Chile 2010 Earthquake Flashcards
Chile background informaion
- Population: 17.17 million (2011)
- Population density: 22.7 per km² (2011)
- Developing/Emerging High income economy: HDI of 0.805 ranking 44/187 (2011) Life expectancy of 79.11 years (2011) GDP per capita of $11,764 (2011)
Date, Time and Location
Date: February 27th 2010
Time: 3:34 AM (local time)
Epicentre: 115km North-East of Concepcion 325km South-West of Santiago
Earthquake information
Plates: Subduction of Nazca plate under South American plate
Magnitude: 8.8 (Richter scale)
Duration: 3 minutes with aftershocks that occurred until March 5th
Social impacts
521 killed
12,000 injured
4013 schools damaged or destroyed
79 hospitals damaged or destroyed
Economic impacts
1.5 million homes damaged or destroyed
Estimated cost of damage: $20 billion
Santiago and Concepcion airports closed - This cost Latin American Airlines $25 million
Buildings near Bio Bio river sank and toppled as a result of liquefaction
Tsuani struck California and Hawaii resulting in damages of $100 million and $31 million respectively
Governance
400 lorries delivered 16,000 tonnes of aid to worst affceted areas.
Within 4 days, electricity and water had been restored to 90% of homes.
12 emergency housing areas set up.
Pacific Tidal warning Warning centre issued a Tsunami warning immediately.
Government made agreements with supermarkets to provide basic food supplies.
Concrete reinforcement columns implemented following 1960 Valdivia earthquake.
Summary
Higher quality governance due to greater level of development in addition to a much lower population density and knowledge of how to respond due to recency of the Valdivia earthquake resulted in less severe impacts as those seen in Haiti despite the much higher magnitude of the event.
