Magnitude 7.8 - Tarapaca, Chile 22:44:31 UTC

[GoddessOfGuinness]

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/at00000353.htm

No news link yet...

[LeftCoast]

1. Man...that's a big quake!

Hope it's far away from civilization!

[Warpy]

2. No such luck, I'm afraid

That's the northern part of the country, which is the most heavily populated. It missed the big cities, though, so maybe it won't be quite as bad as it looks.

[Art_from_Ark]

29. Actually Northern Chile is mostly desert

Home of the Atacama Desert, which is often compared to a moonscape because it is one of the driest places in the world.
Most of Chile's population (90%) is concentrated in the central region.

Coastal cities in the north are often a combination of resort area and shipping center for the minerals coming out of the Atacama.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. Kind of sounds like it's far from anything big...

but I wonder about the little villages...

Distances:
109 km (68 miles) E (81°) from Iquique, Chile
220 km (137 miles) SE (144°) from Arica, Chile
263 km (163 miles) SSE (153°) from Tacna, Peru
1229 km (764 miles) SE (137°) from LIMA, Peru

[Whoa_Nelly]

17. There are major hotels in those towns

I don't think those towns are actually so little. There seems to be enough tourist trade to support large hotels.

A list of some hotels:

http://www.bookings.org/region/cl/tarapaca.html

[GoddessOfGuinness]

19. Wow...I had no idea.

I hope they were built with earthquakes in mind...

Looking at the map of the hotel locations, I see that the epicenter appears to be a ways inland from the resort areas. Maybe they'll be spared.

[TahitiNut]

4. Whoa! At 7.9 ... that's a BIG 'un!

The magnitude 7.9 event has been located in TARAPACA, CHILE. The hypocentral depth was estimated to be 111 km (69 miles).

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/uszgbu.htm

[Lone_Star_Dem]

14. No kidding!

Having grown up in LA I have a HUGE respect for quakes. This one is a freaking monster!

[TahitiNut]

18. I 'rode' Loma Prieta in '89 ...

... less then 10 miles from the epicenter. I wouldn't want to be within 100 miles of a 7.9 except sunbathing on a blanket on a very large lawn.

[peacebuzzard]

24. But then a huge chasm could swallow you whole.

My special good thoughts for Chile tonight.

[stevedeshazer]

15. Near Iquique - 115 km (70 miles)

Beach resort city, population 250,000. :(

[benburch]

5. Not yet on IRIS

http://www.iris.edu/seismon/

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. It's there now...

Thanks for the link! It's great!

[whistle]

6. Boy, I wonder how this quake will affect Chile's privatized....

...social security accounts?

[longship]

7. Revised 7.9

Oi! There will be major damage and death.
Poor Chile.

Yesterday morning we had a 5.6 near here. Rocked me out of bed.

[SpiralHawk]

8. The tail of the Tsywatsunyo pulses

Condors take to the sky.
Eagles go on alert.

Prayer songs are sounded across the Turtle's back.

[shraby]

10. Is a tsunami possible?

[happyslug]

31. Yes, and can reach across the Pacific.

For more information on the 1960 Chilean Earthquake and Tsunami:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/brochures/tsunami.htm
http://www.geophys.washington.edu/tsunami/general/historic/chilean60.html

[psychopomp]

9. I have been in two of 7 and I cant imagine what an 8 would be like

Hope that help gets to the people who need it, quickly.

[blm]

21. Same here. Northridge was a 7.8 in my neighborhood. It's violent and

devastating.

[Dogmudgeon]

23. Compared to a 7, what an 8 is like

It's 100 times as intense. (That's today's quake in South America.)

A 9 is 10,000 times as intense. (That's the 12/26/04 quake in Indonesia.)

"Intense" in this case means "how much the ground moves".

--p!

[Deja Q]

12. If the earth is about to destroy us, can't it wait another 8 days?

The final Doctor Who episode comes on Saturday, and there's very little TV I watch yet alone look forward to watching...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

16. Don't worry...It'll swallow the materialistic folks last

:beer:

[benburch]

13. Up on IRIS now.

http://www.iris.edu/seismon/

[Missy Vixen]

20. Thinking good thoughts and sending healing

to the people of Tarapaca and the surrounding area tonight.

We had a 6.7 in 2001; I coudn't sleep for almost a week. I can't remember ever being so scared.

Julie

[GoddessOfGuinness]

22. Here's an MSNBC link

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8208422/

Local television in northern Chile said the quake drove residents from their homes and caused power outages. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

[undeterred]

25. More Info

2005/06/13 22:44 M 7.9 TARAPACA, CHILE Z=111km 19.90S 69.13W

This information is provided by the USGS
National Earthquake Information Center.
(Address problems to: [e-mail])

These parameters are preliminary and subject to revision.

A magnitude 7.9 earthquake IN TARAPACA, CHILE has occurred at:
19.90S 69.13W Depth 111km Mon Jun 13 22:44:33 2005 UTC

Time: Universal Time (UTC) Mon Jun 13 22:44:33 2005
Time Near Epicenter Mon Jun 13 18:44:33 2005
Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) Mon Jun 13 18:44:33 2005
Central Daylight Time (CDT) Mon Jun 13 17:44:33 2005
Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) Mon Jun 13 16:44:33 2005
Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) Mon Jun 13 15:44:33 2005
Alaska Daylight Time (ADT) Mon Jun 13 14:44:33 2005
Hawaii Standard Time (HST) Mon Jun 13 12:44:33 2005

Location with respect to nearby cities:
115 km (70 miles) ENE of Iquique, Chile (pop 206,000)
200 km (125 miles) SE of Arica, Chile
240 km (150 miles) SSE of Tacna, Peru
1515 km (940 miles) N of SANTIAGO, Chile

For maps, additional information, and subsequent updates,
please consult: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

Flinn-Engdahl Region Number = 123

For the most significant earthquakes, information may also be
available from the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program home page at
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ and the USGS home page at
http://www.usgs.gov/ .

[undeterred]

26. Powerful earthquake shakes northern chile

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 shook the northern mining region of Chile late on Monday, causing power cuts and driving residents from their homes in the heavily populated city of Iquique.

There were no immediate reports of casualties although authorities said the region suffered power cuts and telephone communication was down in the area. "We are evaluating the situation minute to minute," one official from Chile's national emergency center ONEMI told Reuters.

Local television reported that the cities of Iquique and Arica were the most affected by the quake, also felt in Peru and Bolivia. The U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site that the quake measured 7.9, meaning it was capable of widespread and heavy damage.

Local oceanography experts said the earthquake did not pose any threat of a tsunami as its epicenter was in the mountains, and not in ocean.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8778414

[Chauga]

27. already posted

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1546344&mesg_id=1546344

[malaise]

28. There was a 5.1

in Clarendon, Jamaica at 10.58pm last night. A few homes were damaged.

[maddezmom]

30. AP: Earthquake Kills Eight in Northern Chile

~snip~
It struck Monday evening and was centered in an unpopulated Andean area, about 940 miles north of Santiago, Chile's capital.

Interior Minister Jorge Correa said a boulder fell on a car near Chile's northern port city of Iquique, killing all five passengers — three adults and two children. The other victims were three elderly men killed in two different Andean villages. One of the victims was a disabled 80-year-old man killed when a wall collapsed at his home.

Correa said several people were injured but did not provide a number or other details. In addition, several homes and roads were damaged. He said there could be more victims in some isolated communities, but added no details were immediately available because of poor communications.

The quake was also felt in several cities in neighboring Peru and Bolivia, but no victims or major damage were reported in either country.

~snip~
more: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050614/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/chile_quake_10