Earthquakes are disasters that change the face of our planet. In human history, they have repeatedly destroyed cities and killed tens of thousands of people. Perhaps the most powerful earthquake in the world occurred in 1556 in China. Scientists debate the magnitude of this distant event. The earthquake claimed the lives of 830 thousand people, and some areas of the country were depopulated.

Seismic activity has been monitored since the 1900s. The most powerful earthquake during this period occurred in South America. The Great Chilean Earthquake occurred on May 22, 1960. Its epicenter was the outskirts of the city of Valdivia in southern Chile. As it turned out later, the magnitude of the earthquake was 9.5 on the Richter scale. It began at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America.

The tremors left about 2 million Chileans homeless. Many survived because the disaster happened during the day. The main shock was preceded by several strong foreshocks that forced many Chileans to flee their homes and workplaces. People managed to be evacuated to flat areas.

The disaster resulted in the death of many people and the destruction of cities along the coast of Chile. Concepción, the industrial center of the country, and the city of Ancud on the island of Chiloe were destroyed. The town of Castro on the same island also suffered damage, but after 1960 it became the new center of Chiloe.

Valdivia and Puerto Montt were seriously damaged. Many villages and small towns were destroyed. The earthquake provoked changes in the country's landscape. There were severe landslides in the mountains. Falls of rocks and landslides led to the formation of a new reservoir near Lake Rignihue. Surface subsidence and changes in the coastline occurred. The earthquake was followed by eruptions of the Chilean volcanoes San Pedro and Puehue. This happened far from populated areas, so it did not cause much damage.

Tsunami

The earthquake set off tsunami waves. They hit the coastal areas of Chile 10 - 15 minutes after the tremors. The waves that flooded the coast of the South American country reached 25 meters in height. The water tore buildings from their foundations and killed thousands of people.

The island of Chiloe was hit harder by the tsunami. Some of its residents, fleeing the tremors, went to sea in boats. They found themselves facing the ocean waves in small boats 500 meters from the shore.

Researchers estimate that the disaster killed up to 6,000 people. Most of them were victims of the tsunami, while the buildings were destroyed mainly by tremors. According to the country's government, 2 million Chileans have lost their homes. 130 thousand houses were destroyed - every third house in the disaster zone. The material damage was estimated by state authorities at more than one and a half million US dollars.

The Valdivia earthquake became famous because its aftermath killed people far from the epicenter. The tsunami waves traveled across the ocean at a speed of about 310 kilometers per hour. Fifteen hours later they hit the Hawaiian Islands and destroyed individual buildings there.

After 12 noon on May 23, 1960, eight waves hit the Hawaiian city of Hilo. The first two caused no damage, and their water quickly subsided. But the third wave turned out to be the most destructive, flooding the area 100 meters deep into the island. 61 people died in the city, allegedly due to ignoring tsunami warnings.

On the island of Hawaii, the largest in the archipelago, the western and southern coasts were affected. On the island of Maui, the tsunami most affected its main city of Kahului and a number of nearby settlements. The flood also affected the suburbs of Honolulu, the state capital, where about 50 houses were flooded.

The tsunami affected the cities of the Californian coast of the United States: Pacifica, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Princeton, San Diego and others. One-and-a-half and two-meter waves hit the coasts of Oregon, Washington and Alaska.

Japan was hit harder. The coast of Honshu Island was covered with six-meter waves. 199 people died and 85 were missing. More than 800 residents of Honshu were injured, and the water destroyed 1,678 houses.

The strongest earthquake in the world became a serious test for the inhabitants of Chile. The disaster was followed by rising water in Lake Rignihue. It could lead to flooding of an area where 100 thousand people lived. The actions of the Chilean military to restore control over the reservoir avoided another disaster.

The earthquake in Chile in April 2014, fortunately, cannot be compared with the largest earthquake on record, the Great Chilean earthquake in May 1060, which had a magnitude of 9.5. The 1960 earthquake in Chile claimed the lives of 10 thousand people, the cities of Concepcion, Valdivia, and Puerto Montt were destroyed, and the tsunami that followed the earthquake caused enormous damage not only to Chile, but also to Hawaii.

As you know, on the night of April 1, 2014, a strong earthquake occurred in Chile, causing the death of several people, fires and mass evacuations from dangerous areas, and the threat of a tsunami still remains.

Earlier it was reported that on April 1, around four in the morning Moscow time, a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 8.2 occurred off the coast of Chile. The outbreak was located at a depth of 10 kilometers, the epicenter was off the coast of the province of Tarapaca, 99 kilometers northwest of the city of Iquique.

The natural disaster caused power outages, the collapse of non-earthquake-resistant buildings, and fires. About ten people died, perhaps this figure will increase, there is evidence that there are still victims and bodies of the dead under the rubble.

As a result, an earthquake in the Pacific Ocean generated a tsunami 1.92 m high. At first, seismologists warned that a tsunami threatened all Latin American countries with access to the sea. However, according to the latest data, the threat remains only for the coasts of Chile and Peru. For Chile, the warning will remain in effect until at least 0800 GMT on Wednesday. The authorities of these countries have already announced evacuation from coastal areas.

The April 1 earthquake was the third major one in this earthquake-prone region recently: for example, on March 17, an earthquake of magnitude 6.7 occurred in Chile, and on March 24, a magnitude of 6.1.

And the worst earthquake ever to hit this country occurred on May 21, 1960. It was called the Great Chilean Earthquake and became the strongest in the history of observations. The magnitude of the Great Chilean earthquake was between 9.3 and 9.5.

The epicenter of the earthquake was located near the city of Valdivia (which is why it is sometimes called the Valdivia earthquake) 435 kilometers south of the Chilean capital Santiago. The cities of Concepcion, Valdivia, and Puerto Montt were destroyed. Immediately after the earthquake, the country was hit by a devastating tsunami, the waves of which reached a height of more than ten meters. The number of victims of the tsunami exceeded the number of victims of the earthquake itself; significant damage was caused not only to the Chilean coast, but also to the city of Hilo in Hawaii, approximately 10 thousand kilometers from the epicenter. The tsunami waves then even reached the shores of Japan.

The number of victims was about ten thousand dead, tens of thousands were injured, more than half a million Chileans were left homeless. The damage in 1960 prices was about half a billion dollars.

Strongest ever recorded earthquakes of 9.5 magnitude occurred in Chile May 22, 1960 at about 19.00 local time. It is also called Valdivia because the epicenter was located near the city of Valdivia. The hypocenter is at the junction between the oceanic Nazca plate and the South American continental plate. The cataclysm is caused by the subduction of the 1st plate below the 2nd.

In total, 6,000 people died from the disaster, mostly from the resulting tsunami. More than 3,000 people were wounded, over 200,000 remained homeless. The tsunami waves reached a height of 25 m. They even reached Japan and the Philippines. The damage from the cataclysm was estimated at almost 500 million US dollars. 2 days after the earthquake, the Chilean volcano Puyehue-Cordon Caulle woke up.

It is possible that other volcanoes also came to life, but this was difficult to determine due to disrupted communications.

The great earthquake had its harbingers. A day earlier, tremors were recorded in the Chilean province of Arauco, which led to a loss of communication with areas affected by the disaster. The country's President D. Alessanri canceled the planned festive ceremony at the Battle of Iquique memorial and took charge of the operation to provide assistance to the victims. No sooner had the government started working than the next day the country
It shook again, only much stronger.

The area affected by the 2nd earthquake exceeded 400,000 km2. Some settlements were completely destroyed. In the main port of the state, Coral, the water level in the ocean increased by 4 m.

A tsunami was generated and hit the coastal areas of Chile within 10-15 minutes. after the earthquake. Many ships at the mouth of the Valdivia River sank, being thrown 1.5 km upstream by the wave. Half a kilometer from the ocean coast, everything was flooded, including most of the city of Valdivia. Electrical networks and water supply have been disrupted. Groundwater rushed to the surface. Entire houses floated in the water that spilled over the streets and was brown from bottom sediments. Ironically, residents of the rainiest part of the country suffered from thirst, being left without water supply for a long time. Multiple and large-scale landslides have occurred in the Andes mountain system.

The impact of the tsunami was felt throughout the Pacific region. The waves reached Hawaii 15 hours after the earthquake and caused damage to the port city of Hilo.
The death toll from the disaster in Chile turned out to be much less than it could have been, and some explain this by the fact that most people at the time of the earthquake were in churches, which, according to tradition, were built on a more reliable foundation than residential buildings. In addition, since ancient times, coastal cities have traditionally been founded quite high above sea level, and local residents have become cautious living in such a seismically unstable place.

Scientists foresee that powerful earthquakes should be expected in the region of Southern Chile in the foreseeable future. They occur there with a frequency of approximately once every 50 years, and less destructive ones are observed quite often.

The 1960 Valdivia earthquake or Great Chilean earthquake of May 22, 1960 is the strongest earthquake ever recorded. His strength is rated at 9.5. It occurred in the afternoon (19:11 UTC), and the resulting tsunami hit the southern coast of Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.

The epicenter of the earthquake was located near the Chilean city of Valdivia, approximately 700 kilometers south of Santiago. The local tsunamis it caused, the height of which reached 25 meters, hit the Chilean coast. The major tsunami crossed the Pacific Ocean and devastated Hilo, Hawaii. Waves up to 10.7 meters high were recorded 10,000 kilometers from the epicenter - in Japan and the Philippines.

It is impossible to accurately determine the number of deaths and the extent of material damage caused by a natural disaster of this scale. Various estimates of the total death toll from the earthquake and tsunami are given in a work published by the USGS (United States Geological Survey), citing 2231, 3000, or 5700 deaths; another source estimates the death toll at 6000. The property damage caused ranges from 400 to 800 million. US dollars in 1960 (or from 2.6 to 5.2 billion US dollars in 2005, taking into account inflation).

The Great Chilean Earthquake was preceded by a smaller earthquake in the province of Arauco at 06:02 on May 21, 1960. Communications with southern Chile were cut off, and President George Alessanri was forced to cancel the traditional holiday ceremony at the Battle of Iquique memorial in order to take charge of emergency measures to providing assistance to victims. The government had just begun organizing rescue operations in the affected areas when the second earthquake struck Valdivia at 2:55 p.m. local time on May 22.

Areas affected by the tsunami.

The second earthquake affected the territory of Chile between Talca and the island of Chiloe, an area of ​​more than 400,000 square kilometers. Coastal villages like Tolten simply disappeared. At Coral, Valdivia's main port, sea levels rose 4 meters before they began to recede. At 16:20, an eight-meter wave hit the Chilean coast, mainly between Concepcion and Chiloe. Ten minutes later, reports of another wave 10 meters high were received.

By the time the tsunami hit, reports of hundreds of deaths had already arrived. Vessels such as the Canelo, located at the mouth of the Valdivia River, sank after being thrown 1.5 km back and up the river. Canelo's mast is still visible from the road to Nieblo.

Many forts around Valdivia, built during colonial Spain, were completely destroyed. In addition, the subsidence of the earth's surface has destroyed buildings, deepened local rivers and created swamps in places such as Rio Cruz and Chorocomayo. A significant part of the city was flooded. Valdivia's electrical system and water supply were completely destroyed.

Witnesses reported underground water flowing across the surface. Despite heavy rains on May 21, the city remained without water supply. The water in the river was brown from landslide sediments and was full of floating debris, among which were entire wooden houses. Residents of the rainiest part of Chile suffered from a lack of drinking water.


Valdivia street after the May 22, 1960 earthquake.

Two days after the earthquake, the Cordon Caulle volcano began to erupt. It is possible that other volcanoes also began to erupt, but at that time, due to disrupted communications, no other eruptions were recorded. The relatively low death toll in Chile (estimated at a maximum of 6,000) can be partly explained by the fact that many people were in churches at the time of the earthquake. Churches are usually built on a more secure foundation than most residential buildings. Coastal cities were also located quite high above sea level, following the pre-Hispanic tradition of urban planning.

Earthquake in Chile in 1960.

In May 1960, several very strong and many weak earthquakes occurred on the Pacific coast of South America, in Chile. The strongest of them, measuring 11-12 points (the strongest earthquake in the 20th century according to the scale of the Japanese seismologist Kanamori), was observed on May 22. Its epicenter was in the south of the Arauco Peninsula. Within 1-10 seconds, a huge amount of energy hidden in the bowels of the Earth was consumed. More than half of Chile's provinces were affected, and at least 10 thousand people died. Destruction covered the Pacific coast for more than 1000 km. Large cities were destroyed - Concepcion, which existed for more than 400 years, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Osorno and others. A coastal strip with an area of ​​10 thousand km2 sank after the earthquake below the ocean level and found itself covered by a two-meter layer of water. As a result of the Chilean earthquakes, 14 volcanoes became active.
Between 21 and 30 May 1960, a series of aftershocks killed 5,700 people and left another 100,000 homeless, destroying 20% ​​of the country's industrial complex. The damage caused was estimated at $400 million. In 7 days, almost the entire countryside of the country was reduced to ruins. Multiple strong aftershocks and a giant tsunami devastated more than 100 thousand square kilometers of Andean countryside. Several million Chileans were left homeless.

Giant sea waves that arose off the coast of Chile during the 1960 earthquake reached Hawaii, traveling 11,000 km in approximately 15 hours (speed - 730 km/h). A seaographer at Hilo, Hawaii, recorded alternate rises and falls in water levels at approximately 30-minute intervals. Despite the warning, these waves in Hilo and other places in the Hawaiian Islands killed 60 people and caused $75 million in damage. After another 8 hours, the waves reached Japan, once again destroying the port facilities there; 180 people died. There were also casualties and destruction in the Philippines, in New. Zealand and other parts of the Pacific Rim.

The destruction inflicted on the Pacific coast of Chile was terrible. The cause of destruction was tremors, landslides, and eruptions of awakened volcanoes. But no less terrible was the destruction caused by the giant tsunami waves. In Chile, not many people died from the tsunami waves, with the exception of the villages located at the mouth of the Maulin River. About a thousand people are believed to have drowned there. The tsunami washed away the port of Ancund, the capital of the island of Chiloe off the coast of Chile.

Soon after the powerful shock, which occurred at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, residents of the coastal areas noticed that the sea first swelled and its level rose well above the level of the highest tides, and then suddenly receded, and much further than the lowest low tide level. With cries of horror, “The sea is leaving!” everyone rushed to the hills. The wave rushed further across the expanses of the Pacific Ocean. Her next victim was Easter Island. The most majestic building on the island, the ahu Tongariki, is a stone structure made of huge blocks. The wave, which originated 2,000 km from Easter Island, playfully scattered multi-ton stone blocks. Then the tsunami reached the Hawaiian Islands. Here the wave height was about 10 meters and the destruction was terrible. Residential buildings, administrative buildings, and cars were washed away or destroyed. The tsunami killed 60 people. Having swept across the entire Pacific Ocean, giant waves hit Japan. Thousands of houses were washed into the sea, hundreds of ships sank or were broken, 120 people became victims of the rampant water elements.
This is how one of the eyewitnesses who survived this disaster describes his impressions: “At first there was a rather strong shock. Then an underground rumble was heard, as if a thunderstorm was raging somewhere in the distance, a rumble similar to the rumble of thunder. Then I again felt the vibrations of the soil. I decided that, as had happened before, everything would soon stop. But the earth continued to shake. Then I stopped and looked at the clock at the same time. Suddenly, the tremors became so strong that I could barely stay on my feet. The tremors continued, their strength continually increased and became more and more violent, I felt scared. I was thrown from side to side, like on a steamboat in a storm. Two cars passing by were forced to stop. To avoid falling, I knelt down and then stood on all fours. The tremors did not stop. I felt even more scared. Very scary... Ten meters from me, a huge eucalyptus tree broke in half with a terrifying crash. All the trees swayed with incredible force, well, how can I tell you, as if they were twigs that were shaking with all their might. The surface of the road swayed like water. I assure you, this was exactly so! And what: the further all this continued, the more terrible it became. The tremors kept getting stronger. It seemed like the earthquake lasted forever.”

Earthquake in Armenia in 1988.

On December 7, 1988, a strong earthquake, one of the strongest in this country, occurred in Armenia, in the southwestern part of the former USSR. The earthquake had a magnitude of about 7 on the Richter scale. The impact of tremors manifested itself on the territory of the Republic of Armenia, which is located on the border of two tectonic plates - the Anatolian, shifting to the south, and the Eurasian, shifting to the north.
Dozens of cities and towns in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia were affected by the earthquake. Armenia was hit the hardest. The city of Spitak (population 16 thousand), located in close proximity to the epicenter of the earthquake, was completely wiped off the face of the earth. The source of the earthquake was located at a depth of up to 20 kilometers from the surface and six kilometers northwest of the city.
More than 80% of the housing stock was destroyed in Leninakan, the second largest city in Armenia with a population of about 250 thousand inhabitants. Half of the development was missing in Kirovakan. The total number of affected villages is 400, of which 58 are heavily destroyed. According to estimates, 25 thousand people died (from other sources - 50 thousand people), more than 17 thousand were injured, 514 (up to 530 according to other estimates) thousand people lost their homes. Along with Spitak and nearby villages, the earthquake damaged buildings in twenty-one cities and towns, and 324 villages. The destruction worsened when the main shock was followed by a series of aftershocks, the strongest of which measured 5.8R. About 2 million Armenians were left homeless and suffering from winter frosts.
The earthquake disabled about forty percent of Armenia's industrial potential. Significant damage was caused to approximately nine million square meters of housing, of which 4.7 million square meters were simply destroyed or subsequently demolished due to the state of disrepair. As a result of the earthquake, general education schools with 210 thousand student places, kindergartens with 42 thousand places, 416 healthcare facilities, two theaters, 14 museums, 391 libraries, 42 cinemas, 349 clubs and cultural centers were destroyed or fell into disrepair. 600 kilometers of roads, 10 kilometers of railways were disabled, and 230 industrial enterprises were completely or partially destroyed.
After the earthquake, in just one month in the area of ​​the epicenter, the seismological service of the Caucasus recorded more than a hundred strong aftershocks. Four minutes after the main shock, a strong aftershock occurred, the vibrations from it superimposed on the seismic waves from the first and apparently intensified the damaging effect of the earthquake.
During the earthquake, a 37-kilometer rupture of the earth's surface occurred, with displacement amplitudes from 80 to 170 centimeters. It was formed on the site of a tectonic fault that already existed here, confirming once again that strong earthquakes in this area have occurred before. Strong earthquakes occurred in Armenia in 1679, 1827, 1840, 1926, 1931. However, despite all this, the territory of the Spitak earthquake at that time was not classified as potentially seismically dangerous.
The first plane of the USSR Ministry of Defense, along with military field surgeons and medicines, almost immediately as it became known about the earthquake, took off from Vnukovo airport in Moscow. In Yerevan, military doctors boarded a helicopter and landed in Leninakan two hours later. We sat down late in the evening and in complete darkness. Not a single light shone below, and it seemed strange, where had the living city gone, where were its houses, streets, squares, public gardens? But there was no electricity in the city, just as there was not a single whole house - instead there were mounds and red tuff, rubble, concrete, brick, glass and the remains of furniture. Screams and groans were heard from all sides. With rare flashlights, men climbed these mounds, shouting the names of their wives and children and looking for their lost relatives. Occasionally in the darkness the headlights of ambulances could be seen picking up the wounded.
A representative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia, who arrived in Spitak in the very first hours of the tragedy, said: “In three days, more than 1,700 alive were pulled out from under the ruins, and over 2,000 people taken out of the ruins can no longer be returned. There is no shortage of labor: they are constantly arriving volunteers from all over the republic and the country. But there is still not enough equipment, especially powerful cranes..."
It’s a sad coincidence that in the minutes when the Spitak earthquake occurred in Ashgabat, which suffered from a devastating earthquake forty years earlier, an all-Union meeting of seismologists was held, dedicated to the anniversary of the Ashgabat disaster when, according to the seismic station in Ashgabat, an earthquake was reported in Armenia. The newly obtained seismograms were laid out right in the meeting room. From them it became clear that this was a disaster and that the destruction was great, and people were now dying under the rubble of buildings in Armenia.
The causes of the tragedy were predetermined in advance - without taking into account the high seismic danger of the area where the cities of Spitak, Gyumri and Kirovakan are located. Houses here were built to withstand much lower seismic impacts. And just as it has already happened almost everywhere - the extremely low quality of buildings built without an accurate assessment of soil conditions for construction sites.



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