Chile Tsunami, 27 February 2010

Chile earthquake epicenter. 

Shows where the earthquake that 

started the tsunami started at.

(RC, 2011)

    On February 27, 2010 at 3:34 am local time Chile was hit with a M8.8 earthquake, and the earthquake created a tsunami with a wave height of up to 29 meters tall. (Fukuji) The epicenter of the earthquake was located 200 miles from the Chilean capital of Santiago. (Rafferty et al, 2022)

    Eye witnesses stated that in some places the tsunami reached the shores within 12 min after the felt earthquake. (SMS Tsunami) The tsunami did moderate damage in some areas and higher damage in others. Some towns that got hit by the main force of the tsunami had a lot of damage due to the fact that if it was a poorer city that did not have the proper infrastructure to be able to withstand the water; then the town would have very high damage. Some towns were better built and saw less damage overall to the town. They estimated that about 9% of the population in the regions that were affected lost their homes, and the total damage cost of the tsunami and the earthquake was estimated to be around $30 billion dollars. (American Red Cross, 2011) The total death toll for the earthquake and the tsunami was at 525 people and 25 people were missing but presumed dead, and out of the 550, 124 died as a direct result of the tsunami. (SMS Tsunami) The tsunami wave reached across the pacific in places like, "Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia), New Zealand, the Kuril Islands (Russia), and in the United States in California and Hawaii, and caused minor damage in San Diego, California and in Japan." (NOAA, 2022)

After math of the tsunami and this shows
how far up it was flooded, and how much it
moved the boats at the harbor. (Raedle, 2011) 

    One reason many people died was due to the fact of the time of day the tsunami hit. Since it was at 3:34 am it made it more difficult because of it being dark and the panic of everything may have escalated. With that it was reported that one of the main concerns was the lack of education of tsunamis not for the people living there but of the tourists that were in campgrounds nearby, and 45 people died because they were camping at the mouth of a river that had no evacuation plan for that area. (Fukuji) The people living in the areas that were affected felt like they were prepared as they ever could have been because they were educated on what to do and the police and fire responders were well trained and assisted in warning and evacuation of the cities. (Fukuji) A important action that was shortly dealt with in the years after was the 8 important figures in oceanic services and heads of emergency offices got charged with negligence charges because they ignored the early warnings and failed to notify coastal regions about the coming danger. Now they have new rules that mandate training and proper methods on how to warn places. (Rafferty et al, 2022) Other things that could have helped would have been to have replaced buildings that were not up to code for the tsunami and the earthquake that could have helped more people have a place to be safe in the future.

This picture shows the damage that was caused by
the tsunami in Chile. (Boston, 2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBgGsmKXD-k

This video shows the tsunami wave that originated in Chile and how it moved across the pacific ocean. It also shows what the wave height was when it hit different locations throughout the pacific. 

American Red Cross Multi-Disciplinary Team, 2011, “Report on the 2010 Chilean earthquake and tsunami response.” U.S. Geological Survey, v. 1.1, 68 p., https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1053/. Accessed 27 October 2022.

Fukuji, Tammy. “ 27 February 2010, MW 8.8, Off Central Chile.” International Tsunami Information Center, http://itic.ioc-unesco.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1667&catid=1444&Itemid=1444. Accessed 27 October, 2022.

NOAA, “Tsunami Historical Series: Chile - 2010.” Science On a Sphere, 24 Aug. 2022, https://sos.noaa.gov/catalog/datasets/tsunami-historical-series-chile-2010/. Accessed 27 October 2022.

Rafferty, John P. and Pallardy, Richard. "Chile earthquake of 2010". Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Feb. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/event/Chile-earthquake-of-2010. Accessed 27 October 2022.

RC, Javier. “Chile Earthquake epicenter.” Economy to Improve Quality of Life, 1 Mar. 2010, https://collabmarket.org/2010/03/01/informacion-terremoto-chile-feb-2010/ Accessed 27 October 2022.

Raedle, Joe. “Talcahuano, Chile: earthquake”, Encyclopædia Britannica, March 11, 2011,https://www.britannica.com/place/Maule#/media/1/1669019/261063 Accessed 27 October 2022.

SMS Tsunami. “Maule, 2010 Chile Earthquake and Tsunami.” SMS Tsunami Warning, https://www.sms-tsunami-warning.com/pages/tsunami-chile-2010#.Y1rPDXbMK3B. Accessed 27 October 2022.

The Boston Globe. “Earthquake in Chile.” Boston.com, , 27 Feb. 2010, http://archive.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/02/earthquake_in_chile.html. Accessed 27 October 2022.