Chile’s 8.8 magnitude earthquake shook the whole continent and tilted Earth’s axis thus making our days shorter. Now it’s moving us.
The city of Concepcion (Chile’s second largest) moved at least 10 ft (3 m) to the West. Other parts of the continent such as Fortaleza (Brazil’s North-East) and the Falkland Islands. Buenos Aires (Argentina’s capital) moved 1 inch (2.54 cm) to the West. Santiago moved 11 inches (28 cm) to the West-Southwest.
These findings were possible by comparing GPS locations from before the earthquake and 10 days after it.
The earthquake was produced in a region called the Ring of Fire, an area of high tectonic and volcanic activity that circles the Pacific Ocean and runs under countries like Tonga, Japan, Chile, USA and many more (as you can see on the map).
According to official numbers the earthquake killed 528 people and the total value of economic damage can range between US$15 billion to $30 billion, according to a US risk modeling firm.
There have been more than 30 aftershocks of magnitude 6.0 or greater since the initial quake on February 27.
Minutes after the initial shock a tsunami warning was issued. 53 nations and territories braced themselves for a huge tsunami that never happened (except for locations very close to the epicenter). Places as far as Hawaii, Japan and Tonga evacuated their coastal areas but they only reported 5 ft (1.5m) tall waves which produced minor damage.
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Images credit, University of Hawaii and Wikipedia.
Article by Fernando
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