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Green Tsunami and Earthquake alert in Chile

 

Green Earthquake Alert in Chile

Summary

On 3/5/2010 11:47:10 AM UTC an earthquake of magnitude 6.6 and depth 35km has struck an very highly 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 low (Green alert).

It is likely that a tsunami was generated. The maximum tsunami wave height near the coast of Dichato will be 0.08m. Please refer to the GDACS tsunami report for more details.

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

The earthquake 35km from the city of Concepci˘n. The nearest populated places are Quiriguina I (13km), Tom_ (18km), Dichato (17km), Los Morros (13km).It is a hilly region with a maximum altitude of 913 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: 3/5/2010 12:29:49 PM UTC (42 minutes after the event)

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 (us2010tla4)
PAGER report (2010tla4)
Magnitude 6.6 M
Depth 35 km
Location

Geographic coordinates (latitude/longitude): -36.5128, -73.116
Chile , Bio-Bio Province (population: 1789433).
Seismic region: Offshore Bio-bio.

The earthquake happened in Chile , Bio-Bio Province (population: 1789433). , 35km from the city of Concepci˘n. The nearest populated places are Quiriguina I (13km), Tom_ (18km), Dichato (17km), Los Morros (13km).

It is a hilly region with a maximum altitude of 913 m.

Time time 3/5/2010 11:47:10 AM (UTC, Universal Standard Time)
3/5/2010 6:54:42 AM (Estimated local solar time)
Fri, 3/5/2010 12:47 CET (Brussels, Paris, Rome)
Fri, 3/5/2010 06:47 EST (New York, Washington)
Fri, 3/5/2010 03:47 PST (San Francisco, Los Angeles)
Fri, 3/5/2010 19:47 AWST (Australian Western Standard Time)

Previous reports for this earthquake.

Earthquake reportTsunami reportEvent Date/TimeLat/LonMagnitudeDepth (km)SourcePublication Date/TimeDelay
805513/5/2010 11:47:10 AM UTC-36.58, -72.756.310GEOFON3/5/2010 11:58:20 AM UTC11min
805533/5/2010 11:47:10 AM UTC-36.58, -72.325.92EMSC3/5/2010 12:04:11 PM UTC17min
805543/5/2010 11:47:09 AM UTC-36.57, -73.316.410GEOFON3/5/2010 12:04:13 PM UTC17min
805553/5/2010 11:47:10 AM UTC-36.53, -72.455.810EMSC3/5/2010 12:09:48 PM UTC22min
805563/5/2010 11:47:09 AM UTC-36.58, -73.286.410GEOFON3/5/2010 12:09:51 PM UTC22min
805571876 (Max. wave at coast: 0.05m) Max. wave at coast: 0.05m3/5/2010 11:51:48 AM UTC-36.6, -73.46.629NOAA (at00778990)3/5/2010 12:17:43 PM UTC25min
805581875 (Max. wave at coast: 0.08m) Max. wave at coast: 0.08m3/5/2010 11:47:11 AM UTC-36.626, -73.2616.833NOAA (at00778963)3/5/2010 12:17:51 PM UTC30min
805593/5/2010 11:47:10 AM UTC-36.52, -73.355.840EMSC3/5/2010 12:17:56 PM UTC30min
805613/5/2010 11:47:09 AM UTC-36.49, -73.295.90EMSC3/5/2010 12:23:39 PM UTC36min
805661877 (Max. wave at coast: 0.08m) Max. wave at coast: 0.08m3/5/2010 11:47:10 AM UTC-36.5128, -73.1166.635NEIC (us2010tla4)3/5/2010 12:29:49 PM UTC42min
805681878 (Max. wave at coast: 0.07m) Max. wave at coast: 0.07m3/5/2010 11:47:08 AM UTC-36.49, -73.266.625EMSC3/5/2010 12:29:58 PM UTC42min

Earthquake Impact Details

shakemap

Potentially affected People

The population in the area of this earthquake if 111 people/km˛. (Data source).

The earthquake occurred at 6h local time. At this time a day, more people are at work and therefore more vulnerable to collapsing office 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
20 28707  22 
50 875939  111 
100 1473696  46 
200 2847312  22 

Damage

The affected region has low level of urban area (0.1%) and a high level of cultivated area (22.8%). In urban areas more damage can be expected than in cultivated or natural areas. (Data source)

Radius (km)urban areascultivated areasother
200 0.14% 22.89% 76.96%
100 0.38% 25.83% 73.77%
50 1.05% 14.57% 84.36%
10 0% 0% 1000%

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: -36.5128 - long: -73.116) (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 (Carriel Sur International): WeatherByWeb - NOAA

Probability of Secondary effects

slopelevel Landslides: The maximum slope in the area of the earthquake is 20.574% and the maximum altitude is 913 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 unknown 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 (Carriel Sur International) is at 29km from the epicenter. Other airports are: Los Angeles (116km), La Playa (78km), Siberia (119km), Carriel Sur International (29km), General Bernardo O Higgins (97km), Linares (158km), Panguilemo (186km), Quivolgo (150km)

Ports nearby are: Lebu (130km), Puerto Yana (106km), Lota (66km), Coronel (58km), San Vicente (24km), Lirquen (24km), Talca (20km), Talcahuano (19km), Tome (18km), Constitucion (148km)

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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