Truth Will Set You Free: 21st Century News & Opinion: 8.8 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Chile

Tsunami Warnings Have Been Issued

2.27.2010

8.8 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Chile

Apparently Chile has a history of large earthquakes, the last one occurring in 2007. A recent Youtube search yielded dozens of videos of that quake.

More details on the Chile earthquake:

A powerful earthquake of 8.3magnitude has rocked central Chile at 0634 GMT, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reports.

The earthquake struck 197 miles southwest of the capital city Santiago at the depth of about 59.4km. There is no news about the number of casualties yet. The Pacific Tsunami Warning centre has issued a red alert for Chile, Ecuador and Peru. : “An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines near the epicenter within minutes and more distant coastlines within hours” the centre said.

The latest reports claim that buildings in the capital city were shaken from 10 to 30 seconds and power supply has been disrupted in few pockets of the city. Even telephone lines and internet connections have gone out order.

Related Repost By REUTERS

Published: February 27, 2010

Filed at 3:10 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The massive quake that struck the south-central coast of Chile early on Saturday was magnitude 8.8, the USGS reported in its latest bulletin. The U.S. Geological Survey earlier had reported the quake as having magnitudes of 8.3 and 8.5. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu)

Related post on wordpress, courtesy of vincentloy.wordpress.com

The greatest earthquake recorded after the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami (9.0M), the Chile Earthquake measures up to 8.8 magnitude in Ritcher scale. The earthquake struck Chile at 03.34 local time, early Saturday (27th February 2010).

The earthquake can be felt in the Chilean capital, Santiago, as well as in many Argentinean cities, and as far as to Sao Paulo, Brazil, located more than 3000km away. Besides that, tsunami warnings were issued in 53 countries. The President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet declared a state of catastrophe. Currently, 78 deaths are confirmed and the number is expected to rise tremendously.
Many buildings have collapsed, as well as electric cables, causing blackout all over the region. Santiago International Airport had also been damaged and closed for operation. At first, tsunami warning is declared over the region, then, later extended over to Pacific Ocean, involving Asian countries, like Japan, China, Taiwan, Phillipines, Indonesia, and Australia. Tsunami up to few metres high are expected to hit any time, in the period of 24 hours after the earthquake.

Tsunami waves were spotted at shores of Chile and at the coasts of few islands few hundred kilometres away from Chile. Many aftershocks were recorded too after the main earthquake. The damage is horrible, many buildings have collapsed, as well as bridges, highways, etc. It’s just about one and a half month after the disastrous 7.0M Haiti earthquake that killed over 230 000 people and left over one million people homeless.

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