The Valdivia earthquake in Chile. May 22, 1960.
By marguicha
@marguicha (223338)
Chile
May 22, 2020 6:09pm CST
Exactly 60 years ago, in a day like today, there was an earthquake with an epicenter in Valdivia, Chile. Up to now, it has been the biggest recorded,
It had a magnitude of 9.5 Richter and liberated energy equivalent to 20.000 Hiroshima bombs.
Now, after 60 years, you can go to places where geography was changed forever. There are trees in the middle of the Calle-Calle river that used to be at the shore. And half of a coastal town near Valdivia lies now under the water.
We are weird as a species. People are still living there and a new beautiful city flourished.
7 people like this
8 responses
@Deepizzaguy (103100)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
23 May 20
I did not know that this was the 60th anniversary of the Valdivia earthquake. What I have learned about natural disasters is that the cities do rebuild and are looking better than ever after the rebuilding procedure.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223338)
• Chile
23 May 20
In Valdivia, around the beautiful new city, you can still see rests of the old one in some places because the earth sunk and the sea took over.
2 people like this
@marguicha (223338)
• Chile
23 May 20
@Deepizzaguy I was 15 years old when that happened. And I remember that many girls from Valdivia came to go on studying to my school.
1 person likes this
@Deepizzaguy (103100)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
23 May 20
@marguicha The reason I did not that for a fact is because I was not born until 14 months later..
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
23 May 20
Nature is very good at reshaping landscapes, what once was could suddenly change at a blink of an eye.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
23 May 20
@marguicha I had seen how Pinatubo changed the landscape of a province here. If people build on top of something for sometime and forget what's under it, it sometimes makes me wonder what probably is under us right now
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223338)
• Chile
23 May 20
@louievill I sometimes wonder where could we live "safe" There are earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, you name it.
1 person likes this
@xFiacre (13050)
• Ireland
23 May 20
@marguicha It baffles me that people persist to build in areas where it is likely that there'll be an earthquake.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223338)
• Chile
23 May 20
It seems that our planet has a lot of problems everywhere. And out population keeps growing so we have to live everywhere.
@marguicha (223338)
• Chile
23 May 20
@xFiacre I´m sorry. That must have been very scary. My aunt had an old house that had an adobe front. She had fortunately made an addition in the back. All the front fell during the February, 2020 earthquake.
1 person likes this
@xFiacre (13050)
• Ireland
23 May 20
@marguicha Part of our house fell off in an earthquake when we lived in Africa along the Rift Valley fault.
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@marguicha (223338)
• Chile
23 May 20
I live very far from Valdivia, but that earthquake was felt in Santiago as a mayor earthquake.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223338)
• Chile
23 May 20
@JudyEv I was just reading about another big earthquake we had (2010) and it was heard in Brazil.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (340511)
• Rockingham, Australia
23 May 20
@marguicha The effects are far-reaching sometimes.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (179153)
• United States
23 May 20
9.5 is a mammoth earthquake! That's horrible.
1 person likes this
@Nakitakona (56486)
• Philippines
23 May 20
There's no more remnants of the disastrous earthquake. Is it?
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223338)
• Chile
23 May 20
There are always remnants. And a couple of years ago I saw a town that had been completely destroyed by the 2010 earthquake (the 7th biggest in the world). Nobody cared or could build it again. They did not have the means.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223338)
• Chile
25 May 20
@Nakitakona The government offered some help. I have known people that used it and have a house. But there are some people who want only to have gifts and will not work for anything. The small town (few houses) had houses made of adobe maybe over 200 years ago. Nobody ever tried to do anything better although they had the land.
1 person likes this
@Nakitakona (56486)
• Philippines
25 May 20
@marguicha That means the government didn't mind it.
1 person likes this
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
23 May 20
It also sent s tsunami across the Pacific that killed people in Hawaii and Japan.
I think Chile and Japan are pretty equal in numbers of daily earthquakes and also risk. I also think we are weird for continuing to build in guaranteed risk zones, but the flip side is that those are often the places that are easiest to live, most fruitful, etc. because of availability of water, natural resources and land structure. Fortunately humans are learning to build earthquake-resistant structures in those areas, but many haven't fixed their old structures yet-- Italy for example.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223338)
• Chile
23 May 20
We now have less problems when there is an earthquake. I remember that I was a mylot member when we had the February 2010 earthquake. Some friends asked me how could they help us. At that time Haiti had had a lesser earthquake. I told them to help Haiti. In fact, they still have problems due to their earthquake. We can manage.
@marguicha (223338)
• Chile
23 May 20
We have small, medium and big quakes every day.
1 person likes this
