Headline:Major quake strikes northern Chile; 2 dead, hundreds of homes damaged
Disaster: Earthquake ( Lithosphere)
Date: November 14
Summary:
An earthquake of 7.7( U.S Geological Survey) magnitude struck Chile on November the 14. The quake hit a wide spread region, from the capital city in the south, to the other side of the continent. There were several after shocks, including three that were of a 5.0 magnitude. It was reported that only two people have were killed and over a hundred people have been injured. The two people who were killed were women from Tocopilla, a city located 40 kilometers from the epicenter, who died when their house fell in on them. There was a tsunami warning issued, by the U.S Pacific Tsunami Warning Center for Chile and Peru, but was later cancelled. Officials report that there was damage, but not as much as one would normally expect from a quake of this size according to scientist from Chile and the United Sates. They believe it is because most of the areas that were struck were not immensely populated.
Response:
This might sound odd, but I thought this earthquake went fairly well. My heart does go out to the victims and their families of the deceased and injured, but all things considered this quake was not as bad as it could be. In the past quakes that have hit Chile, have killed more and caused more damage, then this quake.. In 1960 an 9.5 magnitude earthquake ( the largest recorded in the 20th century) struck Chile and killed over 5,700 people. Also on June 13,2005 a magnitude 7.8, only one point more then this quake killed 11 people and left thousands homeless. The governments response was excellent in my books. By not only evacuating schools, hospitals and many other buildings in several cities within Chile and releasing a tsunami warning, they made sure that their citizens were safe and secure. True enough, they went on to cancel the tsunami warning, but the fact that they bothered to release it is what matters. Its not worth the risk of saying it might and it might no happen, so lets not bother, and end up having more deaths and damages on their hands. In the end, I guess you can say that everyone was lucky because the quake struck mostly non heavily populated areas.
This might sound odd, but I thought this earthquake went fairly well. My heart does go out to the victims and their families of the deceased and injured, but all things considered this quake was not as bad as it could be. In the past quakes that have hit Chile, have killed more and caused more damage, then this quake.. In 1960 an 9.5 magnitude earthquake ( the largest recorded in the 20th century) struck Chile and killed over 5,700 people. Also on June 13,2005 a magnitude 7.8, only one point more then this quake killed 11 people and left thousands homeless. The governments response was excellent in my books. By not only evacuating schools, hospitals and many other buildings in several cities within Chile and releasing a tsunami warning, they made sure that their citizens were safe and secure. True enough, they went on to cancel the tsunami warning, but the fact that they bothered to release it is what matters. Its not worth the risk of saying it might and it might no happen, so lets not bother, and end up having more deaths and damages on their hands. In the end, I guess you can say that everyone was lucky because the quake struck mostly non heavily populated areas.
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