Chile Earthquake 1960

The Chile earthquake 1960

Facts

• It was the biggest earthquake to ever be recorded.
• It scored a massive 9.5 on the Richter scale.
• It occurred on the 22nd of May 1960 at 2:11pm local time.
• Its epicenter was 60 metres down below the ocean floor about 100 miles away from Chile out in the Pacific.
  
• The most affected city was Valdivia.
• 1655 people died.
  
• 3000 people were seriously injured.
• 2000000 people were homeless.
• $75 million damage in Hawaii.
• 138 people died and $50 million damage in Japan.
• 32 people went missing and died in the Philippines
  
• $500000 worth of damage to the west coast of the United States

What caused the earthquake?

The outer layer of the earth (the crust) got stressed which caused the plates to be pushed slightly. This motion made rocks slip and collide against each other which released energy. This energy suddenly travelled in seismic waves through the earth's crust which caused the earthquake.

The following tsunamis

As a result of the earthquake, tsunamis occurred and affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, southeast Australia and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. (All those places were greatly affected from just one earthquake).They severely battered the coast of Chile, with waves up to 25 metres high (That's a wave which is as high as a swimming pool turned on its side!) .The main tsunami raced across the pacific ocean and devastated Hilo in Hawaii.

Deaths

Many people died in the 1960 Chilean earthquake and thousands were injured. Most people died in the earthquake because when the seismic waves hit their town, most of the buildings collapsed and fell in on people which left them no time to escape so most people, unfortunately could not survive and either died with the shock were stuck in the rubble for too long which caused hunger, pain, suffocation and therefore death.

Effects

Effects

The earthquake and following tsunamis affected people in many ways.

• People lost their family and friends
• People became homeless
• People were starving
• people were trapped under the rubble
• People were struggling to breath with all the dust
• Buildings were being destroyed
  
• People were drowning
• Boats were being tipped over
• Everyone was worried and had nowhere safe to go
  

Preventing future damage

Since 1960 scientists and researchers have tried to predict when earthquakes are going to happen. Although they have learnt a lot about them they can still only tell an earthquake is coming a few minutes before it comes and destroys the cities. This needs to improve if we are going to know when to evacuate the area so nobody is killed or injured. Technology has greatly improved since then and now scientists can tell where an earthquake could happen from where the plate boundaries are and hopefully in the future they will be able to see just WHEN one will occur.

Earthquake proof buildings

Because it is so hard to detect when an earthquake is coming, scientists have made earthquake proof buildings.

These are flexible, so that the side to side movement of an earthquake doesn't affect the buildings foundations.

They are made of lighter materials, so if they do fall it will cause as little damage as possible.

They have reinforced walls so they can sway equally in both directions, wherever the earthquake tries to take them.

They have foundational cushions to absorb the shock of a quake.

Surprisingly, soil changes how bad the damage is, softer soils contain more moisture which amplifies the earthquakes movement motions so more damage happens. So, foundations are built on drier soil to be safer.

Unfortunately, not many of these buildings have been built due to high costs. But the future is bright, with more constructing materials emerging we will hopefully be seeing lots of these buildings which can resist earthquakes, especially in high risk areas.

We may not be able to stop earthquakes but at least we can prevent damage and keep as many people safe as possible.