Earthquake In Chile

In the west coast of Chile, near Santiago, a major earthquake occurred of magnitude 7.1. There was a fear of tsunami along the Pacific coast, but later, studies revealed that there is no tension of tsunami.
The epicenter of the quake:
· 85 miles from Santiago
· 22 miles from Valparaiso
· 6.2 miles below the sea
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The quake lasted for a concise time but had great intensity. All the people ran hither and thither, and a rumor spread that all the people must run to the hills to escape from tsunami but later the officials termed the rumors as baseless. The Pacific warning center and Chilean navy said that the earthquake could not lead to dangerous seismic waves. The maximum height of the tsunami wave could be 15 cm.

There was no damage to the structures in Valparaiso, but the mobile networks and phone connections were down. There were a few landslides but were not serious. An earthquake of this intensity is pretty severe but this quake didn’t cause any damage because it occurred offshore. Magnitudes of earthquakes 5 and 5.4 were recorded in the same region as aftershocks. More tremors were felt in Santiago.

Chile is located on the Pacific ring of fire and has a history of high magnitude earthquakes. People living in this region are always under alert as even a small tremor could cause immense loss of lives and properties.

Earthquakes occur due to the movement of tectonic plates in the earth. The faulty or weak zones are those where more earthquakes are caused. There was an indication of rupture along the subduction megathrust fault. The quake was felt in the neighboring regions of Argentina too. Valparaiso was jolted but remained unaffected; evacuation was canceled as there was no possibility of a tsunami. The initial magnitude was 6.7, and later it was modified to 7.1.