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8.2 Earthquake Off the Coast of Chile, Tsunami Triggered
An 8.2-magnitude earthquake has struck roughly 60km off the cost of Chile. Its depth was approximately 20.1km. A tsunami has been generated, and evacuations have been ordered along the coast near the strike. Tsunami warnings were also issued for Peru and Ecuador. According to the Associated Press,
"Coastal residents of northern Chile evacuated calmly as waves measuring almost 2 meters (6 1/2 feet) struck ahead of a tsunami that was expected to come ashore later. ... Chile's emergency service reported some roads blocked by landslides caused by the quake, but said no injuries had been reported so far."
Most likely those are estimates based on the data available at each location. As time moves forward the magnitud will converge.
Initial reports of earthquakes always have differing magnitudes, based on different data sources. It is only a couple of days later when all the data is analysed together that a consistent magnitude is agreed on.
A beacon of democracy? Chile had at least 5 military internventions in the 20th century.
how in the hell a flamebait like this is modded +5 Informative?
And Chile is not a beacon of democracy: they had the worst dictatorship (and the longer) in the whole south america.
Yes, they have a good rate of gdp/capita. But mostly because they are sitting on a giant copper mine.
From the fine article: "Officials reported two deaths and several serious injuries...". It's the first paragraph in the damn article.
The summary is at best misleading, misquoting a paragraph discussing the *peruvian* injuries (of which there are none reported). Chilean injuries and deaths have occurred. ... but this is slashdot, where outright wrong summaries are the norm.
Once the magnitude of an earthquake has been worked up and agreed upon, it is roughly equivalent to the old Richer scale. The amplitude magnitude in Richer is a base-10 logarithm, but approximately base-31 for the energy. So the 8.0 magnitude earthquake Chile just experienced released about 20,000 more energy than the one LA last week. The source is the same as yours.