8.8 Earthquake hits Chile

[Jedi Master Carr]

Devastating Earthquake hit outside Santiago this morning.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/lt_chile_earthquake;_ylt=AvEIxoYjXF7WtSqU7qvIPZGs0 NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNqdG5hdXVqBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMjI3L 2x0X2NoaWxlX2VhcnRocXVha2UEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXI EY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMyBHB0A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX 3N0b3J5BHNsawNodWdlcXVha2VoaXQ-

Looks like over 100 dead, Tsunami warnings in effect for Hawaii and other Pacific Islands. Shocking we have a second powerful earthquake in less than a month.

[Yog]

It's also one of the strongest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes#Largest_earthquakes_by_magnitu de) recorded ever. Yet, the epicenter did not strike densely populated areas and the building code is much more solid than was the case in Haiti, so it's not really comparable. It could have been a lot worse. The big concern is the Tsunami. Looks like people get warnings to reach elevated areas well ahead of it though.

You know it's a strong earthquake when cars are turned upside down:
http://www.vg.no/uploaded/image/bilderigg/2010/02/27/1267277079415_616.jpg

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Liz says on FB that the tsunami wave is only going to be about 6 feet, and her island isn't going to get the worst of it, Hilo is. But it sounds... not too bad, all things considered.

I can't even imagine an 8.8 earthquake. >_<

[Captain Untouchable]

It also happened not 10 hours after a 7.0 earthquake hit Japan.

Throw in Samoa and Haiti, and that's the fourth major earthquake disaster so far this year; four in eight weeks. Something is seriously broken with our planet. :(

[Jedi Master Carr]

It's also one of the strongest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes#Largest_earthquakes_by_magnitu de) recorded ever. Yet, the epicenter did not strike densely populated areas and the building code is much more solid than was the case in Haiti, so it's not really comparable. It could have been a lot worse. The big concern is the Tsunami. Looks like people get warnings to reach elevated areas well ahead of it though.

You know it's a strong earthquake when cars are turned upside down:
http://www.vg.no/uploaded/image/bilderigg/2010/02/27/1267277079415_616.jpg


Luckily, it hit off the shore. If it had hit downtown Santiago, I don't think the stronger building codes would have withstood the damage. So, far the Tsunami doesn't look too severe. Hilo is getting hit with 3-5 feet high waves.

[Darth Turbogeek]

Something is seriously broken with our planet. :(

And what exactly is broken?

[Captain Untouchable]

Something is seriously broken with our planet. :(

And what exactly is broken?

The increasing frequency of high-magnitude earthquakes in locations and at depths where they cause serious harm to large populations of people? The fact that two 7+ magnitude earthquakes happened, one ten hours after the other, on completely different and scarcely related tectonic fault lines? The fact that since Christmas, there have been at least four serious humanitarian emergencies resulting from "natural disasters", and that's just the four I know of personally, through my job?

Sure, it's random chance and all that jazz; but as far as I'm aware, there is no scientific theory to explain the increase in earthquake activity. You can't even blame the amorphous "climate change". Presumably there is some sort of reason, rather than "bad luck". I would consider that an appropriate instance to describe the world as "broken".

For once, Mark, could you please put the bonehead attitude aside, and show a little respect for the hundreds of thousands of people killed by these recent disasters? If there's any time to consider it inappropriate, now is probably it.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

I gotta say, I agree with the Captain. What he said seemed to me to be a tongue in cheek approach to a more serious matter. There's no need to get snarky over it, since he's got reasons for why he said what he did.

[Darth Turbogeek]

Sure, it's random chance and all that jazz; but as far as I'm aware, there is no scientific theory to explain the increase in earthquake activity. You can't even blame the amorphous "climate change". Presumably there is some sort of reason, rather than "bad luck". I would consider that an appropriate instance to describe the world as "broken".



You cant be serious. Of course there's a theory.

It's called "Plate tetonics", where the large plates that move on the earth's crust build up immense pressure on each other, before the pressure causes a large amount of the crust to move.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics

And at various times, there's going to be lots of pressure in lots of different areas so when a major plate moves, there's going to be earthquakes in different locations quickly. We are getting better at working out where the pressure is, but we barely begun to understand the signs of when the release comes.

It's cold to call it normal... but it's normal. And not even the worst in living memory.

[Captain Untouchable]

Sure, it's random chance and all that jazz; but as far as I'm aware, there is no scientific theory to explain the increase in earthquake activity. You can't even blame the amorphous "climate change". Presumably there is some sort of reason, rather than "bad luck". I would consider that an appropriate instance to describe the world as "broken".



You cant be serious. Of course there's a theory.

It's called "Plate tetonics", where the large plates that move on the earth's crust build up immense pressure on each other, before the pressure causes a large amount of the crust to move.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics

And at various times, there's going to be lots of pressure in lots of different areas so when a major plate moves, there's going to be earthquakes in different locations quickly. We are getting better at working out where the pressure is, but we barely begun to understand the signs of when the release comes.

It's cold to call it normal... but it's normal. And not even the worst in living memory.

You obviously haven't studied that article very thoroughly, else you'd have realised that the severe earthquakes have occurred in completely separate areas, on plates that are barely even related to each other. In isolation, high-magnitude events are extremely rare: to have several occur in such rapid succession, spread over so many different faults is even more so. I was referring to the lack of a theory of why so many events of high magnitude had occurred so close together. Japan and Chile are plates apart and, well, if you know as much about the subject as you claim to, I don't need to explain why the odds of them being related are so astronomically small.

But like I said: this is hardly the appropriate forum for being a smug jerk, particularly given the severity of the incident that has occurred, and the tragic loss of human life.

[Pierce Tondry]

Briefly deviating from the original discussion about the disaster in Chile, I remember when I first learned of the notion of plate tectonics. I still have it in my head that North America and Asia are moving closer to each other and that one day one of the two countries will submerge the other.

Back on track now.

Earthquakes suck. I've felt one very incredibly minor one I think. Never been near a fault, never been near the site of a disaster, and yet when I think about the phrase "the earth opened wide, yawned, and swallowed them whole" actually happening at my feet it fills me with undeniable dread. I can't help but think it would be twice as terrifying to be there.

Some days, I wish I was an earthbender.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

I was living in Seattle when a quake struck up there once. Pretty crazy, since I was in my apartment at the time and the thought of each floor mushing down into the one below was the most prevalent thing on my mind.

A few weeks later I was visiting my mom during breaks between semesters, and an earthquake hit there also. Woke me up and I was pretty disoriented for a few seconds. Really weird feeling. The neat (if you want to call it that) thing about that one though was that I could hear the aftershocks before they hit. They sounded like a cattle stampede.

[Captain Untouchable]

The sound is eerie. Britain had a quake a few years back... I was sat at my computer at the time. Was micro-tiny by comparison, and hardly warrants mentioning... but the noise was just... creepy. And then the house just rumbled; felt like a truck going past, except it lasted for far too long.

Yet another reason why I'm greatful to live in such an environmentally safe place like the UK.

[Alice Kelly]

Having been through my fair share I can honestly say even the small ones are slightly nerve wracking. Northridge was the biggest I can remember... though as bad as the initial earthquake is, mentally wise... I think it's the aftershocks that get to you since some of them can be pretty big and they just keep going on and on for a few days after >_<

Though I can't imagine having to go through one as big as this one was... really hoping I don't have to find out what it's like in person either. Definitely feel for those affected...

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Ugh, 8.8 would suck and I feel badly for Chile and everyone affected. The good news is that even though this quake was so much bigger, the country is much better able to take care of it 'in house,' so to speak, than Haiti was/is.

Earthquakes aren't too scary, though the big ones really are. Living in California for years sort of desensitized me to anything smaller than a 6.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/chileearthquakeismothernatureoutofcontrol Is Mother Nature out of control?!


Even so, magnitude-8 earthquakes (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/storytext/chileearthquakeismothernatureoutofcontrol/35287919/SIG=11elni2og/*http://www.livescience.com/topic/earthquakes) occur globally, on average, just once a year. Since magnitudes are given on a logarithmic scale, an 8.8-magnitude is much more intense than a magnitude 8, and so this event would be even rarer, said J. Ramón Arrowsmith, a geologist at Arizona State University.
Is Earth shaking more?
The Ryukyu Islands of Japan were hit with a 7.0-magnitude quake just last night. News of this, the Haiti quake (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/storytext/chileearthquakeismothernatureoutofcontrol/35287919/SIG=12fein9at/*http://www.livescience.com/environment/haiti-earthquake-explainer-100113.html) and now Chile make it seem Earth is becoming ever more active. But in the grand scheme of things, geologists say this is just Mother Nature as usual.
"From our human perspective with our relatively short and incomplete memories and better and better communications around the world, we hear about more earthquakes and it seems like they are more frequent," Arrowsmith said. "But this is probably not any indication of a global change in earthquake rate of significance."
Coupled with better communication, as the human population skyrockets and we move into more hazardous regions, we're going to hear more about the events that do occur, Arrowsmith added.
However, "relative to the 20-year period from the mid 1970's to the mid 1990's, the Earth has been more active over the past 15 or so years," said Stephen S. Gao, a geophysicist at Missouri University of Science & Technology. "We still do not know the reason for this yet. Could simply be the natural temporal variation of the stress field in the earth's lithosphere." (The lithosphere is the outer solid part of the Earth.)

So... no? But it is a little more active over the last 15 years than it was between the 70s-90s, and they don't know why.

[Dasquian Belargic]

At least, as Yog said, they had better preparations than Haiti. Times like these I am glad to be living on this dreary little island, where we don't have to worry about earthquakes and such like.

[Morgan Evanar]

I'm in an earthquake free zone too. There are a lot of faults that have been overdue according to some geologists. I don't find it too surprising but my heart goes out to those affected. Earthquakes make me very nervous due to the unpredictability.

[General Dan]

We had one in Alabama that could be felt, about 6 or 7 years ago. It woke me up, and I thought somebody was having a joke on me by shaking my bed.

[Park Kraken]

Mark could be right though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Global_plate_motion_2008-04-17.jpg

If the 'Hawaii' Plate was the one that shifted in the Ryuku Island's shake, then an easement or shifting of pressure on the other side of the plate, bordering what is marked as the EISL plate, could have triggered the Chile earthquake. Of course, that would probably have resulted in an earthquake south of Mexico in the central South Pacific along that boundary, but as the Chile earthquake was also a deep one, said earthquake could have been either deep, weak, or a combination of both prevented it from being easily detected.

But in talking about a broken planet, if you think it's broken over here, then the D.E.I. must be absolutley destroyed. They've had 8.5+ earthquakes strike over there in 2004, 2005, and 2007. But then again, this is along the Pacific Rim of Fire, and it's very likely that shifting magma under the surface of the earth could very well contribute to the easing or shifting of earth along a fault line that would cause an earthquake.

Now, something else that I am considering from my own end, but I have to wonder if the El Nino/La Nina weather patterns may contribute to earthquakes. Some may consider it a silly notion, but the earth needs to release heat from it's core, and part of that is through the oceans, from which hurricanes and other storm systems drain the heat from when they form and traverse said oceans. I have to wonder if perhaps a strong El Nino year, such as the one we had, in which we have seen a sharp decrease in hurricane formations, heck, over the past two years we've seen a real lack of numbers or very strong storms, if the lack of heat dissipation that we would normally see, might have contributed to the current trend of severe earthquakes that is now affecting the American continents.