8.3 Magnitude Earth Quake Strikes Near Chille

[SilverWolf]

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/02/27/world/international-us-quake-chile.html

8.3-Magnitude Quake Hits Chile
By REUTERS
Published: February 27, 2010
Filed at 2:56 a.m. ET

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - A massive magnitude-8.3 earthquake struck near Concepcion, Chile, early on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, shaking buildings and causing blackouts in parts of the capital of Santiago.

A tsunami warning was issued for Chile and Peru by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, and a tsunami watch was issued for Ecuador.


The earthquake struck 56 miles northeast of Concepcion at a depth of 34 miles at 3:34 a.m./1:34 EST. It's magnitude was reported at 8.3 and 8.5, then fixed by the USGS at 8.3.

Edit: Messed up the thread title

 

[Joshua_me]

How horrible !

Also, Hawaii is under a tsunami warning for later this morning.

 

[Spiff]

Here's a local news stream from there. It looks like they were (relatively) lucky. So far the damage doesn't look nothing near what would be expected from an 8.8. Also I doubt if there was (major) tsunami. It's been 6 hours, Chile would have had it first, just minutes after the quake since the epicenter was just off their coast, which they have not.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tv-de-chile

 

[LESAINT]

.It is hard to get news right now...The airpot is closed and only cell phones are working...Keep us inform if you can...

 

[Joshua_me]

CNN is now reporting that Tsunami waves of three feet or more will hit the west coast of the U.S. from California all the way up to Seattle and beyond within the next 15 hours.

Now, three feet doesn't sound like a lot, but that's more than enough to pick you up and drag you out to sea if your are standing on the coastline.

From what I understand the entire Pacific basin is involved.

 

[Runewell]

I heard this morning too. First Haiti, now Chile, next...?

2012 fast approaches...

 

[Joshua_me]

Evacuation sirens are now howling over all of Hawaii. It's quite ominous to listen to them...

Pardon my ignorance, but evacuate to where, exactly ? The mountains ?

Tell that to the thousands of tourists staying on the coastline...

 

[Joshua_me]

[FONT=Verdana,Sans-serif]Hawaii blasts sirens, warning of possible tsunami[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Sans-Serif]Email this Story[/FONT]Feb 27, 11:29 AM (ET)

By JAYMES SONG

[FONT=Verdana,Sans-serif](AP) Dean Collins, of Anderson, S.C., ties down his luggage on the roof of a sport-utility vehicle in...[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Sans-serif]Full Image[/FONT]
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EWA BEACH, Hawaii (AP) - A tsunami threatened the Pacific Rim on Saturday, with an 8.8-magnitude earthquake off Chile sending potentially deadly waves across the ocean at the speed of a jetliner.
Hawaii woke residents with sirens, alerting them to the waves. A tsunami warning - the highest alert level - was issued earlier for the island chain. Boats and people near the coast were being evacuated. Hilo International Airport, located along the coast, was closed.
Residents lined up at supermarkets to stock up on water, canned food and batteries. Cars lined up 15 long at several gas stations.
The first waves were expected at 11:19 a.m. Saturday (4:19 p.m. EST; 2119 GMT). Most Pacific Rim nations, awaiting further data, did not order evacuations but advised people in low-lying areas to be on the lookout.
[FONT=Verdana,Sans-serif](AP) With a computer graphic showing the possible path of tsunami waves from an earthquake in Chile, Dr....[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Sans-serif]Full Image[/FONT]In Tonga, however, police and defense forces have begun a mass evacuation from low-lying coastal areas as they warned residents that tsunami waves about three feet (one meter) high could wash ashore within three hours.
"I can hear the church bells ringing to alert the people," National Disaster Office deputy director Mali'u Takai told The Associated Press. "We will move up to 50,000 people to the interior and away from the coasts."
Waves 6 feet (1.8 meter) above normal hit near Concepcion, Chile shortly after the quake.
Unlike other tsunamis in recent years, emergency officials along the Pacific have hours to prepare and possibly evacuate residents.
"We've got a lot of things going for us," said Charles McCreery, the director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which issues warnings to almost every country around the Pacific Rim and to most of the Pacific island states. "We have a reasonable lead time.
[FONT=Verdana,Sans-serif](AP) Motorists line up to get gas at a gas station, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010 in Ewa Beach, Hawaii. The...[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Sans-serif]Full Image[/FONT]"We should be able to alert everyone in harm's way to move out of the evacuation zones," he said.
A warning was also in effect for Guam, American Samoa, Samoa and dozens of other Pacific islands.
American Samoa Lt. Gov. Aitofele Sunia activated emergency services and called on residents of shoreline villages to move to higher ground. Police in Samoa issued a nationwide alert to begin coastal evacuations. The tsunami is expected to reach the islands Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, disaster management officials in Fiji said they have been warned to expect waves of as high as 7.5 feet (2.3 meters) to hit the northern and eastern islands of the archipelago and the nearby Tonga islands.
A lower-grade tsunami advisory was in effect for the coast of California and an Alaskan coastal area from Kodiak to Attu islands. Tsunami Center officials said they did not expect the advisory would be upgraded to a warning.
Waves were likely to hit Asian, Australian and New Zealand shores within 24 hours of Saturday's quake. A tsunami wave can travel at up to 600 mph, said Jenifer Rhoades, tsunami program manager at the National Weather Service in Washington, DC.
After the sirens are sounded in Hawaii, people in coastal areas, such as tourist-filled Waikiki, would then be instructed on a possible evacuation. The sirens will also be sounded again three hours prior to the estimated arrival time.
McCreery said he didn't know how big the waves will be, but expected them to be the largest to hit Hawaii since 1964.
"If you're in an evacuation zone, police or civil defense volunteers would instruct you to evacuate, or instructions will come out over the radio and TV," said Shelly Ichishita, spokeswoman for the state's civil defense.
If coastal areas are evacuated, visitors in Waikiki would be moved to higher floors in their hotels, rather than moved out of the tourist district, which could cause gridlock.
Some Pacific nations in the warning area were heavily damaged by a tsunami last year.
On Sept. 29, a tsunami spawned by a magnitude-8.3 earthquake killed 34 people in American Samoa, 183 in Samoa and nine in Tonga. Scientists later said that wave was 46 feet (14 meters) high.
Past South American earthquakes have had deadly effects across the Pacific.
A tsunami after a magnitude-9.5 quake that struck Chile in 1960, the largest earthquake ever recorded, killed about 140 people in Japan, 61 in Hawaii and 32 in the Philippines.
That tsunami was about 3.3 to 13 feet (one to four meters) in height, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted earthquake experts as saying the tsunami would likely be tens of centimeters (inches) high and reach Japan in about 22 hours.
A tsunami of 28 centimeters (11 inches) was recorded after a magnitude-8.4 earthquake near Chile in 2001.
The Meteorological Agency said it was still investigating the likelihood of a tsunami in Japan and did not issue a formal coastal warning.
Australia, meanwhile, was put on a tsunami watch.
The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning Saturday night for a "potential tsunami threat" to New South Wales state, Queensland state, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island.
Any potential wave would not hit Australia until Sunday morning local time, it said.
The Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology issued a low-level alert saying people should await further notice of a possible tsunami. It did not recommend evacuations.
Seismologist Fumihiko Imamura, of Japan's Tohoku University, told NHK that residents near ocean shores should not underestimate the power of a tsunami even though they may be generated by quakes on the other side of the ocean.
"There is the possibility that it could reach Japan without losing its strength," he said.
--- Associated Press writers Mark Niesse in Honolulu, Kristen Gelineau in Sydney, Chris Havlik in Phoenix, Ray Lilley in Auckland, New Zealand, and Eric Talmadge in Tokyo contributed to this report.


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[Spiff]

I wonder why they just couldn't have flown planes at low altitude from Hawaii into the direction of Chile to visually see how big the tsunami is rather than all this uncertainty they seem to have. They have the whole Pacific ocean to work with, yet none of the data seems conclusive.

 

[LatinCoffee]

How sad---now Hawaii and other countries have a tsunami warning--how scary!

 

[G-Lexington]

Well, Hawaii has rainbows, and those are gay, so that explains that one. And even Pat Robertson knows the best (meaning worst, meaning most messed-up, meaning best) porn is from Japan. But what's God got against Chile?

Lex

 

[Absolut]

I wonder why they just couldn't have flown planes at low altitude from Hawaii into the direction of Chile to visually see how big the tsunami is rather than all this uncertainty they seem to have. They have the whole Pacific ocean to work with, yet none of the data seems conclusive.

I believe (and correct me if I'm wrong) that tsunamis actually travel under the surface of the water until approaching a body of land, and then as the elevation of the ocean floor increases it becomes a "wave" so to speak as it gets closer to sea level.

But holy fuck. 8.8???

 

[Spiff]

I believe (and correct me if I'm wrong) that tsunamis actually travel under the surface of the water

Yes, I guess you are right, it makes sense. I found this sight which explains it very well.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/tsunami/

And now I know.

 

[gauchotrucho]

There's only one province seperating me from Chile, and I can tell you that i felt it this far away. It was the strongest earth tremor I have ever felt since living here. Later this morn, Salta, Argentina suffered a 6.6 quake and that is north of me , and I didn't feel that one. Btw, the tsunami has hit two islands off the coast of Chile, completely covering them, deaths reported with many missing, also the tsunami has already struck French Polynesia, don't know of the damage thou. Luckily, we didn't suffer any damage but we did suffer a poweroutage. Spoke to a rep of the power company and was told that they shut down the power plants as a precaution until they were able to inspect for damage. They also told me that we possibly could suffer a drop in power in order to provide Chile with electrical service if necessary. The roads through the Andes mountains are closed due to mountain debris.

 

[Absolut]

There is an article on msnbc.com that says the quake was 900 times the force of the Haiti earthquake. I know the Richter scale is exponential, but that is just mind boggling.

It's potentially the strongest earthquake in more than a century.

Wow.

 

[gauchotrucho]

Ok, latest info. The road from Chile that crosses into Argentine Province of San Juan is OPEN, The provinces of San Juan, Mendoza and San Luis (that's where I live) announced that they are ready provide any and all assitance necessary. Stranded tourists will be provided temp housing until they are able to return to their countries. Chilean airports are closed due to comunication and power outages and some damage to several runways.

 

[Ekim23]

Thats aweful, sad and my thoughts are with the people in chile...

 

[xXblatinoXx]

That's insane, the natural disasters are in full effect this year. I wouldn't be surprised if something hits North America before the year ends. *knocks on wood*

 

[ChickenGuy]

Well, Hawaii has rainbows, and those are gay, so that explains that one. And even Pat Robertson knows the best (meaning worst, meaning most messed-up, meaning best) porn is from Japan. But what's God got against Chile?

Lex

Ha! You beat me to it, Lex I was about to speculate on what sort of evil wrongdoings Chile's done.

Off-topic fact:

The strongest earthquake in recent history occured in this exact area on May 22, 1960.

It was 9.5 on the Richter Scale. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_Valdivia_earthquake

Off-topic question:

I remember watching a travel documentary once, about a place in Hawaii that was struck by a tsunami in the 1940s/1950s. There was a clock that had stopped at the exact time the tsunami hit. Don't know if anyone knows exactly where and when this happened. Thanks.

EDIT: Found it - it was in Hilo, Hawaii in 1946, and then again with this same Chilean earthquake in 1960.

http://www.tsunami.org/storyfesttime04.html

 

[bike10]

Still waiting for the Prophet of the GOP Pat Robertson to ring in for the reason why the people Chille were hit with the earthquake.