A point of (hopefully only) historical interest. In 1906 San Francisco had a 7.7 EQ on April 18th; and Santiago, Chile an 8.6 event on Aug 17th. Related or not, todays event should suggest to all to be prepared for mother nature, especially those living in California.
Yeah was up early this AM and caught the news.
I was surprised to hear that the strongest earthquake ever recored, 9 point something on the Richter happened in Chile in 1960.
Wow. Tough place to live. Are they near a big fault or something??? Anyone know.
To answer your question: YES.
They live near and on one of the most active and dangerous groups of faults in the world. They have a major earthquake every decade or so, a massive one every 25 - 75 years on average. They also have some of the world's most active volcanoes and a massive, young and still growing mountain chain. You don't shove all that rock up into the sky without building up a lot of energy - which has to let loose on a regular basis.
The Chileans are experienced and sophisticated when it comes to geologic threats in general, they live with them every day. This is huge, and those affected will need plenty of help. But this isn't a Haiti situation.