5 dead as magnitude-8.2 quake hits northern Chile

[sujith]

A powerful magnitude-8.2 earthquake struck off northern Chile on Tuesday night, setting off a small tsunami that forced evacuations along the country's entire Pacific coast. Five people were crushed to death or suffered fatal heart attacks, the interior minister said, but Chile apparently escaped major damage or serious casualties.

The shaking loosed landslides that blocked roads, power failed for thousands, an airport was damaged and several businesses caught fire. About 300 inmates escaped from a women's prison in the city of Iquique, and Chile's military was sending a planeload of special forces to help police guard against looting.

In the city of Arica, 86 miles (139 kilometers) from the quake's epicenter, hospitals were treating minor injuries, and some homes made of adobe were destroyed and 90 percent of customers were without power, authorities said.

The quake also shook modern buildings in nearby Peru and in Bolivia's high altitude capital of La Paz.

Hours later, a tsunami warning remained in effect for northern Chile, but alerts were lifted elsewhere.

"We regard the coast line of Chile as still dangerous, so we're maintaining the warning," geophysicist Gerard Fryer at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center told The Associated Press.

Chile's Emergency Office said its tsunami watch would remain in effect for six more hours, meaning hundreds of thousands of people along the coast would not sleep in their beds. Swimmers and surfers in the U.S. state of Hawaii, thousands of miles away in the Pacific, might see higher waves Wednesday, the warning center said.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially reported the quake at 8.0, but later upgraded the magnitude. It said the quake struck 61 miles (99 kilometers) northwest of Iquique, hitting a region that has been rocked by numerous quakes over the past two weeks.

Psychiatrist Ricardo Yevenes said he was with a patient in Arica when the quake hit. "It quickly began to move the entire office, things were falling," he told local television. "Almost the whole city is in darkness."

The quake was so strong that the shaking experienced in Bolivia's capital about 290 miles (470 kilometers) away was the equivalent of a 4.5-magnitude tremor, authorities there said.

More than 10 strong aftershocks followed in the first few hours, including a 6.2 tremor. More aftershocks and even a larger quake could not be ruled out, said seismologist Mario Pardo at theUniversity of Chile.

Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo said President Michelle Bachelet was closely watching the situation and was ready to take "any measures" to ensure people's safety. Hundreds of soldiers were being deployed in the quake zone, and a flight would be leaving soon with 100 special forces on board, he added.

"We have taken action to ensure public order in the case of Iquique, where we've had a massive escape of more than 300 female prisoners from the Iquique jail, so that the armed forces and police can coordinate and provide tranquility and security to the residents," he said.

Some roads in northern Chile were blocked by landslides, causing traffic jams among people leaving the coast. But coastal residents remained calm as they head inland while waves measuring almost 2 meters (6 ½ feet) struck their cities.

Evacuations also were ordered in Peru, where waves 2 meters above normal forced about 200 people to leave the seaside town of Boca del Rio. But there were no injuries or major damage, said Col. Enrique Blanco, the regional police chief in Tacna, a Peruvian city of 300,000 near the Chilean border. "The lights went out briefly, but were re-established," Blanco said.

Chile is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries because just off the coast, the Nazca tectonic plate plunges beneath the South American plate, pushing the towering Andes cordillera to ever-higher altitudes.

The latest activity began with a strong magnitude-6.7 quake on March 16 that caused more than 100,000 people to briefly evacuate low-lying areas. Hundreds of smaller quakes followed in the weeks since, keeping people on edge as scientists said there was no way to tell if the unusual string of tremors was a harbinger of an impending disaster.

The last recorded big quake to hit far northern Chile around Iquique was a devastating magnitude-8.3 in 1877. It unleashed a 24-meter-high (nearly 80-foot-high) tsunami, causing major damage along the Chile-Peru coast and fatalities as far away as Hawaii and Japan.

A magnitude-8.8 quake and ensuing tsunami in central Chile in 2010 killed more than 500 people, destroyed 220,000 homes, and washed away docks, riverfronts and seaside resorts. That quake released so much energy, it actually it shortened the Earth's day by a fraction of a second by changing the planet's rotation.

The strongest earthquake ever recorded on Earth also happened in Chile —a magnitude-9.5 tremor in 1960 that killed more than 5,000 people.

Chile is the world's leading copper producing nation, and most of its mining industry is in the northern regions. Top mining companies said there was no serious damage to their operations so far.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (TWC) issued an initial warning for Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Panama.

However, all warnings, watches and alerts were later lifted except for Chile and Peru.

Tsunami watches - in which the danger of tidal waves is deemed to be less serious - had been in place for Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras.

"Everyone along our coast should be alert and ready," Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa said on Twitter.

Ecuador later reduced its alert but maintained a high level of vigilance for the Galapagos Islands.

High waves hit parts of the Chilean coast within 45 minutes of the quake. Pisagua, Patache and Iquique all saw big waves.

"We have asked citizens to evacuate the entire coast," Chilean home office minister Mahmud Aleuy said.

Evacuations were also ordered in Peru, where waves 2m (6.5ft) above normal forced about 200 people to leave the seaside town of Boca del Rio near the Chilean border, police said.

Source 1

Source 2

Edited April 2, 2014 by sujith

[dMog]

imagine if the USA had to evacuate a major city on one their coast lines because of a tsunami from a large earth quake...8.2 is quite a significant quake...the after shocks may be large too...hope there are no more deaths reported

[funkyy]

imagine if the USA had to evacuate a major city on one their coast lines because of a tsunami from a large earth quake...8.2 is quite a significant quake...the after shocks may be large too...hope there are no more deaths reported

dMog, all is quiet here now...there have been a lot of aftershocks, but no more death or damage. I was here when the last earthquake occurred..it was an 8.8. My house shook like hell and various ornaments etc fell and broke, then the lights went off. But my house survived..and my computer!!! lol :showoff: :showoff: :showoff:

[dMog]

imagine if the USA had to evacuate a major city on one their coast lines because of a tsunami from a large earth quake...8.2 is quite a significant quake...the after shocks may be large too...hope there are no more deaths reported

dMog, all is quiet here now...there have been a lot of aftershocks, but no more death or damage. I was here when the last earthquake occurred..it was an 8.8. My house shook like hell and various ornaments etc fell and broke, then the lights went off. But my house survived..and my computer!!! lol :showoff: :showoff: :showoff:

I have never been in an earthquake,,, flood , hurricane, or any other natural disaster..that must have been quite the experience...glad you are ok...were you close to the coast line where the tsunami warning was too?

[funkyy]

dMog, fortunately this time the earthquake was up North so we didn't feel anything in the central regions..in fact if it hadn't been shown on TV we wouldn't have known it had happened. Also I'm living a few kilometres inland, high up, so we're safe here from any Tsunami that may come. Yeah, it's scary when an earthquake hits. I've been here long enough to have gotten used to the tremors..but the earthquake of a few years ago was a different beast altogether, I really thought that my house was gonna collapse, but fortunately we only had minor damage. It's the noise more than the movement that really scares you...my wife panics every time we have a tremor...but I'm just a dumb gringo who's more concerned about how my football team is doing!!! :showoff: :showoff: :showoff: