Presidenta Bachelet arriba a Tongoy, una de las zonas más afectadas por el tsunami

El último balance de la Onemi registró 11 muertos, 9 heridos, 610 damnificados, 428 albergados, 175 viviendas con daños mayores y 288 con daños menores.

17 de septiembre

Deadly 8.3-magnitude earthquake rocks Chile, triggering tsunami advisories

World

Posted Sep 17, 2015 6:26 am PDT

Last Updated Sep 17, 2015 at 6:27 am PDT

A damaged store is seen after a large earthquake in Concon, some 110 kilometres northwest of Santiago, Chile, on Sept. 16, 2015. GETTY IMAGES/AFP/Vladimir Rodas

Summary

Eight people dead after earthquake rocks Chile

More than a million people forced out of their homes

Thousands of residents of the small city of Concón in northern Chile were sleeping outside Thursday after a powerful earthquake destroyed their homes, a tremor that also forced more than 1 million to evacuate and killed eight people in the quake-prone South American nation.
Several coastal towns were flooded from small tsunami waves set off by the late Wednesday quake, which shook the Earth so strongly that rumbles were felt across South America.
The magnitude-8.3 quake that hit off northern Chile on Wednesday night lasted for three minutes, causing buildings to sway in the capital, Santiago, and prompting authorities to issue a tsunami warning for the Andean nation’s entire Pacific coast. People sought safety in the streets of inland cities, while others along the shore took to their cars to race to higher ground.
“I thought it was the end of the world and we were going to die,” said teary-eyed Manuel Moya, 38, sleeping with his wife on the ground outside their destroyed home in Illapel, 280 kilometres north of Santiago and 55 kilometres east of the quake’s epicenter. The town and surrounding areas have about 35,000 residents.
Moya said he and his wife were in bed and watching television when the quake hit. Fearing they would be killed if they remained inside, they ran outside in their underwear. By the end of the shaking, their home, made of concrete, had been reduced to rubble.
“They said it was a magnitude 8 but it felt like a 10,” said Moya, adding that neighbours had brought them clothes.
Speaking to the nation late Wednesday, President Michelle Bachelet urged people who had been evacuated to stay on high ground until authorities could fully evaluate the situation. Officials said schools would be closed in most of the country Thursday.
In the past year, the nation of 17 million has endured devastating floods in the north, wildfires in the south and two volcano eruptions.
“Once again we must confront a powerful blow from nature,” said Bachelet.
Authorities said eight people had been killed, a number that could climb as emergency crews are able to get into hard-hit areas on Thursday. Mahmud Aleuy, the Interior Ministry’s deputy secretary, said 1 million people were forced out of their homes and electrical power was cut off to 240,000 households.
Numerous aftershocks, including one at magnitude-7 and four above 6, shook the region after the initial earthquake — the strongest tremor since a powerful quake and tsunami killed hundreds in 2010 and levelled part of the city of Concepcion in south-central Chile.
Tsunami advisories were in effect for Hawaii and parts of California. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center originally issued a tsunami watch for Hawaii but downgraded the alert to an advisory. Tsunami warnings in Chile were lifted early Thursday.
Although officials cautioned it was too early to know for sure, it appeared Wednesday’s quake had a much smaller impact than the 2010 tremor. Chile’s traditionally strong risk-reduction measures and emergency planning have gotten better in the past five years.
“Earthquake impact is a little like real estate: what matters is location, location, location,” said Susan Hough, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. “But it is true that preparedness and risk reduction in Chile is ahead of that in much of the world, and that makes a difference.”
The tremor was so strong that people in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the other side of the continent, felt it. People in Peru and Brazil also reported feeling the shakes. No injuries were reported outside of Chile.
Claudio Moreno was in a Santiago bar when the quake hit. The shaking was powerful, but more worrisome was how long it lasted, he said.
“We went out in the street when we felt it was going on too long,” he said. “It was more than a minute.”
A magnitude-8.8 quake and ensuing tsunami in south-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 quake had huge ramifications, both political and practical, prompting the Andean nation to improve its alert systems for both quakes and tsunamis.
While Wednesday’s tremor was strong by any estimation, the 2010 quake was 5.6 times more powerful in terms of energy released, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
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 strongest earthquake ever recorded on Earth happened in Chile _ a magnitude-9.5 tremor in 1960 that killed more than 5,000 people.
Associated Press writers Eva Vergara Associated Press writers Eva Vergara and Patricia Luna in Santiago, Debora Rey and Peter Prengaman in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

17 de septiembre de 2015 14:54

"Lo que hemos visto es que las estructuras han reaccionado con la rapidez necesaria agradecer a las personas porque cooperaron y evacuaron y se evitÃ³ lo que pudo ser una tragedia mucho mayor. Siento que nuestra tarea frente a toda situaciÃ³n es enfrentarla y levantar el paÃs de nuevo
el tsunami ha tenido un efecto devastador en muchas familias", expresÃ³ la jefa de Estado.

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Camila DÃaz

17 de septiembre de 2015 14:52

"Sin duda sientes que nuevamente ahora la naturaleza los toca por eso ahora estamos acá para escucharlos", añadió la Mandataria.

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Camila Díaz

17 de septiembre de 2015 14:51

Bachelet desde Tongoy: "pudimos desde el aire observar (…) entendemos el tremendo dolor porque hace poco tiempo atrás por las marejadas los pescadores perdieron mucho"

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Camila Díaz

17 de septiembre de 2015 14:49

"Es mucho más el daño que nosotros pensábamos (...) por suerte no hay muchas desgracias que lamentar, salvo una persona que está desaparecida según nos dice la gente de acá y están tratando de identificar y saber si es así", añadió el senador.

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Camila Díaz

17 de septiembre de 2015 14:48

El senador y timonel de la DC, Jorge Pizarro, acompaña a la Presidenta Bachelet en Tongoy. "es muy impresionante, venimos de Coquimbo el sector de la caleta estaba muy mal (…) en Tongoy hace muchos años que no se veía una cosas así, desde el año 67 que no se venía una subida de marea así", señaló a radio Cooperativa.

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Camila Díaz

meconomia
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AHORA | Ministro Céspedes junto a la Presidenta Bachelet visitan consultorio de Tongoy afectado por la catástrofe http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CPIC-iyW8AAeJv-.jpg

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Thursday, September 17, 2015

TERREMOTO 8.3 Y TSUNAMI EN CHILE: Presidenta Bachelet arriba a Tongoy, una de las zonas más afectadas por el tsunami

Presidenta Bachelet arriba a Tongoy, una de las zonas más afectadas por el tsunami

El último balance de la Onemi registró 11 muertos, 9 heridos, 610 damnificados, 428 albergados, 175 viviendas con daños mayores y 288 con daños menores.

Deadly 8.3-magnitude earthquake rocks Chile, triggering tsunami advisories

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