Massive Earthquake hits Chile - 8.8

Parent Cafe
21

<p>Listening to Hilo radio station as tsunami comes in. JUst had a large surge come through–propbably around 5 feet. They have people from all over the islands calling in. Nothing too serious yet.</p>

22

<p>"To put things in perspective, they say that this earthquake was 900X more intense than the one in Haiti. My mind just doesn’t wrap around that. "</p>

<p>That probably is not correct. If Haiti was 7 and this is 8.8 it would be between 75 - 90 times. Richter scale is a log scale. If Haiti was 7, then 8 would be 10 times more and 9 would be 100 times more. 10 would be 1,000 times more.</p>

23

<p>^ I think that is accurate.
( I took geology- but it was history of the earth- about prehistoric periods and sedimentary layers :wink: )
This is more my speed.
[Reading</a> the Richter Scale | Scholastic.com](<a href=“http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4892]Reading”>http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4892)</p>

24

<p>Notre Dame posted on Facebook that all ND students and staff in Chile are o.k…
This is very popular location for study abroad…</p>

25

<p>actually it is about 63 times more powerful than Haiti.</p>

26

<p>CNN reports that HI tsunami warning has been cancelled.</p>

27

<p>Just minor tidal surges in Hawaii and some beach erosion and minor tidal surge in Ventura County, CA.</p>

28

<p>

</p>

<p>Actually not, according to a Purdue geophysicist who is studying the Haiti earthquake. It is 900X in terms of energy released at the epicenter.</p>

<p>[The</a> Associated Press: Chile was ready for quake, Haiti wasn’t](<a href=“http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hqWSYEtLLH1GAXBH2GV-HsR3rBdAD9E4Q6OG1]The”>http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hqWSYEtLLH1GAXBH2GV-HsR3rBdAD9E4Q6OG1)</p>

29

<p>

</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Ok, you guys are making my head spin. In fact, it just did a 360.</p>

30

<p>^^ And I heard on the radio that it was 500X stronger than the Haiti earthquake. At any rate, it was big!</p>

31

<p>Heard from exchange student in Santiago - all is okay. He said it was a very scary 3 minutes.</p>

32

<p>Fortunately, Chile has strict building codes, so while the quake was stronger, it was deeper, and the buildings stronger than the ones in Haiti.</p>

33

<p>what is going on in our world ?</p>

34

<p>

</p>

<p>The assumption here is that the base of the richter scale is 10. From what I’ve heard in the past, it’s more like 30. That would suggest something closer to 900x. I would imagine the 900x figure is just a lazy approximation for a 2 point difference.</p>

<p>(Just checked and the base 10 is for amplitude; the energy is about 31.6x for each point)</p>

35

<p>I am a bit concerned about my boss, who is in Buenos Aires right now. Sounds like they evacuated some buildings there, but I don’t see any reports of real damage. I did read that there was a 6.8 afterschock in Argentina, though. I am guessing that her plans to vacation in Chile next week after finishing work in BA won’t happen…</p>

<p>I did find this link sent by my niece in New Zealand pretty funny:</p>

<p>[Tsunami</a> cancels nude photo shoot - national | Stuff.co.nz](<a href=“Tsunami cancels nude photo shoot | Stuff.co.nz”>Tsunami cancels nude photo shoot | Stuff.co.nz)</p>

36

<p>ABC News reported last that the earthquake in northern Argentina last night was fairly significant as well.</p>