A fishing boat lies aground in the city of Talcahuano on March 6, 2010, after the craft was tossed inland by tsunamis spawned by the giant February 27  Chile earthquake (map of Chile).

The coastal city was one of the hardest hit following the magnitude 8.8 earthquake, which killed 497 people—downgraded from an original estimate in the 800s—and destroyed at least 500,000 homes, the Associated Press reported. (See more Chile earthquake pictures.)

Professional nature photographer Nicolás Piwonka took this picture out of the window of a small plane as part of a project to document damage caused by the Chile earthquake and resulting tsunami waves.