American Idol's Elliott Yamin Tweets Through Chile Earthquake

"I swear I thought this was the end of my life," confessed the performer over Twitter following the 8.8 magnitude quake

By Megan Masters Feb 27, 2010 7:46 PMTags
Elliot YaminJordan Strauss/Getty Images

Insight into the world's most recent natural disaster is coming from an unexpected source—American Idol veteran Elliott Yamin.

The season-five finalist survived a massive 8.8 earthquake in Chile early Saturday morning following a performance in Viña del Mar, nearly 90 miles away from the quake's epicenter, and took to Twitter to document the horrific event.

"Huge earthquake just now in Chile!!....I swear I thought this was the end of my life!!!!!" Yamin tweeted. "Complete and utter choas on the streets...no power...my heart is beatin outta my chest!....tsunami warnin...I am only a mile inland!"

Unbeknownst to the singer, various national news outlets, such as CNN and NBC's Today show, took notice, using his updates as a means of inside access into the tragedy.

"my bro just informed me that cnn is relayin my tweets!!...please knw that we r safe, and there is currently no threat of a tsunami," Yamin assured once aware that the world was watching.

After the initial shock of the quake wore off, Yamin continued to post status updates as they became available:

"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. I'm totally calm now....were all 2gether...got blankets from our rooms, and we're all hudled on the street..no aftershox in a while.."

However, Yamin's most recent updates took a different turn, expressing concern over his battle with diabetes. "Just got word that the airport in Santiago is closed...the tarmac has been reduced 2 rubble...my blood sugar is really hi," the star explained. "Imma Type 1 diabetic, and was sppsd 2 leave sunday.I only packed enuf insulin pump supplies 2 last til then....airports r closed! The next closest airport 2 where we r in vina del mar is 6 hrs away!!...we've felt about 30 aftershox already!!!"

Yamin has yet to post any area-related updates over the past few hours, but did appear via phone interview on both CNN and Today since the quake devastated Chile.

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