Saturday, February 27, 2010

8.8 earthquake Hits Chile: Now Fears Tsunami

8.8 earthquake Hits Chile: Now fears Tsunami: It can be recalled that the quake of magnitude 8.8 hit Chile. The said quake, centered offshore, knocks down highway overpasses and buildings, and at least 122 are killed. In Hawaii, sirens warn residents of giant waves. You could see the video link here.

Early this morning, Chile was rocked by an 8.8-magnitude, and reports are still dribbling out about its effects, including the tragic deaths so far of at least 85 people. As of now they are still investigating the exact damage of the quake. There's still much we don't know-particularly about what's going on in Concepcion, the country's second-largest city, which was the closest major town to the quake's epicenter. Some Flickr users, such as condeorloff, have already started uploading photos of damaged buildings some 200 miles away in Santiago, the capital. So Concepcion must be pretty bad. There have also been numerous aftershocks, and warnings about tsunamis threatening the coastline.

We can safely assure that Chile was well prepared for this disaster, having been struck by 13 large earthquakes since 1973. The biggest seismic event in recorded history was in Chile, a 9.5-magnitude quake in 1960. While the death toll will inevitably go up, and hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage are likely, the country seems very resilient.

In comparisons to Haiti, whose earthquake was much smaller but several orders of magnitude more deadly, are inevitable. But not only was Chile far better prepared, it is also a vastly more developed country, one that just joined the OECD and has a highly competent government, so it's no surprise that it would be able to weather this disaster relatively calmly. There are several warnings already abotu the tsunami. Hope it will not hit Chile and other countries.

Watch the video 8.8 earthquake Hits Chile...

Click here to see video

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