The magnitude-8.3 quake hit off northern Chile on Wednesday night, causing buildings to sway in the capital of Santiago and prompting authorities to issue a tsunami warning for the Andean nation's entire Pacific coast. People sought safety in the streets of inland cities, while others along the shore took to their cars to get to higher ground. "Once again we must confront a powerful blow from nature," President Michelle Bachelet said in an address to the nation late Wednesday. Authorities said early Thursday that five people had been killed and one person was listed as missing.
Bachelet urged people who evacuated from coastal areas to stay on high ground until authorities could fully evaluate the situation during the night. Officials said schools would be kept closed in most of the country Thursday. Numerous aftershocks, including one at magnitude-7 and four above 6, shook the region after the initial earthquake - the strongest tremor since a powerful quake and tsunami killed hundreds in 2010 and leveled part of the city of Concepcion in south-central Chile.
People evacuate a mall in Santiago after a powerful earthquake, in Santiago, Chile, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. The magnitude-8.3 earthquake hit off Chile's northern coast causing buildings to sway in Santiago and other cities and sending people running into the streets. Authorities reported one death in a town north of the capital.
Although officials cautioned it was too early to know for sure, it appeared Wednesday's quake had a much smaller impact than the 2010 tremor. If that turns out to be the case, it will be a sign that Chile's traditionally strong risk reduction measures and emergency planning had gotten better in the last five years. "Earthquake impact is a little like real estate: what matters is location, location, location," said Susan Hough, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. "But it is true that preparedness and risk reduction in Chile is ahead of that in much of the world, and that makes a difference."
The tremor was so strong that people in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the other side of the continent, reported feeling it. People in Peru and Brazil also reported feeling the shakes. No injuries were reported outside Chile. Claudio Moreno said he was in a Santiago bar when it hit. The shaking was powerful, but more worrisome was how long it lasted, he said. "We went out in the street when we felt it was going on too long," he said. "It was more than a minute." Authorities said some adobe houses collapsed in the inland city of Illapel, about 175 miles (280 kilometers) north of Santiago and about 34 miles (55 kilometers) east of the quake's epicenter.
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Not really. Only the northern part, Cape Mendecino north, has a peice of subduction zone underneath.
Were they but an advance warning of more bad stuff to come? Read this article @ Eruption Update for April 4, 2014: Ubinas, Chilean volcanoes and Fearmongering | Science Blogs | WIRED
Which also bring up THIS question how about something similar happening in California?
And, even though I live in Vegas, notice how close one of them is to here?
Have a nice day.
Hundreds of traumatized Chileans spent a second night out in the open or in shelters on Thursday night after an offshore magnitude 8.3 earthquake left 12 dead. In the coastal city of Coquimbo, the wrath of the earth’s twitch in the quake-prone country was clear and ugly: A jumble of fishing boats, remains of homes, trucks, vendors’ stands and cars washed up by tsunami waves bore testament to the sea’s fury.
Maria Zamorano, 60, recounted how she and her large family ran from the shoreline to save themselves from the surging waves. “If we had stayed here, we would have perished,” she said, as people slowly and warily returned to see what was left of their homes. The town is about 445km north of the capital, Santiago. The earthquake on Wednesday evening was the sixth strongest in the history of Chile and the most powerful anywhere in the world this year, officials said. Close to 1 million people were evacuated from Pacific coastal areas as a precaution, as Chile sounded a tsunami alert, with warnings issued as far away as Japan and New Zealand.
A fishing boat lies beached on the street of the port of Coquimbo, 445km north of Santiago, on Thursday, a day after a magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck Chile.
As of Thursday, most of the evacuees had returned home, but Chilean Minister of the Interior Jorge Burgos said that about 600 people remained in shelters or elsewhere and that about 650 homes were damaged, mainly in Coquimbo. The quake occurred at a shallow depth and the epicenter was 228km north of Santiago, a city of 6.6 million people, where there were scenes of pandemonium as thousands fled swaying buildings. In the hours that followed, tsunami waves of up to 4.5m came crashing onshore in the Coquimbo region, causing extensive damage to the region’s port. Eight of the 12 victims were in Coquimbo.
Scenes of destruction also littered the badly hit coastal town of Illapel, further south. “It was a nightmare,” Maria Ramirez said as she swept up debris outside her house. “We felt the tremors for a long time, too long. And then all the aftershocks — it was terrible. “I couldn’t stay standing, but luckily we made it out alive.” Chilean President Michelle Bachelet headed to the quake-hit area to assess the relief efforts and US Secretary of State John Kerry said the US was ready to help. Hundreds of homes were declared uninhabitable or destroyed, as authorities tally the human, emotional and financial cost.
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So did LongKnife "predict" this one back in April?? Might have to draft him into the USGS...
The powerful quake killed at least 12 people and likely caused billions of dollars in damage. There are serious structural damages to homes close to the epicenter of the earthquake in the town of Illapel.
As large tsunami waves were also observed along the Chilean coast, many were concerned that it would do even greater damage. In the city of Coquimbo, a wave was measured at more than 15 feet, according to the U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center. There were no casulties because residents evacuated before waves started hitting the coastline, but Coquimbo Mayor Cristian Galleguillos reported that the city did lose power.
A tsunami advisory was in effect as far as Japan, Hawaii, and California. New Zealand, which is some 6,000 miles away from the quake's epicenter, was on guard for possible tsunami waves as well. At least 15 aftershocks of magnitude 4.9 or higher rattled residents in the area around the first quake's epicenter.
Fabrizio Guzman, emergency communications manager in Chile for World Vision, said the earthquake hit during rush hour, causing traffic chaos that left many people stuck in the streets as they tried to get home. The people of Chile are no strangers to earthquakes. Since 1973, Chile has had more than a dozen quakes of magnitude 7.0 and above.
Chilean Earthquake Leaves Millions in Chaos - World - CBN News - Christian News 24-7 - CBN.com
