

8.8-magnitude quake hits Chile - paulgerhardt
http://us.mobile.reuters.com/mobile/m/AnyArticle/p.rdt?URL=http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61Q0S920100227

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andrewcooke
We live in Santiago and woke at about 3.30am to mild shaking that was growing
stronger, so we got out of bed and went to the centre of our flat, where the
building is strongest. The shaking was pretty violent, and seemed to go on for
a long time (I imagine it feels longer than it is, but I would say at least 30
seconds). The power went out at some point.

When the shaking stopped we found a torch and looked around - books and
decorations had fallen down (luckily a large pot of jam had fallen over, but
stayed on the kitchen table top). In every room there are cracks in the
plaster and flakes on the floor - the corner of the kitchen looks like it may
have more serious damage, with a vertical crack where two walls join.

People were going outside, but it wasn't clear to us it was safer (there are
many electrical cables in the streets, and we live in a lovely avenue with
many old elms - unfortunately they have a habit of dropping branches on people
in winds, and at the time we weren't sure how they would be affected, although
in retrospect I guess a strong wind is worse than an earthquake for a tree).
But from our window we could see one neighbour, with children, drive away -
presumably to a relative's house.

We found a radio with batteries, found a station that was broadcasting news,
and listened for a while. Some people's phones were still working, as they
were calling in, and the general impression was that it wasn't so bad; this
morning the news is worse, and I hope the people we know in Concepcion are OK.

Eventually we went back to sleep - there were aftershocks that normally would
have been pretty worrying, but that now felt like nothing worth bothering
with.

It will be interesting to see how the big, new buildings (often covered in
glass) have survived. Just a little way east of here they are constructing
what will be the tallest building in South America (the Costanera Centre)...

~~~
andrewcooke
While we have power here, it seems much of the city does not (we've just been
out trying to buy food). Many road junctions near us (Providencia, La Reina,
Las Condes) are without lights; some bigger buildings have backup generators
running.

If anyone is reading this from Chile and is looking for bread, I've got
details here -
[http://www.acooke.org/cute/Earthquake0.html#Sat27Feb20101346...](http://www.acooke.org/cute/Earthquake0.html#Sat27Feb20101346300300)

~~~
algorias
Thanks for that link! I might need it.

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_delirium
Hmm, it seems that fortunately the damage, while significant, isn't as
catastrophic as one might expect from an earthquake of that magnitude (7th-
largest on record, if the 8.8 is confirmed). I don't understand these things
too well, but besides Chile's relatively good infrastructure quality, it looks
like the depth of the event, and the kind of ground/soil in the region, had
something to do with it.

For example, even though this was much stronger than the Haiti earthquake (8.8
v. 7.0), the Mercalli intensities are much lower:
[http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/pager/events/us/2010t...](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/pager/events/us/2010tfan/index.html)
v.
[http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/pager/events/us/2010r...](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/pager/events/us/2010rja6/index.html)

~~~
andrewcooke
Yeah, this is nothing like Haiti, thankfully. It was deeper, further away from
major population, and the building codes here are taken seriously (I think
you're also right about soil being a problem in Haiti, but I don't know much
about that).

In a sense, it's a relief - even if it's the gambler's fallacy - it feels like
"ok, that didn't kill us, so we're OK for another few decades" (no disrespect
to the people in Concepcion, who have had it much worse - the news is still
coming out; when we went back to bed we didn't know it was anything like as
bad there as it is now appearing).

~~~
ErrantX
If I remember my school geography correctly the type of soil, bed rock and
water table massively effects the impact of an earthquake.

~~~
electromagnetic
It does, certain mixes give properties like a shock absorber, which is the
case I'm guessing with Chile. Haiti unfortunately is an island, and most
islands by nature are volcanic which usually not only means the bedrock is
usually closer to the surface but that it is a much more rigid material.

------
pelle
Live stream from TV Chile <http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tv-de-chile>

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algorias
I was with my brother and we had just arrived at his home when the quake
struck. I have to say it felt much more violent than it actually was. The
damages seem to be surprisingly fewfor a quake of this magnitude.

I ended up going home at about 5 am as I wasn't able to get through on the
phone. Luckily, there were several folks who gave me rides that got me a lot
closer, so I didn't have to walk far. The whole city was dark, but I didn't
see major signs of damages along the way.

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rbanffy
As a HN-worthy note, my wife told me about this before I turned on my
computer. She learned about it on Twitter.

~~~
joezydeco
When we had that 3-4 quake outside Chicago earlier this month, my wife was
convinced a tree had fallen against the house or something. USGS Shakemap had
no data yet.

On a hunch I searched twitter and saw over 200 "OMG WHAT WAS THAT?" messages.
Confirmed the quake before anything else.

~~~
rbanffy
I keep saying, only half-jokingly, Twitter is turning us into nodes of a
global collective mind.

When she said that she became aware of the quake, I questioned what did she
mean with "she".

~~~
tvon
If only the collective mind could communicate with more than 140 characters at
a time...

~~~
rbanffy
I doubt organic brains can rely on that many bits when firing their neurons.

~~~
tvon
Well, sure, but then a real collective mind wouldn't use twitter.

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whyenot
The Boston Globe's Big Picture has a good colleciton of photos from the
disaster area.

[http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/02/earthquake_in_chile...](http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/02/earthquake_in_chile.html?camp=localsearch:on:twit:bigpic)

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yannis
For anyone looking for missing persons
<http://chilepersonfinder.appspot.com/?lang=en>

~~~
nir
Very cool. Great use of GAE's quick deployment/scalability. I assume this is
based on a general purpose people finder app?

~~~
dspeyer
It's cloned from the <http://haiticrisis.appspot.com/>. That one was written
from scratch in a couple of days after the haiti quake.

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callmeed
People on Twitter are reporting tsunami warnings in Hawaii. Can anyone there
give an update?

~~~
dspeyer
The general warning:
[http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/messages/pacific/2010/pacific.2...](http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/messages/pacific/2010/pacific.2010.02.27.104329.txt)
The main page: <http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/>

At 19:18Z it's predicted to hit New Zealand. That'll be the first word of how
dangerous it is at range. About 2 hours later it'll hit Australia and Hawaii.
It'll slowly sweep oceana and asia south-to-north after that.

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dmoney
non-mobile version: <http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61Q0S920100227>

