Deadly quake hits Chile!

[thrillrideseeker]

So I came across this blip of news on Yahoo, and found it to be rather interesting. First a huge earthquake hits Chile, and now Hawaii is threatened by a tsunami.

ALCA, Chile – A devastating earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, toppling homes, collapsing bridges and plunging trucks into the fractured earth. A tsunami set off by the magnitude-8.8 quake threatened every nation around the Pacific Ocean — roughly a quarter of the globe.

President-elect Sebastian Pinera said more than 120 people died, but the death toll was rising quickly.

In the town of Talca, just 65 miles (105 kilometers) from the epicenter, Associated Press journalist Roberto Candia said it felt as if a giant had grabbed him and shaken him.

The town's historic center, filled with buildings of adobe mud and straw, largely collapsed, though most of those were businesses that were not inhabited during the 3:34 a.m. (1:34 a.m. EST, 0634 GMT) quake. Neighbors pulled at least five people from the rubble while emergency workers, themselves disoriented, asked for information from reporters.

Many roads were destroyed, and electricity, water and phone lines were cut to many areas — meaning there was no word of death or damage from many outlying areas.

In the Chilean capital of Santiago, 200 miles (325 kilometers) northeast of the epicenter, a car dangled from a collapsed overpass, the national Fine Arts Museum was badly damaged and an apartment building's two-story parking lot pancaked, smashing about 50 cars whose alarms rang incessantly.

Experts warned that a tsunami could strike anywhere in the Pacific, and Hawaii could face its largest waves since 1964 starting at 11:19 a.m. (4:19 p.m. EST, 2119 GMT), according to Charles McCreery, director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Tsunami waves were likely to hit Asian, Australian and New Zealand shores within 24 hours of the earthquake. The U.S. West Coast and Alaska, too, were threatened.

Waves 6 feet (1.8 meter) above normal hit Talcahuano near Concepcion 23 minutes after the quake, and President Michelle Bachelet said a huge wave swept into a populated area in the Robinson Crusoe Islands, 410 miles (660 kilometers) off the Chilean coast, but there were no immediate reports of major damage.

Bachelet said she had no information on the number of people injured in the quake. She declared a "state of catastrophe" in central Chile.

"We have had a huge earthquake, with some aftershocks," she said from an emergency response center. She said Chile has not asked for assistance from other countries, and urged Chileans not to panic.

"The system is functioning. People should remain calm. We're doing everything we can with all the forces we have. Any information we will share immediately," she said.

Powerful aftershocks rattled Chile's coast — 29 of them magnitude 5 or greater and one reaching magnitude 6.9 — the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

In Santiago, modern buildings are built to withstand earthquakes, but many older ones were heavily damaged, including the Nuestra Senora de la Providencia church, whose bell tower collapsed. A bridge just outside the capital also collapsed, and at least one car flipped upside down.

Several hospitals were evacuated due to earthquake damage, Bachelet said.

Santiago's airport will remain closed for at least 24 hours, airport director Eduardo del Canto said. The passenger terminal suffered major damage, he told Chilean television in a telephone interview. TV images show smashed windows, partially collapsed ceilings and pedestrian walkways destroyed.

Santiago's subway was shut as well and hundreds of buses were trapped at a terminal by a damaged bridge, Transportation and Telecommunications Minister told Chilean television. He urged Chileans to make phone calls or travel only when absolutely necessary.

Candia was visiting his wife's 92-year-old grandmother in Talca when the quake struck.

"Everything was falling — chests of drawers, everything," he said. "I was sleeping with my 8-year-old son Diego and I managed to cover his head with a pillow. It was like major turbulence on an airplane."

In Concepcion, 70 miles (115 kilometers) from the epicenter, nurses and residents pushed the injured through the streets on stretchers. Others walked around in a daze wrapped in blankets, some carrying infants in their arms.

A 15-story building collapsed: "I was on the 8th floor and all of a sudden I was down here," said Fernando Abarzua, who lived in the building but somehow escaped with no major injuries.

Abarzua said a relative was still trapped in the rubble six hours after the quake hit, "but he keeps shouting, saying he's OK."

Concepcion, Chile's second-largest city, is 60 miles (95 kilometers) from the ski town of Chillan, a gateway to Andean ski resorts that was destroyed in a 1939 earthquake.

The quake also shook buildings in Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires, 900 miles (1,400 kilometers) away on the Atlantic side of South America. It was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil — 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) east of the epicenter.

Marco Vidal, a program director for Grand Circle Travel who was traveling with a group of 34 Americans, was on the 19th floor of the Crown Plaza Santiago hotel when the quake struck.

"All the things start to fall. The lamps, everything, was going on the floor," he said. "I felt terrified."

Cynthia Iocono, from Linwood, Pennsylvania, said she first thought the quake was a train.

"But then I thought, `Oh, there's no train here.' And then the lamps flew off the dresser and my TV flew off onto the floor and crashed."

The quake struck after concert-goers had left South America's leading music festival in the coastal city of Vina del Mar, but it caught partiers leaving a disco.

"It was very bad. People were screaming. Some people were running, others appeared paralyzed. I was one of them," Julio Alvarez told Radio Cooperativa.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center called for "urgent action to protect lives and property" in Hawaii, which is among 53 nations and territories subject to tsunami warnings.

"Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated. It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicenter and could also be a threat to more distant coasts," the warning center said. It did not expect a tsunami along the west of the U.S. or Canada.

The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same area of Chile on May 22, 1960. The magnitude-9.5 quake killed 1,655 people and left 2 million homeless. The tsunami that it caused killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines and caused damage to the west coast of the United States

Article

 

First Haiti, and now Chili. What's next?

~Matthew

[SharkTums]

First Haiti, and now Chili. What's next?

~Matthew

 

Perhaps Japan, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Western North America, or any of the other highly seismic areas that this happens to quite often.

 

Realistically in geologic time and history two 'eight's' in two different regions in a month or two is not a big deal at all. If anything, it just reminds me I need to move out of California sooner rather than later!

 

Sure it's a terrible event, but let's not get all 'disasters come in three's' or any of that crap please!

[ginzo]

^Didn't Japan just have a non-destructive quake? OMG! Three disasters!!! Nostradamus was right!

 

Everyone should read Phil Plait's Death from the Skies! The human race will end because of a natural disaster. It's just a matter of when and how.

 

Though, the odds are strong that none of us will live to see The End of the World.

[AllenA07]

I can't even imagine how powerful an 8.8 is. I was a kid in 94 and remember how powerful Northridge was and that was only a 6.8.

[Mr. Starr]

Illinois is still recovering from its 4.3 earlier this month...

[Wes]

The city was plunged into darkness, but there was a general sense of calm. Within minutes, the traffic signals began to function again and traffic flowed normally. Several people, upon seeing me -- a clueless-looking tourist -- puzzling over a map, stopped to offer their assistance. One young man simply stopped, put his hand on my shoulder and smiled as he said, in heavily accented English, "Welcome to Chile."

[jjune4991]

^Sometimes, you gotta keep a smile and find humor somewhere. Though what happened is terrible

[Steelinwood]

I was watching the coverage at my friends house. I still think it's a bit disturbing that there have been so many natural disasters lately!

[ebl]

I can't even imagine how powerful an 8.8 is. I was a kid in 94 and remember how powerful Northridge was and that was only a 6.8." (AllenA07)

 

At the time of the Northridge quake, I remember hearing experts in the seismological field say that had that quake lasted longer, it would have been rated higher than the 6.8 that it was. In other words, the amount of shaking we felt that day would be about the same as, say, an 8.2, but would have lasted much longer in terms of time.

 

Eric

[atem122]

It was kind of sickening watching the idiot CNN anchor and correspondents only cover the would-be Hawaiian tsunami for a couple hours instead of the earthquake coverage. The best part is, she interviewed one of the evacuees and kept trying to cause drama. She kept asking about the food situation, how tense everything is, and the guy was on a freaking golf course drinking his third cocktail! It was hilarious. But yeah, the amount of American centered coverage our news stations flaunt is just bad.

[thrillerman1]

Do we have any Chile TPR members? If so, I hope and pray you all are ok!

[atem122]

I have family in Chile. It took pretty much all day to reach them and realize that they're all okay.

[terrancew_hod]

It was kind of sickening watching the idiot CNN anchor and correspondents only cover the would-be Hawaiian tsunami for a couple hours instead of the earthquake coverage. The best part is, she interviewed one of the evacuees and kept trying to cause drama. She kept asking about the food situation, how tense everything is, and the guy was on a freaking golf course drinking his third cocktail! It was hilarious. But yeah, the amount of American centered coverage our news stations flaunt is just bad.

 

To be fair to the news channels, no one can really get into Santiago until they open up the airports, so I suspect once they can send people down there then we may see more coverage. Yesterday was mostly segments of people sending images and viewer videos; Hawaii was more accessible to the news crews, although they were trying to fill the air waiting for something to happen. I laughed too when that guy was getting his drink on at the golf course.

 

My old roommate's family lives in Chile and they suffered some property damage but everyone is ok. They did have a tense moment when the family couldn't locate one of the brothers, but he's outside the capital trying to find a way to get back home.