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A Powerful 8.3-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Off Chile's Coast
wooferhound writes: A powerful 8.3-magnitude earthquake struck off Chile's coast on Wednesday, according to a preliminary assessment from the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake's epicenter was about 54 kilometers (34 miles) west of Illapel, Chile, USGS said. It occurred around 7:54 p.m. (6:54 p.m. ET). Chile's national emergency agency issued a tsunami alert, ordering evacuations in coastal areas from Arica to Puerto Aysen.
Just got 2 notifications at work stating that there is a warning, and that there may be damage to our area. I live in Southern California, and my place of work is on the coast.
It's late at night there, good luck sleeping indoors or outdoors tonight with the crazy intensity of the aftershocks. Crazy... 6.3 58km W of Illapel, Chile 2015-09-17 04:10:31 UTC 40.1 km 5.3 89km WNW of Illapel, Chile 2015-09-17 04:02:10 UTC 19.5 km 6.2 44km SSW of Ovalle, Chile 2015-09-17 03:55:07 UTC 35.0 km 4.9 47km SSW of Ovalle, Chile 2015-09-17 02:59:29 UTC 35.0 km 6.4 64km NW of Illapel, Chile 2015-09-17 01:41:09 UTC 35.0 km 5.6 86km W of Illapel, Chile 2015-09-17 01:33:03 UTC 15.2 km 5.2 76km W of Illapel, Chile 2015-09-17 01:21:50 UTC 24.2 km 4.9 90km W of Illapel, Chile 2015-09-17 01:09:49 UTC 35.0 km 4.9 118km W of Illapel, Chile 2015-09-17 00:50:08 UTC 10.0 km 5.0 54km SW of Ovalle, Chile 2015-09-17 00:42:56 UTC 32.9 km 5.2 81km WSW of Illapel, Chile 2015-09-17 00:22:20 UTC 10.0 km 5.3 57km SW of Ovalle, Chile 2015-09-17 00:06:16 UTC 10.0 km 5.7 76km WSW of Illapel, Chile 2015-09-16 23:38:05 UTC 35.0 km 7.0 25km W of Illapel, Chile 2015-09-16 23:18:42 UTC 30.9 km 6.2 70km W of Illapel, Chile 2015-09-16 23:16:05 UTC 10.0 km 6.1 44km WSW of Illapel, Chile 2015-09-16 23:03:56 UTC 10.0 km 6.4 58km W of Illapel, Chile 2015-09-16 22:59:13 UTC 22.0 km 8.3 46km W of Illapel, Chile
Its crazy how strong this is, people in São Paulo, Brazil saw their lights swinging lightly from their ceiling. Thats 2500 km or 1600 miles away!
How important is Chile in the global supply chain?
30% of world copper production, and the earthquake struck right next to one of the more important copper mines. But more important than that is the fact that we live in a planet with several hazards for living safely, and technology has to play a major role here. In Chile, we have greatly improved the building standards over the past century, to the point where the damages are negligible compared to a similar earthquake elsewhere. That's a very big triumph of technology applied to societal welfare.
In a way, we have an advantage, the earthquakes keep us prepared. But there are areas where they occur every 500 years (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1700_Cascadia_earthquake) and they may cause a huge catastrophe there.
As we have witnessed in several parts around the world (remember Katrina?) besides prevention and warnings, the logistics of the aftermath are very challenging as well. How can we improve this? How to help isolated people self-organize in order to improve their conditions until outside aid arrives? For example, could we include a microgrid-style strategy everywhere that interacts seamlessly with the "traditional" grid? Another thing is how to keep the communication lines open and the information flow as lean as possible, in order to help the authorities make better decisions on the spot.
Therefore, Chile may present a unique opportunity to develop and test different prevention and emergency response strategies. And this may be one of the more important things we can do for humanity in our role as responsible engineers.
Cheers from Santiago, Chile