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Red Tsunami and Earthquake alert in Chile

 

Generated on 9/3/2010 2:02:09 PM

Red Earthquake and Tsunami Alert in Chile

Summary

On 2/27/2010 6:34:14 AM UTC an earthquake of magnitude 8.8 and depth 35km has struck an moderately populated area in the Bio-Bio Province (population: 1.7 million) in Chile. GDACS estimates the likelihood for need of international humanitarian intervention to be high (Red alert).

It is likely that a tsunami was generated. The maximum tsunami wave height near the coast of Tres Esquinas will be 7.41m. Please refer to the GDACS tsunami report for more details.

This earthquake can have a high humanitarian impact since the affected region is moderately populated and has high resilience for natural disasters.

The earthquake 113km from the city of Concepci˘n. The nearest populated places are Pullay (19km), Quile (19km), Ramadillas (18km), Canelillos (15km), Trogualemo (12km), Molinos (11km), Las Quilas (16km), Chevelle (6km), Curanipe (8km), Las Lomas (14km), Infiernillo (17km). It is a hilly region with a maximum altitude of 796 m.

Humanitarian Impact impact 
Population resilience vul 
Tsunami probability tsunami 
Landslide probability slope 
Nuclear radiation probability radiation 

Caution: this information is based on risk models. Whether international humanitarian aid is needed must be decided by an expert.

This report was automatically updated by a computer on: 2/27/2010 7:57:38 AM UTC (1 hour 23 minutes after the event)

Downloads: Word report, PDF report

Explanation of alert calculation: Show

Tsunami wave height

tsunamimap
Google map Population map
poplegendPopulation Density near epicenter (people/km2). Image area: 6x4 decimal degrees (approx. 650x450km2).
population map

Earthquake epicentre: best estimate eq_logo    previous estimates: eq_icon

Earthquake Event

Geological map
geological map

Characteristics for this report

Information source World Data Centre for Seismology, Denver (NEIC)
Link to source event report (us2010tfan)
PAGER report (2010tfan)
Magnitude 8.8 M
Depth 35 km
Location

Geographic coordinates (latitude/longitude): -35.8464, -72.7189
Chile , Bio-Bio Province (population: 1789433).
Seismic region: Offshore Maule.

The earthquake happened in Chile , Bio-Bio Province (population: 1789433). , 113km from the city of Concepci˘n. The nearest populated places are Pullay (19km), Quile (19km), Ramadillas (18km), Canelillos (15km), Trogualemo (12km), Molinos (11km), Las Quilas (16km), Chevelle (6km), Curanipe (8km), Las Lomas (14km), Infiernillo (17km).

It is a hilly region with a maximum altitude of 796 m.

Time time 2/27/2010 6:34:14 AM (UTC, Universal Standard Time)
2/27/2010 1:43:21 AM (Estimated local solar time)
Sat, 2/27/2010 07:34 CET (Brussels, Paris, Rome)
Sat, 2/27/2010 01:34 EST (New York, Washington)
Fri, 2/26/2010 22:34 PST (San Francisco, Los Angeles)
Sat, 2/27/2010 14:34 AWST (Australian Western Standard Time)

Previous reports for this earthquake.

Earthquake reportTsunami reportEvent Date/TimeLat/LonMagnitudeDepth (km)SourcePublication Date/TimeDelay
788091850 (Max. wave at coast: 3.38m) Max. wave at coast: 3.38m2/27/2010 6:34:13 AM UTC-36.1, -72.68.555NOAA (at00725245)2/27/2010 6:57:37 AM UTC23min
788101852 (Max. wave at coast: 0.05m) Max. wave at coast: 0.05m2/27/2010 6:34:14 AM UTC-36.27, -72.926.860EMSC2/27/2010 6:57:38 AM UTC23min
788131857 (Max. wave at coast: 1.07m) Max. wave at coast: 1.07m2/27/2010 6:34:11 AM UTC-36.04, -72.93710EMSC2/27/2010 7:07:44 AM UTC33min
788151855 (Max. wave at coast: 0.7m) Max. wave at coast: 0.7m2/27/2010 6:34:17 AM UTC-35.8263, -72.66868.359.4NEIC (us2010tfan)2/27/2010 7:17:25 AM UTC43min
788171858 (Max. wave at coast: 1.4m) Max. wave at coast: 1.4m2/27/2010 6:34:16 AM UTC-35.89, -72.788.30EMSC2/27/2010 7:29:17 AM UTC55min
788211860 (Max. wave at coast: 7.41m) Max. wave at coast: 7.41m2/27/2010 6:34:14 AM UTC-35.8464, -72.71898.835NEIC (us2010tfan)2/27/2010 7:57:38 AM UTC83min
788351867 (Max. wave at coast: 8.65m) Max. wave at coast: 8.65m2/27/2010 6:34:14 AM UTC-35.89, -73.048.80EMSC2/27/2010 8:58:30 AM UTC144min
805241860 (Max. wave at coast: 7.41m) Max. wave at coast: 7.41m2/27/2010 6:34:14 AM UTC-35.9089, -72.73278.835NEIC (us2010tfan)3/5/2010 10:05:58 AM UTC8851min

Earthquake Impact Details

shakemap

Potentially affected People

The population in the area of this earthquake if 9 people/km˛. (Data source).

The earthquake occurred at 1h local time. At this time a day, more people are at home and therefore more vulnerable to collapsing residential buildings. During traffic hours, people can be affected by collapsing bridges and other road infrastructure.

Population Data
Radius (km) Population Density (people/km˛)
1
2
5
10 2161 
20 6755 
50 75849 
100 501139  15 
200 2998404  23 

Damage

The affected region has low level of urban area (0.1%) and a high level of cultivated area (26.3%). In urban areas more damage can be expected than in cultivated or natural areas. (Data source)

Radius (km)urban areascultivated areasother
200 0.14% 26.36% 73.49%
100 0.08% 32.9% 67.01%
50 0.03% 23.72% 76.24%
10 0% 2% 97.99%

Resilience and Vulnerability

Resilience is the capacity of the population to cope with a hazard. Since much of investments in earthquake preparedness and available funds for quick response is related to household income, the GDP per capita can be used as a rough indicator of resilience.

Chile has a GDP per capita of 5121 PPP$ (Parity Purchasing Power Dollar, about 1 Euro) and is therefore part of the high level income countries. Therefore, the earthquake happened in an area of high resilience.

Based on the combination of 9 indicators, ECHO attributes Chile a low vulnerability.

ECHO Intervention Priority Ranking for Chile
vulnerabilitylevel
Overall situation
Human Development hdi
Human Poverty hpi
Exposure to Major Disasters
Natural Disasters natdis
Conflicts conflicts
Humanitarian effects of population movement
Refugees refugees
Internally Displaced People idps
Health and Nutrition
Undernourishment food
Mortality rates under5
Donor contributions
Official Development assistance ODA
Source ECHO
Key: bad Bad - medium Medium - good Good - nodata No data

Exposure

Both conditions for survival and conditions for delivering aid strongly depend on the current weather and temperature. The following graphs show the current and forecast weather.

Current weather conditions and forecasts at earthquake location (lat: -35.8464 - long: -72.7189) (Data source).

Temperature chart currently not available. Try to refresh page.
Precipitation chart currently not available. Try to refresh page.
Cloud cover chart currently not available. Try to refresh page.

More detailed observations at closest weather station (Quivolgo): WeatherByWeb - NOAA

Probability of Secondary effects

slopelevel Landslides: The maximum slope in the area of the earthquake is 25.82% and the maximum altitude is 796 m. Since this is a low slope, the risk of earthquake induced landslides is low. Note, however, that the slope data is not reliable on a local scale, while landslides depend very much on local topography, soil and meteorological conditions. More...

tsunamilevel Tsunami: the JRC tsunami wave propagation models indicated a medium likelihood for a destructive tsunami. However, this probability must be confirmed by oceanographic measurements or observations. See full report.

Critical infrastructure

The following critical infrastructure is nearby and could be affected by the earthquake:

The distance to nuclear installations is evaluated based on a 1999 UN dataset containing the location of nuclear plants in the world. If plants are near and the earthquake magnitude is above 6.5, the alert is set to orange. Note that the location of plants is approximate with errors of up to 100km.

Getting there and away

The nearest civilian airport (Quivolgo) is at 67km from the epicenter. Other airports are: Los Angeles (175km), La Playa (158km), Siberia (159km), Carriel Sur International (108km), General Bernardo O Higgins (103km), Linares (106km), Panguilemo (114km), Quivolgo (67km)

Ports nearby are: Puerto Yana (188km), Lota (145km), Coronel (137km), San Vicente (105km), Lirquen (98km), Talca (100km), Talcahuano (99km), Tome (89km), Constitucion (66km)

Disclaimer

While we try everything to ensure accuracy, this information is purely indicative and should not be used for any decision making without alternate sources of information. The JRC is not responsible for any damage or loss resulting from the use of the information presented on this website.

 

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