While this earthquake was far stronger than the 7.0-magnitude one that ravaged Haiti six weeks ago, the damage and death toll in Chile are likely to be far less extensive, in part because of strict building codes put in place after devastating earthquakes.
The quake Saturday, tied for the fifth largest in the world since 1900, set off tsunami waves that swamped some nearby islands before moving across the Pacific. Hawaii began evacuations before dawn, but by early afternoon there — more than 15 hours after the earthquake first struck 6,500 miles away — the fears of a destructive wave had passed. Countries including Japan and the Philippines were on alert and ordered limited evacuations in anticipation of waves hitting Sunday.
Chileans were only just beginning to grapple with the devastation before them, even as more than two dozen significant aftershocks struck the country.
People there are lucky the codes are in place; while it is tragic hundreds died regardless, it could have been in the hundreds of thousands as what happened in Haiti.
_____
At least two are dead from an earthquake off the coast of Argentina. Yesterday's quake measured 6.3 on the Richter scale.
_____
An explanation of the Chilean earthquake:
No comments:
Post a Comment