Season 5 “American Idol” third-place finalist Elliott Yamin had just returned to his hotel after finishing a performance as part of a singing competition festival in Vina Del Mar, Chile, when he felt the magnitude 8.8 earthquake which hit the South American country Saturday just after 3 a.m. local time.
He immediately took to his Twitter account and began updating.
“Huge earthquake just now in Chile!!….I swear I thought this was the end of my life!!!!!” his first Tweet read.
CNN later began live updating on the situation based on the singer’s Tweets.
Later Saturday morning, he appeared on both NBC’s “Weekend Today” show and ABC’s “Weekend Good Morning America” to give updates about the situation.
‘Utter chaos’Yamin described a chaotic scene at his hotel in Vina Del Mar, which is a coastal town outside of Valparaiso, Chile’s fourth largest city.
Concepcion, the epicenter of the quake, is situated about 200 miles south down the coast from where Yamin was staying.
“Complete and utter choas on the streets…no power…my heart is beatin outta my chest!….tsunami warnin…I am only a mile inland!” Yamin continued.
He later Tweeted that he was OK, despite reporting that he’d felt about 30 aftershocks.
“Hey everybody…we r totally safe and sound 4 the time being…I’m finally calmer,and dawn is approaching,which will help!..thx 4 ur prayers.”
Earlier, Yamin had been Tweeting that he was unhappy with how he had been treated like an amateur at the competition, but the earthquake later gave him some perspective.
“So…1 min, I’m trashin this competition on twitter, the next,I’m runnin 4 my life 2 safety!…what a contrast!…I hope & pray yall are ok!” he wrote.
Yamin also said that he had heard the Santiago airport was closed because the tarmac had been reduced to rubble. He was concerned that he might not have enough insulin supplies to last him, because he is a diabetic.
“Imma Type 1 diabetic, and was sppsd 2 leave sunday.I only packed enuf insulin pump supplies 2 last til then….airports r closed!” Yamin continued.
Yamin is widely-regarded by “Idol” fans as one of the most genial and liked past contestants in the show’s history.
As of 10 a.m. PT Saturday, he hadn’t updated his Twitter feed in about 5 hours.