Canada is standing by and ready to provide "any necessary assistance" to Chile after the country was rocked by a powerful earthquake Saturday morning.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper released a statement to the media offering support and sympathies to the people of Chile.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Chile as they respond to this emerging natural disaster," he said.

"Canadian officials in Santiago and Ottawa are currently assessing the situation to clarify the extent of the damage as well as to determine the potential impact on Canadians who are currently in Chile."

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said at a news conference Saturday afternoon that Canada is ready to send Chile stockpiles of supplies to help the country recover from the 8.8-magnitude tremor.

But Cannon ruled out sending Canada's military disaster assistance response team, better known by the acronym DART.

Chilean officials have declared a state of catastrophe, but as of Saturday afternoon had not made any formal requests for international assistance.

"First we need a request from the Chilean government and at this moment we don't have that. Normally if this demand was made, we could bring assistance in collaboration with (relief) organizations in South America," Cannon said in French.

At least 214 people have been confirmed dead following the quake. However, one government official said the unofficial death toll may have topped 300 and was expected to rise further.

Status of Canadians

There were 1,100 registered Canadians in Chile when the earthquake struck. Sixty registered Canadians are in the city of Concepcion, which is about 115 kilometres away from quake's epicentre.

Cannon said there is no word on any Canadian casualties. Government officials are trying to contact Canadians there, but the earthquake has made it hard to communicate, he said.

"Communications are extremely sporadic. Wireless communications are sketchy, hard communications lines down as well," Cannon said. "Once we have communication and things are stabilized, then once we can go out and retrieve as much information as possible."

• Family and friends of Canadians in Chile who are seeking information on their loved ones can call Ottawa's emergency operations centre at 1-800-387-3124 or 613-943-1055.
• Canadians in Chile needing emergency consular assistance can try to contact the embassy in Santiago at (56) 2-652-3800.
• They can also call DFAIT's Emergency Operations Centre collect at 613-996-8885 or send an email to sos@international.gc.ca.

There are an estimated 40,000 people of Chilean descent living in Canada. Many Chilean organizations have been busy trying to relay information to Canadians with family or friends in the disaster-struck Andean nation.

"We have many, many people calling, calling, calling," said Ledda Urbani, vice-president of the Quebec Chilean Association, in Montreal. "But there's no communication by telephone."

"Nobody is sleeping since this happened," she added. "Some don't have electricity. It's terrible."

With telephone lines down, social networking sites became one way family and friends learned about the condition of their loved ones.

"I can't believe Facebook has been so useful," said 27-year-old Torontonian Vince Rozas. "All of my cousins have been on Facebook. That's how we've gotten our news."

Charities preparing

Meanwhile, Canadian relief organizations were making plans to help Chileans.

Global medic, a Toronto-based charity, said it is deploying an advanced team from Haiti, where volunteers were helping that nation recover from last month's devastating earthquake.

"The team will focus on restoring access to clean drinking through the provision of water purification units, and the distribution of water purification tablets," Matt Capobianco said in a news release Saturday afternoon.

He said a medical team is also on standby.

Canadian Red Cross senior manager Jean-Pierre Taschereau said Chile is much better equipped to deal with the disaster than is Haiti, which suffered a devastating quake in January.

Taschereau, who recently returned from Haiti, said it's too early to tell what Canadian assistance Chile may need.

The Red Cross is monitoring whether tsunamis would develop anywhere along the Pacific RIM due to the Chilean tremor, Taschereau added.

Cannon said Canadian embassies located in countries along the Pacific Coast were alerted about the Tsunami warning and took the appropriate precautions.

He said that included British Columbia, which is currently hosting the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

"Public safety is our number one concern," Cannon said.

With files from The Canadian Press