Another Strong Aftershock Strikes Chile

Strong aftershock measuring  up to M6.9 strikes Bio-Bio Chile

The aftershock was the strongest aftershock to strike the region in the previous 72 hours.

However, there was no significant damage as a result of the shock, local officials were reported as saying.

The M8.8 megaquake and ensuing giant tsunami waves caused more damage in Chile’s Maule region and  beyond than did the Haiti quake in that  country, making a mockery of the death toll figure provided by the dysfunctional Haiti govt. Fire-Earth estimates that the Haiti quake death toll may have been exaggerated by as much as 100 folds.  Fire-Earth has now revised down its figure for the number of deaths and injures resulting from the Haiti quake to 5,000 (FIVE THOUSAND). [Original caption: An earthquake survivor walks through the city center after it was destroyed by a massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami, in Talcahuano March 4, 2010.] Credit: REUTERS/Mariana Bazo. Image may be subject to copyright.

Yet Another Revised Death Toll by Chilean Govt

Major Chilean newspapers reported on Friday the government had again revised its death toll for Maule region to 316 (previously 587). The epicenter of the M8.8 megaquake was located in the Maule region.

The Tsunami Oops!

Most of the casualties in Saturday’s disasters were killed  NOT by the M8.8 megaquake, but by the three giant tsunami waves that obliterated the coastal population centers hours  later. The Chileans say their govt told them there would be NO risk of a tsunami.

The Chilean Navy has since blamed the catastrophic failure on “a diagnosis error,” admitting that they transmitted “extremely unclear information” to their civilian counterparts. The authorities have since fired head of the Navy’s Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service [Servicio Hidrográfico y Oceanográfico de la Armada, SHOA,] Commander Mariano Rojas, for failing to issue a tsunami warning [syn: incompetence,] local reports said.

EQ Details

• Magnitude as reported by USGS/EHP: 6.6 [Max magnitude estimated by Fire-Earth: 6.9 Mw]
• Date-Time:
  • Friday, March 05, 2010 at 11:47:10 UTC
  • Friday, March 05, 2010 at 08:47:10 AM at epicenter

• Location: 36.513°S, 73.116°W
• Depth: 35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program
• Region:  OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE

• Distances
  • 35 km (20 miles) N of Concepcion, Chile
  • 90 km (55 miles) W of Chillan, Chile
  • 125 km (80 miles) NNW of Los Angeles, Chile
  • 405 km (255 miles) SSW of SANTIAGO, Chile

• Source: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
• USGS Event ID: us2010tla4

Strong Quake Strikes SW of Sumatra, Indonesia

Meanwhile, a strong earthquake measuring up to 6.8Mw [Fire-Earth estimate] struck SOUTHWEST OF SUMATRA, INDONESIA, at a depth of about 20km on Friday, March 05, 2010 at 16:06:57 UTC.

The epicenter was located at 4.032°S, 100.806°E, USGS/EHP reported.

Distances:

• 165 km (100 miles) W of Bengkulu, Sumatra, Indonesia
• 345 km (215 miles) S of Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia
• 415 km (255 miles) SW of Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia
• 700 km (435 miles) WNW of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia

Related Links:

• Chile Earthquake Links Page
• FEWW Earthquake Links
• Volcanoes
• FEWW Volcano Links

• For more photos click  Reuters Photo Gallery

 

Chile: Two Strong Aftershocks in 8 Hrs

Two strong aftershocks measuring up to magnitude 6.2 and 6.3 strike Bio-Bio and Valparaiso, Chile

The first thing that ought to have come to mind is, thank goodness Chile doesn’t have a nuclear power plant or large scale nuclear waste storage facility. [The country’s two open-pool research reactors (5MWt and 10MWt) are apparently located near Santiago.]

What if megaquakes struck close to a large nuclear power plant, or two?

Earthquake Details

• Magnitude: 6.1 [Max magnitude estimated by Fire-Earth: 6.3 Mw]
• Date-Time:
  • Thursday, March 04, 2010 at 01:59:50 UTC
  • Wednesday, March 03, 2010 at 10:59:50 PM at epicenter
• Location: 33.154°S, 72.064°W
• Depth: 34.4 km (21.4 miles)
• Region: OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE
• Distances:
  • 45 km (30 miles) WSW of Valparaiso, Chile
  • 135 km (85 miles) WNW of SANTIAGO, Chile
  • 165 km (105 miles) NW of Rancagua, Chile
  • 190 km (115 miles) SSW of Illapel, Chile
• Location Uncertainty: horizontal +/- 24.6 km (15.3 miles); depth +/- 4.3 km (2.7 miles)
• Source: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
• Event ID:  us2010tkan

10-degree Map Centered at 35°S,70°W

The two strong aftershocks detailed here are marked in RED on the EQ Location Map. Source: USGS/EHP. Image Edited and Enhanced by FEWW.

Earthquake Details

• Magnitude: 6.0  [Max magnitude estimated by Fire-Earth: 6.2 Mw]
• Date-Time:
  • Wednesday, March 03, 2010 at 17:44:25 UTC
  • Wednesday, March 03, 2010 at 02:44:25 PM at epicenter
• Location: 36.452°S, 73.069°W
• Depth: 19 km (11.8 miles) set by location program
• Region:  OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE
• Distances:
  • 40 km (25 miles) N of Concepcion, Chile
  • 85 km (55 miles) W of Chillan, Chile
  • 130 km (80 miles) NNW of Los Angeles, Chile
  • 400 km (250 miles) SSW of SANTIAGO, Chile
• Source:  USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
• Event ID us2010tjbk

Tsunami Status

Pacific Ocean Tsunami Warning Center said there were NO Tsunami Warning, Watch  or Advisory in effect.

Related Links:

• Chile Quake Aftermath: Day 5
• Chile Earthquake Links Page

Chile quake Update 3 (March 2)

Chileans Need Food, Water and Care; NOT Bazookas!

Chilean authorities never cease to defy common sense, or harm their own citizens beyond your wildest imagination

The death toll from Chile’s megaquake and tsunami nears 750

The term Shell shock would of course fail to describe the state of the survivors, living victims, of the Chilean earthquake; they were hit by a megaquake. However, the traumatic experience they have suffered is very much the same as being “shell-shocked.”

Now they need food, water and shelter, but more importantly a caring establishment that treats them as vulnerable victims of a massive shock!

What they got instead, were soldiers carrying heavy-caliber machine guns and anti-tank weapons with the muzzles pointed at them!

“Go on, shoot them, put them out of their misery … what do you care? You’re only doing your job [sic.]” Surely, so long as the copper mines continue to yield and the soldiers receive their rations,  the establishment would have no worries.

Chilean soldiers patrol the streets to stop looting and keep the order, as a building burns in the background after a major earthquake in Concepcion March 1, 2010. Chile’s government scrambled on Monday to provide aid to thousands of homeless people in coastal towns devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunamis, as 10,000 troops patrolled to quell looting. Credit: REUTERS/Jose Luis Saavedra. Image may be subject to copyright.

Extent of the quake damage

The megaquake struck near the village/town of Dichato instantly destroying three quarters of the town. Then three successive tsunami waves arrived. “The first two were big and didn’t do much damage, but the last one almost wiped the village off the map,” a local resident said.

“Surging waves triggered by the quake smashed houses and cars in fishing villages on the country’s long Pacific coast. In the town of Constitucion alone, 350 people are believed to have died and a public gym was turned into a makeshift morgue.” Reuters reported.

Looting

Chilean government has imposed a curfew in Concepcion and the adjacent region of Maule, where the megaquake struck, after sporadic “looting” broke out. There are images of looters, of course, who are breaking into shops and warehouses, carrying white goods on their shoulders.  But they are a minority. Nearly three days after the megaquake and the tsunamis struck, the majority of the local folks described as “looters” are simply desperate for basic necessities—food and water.

The desperate “looters” have even raided a fire station looking for water.

“The looters are more organized,” said Concepcion’s mayor, Jacqueline Van Rysselberghe, Reuters reported, asking the Bachelet government to dispatch more of those troops with [antiaircraft rocket-launchers and] intimidating helmets to reinforce “law and order” in the country’s second largest city.

Caught between thirst and hunger,  on the one hand, and soldiers armed with bazookas, on the other, the victims are taking their chances.  Unsurprisingly, they are evolving and becoming more organized.

[To the readers who are sitting at home in the comfort of their armchairs  reading these lines: THIS CAN and PROBABLY WILL HAPPEN to YOU, TOO!  CHANGE YOUR SYSTEM and LIFESTYLES, NOW! IT IS ALREADY WAY TOO LATE!]

We find it hard to term the desperate victims as “looters”; they are traumatized folks struggling for survival.

Related Links:

• Chile Earthquake and Tsunami Update 1 (28 Feb)
• Destructive Tsunami Generated by Chile Quake
• Chile 8.8 Megaquake Strikes Offshore Maule
• Earth undergoing significant geophysical disturbances
• Recent Earthquakes ≥ 6.0 Mw
• Powerful Quake Strikes Chile [November 13, 2009]
• The Largest Earthquake

Related Images:

• Most recent quake photos
• Reuters photo gallery

Chile Earthquake Update 2 (Mar 1)

“No Danger of a Tsunami,” Chileans Were Told!

Death toll from Chile megaquake and tsunami surges over 720

“It’s an enormous catastrophe … there’s a growing number of missing people,” Chilean President Bachelet said, as her government dispatched 10,000 troops to enforce curfews in the worst hit areas, especially Chile’s second largest city Concepcion, and prevent alleged outbreaks of looting.

The surviving victims are desperate for food and water, making the government’s “iron-fist” response highly questionable.

The massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck about 115km north-northeast of Concepcion on Saturday, has left many people homeless, and many more have stayed outdoors in tents or makeshift shelters fearing the deadly aftershocks that are powerful earthquakes to be reckoned with.

The megaquake has destroyed or damaged probably as many as half a million homes, wrecked bridges, highways and other infrastructure. There’s  widespread power cuts throughout most of the country.

Criminal Negligence by the Chilean Authorities

Once again fatal errors made by an incompetent military proved fatal for many ordinary Chileans. Many lives could have been saved if the he government experts had sought independent advice concerning the certainty of a tsunami.

It has now been revealed the Chilean government declared immediately after the megaquake struck offshore Maule, “there would be no danger of a tsunami.”  Their fatal error, which they now blame on “incorrect data” supplied by their “Navy experts” probably doubled the death toll as it now stands.

It’s difficult to believe that the average earthquake “expert” would consider an 8.8Mw earthquake striking offshore, especially in an area with previous records of deadly quakes and fatal tsunamis as “no danger.”

Surely, even a university freshman with some understanding of geophysics, earthquakes and tsunamis, and knowledge of earthquake history in the area, facing a magnitude 8.8 quake, could have put two and two together,  at least erring on the side of caution.

The authorities in Japan, a country almost halfway across the world from Chile, took the precautionary measure of evacuating more than a million of their citizens from coastal areas to protect them against potential tsunamis caused by the Dichato quake.

How could the Chilean authorities make such an incomprehensible mistake with such catastrophic consequences?

Aftershocks Update

10-degree Map Centered at 35°S,70°W

Latest EQ Location map. Source: USGS/EHP. Enhanced by FEWW

Since FEWW Chilean Disasters Update # 1 posted yesterday, at least 40 additional aftershock have struck central Chile, with two events measuring M6.0 or greater. The aftershocks should continue to occur for sometime.

Image of the Day

Cars and Dogs seeking safety on higher grounds in case “Navy experts” had made a mistake about the tsunami. [Original caption: Debris is washed up by waves generated by a major earthquake near the epicenter in Dichato February 28, 2010. Credit: REUTERS/Jose Luis Saavedra. Image may be subject to copyright.]

FEWW Estimate of the Quake Damage

Based on the preliminary information available, Fire-Earth Moderators estimate the cost of damage from Saturday’s megaquake at about US$10 billion.

The Moderators believe the Chileans should consider the earthquake and subsequent tsunami disasters as an opportunity and re-build their communities as eco-centered, low-carbon, intelligent communities.

Any more mistakes made by the authorities in the way they handle the quake and tsunami aftermaths could prove even more catastrophic in the near future.

Related Links:

• Chile Earthquake and Tsunami Update 1 (28 Feb)

• Destructive Tsunami Generated by Chile Quake
• Chile 8.8 Megaquake Strikes Offshore Maule
• Earth undergoing significant geophysical disturbances
• Recent Earthquakes ≥ 6.0 Mw
• Powerful Quake Strikes Chile [November 13, 2009]
• The Largest Earthquake

Related Images:

• Reuters photo gallery

Let’s Bulldoze Port-au-Prince, If We Really Care!

Haiti Quake – Update 18 January

UN boss urges starving Haitians to be patient

The worst thing that can now happen to Haiti in the short term is for another major disaster to strike elsewhere in the world.

United Nations Boss pleads with a couple of million  starved survivors to be patient merely five days after the quake struck (!)

Banki Moon visited UN mission, where at least 37 UN staff were killed after the quake struck, and some 300 workers are still missing.

“I appeal to the Haitian people to be more patient,” Mr Moon said, wondering if he might be attacked by mobs of starved, homeless survivors outside the mission.

Relief has reportedly only started to trickle through five days after the quake struck.

But no sooner a food distribution point is set up, the aid workers are mobbed with swarms of starving survivors.

A Partial Picture of the Haiti Quake Aftermath:

• Most of up to 2 million hungry survivors are roaming streets of partially destroyed Port-au-Prince looking for food or anything they could swap for food.
• The Haitian government is Not functioning.
• There are no restaurants, shops, markets or the likes where people could buy food, assuming  the survivors had any money with them.
• The level of violence amog the frustrated survivors is increasing.
• UN has launched a near $600m appeal intended to help about three million people for up to six months, though it doesn’t seem to have any plans on how to use the money.
• Very many people could die of starvation and gang violence, and a few would benefit handsomely from the aid money.
• “The Haitian airport now is overwhelmed,” said a senior UN Peacekeeping Operations officer.
• Fuel is desperately needed to carry aid from the airport, help the wounded and restore [even partial] order in the capital city, but it’s in short supply.
• Three Haitian ministers and a half dozen senators are reported to have been killed.
• “There are no doctors, no surgeons. I was supposed to get delivery this morning of medical supplies from abroad, but they never arrived. On my own, I cannot even cope with the toilet arrangements for all these people.”  The sole trainee-nurse at the Port-au-Prince’s General Hospital told Reuters.
• The nurse said she had run out of  supplies, antibiotics and pain killers.

EDRO SAYS:

“The aftermath of Haiti quake catastrophe

“IF you regard the Haiti quake as a “natural” disaster, and the blog has previously made its position clear about the impact of human activity on natural disasters, then you must consider the aftermath of the quake as a human-made disaster.

“It’s hard to imagine how Port-au-Prince, and therefore Haiti, could survive the aftermath of the quake catastrophe.

“IF the United Nations, the United States and EU care about Haiti, and it’s difficult NOT to be highly skeptical, they they should bulldoze the old Port-au-Prince into the ground and help those of the Haitians who care about the future to build sustainable communities.

” And remember, we believe the first wave of the world’s collapsing cities may have already started.”

Related Links:

• Haiti Quake Disaster [Update 17 Jan]
• Haiti Quake Aftermath [Update 16 Jan]
• Haiti EQ Disaster – Update 15 Jan
• Haiti Earthquake Disaster – Update 14 Jan
• Haiti quake catastrophe – Update Jan 13

• Haiti Quake Causes Widespread Death, Destruction
• Haiti Quake Images

• FEWW Volcano Links
• Volcanoes
• Earthquakes

For More Information Visit Haiti Earthquake Disaster Links Page!