This has already been a tough year for temblors, with the magnitude 7.0 quake striking impoverished Haiti and killing some 230,000 on Jan. 12, 2009. Early this morning, an earthquake 500 times stronger than that struck offshore 70 miles from the second-largest city in Chile, Concepcion. The quake belonged to all of South America, being felt in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, and touched off a cross-Pacific tsunami that put Hawaii on alert -- sounding the coastal evacuation alarms for the first time in 16 years -- and hit Japan.
On the Richter scale, anything 8.0 and greater is consider a "great earthquake," capable of causing serious damage over an area of several hundred miles. The deadliest earthquake in recorded history, in Shensi province, China, in the 16th century, is estimated at 8.0. The undersea quake that touched off the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that touched 14 countries as far away as South Africa was magnitude 9.1.
But Chile was prepared for a major temblor, with strict building codes that couldn't prevent damage or loss of life from a quake of this magnitude but could lessen the loss. The U.S. Geological Survey explains why the nation was so prepared:
"Coastal Chile has a history of very large earthquakes. Since 1973, there have been 13 events of magnitude 7.0 or greater. The February 27 shock originated about 230 km north of the source region of the magnitude 9.5 earthquake of May, 1960 - the largest earthquake worldwide in the last 200 years or more. This giant earthquake spawned a tsunami that engulfed the Pacific Ocean. An estimated 1600 lives were lost to the 1960 earthquake and tsunami in Chile, and the 1960 tsunami took another 200 lives among Japan, Hawaii, and the Philippines. Approximately 870 km to the north of the February 27 earthquake is the source region of the magnitude 8.5 earthquake of November, 1922. This great quake significantly impacted central Chile, killing several hundred people and causing severe property damage. The 1922 quake generated a 9-meter local tsunami that inundated the Chile coast near the town of Coquimbo; the tsunami also crossed the Pacific, washing away boats in Hilo harbor, Hawaii. The magnitude 8.8 earthquake of February 27, 2010 ruptured the portion of the South American subduction zone separating these two massive historical earthquakes."
The map from the NOAA shows the projected path of the tsunami that touched off warnings across the Pacific, with countries being all the more cautious after the devastating loss of life in the Boxing Day tsunami. As of this writing, the first tsunami waves had reached Japan but thankfully were small. Click here for photos of the alert in Hawaii.
But the devastation in Chile, even being prepared, will be catastrophic from a quake this size. One of the aftershocks alone was as strong as the Haiti quake. At least 300 have been killed, according to initial government estimates, as the first photos to trickle out show accordioned roads and buildings snapped in half. More from the AP:
"Also near the epicenter was Concepcion, one of the country's largest cities, where a 15-story building collapsed, leaving a few floors intact.
'I was on the 8th floor and all of a sudden I was down here,' said Fernando Abarzua, marveling that he escaped with no major injuries. He said a relative was still trapped in the rubble six hours after the quake, 'but he keeps shouting, saying he's OK.'
Chilean state television reported that 209 inmates escaped from prison in the city of Chillan, near the epicenter, after a fire broke out.
In the capital of Santiago, 200 miles (325 kilometers) to the northeast, the national Fine Arts Museum was badly damaged and an apartment building's two-story parking lot pancaked, smashing about 50 cars whose alarms rang incessantly.
A car dangled from a collapsed overpass while overturned vehicles lay scattered below. 'I can now say in all surety that seat belts save lives in automobiles,' said Cristian Alcaino, who survived the fall in his car.
While most modern buildings survived, a bell tower collapsed on the Nuestra Senora de la Providencia church and several hospitals were evacuated due to damage.
Santiago's airport was closed, with smashed windows, partially collapsed ceilings and destroyed pedestrian walkways in the passenger terminals. The capital's subway was shut as well, and transportation was further limited because hundreds of buses were stuck behind a damaged bridge."
(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
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