Chile Earthquake: The 8.8 Scale Mayhem In Chile, Tsunami Alerts, Latest Updates, Images, Links, Videos

Chile was rocked by a giant 8.8 scale earthquake today at 3:34am local time (6:34am GMT). The minute and a half long earthquake caused much damage in the country and triggered Tsunami upto 7.7 ft (2.34 meter) high. Many countries have been alerted for possible Tsunami damages and Hawaii is preparing a mass evacuation program to protect people from Tsunami. Here is an image showing how the Chilean earthquake's energy is expected to spread through the ocean:

(Image courtesy West Coast And Alaska Tsunami Warning Center)

The death toll in Chile was reported at 82 and the number is fast rising. The epicenter was 70 miles from Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city. Several big aftershocks (as strong as 6.9, 6.2 and 5.6 scales) later hit the country, especially in the south.

Unbelievable pictures can be seen at the Chile Earthquake Blog:

(Image courtesy Yfrog)

For more information please follow these links:

* Chile Earthquake Blog
* Chile Earthquake Wiki
* Google Chile Earthquake Person Finder App
* Pasific Tsunami Warning Center
* The Lede - The New York Times News Blog
* Latercera.com - for minute by minute update
* Astronaut Soichi took a photo of Conception from outer space and uploaded on Twitter:

He wrote:

Concepcion, Chile. Mega earthquake (M8.3) hit this city this morning. Photo taken a few hours ago. We pray for you.

*ALT1040 updates:

# Santiago Airport closed for structural damage to the control tower.
# Smaller villages in the Maule province with up to 80% of their homes to the ground.
# New death toll: 122
# International flights to Santiago de Chile are being diverted to Mendoza and Buenos Aires in Argentina.
# Santiago's main fiber cable has been snapped.
# Big fire on the outskirts of Santiago.
# The next problem is the potential flooding Chile

Here is a link to the Live streaming of local news from Chile:

Broadcasting Live with Ustream.TV

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I swear my chair moved

Earthquake in Indonesia have been so frequent these days that people don't bother. I was sitting in chair and I felt it was moving for a bit. I was deeply concentrated in work and I thought probably my head was spinning. Then the shaking was no more. I asked my family members who did not feel anything probably it was for a brief period - 5 seconds or so. No apparent damages in Jakarta.

And a while after a twitter message came up:

W7VOA: Another quake has just rattled Indonesia -- M6.4 prelim -- probably not big enough to trigger tsunami.

I searched the internet and saw in Detik news that the earthquake happened. USGS Earthquake Hazards Program confirms:

Magnitude	6.5
Date-Time	Friday, October 16, 2009 at 09:52:52 UTC Friday, October 16, 2009 at 04:52:52 PM at epicenter
Location	6.692°S, 105.153°E
Depth	55.6 km (34.5 miles)
Region	SUNDA STRAIT, INDONESIA
Distances	135 km (85 miles) S of T.-Telukbetung, Sumatra, Indonesia 185 km (115 miles) WSW of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia 185 km (115 miles) W of Sukabumi, Java, Indonesia 270 km (165 miles) W of Bandung, Java, Indonesia
Location Uncertainty	horizontal +/- 12.3 km (7.6 miles); depth +/- 17.5 km (10.9 miles)
Parameters	NST= 33, Nph= 33, Dmin=350.5 km, Rmss=1.41 sec, Gp= 76°, M-type=teleseismic moment magnitude (Mw), Version=7
Source	USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID	us2009mva4

More Twitter messages:

RT @BrettMcGuire: 5 seconds in Pondok Indah. Hanging plants are still swinging #Jakarta #earthquake

I am amazed that because of Twitter I could confirm the news within 10 minutes.

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Indonesia's miseries continue

Another earthquake in Sumatra Islands in Indonesia following yesterday's deadly one brought more miseries to Indonesians.

A second earthquake was recorded shortly before noon (AEST) today in Padang, Indonesia. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck 150 km south of the epicenter of last night’s quake. (source)

Wednesday afternoon's 7.6-magnitude quake toppled buildings and led to fires in Padang, home to nearly 1 million people on the coast of Sumatra, leaving the city largely without power and communications.

United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes said 1,100 people had been confirmed dead and warned that the toll was likely to worsen. Earlier, Indonesia's social affairs ministry said at least 770 people were dead and 2,400 injured, 300 seriously.(source)

Many organizations have already started rescue efforts. One notable initiative is by Air Asia:

In order to help the brethren in Padang in overcoming this disaster, PT Indonesia AirAsia will provide relief flights from Jakarta to Padang and Padang-Jakarta on Sunday, 04 Oktober, 2009. Chairs will be provided free of charge for the flights with Boeing 737-300. Free seats can be booked only through www.airasia.com started 02 Oktober, 2009 from 08.00 am. In Padang, prospective passengers can be booked directly at Minangkabau International Airport. PT Indonesia AirAsia will also allocate cargo space with a capacity of 1.5 tons for delivery the help of medication, food and other goods needed to help the brethren in Padang.

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Tsunami in Samoa Islands - Eyewitness Video

Scores dead, villages flattened in devastating Samoan tsunami - "At least 111 people are confirmed killed in Samoa, neighboring American Samoa and Tonga. But officials in the Polynesia region have expressed fears the toll will rise.

Related: How Earthquakes and Tsunamis Can Happen

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Tsunami Warning in Indonesia

Image by thomaswanhoff via Flickr

Update: The Tsunami warning has been lifted. But there are more bad news. The 7.6 magnitude Sumatra earthquake may have killed more than 1,000 as per latest reports.


The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center raised a Tsunami warning a while ago as a 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit the Southern Sumatra Island in Indonesia. The predictions are as follows:

EARTHQUAKES OF THIS SIZE HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE A DESTRUCTIVE LOCAL TSUNAMI AND SOMETIMES A DESTRUCTIVE REGIONAL TSUNAMI ALONG COASTS LOCATED USUALLY NO MORE THAN A THOUSAND KILOMETERS FROM THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER.


ESTIMATED INITIAL TSUNAMI WAVE ARRIVAL TIMES AT FORECAST POINTS WITHIN THE WARNING AND WATCH AREAS ARE GIVEN BELOW. ACTUAL ARRIVAL TIMES MAY DIFFER AND THE INITIAL WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST. A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE TIME BETWEEN
SUCCESSIVE WAVES CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO ONE HOUR.

LOCATION FORECAST POINT COORDINATES ARRIVAL TIME
-------------------------------- ------------ ------------
INDONESIA PADANG 0.9S 100.1E 1022Z 30 SEP
SIBERUT 1.5S 98.7E 1103Z 30 SEP
BENGKULU 3.9S 102.0E 1125Z 30 SEP
SIMEULUE 2.5N 96.0E 1136Z 30 SEP
BANDA ACEH 5.5N 95.1E 1227Z 30 SEP
BANDAR LAMPUNG 5.7S 105.3E 1251Z 30 SEP
BELAWAN 3.8N 98.8E 1531Z 30 SEP
INDIA GREAT NICOBAR 7.1N 93.6E 1236Z 30 SEP
THAILAND PHUKET 8.0N 98.2E 1400Z 30 SEP
KO PHRA THONG 9.1N 98.2E 1444Z 30 SEP
KO TARUTAO 6.6N 99.6E 1512Z 30 SEP
MALAYSIA GEORGETOWN 5.4N 100.1E 1546Z 30 SEP
PORT DICKSON 2.5N 101.7E 1918Z 30 SEP

Yesterday's Tsunami in Samoa Island caused much famage.

I feel one of these days a big natural disaster is going to happen.

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