Dangerous shallow earthquake below the Northern Chile coast
Last update: December 7, 2011 at 11:43 pm by By Armand Vervaeck and James Daniell
Earthquake overview : The (extremely) shallow earthquake (USGS data) occurred along the northern Chile coast. Only a few villages are located in the direct epicenter area and are at risk during this earthquake. Locations like Huasco, Copiapo and Caldera will have felt the shaking. The difference in epicenter location and hypocenter leads to a theoretical difference in intensity from max. V (Chile) to VIII (USGS)
Thanks to Carlos Robles who joined us in searching information
Update 23:31 UTC : Current ONEMI report : No se reportan daños a personas, alteración a servicios básicos o infraestructura producto de este sismo = No injured people reported so far. NO disruption to basic services or infrastructure.
Shaking map Atacama December 7, 2011 earthquake – image courtesy USGS
Update : The Chilean Armyresponsible for Tsunami alerting reports :
LAS CARACTERÍSTICAS DEL SISMONO REÚNEN LAS CONDICIONES NECESARIAS PARA GENERAR UN TSUNAMI EN LAS COSTAS DE CHILE.
Update : the earthquake is NOT powerful enough to generate a tsunami of the Chilean University was right with his location of the epicenter.
Update : A strong earthquake of 6.1 grades affected some localities on the north of Chile and caused panic among the inhabitants. The local newspapers informed that a lot ofpeople where in the shopping malls and escaped asap to open places, thinking that it was a stronger earthquake.
Update : GDACS is giving population density numbers based upon the USGS epicenter (which we doubt is the right one). GDACS is reporting the following population numbers : 240 people are living within a radius of 5 km from the epicenter, 508 within 10 km, 2026 within 20 km and 10,484 people within 50 km.
Update : The difference in epicenter location is that USGS is reporting very extreme intensity numbers :
331 people would have experienced a VIII MMI severe shaking, 925 people a very strong shaking, 4,000 people a strong shaking, 207,000 people a moderate shaking and 74,000 people a light shaking.
Update : ONEMI Chile (one of the best emergency information services in the world) has reported the following MMI values :
Región: Atacama
Caldera: V
Chañaral: III
Copiapó: V
Diego de Almagro: II
Huasco: V
Los Loros: V
Tierra Amarilla: V
Región: Coquimbo
Coquimbo: III
La Higuera: III
La Serena: III
Vicuña: IV
Región: Valparaíso
Villa Alemana : III
Epicenter following the Chilean Universidad de Chile – Image courtesy Universidad de Chile
Update : the main reason why we have started this in-depth article was the fact that USGS reported the epicenter below land and close to a village. The University of Chile did report the epicenter in the ocean(approx. 30 km in the Pacific Ocean). The exact location of the epicenter is extremely important in labeling the earthquake as dangerous or not dangerous. If the Chilean data are correct, the biggest risk will be gone.
Update : Universidad de Chile is reporting a magnitude of 5.8 at a depth of 24.4 km (a lot better than the initial 5 km reported by USGS)
Update : Max. intensity value is V MMI (Onemi Chile)
Update : ONEMI Chile is calling the earthquake “Mediana Intensidad“, a very good sign.
Update : The epicenter (if confirmed) is below a very sparsely populated area (USGS data)
for more and updates, go to: http://earthquake-report.com/2011/12/07/dangerous-shallow-earthquake-below-the-northern-chile-coast/