Peninsula Daily News
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UPDATE — Tsunami advisories remain in effect for Hawaii and Southern California after a powerful magnitude-8.3 earthquake struck Pacific Ocean waters Wednesday night just off the coast of Chile, generating a dangerous 15-foot tsunami along parts of the Chilean coast.
Chilean authorities said at least eight people died as a result of earthquake-related incidents.
In the U.S., initial tsunami waves arrived in the Hawaiian Islands, with a magnitude of 2.1 feet measured at Hilo at 3:44 a.m. Hawaiian time.
The Pacific Typhoon Warning Center has issued a tsunami advisory for Hawaii. The bulletin said a major tsunami is not expected, but “sea level changes and strong currents” may endanger swimmers and boaters Thursday, with waves of 1 to 3 feet.
Local officials have urged people to stay off the beach and out of the water.
The U.S. government’s National Tsunami Warning Center also issued a tsunami advisory for Southern California, including coastal areas of the counties of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego.
The center said tsunami waves of less than 1 foot above normal tide levels can be expected.
Such waves are not a danger to those on land, but they can create unusual and dangerous currents posing a danger to swimmers and boaters. People along the coast of southern California are advised to avoid the water until the tsunami threat subsides.
A tide gauge at Santa Monica, Calif., measured the initial tsunami wave early Thursday morning, with a fluctuation of about one foot in less than 15 minutes, according to the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
The Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management advised fishermen, beachgoers and visitors to stay off beaches, harbor areas and jetties until the advisory is lifted.
Initial tsunami wave heights up to 1.1 feet were recorded in the French Polynesian Island of Rikitea, about 3,900 miles west of Lima, Peru in the South Pacific Ocean early Thursday morning, U.S. time.
Nuku Hiva, another French Polynesian island about 1,000 miles north-northwest of Rikitea, measured a 4.5-foot tsunami wave height.
Coquimbo, Chile, recorded three tsunami waves of at least 4 meters (13 feet) each, including a maximum tsunami wave height 15.1 feet above normal tide levels. Several other Chilean coastal cities had tsunami waves as well, though none nearly as dramatic as those in Coquimbo.
Video posted to social media shows flooding from the tsunami invading the resort city of Concón in Valparaiso Province.
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CURRENT STORY as of 8:15 a.m. today:
ILLAPEL, Chile (AP) — Thousands of residents of this small city in northern Chile were sleeping outside today (Thursday) after a powerful earthquake destroyed their homes, forced more than 1 million to evacuate and killed at least eight people in the quake-prone South American nation.
Several coastal towns were flooded from small tsunami waves set off by late Wednesday’s quake, which shook the Earth so strongly that rumbles were felt across South America.
The magnitude-8.3 quake lasted for three minutes, causing buildings to sway in the capital, Santiago, and prompting authorities to issue a tsunami warning for the Andean nation’s entire Pacific coast.
People sought safety in the streets of inland cities, while others along the shore took to their cars to race to higher ground.
“I thought it was the end of the world and we were going to die,” said teary-eyed Manuel Moya, 38, sleeping with his wife on the ground outside their destroyed home in Illapel, 175 miles (280 kilometers) north of Santiago and 34 miles (55 kilometers) east of the quake’s epicenter. The town and surrounding areas have about 35,000 residents.
Moya said he and his wife were in bed and watching television when the quake hit. Fearing they would be killed if they remained inside, they ran outside in their underwear. By the end of the shaking, their home, made of concrete, had been reduced to rubble.
“They said it was a magnitude 8 but it felt like a 10,” said Moya, adding that neighbors had brought them clothes.
Speaking to the nation late Wednesday, President Michelle Bachelet urged people who had been evacuated to stay on high ground until authorities could evaluate the situation. Officials said schools would be closed in most of the country Thursday.
In the past year, the nation of 17 million has endured devastating floods in the north, wildfires in the south and two volcano eruptions.
“Once again we must confront a powerful blow from nature,” said Bachelet.
Authorities said eight people had been killed, a number that could climb as emergency crews are able to get into hard-hit areas on Thursday. Mahmud Aleuy, the Interior Ministry’s deputy secretary, said 1 million people were forced out of their homes and electrical power was cut off to 240,000 households.
Dozens of aftershocks, including one at magnitude-7 and seven at magnitude-6 or above, shook the region after the initial earthquake — the strongest tremor since a magnitude-8.8 quake and tsunami killed hundreds in 2010 and leveled part of the city of Concepcion in south-central Chile.
Tsunami advisories were in effect for Hawaii and parts of California. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center originally issued a tsunami watch for Hawaii but downgraded the alert to an advisory. Tsunami warnings in Chile were lifted early Thursday.
It appeared that Wednesday’s quake had a much smaller impact than the more powerful 2010 tremor. Chile’s traditionally strong risk-reduction measures and emergency planning have gotten better in the past five years.
“Earthquake impact is a little like real estate: What matters is location, location, location,” said Susan Hough, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. “But it is true that preparedness and risk reduction in Chile is ahead of that in much of the world, and that makes a difference.”
The tremor was so strong that people in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the other side of the continent, felt it. People in Peru and Brazil also reported feeling the shakes. No injuries were reported outside of Chile.
Claudio Moreno was in a Santiago bar when the quake hit. The shaking was powerful, but more worrisome was how long it lasted, he said.
“We went out in the street when we felt it was going on too long,” he said. “It was more than a minute.”
The 2010 quake killed more than 500 people, destroyed 220,000 homes, and washed away docks, riverfronts and seaside resorts. That quake released so much energy it shortened the Earth’s day by a fraction of a second by changing the planet’s rotation.
The quake had huge ramifications, both political and practical, prompting the Andean nation to improve its alert systems for both quakes and tsunamis.
While Wednesday’s tremor was strong by any estimation, the 2010 quake was 5.6 times more powerful in terms of energy released, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Chile is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries because just off the coast the Nazca tectonic plate plunges beneath the South American plate, pushing the towering Andes cordillera to ever-higher altitudes. The strongest earthquake ever recorded on Earth happened in Chile — a magnitude-9.5 tremor in 1960 that killed more than 5,000 people.
