First Glimpses of 8.8-magnitude Earthquake Hits Chile

Associatedcontent.com An 8.8-magnitude earthquake has struck the country of Chile. The 8.8 magnitude Chile earthquake struck Concepcion, Chile late on Friday night according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which places the quake just over 8.8 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Chile; Earthquake Centered on Concepcion, Chile 200 miles from Santiago. To put this in perspective, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake would be one of the strongest earthquakes in measured history, placing it way ahead of the recent earthquake that took place in Haiti. The Haitian earthquake measured a 7.0 in magnitude, which is very strong in its own right, but shows just how much stronger the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile is measuring. To put it in a little bit of perspective, the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti has a seismic energy yield of 32 megatons, while this 8.8 earthquake measures more than 5.6 gig tons. There aren't many earthquakes that have been measured in the history of measuring these quakes, which includes an 8.5 in Sumatra, Indonesia in 2007, a 9.2 that happened in Anchorage in 1964, a 9.5 in Chile during 1960, and a 9.0 in Portugal back in 1755. That is it for earthquakes that have hit land that have measured above 8.5, but there were probably more that came along back before the measurements were put into place. It really puts into perspective what has just taken place in Chile. We are still waiting for more information about what has happened in Chile, but a Tsunami warning has been issued, and there is sure to be a lot of damage from this earthquake. We will update as we learn more information about what has occurred. There is a report that a Tsunami has also been spotted, but no news of land-hitting has come out of the area just yet. The 9.5 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile back in 1960 killed a reported 1,655 people, but hopefully the country has been constructed in a fashion that may present a little bit of damage, but spares many lives during this scary event. That event in 1960 is referred to as the Valdivia earthquake. Support Earthquake Relief in Chile   / 343748291224