An earthquake, about 8 times as bad as the one hitting Haiti has struck Chile, no estimate of the final death toll yet. Tsunami imminent.
An earthquake, about 8 times as bad as the one hitting Haiti has struck Chile, no estimate of the final death toll yet. Tsunami imminent.
Santiago, Feb 27 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Hours after a devastating earthquake killed at least 78 people in Chile Saturday, a massive tsunami hit the Robinson Crusoe island of the Latin American country, President Michelle Bachelet said.
The three-meter wave hit the island, the largest in the Chilean Juan Fernandez archipelago, and was heading toward Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean where evacuations to higher ground were underway.
“A village on the island is half-flooded, people have been evacuated to higher elevations,” the president said, adding there had been extreme damage from the tsunami.
The 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit the country at 3.34 a.m. (1204 IST), some 89 km to the north of Chile’s second largest city Concepcion.
President Bachelet rushed to the national disaster centre to assess the situation and help in relief efforts.
The tremor also damaged buildings in Santiago, about 320 km north of the epicentre, besides disrupting telephone and power lines in some areas.
Several aftershocks, including one that measured 6.9 on the Richter scale, followed the initial quake.
Chilean state television said the president was expected to arrive in the quake-hit area. Areas near the stricken Biobio Region, Maule and Araucania, were declared a zone of catastrophe.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has issued a warning along the coast of Chile and Peru, and issued a tsunami watch for Colombia, Ecuador, Antarctica, Panama and Costa Rica.
Some 50 nations have been placed under a tsunami advisory. Areas of concern are the Hawaiian Islands, French Polynesia, Australia, and Japan.
Russia’s far eastern region was also advised, but local emergency authorities have said that the region is in no danger.
The tsunami is three meters.
the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Asian Tsunami, Indonesian Tsunami, and Boxing Day Tsunami.
The earthquake was caused by subduction and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing nearly 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (100 feet) high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand were the hardest hit.
With a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3, it is the second largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. This earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 cm (0.4 inches)[5] and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska.[6]
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The height of the wave isn't the problem, its the duration of the time the water continues to surge on shore.That is probably good news, by comparison.
The height of the wave isn't the problem, its the duration of the time the water continues to surge on shore.
My hopes and prayers are with all the countries affected by this disaster. What a terrible tragedy.
That Tsunami is due to hit our shores (Victoria and Tofino) at 3:07 PM today.Sure is Mowich, it's too early to tell much yet I guess but I have a feeling it's not destructive on the magnitude of Haiti,,,,,,,,,keeping my fingers crossed.
I'm sure that sentiment is shared by Chileans. :-|I knew it was a good day, I just learned something new.