The greatest earthquake recorded after the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami (9.0M), the Chile Earthquake measures up to 8.8 magnitude in Ritcher scale. The earthquake struck Chile at 03.34 local time, early Saturday (27th February 2010).
The earthquake can be felt in the Chilean capital, Santiago, as well as in many Argentinean cities, and as far as to Sao Paulo, Brazil, located more than 3000km away. Besides that, tsunami warnings were issued in 53 countries. The President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet declared a state of catastrophe. Currently, 78 deaths are confirmed and the number is expected to rise tremendously.
Many buildings have collapsed, as well as electric cables, causing blackout all over the region. Santiago International Airport had also been damaged and closed for operation. At first, tsunami warning is declared over the region, then, later extended over to Pacific Ocean, involving Asian countries, like Japan, China, Taiwan, Phillipines, Indonesia, and Australia. Tsunami up to few metres high are expected to hit any time, in the period of 24 hours after the earthquake.
Tsunami waves were spotted at shores of Chile and at the coasts of few islands few hundred kilometres away from Chile. Many aftershocks were recorded too after the main earthquake. The damage is horrible, many buildings have collapsed, as well as bridges, highways, etc. It’s just about one and a half month after the disastrous 7.0M Haiti earthquake that killed over 230 000 people and left over one million people homeless.
More photos released from TheStarOnline news at www.thestar.com.my:
President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet looking over the severely-damaged houses at the country.
From the pictures above, it is obvious that the disaster is catastrophic, and the death toll currently rises to over 300. This earthquake is among the top 10 most powerful earthquake ever recorded in history of mankind (number 7).