitoring the situation. “

According to DiPuccio the students did feel some trimmers.

“All students who go abroad are asked to register with the U.S. Department of State so that anytime there would be something like this the state department knows where the students are and that there are U.S. citizens in this area,” said Kara Pike, assistant director of Education Abroad.

There are two students at UNCW that are from Chile and, according to DiPuccio, their families are safe.

The names of the students studying in Chile were not released.