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Chile's Earthquake: Open Thread

  

by: davidseth

Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 08:40:42 PST


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Church In Santiago, Chile

This will be quick and linky.

CNN reports:

A massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake rocked Chile early Saturday, killing at least 122 people and triggering tsunami warnings for the entire Pacific basin.

Numerous tsunami waves have been reported in the Pacific, with one reaching as high as 7.7 feet in the central Chile coastal town of Talcahuano, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

Sirens sounded at 6 a.m. Friday across Hawaii, warning people of a possible tsunami and telling people in coastal areas to evacuate.

"They're going to sound the sirens to air on the side of caution and make sure there's enough time to get people out of the evacuation zones, which are the coastal areas that may be affected," Brian Shiro of the Pacific Tsuanmi Warning Center said.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said she expected the death toll in her country to rise.

You can get streaming Chile TV here.  News and pictures, updates.  Death toll now more than 120 people.

Live coverage from Hawaii via MSNBC is here.  Threat of tsunami has caused evacuation of beach fronts.

The planet is doing what it is capable of doing.  My thoughts and prayers go out to all in Chile and the Pacific.

------------------
Updates (2/27/10, 12:45 pm ET): New photos from WaPo.

Large FP diary by Darksyde at GOS.  Also, first person recc'd diary.
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Chile's Earthquake: Open Thread | 36 comments
Updates from the NY Times can (4.00 / 12)
be found here

Visit The Dream Antilles, a Lit Blog.
White House reacting?? (4.00 / 5)
CSM reporting:

Not much from the White House yet on the earthquake in Chile. But it's still very early.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told a pool reporter that, "We are closely monitoring the situation, including the potential for a tsunami. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Chile, and we stand ready to help in this hour of need."



Visit The Dream Antilles, a Lit Blog.
WaPo (4.00 / 6)
has this:

The following locations have tsunami warnings:

CHILE / PERU / ECUADOR / COLOMBIA / ANTARCTICA / PANAMA /
COSTA RICA / NICARAGUA / PITCAIRN / HONDURAS / EL SALVADOR /
GUATEMALA / FR. POLYNESIA / MEXICO / COOK ISLANDS / KIRIBATI /
KERMADEC IS / NIUE / NEW ZEALAND / TONGA / AMERICAN SAMOA /
SAMOA / JARVIS IS. / WALLIS-FUTUNA / TOKELAU / FIJI /
AUSTRALIA / HAWAII / PALMYRA IS. / TUVALU / VANUATU /
HOWLAND-BAKER / NEW CALEDONIA / JOHNSTON IS. / SOLOMON IS. /
NAURU / MARSHALL IS. / MIDWAY IS. / KOSRAE / PAPUA NEW GUINEA / POHNPEI / WAKE IS. / CHUUK / RUSSIA / MARCUS IS. / INDONESIA / N. MARIANAS / GUAM / YAP / BELAU / JAPAN / PHILIPPINES CHINESE TAIPEI<blockquote>



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From The Guardian: (4.00 / 5)
Countries across the Asia-Pacific region are readying emergency measures drawn up after the Indian Ocean quake of 2004, with the tsunami expected to hit in the next 24 hours.

Michelle Bachelet, the outgoing Chilean president, declared a "state of catastrophe" in central Chile and said a huge tidal wave had swept into the Juan Fernandez Islands. Local radio stations reported serious damage on the archipelago, which reputedly inspired the novel Robinson Crusoe.

The president-elect, Sebastian Pinera, said more than 120 people had died in the quake, and the toll was rising quickly. Bachelet said there were more than 85 deaths just in the Maule region, at the quake's epicentre.

"We have had a huge earthquake with some aftershocks. We're doing everything we can with all the forces we have. Any information we will share immediately. Without a doubt, with an earthquake of this magnitude, there will be more deaths," Bachelet said.

Chile's interior minister, Edmundo Perez Yoma, said: "It has been a devastating earthquake. The death toll will continue rising."

source

Visit The Dream Antilles, a Lit Blog.
BBC has twitter from Chile (4.00 / 4)
that's here and a request for photos from people in Chile.  Some of the photos are here.

Visit The Dream Antilles, a Lit Blog.
Hufflepuffle (4.00 / 6)
is also aggregating the story here.

Visit The Dream Antilles, a Lit Blog.
Think Progress (4.00 / 5)
has updates via Matthew Yglesias.

Visit The Dream Antilles, a Lit Blog.
Person finder now up for Chile (4.00 / 7)
here.

Visit The Dream Antilles, a Lit Blog.
Also (4.00 / 6)

Americans seeking info on family/friends in Chile can call Bureau of Consular Affairs at 888-407-4747

Visit The Dream Antilles, a Lit Blog.

Thank you, davidseth! (4.00 / 7)
Another dreadful event in Latin America.

Here are some further updates to add to yours (hope none are overlapping):

Chilean Earthquake Update, 5:00 AM CST

--CNN: Tsunami advisory issued for California,
      Washington State, Oregon, Alaska.

--CNN: Tsunami arrival in Hawaii estimated to be 11 AM
      local time.

--USGS Map, showing quake magnitudes
      throughout Southern Hemisphere

--Live  Stream from Chile

--Google Live Updates

--Daybreak now in Chile; damage assessment intensifies.

--Telephone communications down.

--Chilean earthquake strength not quite 1000 times the
      strength of Haitian quake.

--Preliminary Chilean report: 147 dead.

--Bridge between north and south portions of Chile is out.

--Airports closed; flights diverted or returned to points
      of origin.

--Numerous aftershocks now in Chile; CNN Chile section
      head said he lost count at 25 aftershocks.

--US State Department information Americans
      seeking information about family and friends in
      Chile, and how Americans now in Chile can report
      in to US Consulate.  1-888-407-4747

--Twitter & Facebook users providing on-going,
      on-the-ground local coverage.

(h/t Chip!)

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

Another Twitter Link (4.00 / 7)
Question... (4.00 / 5)
I was talking on the phone with my daughter (she lived in Vina del Mar and studied in Valpo), who was concerned about the recovery being coincident with the transfer of power to a right-winged administration. She's worried that people won't get the help they need.

Do you share her concerns? I don't know enough about Chile to say, but they seem plausible.


Rock is dead. Long live paper and scissors.

Hi, rb137! (4.00 / 2)
I don't have the answer to that.  But I have my suspicions as concerns any Latin American country and enough and proper information getting out there.  Peru was also hit by an earthquake a few weeks ago, and suffered dreadful mudslides, flooding, etc. and it was like pulling nails to find out how to help the Peruvians.  

The Latin American countries are becoming stronger and have an alliance now -- and they don't want U.S. involvement, that's for sure.  Given the history of what we've done to so many Latin American countries, which has been mostly to impoverish them, through resource and other takeovers, etc., we certainly cannot blame them for their sentiments.  The U.S. and others, on the other hand, have no interest in their succeeding, and because of their resources, already the UK started drilling off the coast of Argentina (the Falklands) despite the laws to the contrary.

South Atlantic: Britain May Provoke New Conflict With Argentina

Stop NATO
February 23, 2010

Rick Rozoff

On February 22 two major developments occurred in the Americas south of the Rio Grande. The two-day Rio Group summit opened in Mexico and Great Britain started drilling for oil 60 miles north of the Falklands Islands, known as Las Malvinas to Argentina.

The meeting in Mexico was identified as a Unity Summit because for the first time the 24 members of the Rio Group (minus Honduras, not invited because of the illegitimacy of its post-coup regime) - Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela - were joined by the fifteen members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM): Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago. (Haiti, Jamaica and Suriname are members of both organizations.)

Ahead of the summit the Financial Times wrote, "The Mexican-led initiative, a clear sign of Latin America's growing confidence as a region, will exclude both the US and Canada. Some observers believe it could even eventually rival the 35-member Organisation of American States (OAS), which includes the US and Canada and has been the principal forum for hemispheric issues during the past half century." [1]

In fact on the first day of the summit Bolivian President Evo Morales called for a "a new US-free OAS," [2] stressing Washington's centuries-long history of perpetrating military coups, blackmail, looting of natural resources and, over the past generation, the scourge of neo-liberalism in the Americas. . . . .

It is formidable that on February 12, 2010, Haiti, was hit with a catastrophic earthquake, then Venezuela, Argentina, each had earthquakes within the one week of each other, then, two weeks later, Peru was hit with an earthquake causing devastating damage, now we have Chile, being hit with a devastating earthquake.

It's all so strange that these earthquakes have happened within such close proximity of each other -- how?  Why?

Who knows?  Nuclear testings in the oceans went on in Japan and North Korea, during 2009 -- of course, that turns the "ocean" topsy-turvy, sea animal life, as well, and has, who knows, what kind of lasting repercussions this creates to the "balance" of our natural system?

And who knows what the effect of these testings might be?

 

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

[ Parent ]
Also, forgot to mention (4.00 / 2)
the continued "sonic booming" of the oceans by our Navy!  Can you imagine the "stress" the "ocean life" is under?  We are not just destroying life, but our food resources, as well!

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle
[ Parent ]
Who knows? (4.00 / 3)
I'm no geologist, but I am a physicist. I can imagine that relieving stress in one place can build stress in another. But I think we have earthquakes pretty regularly -- it's just that most of them don't hit populated areas. I don't know if these earthquakes are related to one another or not.

But I have sympathy for Latin America not trusting the United States or Europe.

Rock is dead. Long live paper and scissors.

[ Parent ]
`Thank you, rb137! :) (0.00 / 0)


"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle
[ Parent ]
it seems like everything is going crazy all at once (4.00 / 3)
sometimes it makes me wonder if there isn't really a god. shaking an angry earthquaking fist . . .

simplify... writing in the rAw
Nope (4.00 / 3)
Just Mother Nature shaking her mantle. ;-)

"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
[ Parent ]
Just for the helluva' it? TMC? (4.00 / 2)
You don't think, perhaps, there are "causes/reasons" for her ire?

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle
[ Parent ]
No. She just does it (4.00 / 3)
because she can, no malice.

"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
[ Parent ]
Well, whether you're chiding or not -- matters not! (4.00 / 2)
And you don't think, just, maybe, something or another, "triggers" it?  

Tell me another one!

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

[ Parent ]
No I don't think there are any "triggers" (4.00 / 3)
I think it is just the natural forces of contraction and expansion of a "living" entity, the earth. But then I'm also skeptical about the "god" thing as well.

"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
[ Parent ]
I assume you are in that NY apt.now, (4.00 / 1)
with all the communications' systems, as you noted sometime previously -- nonetheless.

You're having fun now, aren't you?

But then I'm also skeptical about the "god" thing as well.

Answer me, GD, you don't think, perchance, we've added to it all, or are you just "fooking" with me?  ;)

Let me know when you make up your mind!! ;)



"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle
[ Parent ]
Gravity (4.00 / 4)
... the earth spins on its axis and around the sun, the moon around the earth, the sun caught in the swirl of the rotating galaxy, the galaxy is moving away from....  something.  Or maybe towards something else.

Everything dances or floats or grinds or sinks.  

Did you see this link I had up that shows all the earthquakes in a week ?

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ear...

[ Parent ]
i like your comment. (4.00 / 3)


simplify... writing in the rAw
[ Parent ]
If he were there, (4.00 / 1)
why would he be "picking on" already impoverished countries, through our hands, pf8?"

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle
[ Parent ]
i don't know tahoe. (4.00 / 2)
sometimes i just don't know what to think.

other than it seems more than coincidental. and maybe that is the old and ancient voodoo/superstition part of my brain.

but it seems right. mother nature blowing up when as we allow the thugs to blow up people's lives.

or maybe it is a message to us, tahoe. the good people. to drive the point home: see this? see these poor people? and this is being allowed by bombs and poisonous industrial practices all over the planet.

maybe mother nature is forcing us to consider other options in taking on the thugs.

i just don't know.

simplify... writing in the rAw

[ Parent ]
I don't know any more than you do, pf8! (4.00 / 1)
But I just can't help but to think that our messin' around with the atmosphere, the ocean, etc. is upsetting the balance intended.  

Sure, there have always been earthquakes, but this many?  This close together?  

There are those who don't believe we've contributed to global warming either.  To me, everything (nature) is all inter-connected.  The dreadful tsunami that occurred a few years back was said, by some, to be have the result of our sonic booming in the ocean.  Just as the ozone is being depleted, the ocean now has "dead spots" and species of ocean life are dying off.  Nuclear testing in the oceans can have, who knows that amount of damage and a causal relation in some of mother nature's wrath.

I'm not saying that there are not already existent "hot" spots and "pre-existing" conditions for earthquakes and the like, I'm just suggesting that maybe, we have hastened their activity.


"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

[ Parent ]
MSF sending teams to Chile (4.00 / 7)
MSF Sends Teams to Chile to Evaluate the Situation After Today's Earthquake

MSF staff from Argentina and other parts of Latin America should start arriving this evening in Santiago de Chile to assess the needs of the population.


"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
The Difference between Haiti and Chile (4.00 / 4)
Underwater Plate Cuts 400-Mile Gash

The magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck off the coast of Chile early Saturday morning occurred along the same fault responsible for the biggest quake ever measured, a 1960 tremor that killed nearly 2,000 people in Chile and hundreds more across the Pacific.

snip

Experts said the earthquake appeared to have no connection to a magnitude 6.9 quake that struck off the southern coast of Japan late Friday evening. Nor was the Chilean event linked to the magnitude 7.0 quake that occurred in Haiti on Jan. 12.
That quake, which is believed to have killed more than 200,000 people, occurred along a strike-slip fault, in which most of the ground motion is lateral. The Chilean earthquake occurred along a thrust fault, in which most of the motion is vertical.

Mr. Lin said his calculations showed that the quake on Saturday was 250 to 350 times more powerful than the Haitian quake.

snip

When they occur underwater, thrust-fault earthquakes like the one in Chile are far more likely to create tsunamis than quakes on strike-slip faults, said David Schwartz, an earthquake geologist with the geological survey in Menlo Park, Calif. "When they slip, the fault that causes the earthquake breaks the surface, and pushes the water up," he said. "It pushes an awful lot of water. And that water has to go somewhere."

(emphasis mine)

"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
Thanks, TMC! (4.00 / 2)
Were it not for the absolute close proximity of these "earthquakes," I would agree with your assessment, but there is something seriously wrong with our "atmosphere," such that there is such a rapidity of earthquakes, seemingly, limited to Latin American countries, WHY?

I do wonder sometimes, TMC!  

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

[ Parent ]
There was a large one near Japan on Friday (4.00 / 2)
it's the Pacific Rim that is very active. Many of the earthquakes that occur every day are not noticed because they are in the middle of the ocean. Just look a the last 30 days. It's an everyday occurrence that sometimes, somewhere is big enough to notice.
Haiti was my 4th major earthquake disaster. I've been to  Iran (2003), Indonesia (2004), Pakistan/Kashmir (2005) and, now, Haiti (2010).  

"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
[ Parent ]
Yeh, I still believe, although, these various regions are/have (4.00 / 1)
a propensity for earthquakes, as we have certainly witnessed over time!  It's my understanding, that there are generally "spans" of time or intervals between earthquakes, which do NOT happen with such rapidity!

The only reason I go on, TMC, is because, number one, I can't remember in our history, however, ill-begotten it is, such a succession of "earthquakes" near left and right (no pun!).  Seems slightly incredible to me.  

In essence, you repudiate the notion that WE have interfered with the atmospheric processes that, in turn, have caused these many catastrophes?

But, I realize, too, the reluctance of people to really think and understand the underlying malevolence of our country to us and this world!

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

[ Parent ]
Different tectonic plates (4.00 / 2)
Chile and Haiti are pretty far separated, geographically, and are on different tectonic plates. As they shift around stuff happens, like earthquakes and volcanoes.

Intervals between earthquakes are more a statistical abstraction than a reality. If there are 3 earthquakes in Los Angeles in one year and no more for another 300 hundred years you could say there is an average of one every one hundred years, but I wouldn't start marking a calendar with predictions! It's just Gaia relieving a little stress, at her own pace.

My mother suggested several years ago that humans may have some influence due to our meddling with Nature, but I seriously doubt a connection between air pollution and earthquakes. In California we get hundreds of earthquakes every year, most go un-noticed. In Chicago not so much.

Not a geologist, just another physicist, so all that stuff I just wrote is just an opinion.

It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.
    - Arthur C. Clarke

[ Parent ]
I understand a reluctance (4.00 / 1)
on the part of everyone to realize and accept our role in these atmospheric conditions and "theatres" that are continually played out.

Imagine -- if  you will, that "mother nature" really did not care to have her "balanced nature" interfered with -- and, if you, or anyone, can point to me, ways in which we have NOT interfered, please do so!  

I'm not a geologist, nor a physicist -- I try to deal with
"logic" -- that's my ballpark.  Logic!  What makes sense and what doesn't!  And there beyond!

"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."--Aristotle

[ Parent ]
Consider (4.00 / 2)
What would it take to actually create an earthquake event? An asteroid strike would certainly do the trick, but that's still beyond our capacity, pushing around asteroids. A few hundred giga-ton bombs on a major fault might do it, but we haven't tried that (yet). HAARP? Don't know how the mechanics of that would work. What's the link between the ionosphere and the first 300km of planetary crust? Dunno.

We haven't the ability to manipulate tectonic plates. So I'm left with the statistical abstraction, the "big one" will happen every x number of years. We've been waiting my whole life for the next Big One here in California, could wait a few hundred years longer or it could be in a few minutes. Gaia is patient and uncaring about averages.

Oh, and no argument with respect to human interference with Nature! Just not sure how our interference can trigger the bigger events, like earthquakes and volcanoes. I do think we're on our way to making bigger hurricanes/typhoons for what we've done! Will the loss of the Greenland icecap or the all the ice in the Arctic or Antarctic trigger major seismic events? I dunno, but I think (more opinion) it's not likely, despite the weight of all that ice....  

It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.
    - Arthur C. Clarke

[ Parent ]
Chile's Earthquake: Open Thread | 36 comments
 

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