1960 valdivia earthquake eyewitness accounts

Moments later, a wall of water hit the house, floating it off its foundation. It damaged 370,000 homes in Chile and at least 525 people were killed. The 1960 Valdivia earthquake sequence ruptured about 1000 km of the southernmost section of the South American Subduction Zone. [28] These landslides did not cause many fatalities nor significant economic losses because most of the areas were uninhabited, with only minor roads. Traditional wooden houses fared better; although many were uninhabitable if they did not collapse. There were broken windows and clouds of dust everywhere. The event caused extensive subsidence and uplift over wide areas (at least 130,000 km2) with. Their accounts contain lessons on tsunami survival: The following is from the U.S. Geological Survey, Circular 1187, Version 1.1 and is compiled by Brian F. Atwater, Marco Cisternas V.1, Joanne Bourgeois2, Walter C. Dudley3, James W. Hendley II, and Peter H.Stauffer. Measurements of past tsunamis are commonly used to help identify areas at risk from future tsunamis. Please Contact Us. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. It was eternal and that made it more terrible. in English from Illinois State University in 2005. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. [61][63], In the coastal village Collileufu (La Araucana Region), native Lafkenches carried out a human sacrifice during the days following the main earthquake. Earthquakes occurring at subduction zones are known as megathrust earthquakes and nine of the ten most powerful earthquakes in the twentieth century were megathrust, including the 1960 Chile earthquake. Although many phone lines to Chile are down, survivors have been contacting. I was sitting at the computer and my sister was sitting watching TV beside me, when suddenly it started. Together they watched the tsunami overrun their fields and carry away the remains of their house. From the height of debris tangled in the branches of trees that remained standing after the 1960 tsunami, Wolfgang Weischet, then a geographer at the Universidad Austral de Chile in nearby Valdivia, estimated that water from the tsunami was as much as 13 feet deep in Queule. In town, he owned a pier and at least one large building and also had private quarters in a waterfront warehouse. [30] On 22 May, a seiche occurred also in Nahuel Huapi Lake, on the Argentine side of the Andes, more than 200km away from Valdivia. Both he and Ms. Cubate's mother drowned in the tsunami. Houses built upon elevated areas suffered considerably less damage compared to those on the lowlands, which absorbed great amounts of energy. The boats found were used to navigate in Valdivia River and Corral Bay but had drifted into the high sea. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Although Mr. Hernndez survived the tsunami, he lost his 13-year-old son to the waves. The waves set off by the Great Chilean earthquake bounced back and forth across the Pacific Ocean for a week. Some areas around the margin of the Pacific Ocean are located near subduction zones similar to the one that produced the 1960 Chile earthquake and its tsunami. This apparently caused the hunter-gatherers of the area to stop living near the coast for the next thousand years or so. Because of its geography, Chile remains one of the most seismically active countries in the world. Studies have estimated the total number of fatalities at 1,655, 2231, 3000, 5700 and even 6,000. La Milagrosa was battered by the currents and waves of the tsunami for four days while moving south. The sea was then able to cover coastal pastures, farms, and forests. Elsewhere in Japan, the tsunami killed 138 people, but in Onagawa no one died, probably because many people there went to high ground. The damage caused to Calle-Calle Bridge led to its temporary closure after the earthquake, with traffic redirected to Teja Island through Caucau River where people crossed it on boats and, reportedly, also a rudimentary and temporary wooden bridge. On the way back, they met a police officer who told them that the danger had passed. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. [66], An earthquake of similar magnitude occurred in this area around 1800 BC, as has been determined by dating charcoal and shells washed into the Atacama Desert by the tsunami. Regions where it occurs are known as subduction zones. National Geographic Headquarters 1145 17th Street NW Washington, DC 20036. The roof of her family house served as a life raft for Armanda Cubate, her 4-year old nephew Nelson, and five others. To avoid the destruction of the city, several military units and hundreds of workers from ENDESA, CORFO, and MOP started an effort to control the lake. Endo Fukuei (above, in 1999) recalls the firemans warning that spurred citizens of Onagawa, Japan, toward high ground as the 1960 Chilean tsunami reached the towns harbor. The story was mentioned in a Time magazine article, although with little detail. [56], A whole neighbourhood of Corral, Corral Bajo was wiped by the tsunami, while the nearby upper area, Corral Alto, suffered the loss of about 20 to 30% of its houses. Despite the heavy rains of 21 May, the city was without a water supply. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. The moment magnitude scale (MW) is used to measure the size of earthquakes in terms of energy released. [40][41], The hospital of Valdivia, built in 1939, suffered major damages and patients had to be evacuated. [44][45], Land subsidence in Corral Bay improved navigability as shoal banks, produced earlier by sediments from Madre de Dios and other nearby gold mines, sank and were compacted. The next morning, she found Casa Grande in good shape, its ground floor dry. [71][11], Other lesser earthquakes that preceded the 1960 event occurred in 1737 and 1837. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. When the first wave, only a few feet high, arrived just after midnight, hundreds of people were still at home on low ground in Hilo. The two most affected areas were Valdivia and Puerto Octay, near the northwest corner of Llanquihue Lake. The families she soon took in were among the estimated 1 million Chileans left temporarily homeless by the earthquake and tsunami. While Mr. Ramrez stayed safely in the cypress, the waters of the tsunami swirled about the tree. The quake occurred in the early afternoon (19:11 UTC) of May 22, 1960, and had a 9.5 rating [1] on the Moment magnitude scale. Other volcanoes may also have erupted, but none were recorded because of the lack of communication in Chile at the time. [22] Most of the tsunami-related deaths in Japan occurred in the northeast Sanriku region of Honshu. These earthquakes formed a southward migrating foreshock sequence to the main Valdivia shock, which occurred just 15 minutes after the third event. The route was eastward along an unpaved road, across a bridge over a tidal stream, to uplands called Chuyaqun. [1] The pines, grown for timber, covered low ground around Mr. Atala's barn. The wave grew in height as it moved steadily toward the city, and the noise became deafening. Click here to navigate to parent product. Another wave measuring 10m (33ft) was reported ten minutes later. Some arrived there by 4:45 a.m., as the first large wave entered town. From Chile the tsunami radiated outward, killing 61 people in Hawaii and 122 in Japan. Within the Andes, most landslides occurred on forested mountain slopes around the Liquie-Ofqui Fault. About 10 days after the tsunami, Mr. Reyes happened upon bodies stuck in sand and being eaten by birds. [18] Houses built by their owners fared badly. The then-newly named Ministry of Economics and Reconstruction was given the task of coordinating rebuilding efforts in joint venture with CORFO, an existing Chilean agency for the promotion of economic growth. 1; 8 cm/yr; DeMets et al., 1990, Plafker and Savage, 1970 ). Going to high ground and staying there helped save lives during the 1960 Chilean tsunami, not only in Chile but also in Onagawa, Japan. [56] Over the years the new wetlands were colonized chiefly by Egeria densa (Spanish: luchecillo). Over-all the 2010 damages in Valdivia were few and highly localized. The overall stricken areas were located in the south central Chile between latitude 37 degree and 43 degree S (Veblen . Queule was connected by road in 1957 to the rest of the country and the town had developed into a balneario. The Mapuche spoke primarily Mapudungun. San Francisco residents watch the city burn. [4] Different sources have estimated the monetary cost ranged from US$400million to $800million[6] (or $4.01 billion to $8.021 billion in 2022, adjusted for inflation). Many Chilean cities sustained significant damage, including Puerto Montt, where noticeable subsidence occurred, and Valdivia, where nearly half of the buildings were rendered uninhabitable. Several coastal towns were inundated by a 25-metre (80-foot) tsunami. [34] The eruption was believed to have been triggered by the earthquake. He . Throughout the night, water surged beneath them, scouring sandy ground nearby. At the moment the earthquake hit, we had trouble walking and leaving the classroom, as the movement was so terrible. La desaparicin del luchecillo (Egeria densa) del Santuario del Rio Cruces (Valdivia, Chile): una hiptesis plausible. There was even talk of a tsunami in Iquique which concerned me as I thought there might be more danger ahead of us. Outside Corral the crew rescued six nearly unconscious and dehydrated children on board two boats. With a magnitude of 9.5, the earthquake was the most powerful such event of the 20th century. [38] The most affected structures were those built of concrete, which in some cases collapsed completely, because they were not built using modern earthquake engineering. The monetary cost of the disaster has been estimated in the range of US$400 million to US$800 million (2.9 to 5.8 billion in 2011, after adjusting for inflation). The water crested at 15 feet above sea level, reaching several feet above the trees base. Waves, as high as 5.5 m (18 ft), struck the Japanese island of Honshu around 22 hours after the earthquake, killing 138 people and destroying 1600 homes. On May 22, 1960, the largest earthquake in recorded historymagnitude 9.5struck southern Chile. Though a mile from the sea, most of Queule, Chile, was overrun and washed away by the tsunami that followed the 1960 Chile earthquake. Subduction is a process that occurs at convergent boundaries of tectonic plates due to the movement of one plate under another. Earthquakes occur when the fault ruptures, suddenly releasing built-up energy. The main tsunami traveled across the Pacific Ocean and devastated Hilo, Hawaii, where waves as high as 10.7 metres (35ft) were recorded over 10,000 kilometres (6,200mi) from the epicenter. A carabinero (police) boat, Gloria, was towing a few of these boats when the second earthquake struck on 22 May. In the regions of Maule and Bo Bo, houses built from adobe and masonry proved weak, while from Araucana to the south weak houses were mainly those built with inappropriate wood that had decayed over time. As marked on this 1944 photo of the mouth of the Ro Maulln, Chile, the 1960 Chilean tsunami flowed 2 miles inland from the beach at right foreground. [35] The eruption was first noticed and reported as an explosion by the crew of a United States Air Force plane that was heading to Santiago from Puerto Montt. However, many other residents of the area were not, and 122 were killed by the ensuing tsunami. Her husband died of his injuries, and the body of her daughter was found 3 days after the tsunami. The epicenter of the 1960 Valdivia earthquake lay around 100 miles of the coast of Chile in the Pacific Ocean. Several months later in April, it caused a flood. At Mehun, near Queule, Jacinto Reyes buried some of the tsunami victims. Some pavements near the rivershore in Valdivia cracked and collapsed much like in the 1960 earthquake. Two minutes later, they began to see the source of the noise, a pale wall of tumbling water, caught in the dim lights of Hilo. [20], Earthquake-induced tsunamis affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, China,[21] eastern New Zealand, southeast Australia, and the Aleutian Islands. Fortunately today normality and calm has returned to the city. Its epicenter was near Caete, Bo Bo Region, Chile, and its magnitude was 8.1 or 8.3 M W and 7.3 or 7.5 . [17] With the exception of poor building sites, the zone of Mercalli scales intensities of VII or more all lay west of the Andes in a strip running from Lota (37 S) southwards. Although a neighbor quickly took that route, the Navarro family stayed in their home, beside another tidal stream. The chapter also discusses the extent and effects of the hazards; their . While he clung to the tree, the waters of the tsunami rose to his waist. The efforts of President Alessandri led to the creation of a new institutionality in order to facilitate future emergency preparation and to tackle the country's recovery after the earthquake. What happened to Mr. Atala's plantation happened at many places along Chile's coast. Extensive areas of the city were flooded. Further north, the port of Talcahuano did not suffer any major damage, only some flooding. Gathering cameras, notebooks, flashlights, and steel measuring tapes, they piled into a Ford station wagon for the 30-mile ride down to Hilo. The epicenter of this megathrust earthquake was near Lumaco, approximately 570 kilometres (350mi) south of Santiago, with Valdivia being the most affected city. So, why bother to prepare for such a tsunami?

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