chile earthquake

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las2137

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I lived in Concepcion, Chile for a year and a half. I am unable to reach family and friends there. I have been in touch with a friend in Santiago who is okay but is understandably in shock and worried since he cannot reach the entirety of his family, who live in Talcahuano (twin city of Conce).

He reports that things are calm in Stgo. Luckily Chile is quite developed and has a well-respected police system and an "earthquake culture." Most modern buildings are engineered for quakes, but the older buildings, where most middle class families live, are not.

I can't stop thinking about my Chilean "abuelita" who was a young girl when the Chillan earthquake struck in 1939 and killed over 30,000. She never felt safe after that. It kills me to think she is going through this again.
 
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Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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Hillbilly said:
So a seismograph (the instrument) that recorded a 1 cm deflection on a seismogram (the tracing) for a magnitude 5 earthquake would show a 100 cm deflection for a magnitude 7 quake

As I understood it to be logarithmetic 10 x 10 and so on...a 5 is 10 times worse than a 4 and 100 times worse than a 3....

What do I know...we ain't got many quakes in WVA.

HB
Click to expand...

Chad Myers, the lead weather guru on CNN, did a couple of pieces on this subject this morning. He said an 8 earthquake was 32 times stronger than a 7 earthquake and that a 9 earthquake was 32 times stronger than an 8 but 1000 times stronger than a 7 (32x32).

He also said that when calculating whether an earthquake was a 5, 6, 7, etc., that they use a formula that considers the seismograph reading and the area affected. The Chile earthquake affected a much larger area than did the Haiti earthquake, for which reason, he said, the force of the shaking was stronger in Haiti than in Chile even though they are calling the Chile earthquake an 8.8 and the Haiti earthquake a 7.

Additionally, he called attention to the fact that the area of Chile that was most affected was sparsely uninhabited, unlike Haiti where the area most affected was populated by more than a million people.
 
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rubio_higuey

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Feb 7, 2007
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Ken2 said:
Additionally, he called attention to the fact that the area of Chile that was most affected was sparsely uninhabited, unlike Haiti where the area most affected was populated by more than a million people.
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Hmm... the epicenter was about 30 kms from Concepcion, a city of 1.2 million ...
 
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PeterInBrat

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May 29, 2006
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CNN is using stock animation for what a tsunami might look like. In the animation, the tsunami is more like 20 stories high and slammming into some hotels...
 
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las2137

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Ken2 said:
Additionally, he called attention to the fact that the area of Chile that was most affected was sparsely uninhabited, unlike Haiti where the area most affected was populated by more than a million people.
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1.5 million people displaced and it's "sparsely inhabited"?!?!?!

I'd have to see exactly what he said in order to gauge just how poorly informed this expert is, but Concepcion is the 2nd largest city in the country and is heavily populated. Major cities: Vina del Mar, Valparaiso and the capital Santiago sustained terrible damage. So it wasn't just one major city that was affected, it was at least FOUR.
 
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viajar

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From Wikipidia 3/2 exponent explained; Probably empirical

The energy release of an earthquake, which closely correlates to its destructive power, scales with the 3⁄2 power of the shaking amplitude. Thus, a difference in magnitude of 1.0 is equivalent to a factor of 31.6 ( = (101.0)(3 / 2)) in the energy released; a difference in magnitude of 2.0 is equivalent to a factor of 1000 ( = (102.0)(3 / 2) ) in the energy released.[1]
 
Hillbilly

Hillbilly

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From the USGS site:
* Earthquakes
* Hazards
* Learn
* Prepare
* Monitoring
* Research

The Richter Magnitude Scale

Seismic waves are the vibrations from earthquakes that travel through the Earth; they are recorded on instruments called seismographs. Seismographs record a zig-zag trace that shows the varying amplitude of ground oscillations beneath the instrument. Sensitive seismographs, which greatly magnify these ground motions, can detect strong earthquakes from sources anywhere in the world. The time, locations, and magnitude of an earthquake can be determined from the data recorded by seismograph stations.

"The Richter magnitude scale was developed in 1935 by Charles F. Richter of the California Institute of Technology as a mathematical device to compare the size of earthquakes. The magnitude of an earthquake is determined from the logarithm of the amplitude of waves recorded by seismographs. Adjustments are included for the variation in the distance between the various seismographs and the epicenter of the earthquakes. On the Richter Scale, magnitude is expressed in whole numbers and decimal fractions. For example, a magnitude 5.3 might be computed for a moderate earthquake, and a strong earthquake might be rated as magnitude 6.3. Because of the logarithmic basis of the scale, each whole number increase in magnitude represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude; as an estimate of energy, each whole number step in the magnitude scale corresponds to the release of about 31 times more energy than the amount associated with the preceding whole number value. "

Which means amplitud is 10 x 10 but energy released is 31.6 x 31.6 from a 7 to a 9....

So a 5 releases 1000 times more energy (+/-) than a 3, but the amplitude is only 100 times greater on the seismograph...

Okay, I am starting to get it....That guidance councilor said I should have studied Geology, but back then who wanted to go to Colorado from the debutante balls of NYC??? Schitt! Shoulda listened to him...

HB
 
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Hipocrito Mejia

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Jan 5, 2006
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Watching TV Chile right now. The main problem seems to be the unavailability of fuels. Gasoline, diesel, and heating oil are in short supply.

Water is also in short supply. Lots of people walking on the streets and waiting in lines with empty bottles to fill them.

200+ deaths in Talca alone, and 400+ missing in Concepcion area.
 
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Hipocrito Mejia

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Jan 5, 2006
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Of course there are more earthquakes now than ever... there are also a lot more measuring stations to report those earthquakes, than ever! ;)
 
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RonS

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Oct 18, 2004
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There is an interesting piece the AP is reporting on the comparison of the earthquake in Chile with the earthquake in Haiti that can be found on the Yahoo News.

"PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti ? The earthquake in Chile was far stronger than the one that struck Haiti last month ? yet the death toll in this Caribbean nation is magnitudes higher.

The reasons are simple.

Chile is wealthier and infinitely better prepared, with strict building codes, robust emergency response and a long history of handling seismic catastrophes. No living Haitian had experienced a quake at home when the Jan. 12 disaster crumbled their poorly constructed buildings.

And Chile was relatively lucky this time.

Saturday's quake was centered offshore an estimated 21 miles (34 kilometers) underground in a relatively unpopulated area while Haiti's tectonic mayhem struck closer to the surface ? about 8 miles (13 kilometers) ? and right on the edge of Port-au-Prince, factors that increased its destructiveness."
 
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Adrian Bye

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Jul 7, 2002
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No living haitian had ever felt an earthquake at home???

The 1946 Dominican Republic earthquake refers to the earthquake of magnitude 8.0 that hit Saman?, Dominican Republic on August 4, 1946 at 17:51 UTC. An aftershock occurred four days later on August 8 at 13.28 UTC with a magnitude of 7.6.

The earthquake was felt strongly in parts of Haiti and Puerto Rico, and to a lesser extent in the Virgin Islands and eastern Cuba

1946 Dominican Republic earthquake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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bluebayou

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Jan 26, 2010
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Building codes.....key word

RonS said:
There is an interesting piece the AP is reporting on the comparison of the earthquake in Chile with the earthquake in Haiti that can be found on the Yahoo News.

"PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti ? The earthquake in Chile was far stronger than the one that struck Haiti last month ? yet the death toll in this Caribbean nation is magnitudes higher.

The reasons are simple.

Chile is wealthier and infinitely better prepared, with strict building codes, robust emergency response and a long history of handling seismic catastrophes. No living Haitian had experienced a quake at home when the Jan. 12 disaster crumbled their poorly constructed buildings.

And Chile was relatively lucky this time.

Saturday's quake was centered offshore an estimated 21 miles (34 kilometers) underground in a relatively unpopulated area while Haiti's tectonic mayhem struck closer to the surface ? about 8 miles (13 kilometers) ? and right on the edge of Port-au-Prince, factors that increased its destructiveness."
Click to expand...

Building codes played a big part...Chile has had 13 earthquakes since 1974, all a 7.0m or higher. These people have become motivated when it comes to saving their own lives....seems the thing to do.
 
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PeterInBrat

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May 29, 2006
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This is a good example of when to use triage. Chile may want help, but it does't need help in the same way that Haiti does. Unfortunately I think there will be some prefab shelter companies that will be able to get funding quicker in Chile than in the DR, which may drive up the price of such items as the "shelter in a box." That being said, a $1000 tent makes a lot more sense in Chile than in Haiti, where $1000 can probably build a permanent home to current standards.
 
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Expat13

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Jun 7, 2008
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This is an important topic-but how has it been able to get past the non "DR related" police.
 
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Shiraz72

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Feb 10, 2010
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I have friends there too

las2137 said:
I lived in Concepcion, Chile for a year and a half. I am unable to reach family and friends there. I have been in touch with a friend in Santiago who is okay but is understandably in shock and worried since he cannot reach the entirety of his family, who live in Talcahuano (twin city of Conce).

He reports that things are calm in Stgo. Luckily Chile is quite developed and has a well-respected police system and an "earthquake culture." Most modern buildings are engineered for quakes, but the older buildings, where most middle class families live, are not.

I can't stop thinking about my Chilean "abuelita" who was a young girl when the Chillan earthquake struck in 1939 and killed over 30,000. She never felt safe after that. It kills me to think she is going through this again.
Click to expand...

I have friends there too and we have been in touch via email. The apartment where they lived was destroyed. The family made it out alive but the aftershocks leveled the building. They are staying at an uncles home now. Don`t loose heart they are probably ok but just unable to access phones because communications may be down in their area.
 
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rubio_higuey

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Feb 7, 2007
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Expat13 said:
This is an important topic-but how has it been able to get past the non "DR related" police.
Click to expand...

The same way as other topics that CONCERN many posters on DR1. Though this is not directly DR related, earthquakes per se are DR related, so a discussion about such topic is indeed indirectly related to the DR.

... and, there are many Dominicans living in Chile ...

.. and, as well as Haiti earthquake, there are many lessons to be learned for DR on this subject area.

My opinion.
 
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