33 aftershocks were reported, including a 6.3 magnitude in Argentina. "The United States has resources positioned to assist if Chile requests help, President Obama said in a midafternoon address to the nation.Obama also warned residents in Hawaii and other areas that could be affected by a tsunami to heed safety instructions from state and local officials.A tsunami warning for Hawaii was lifted Saturday afternoon. Waves of 3 feet were recorded at the city of Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii, but were lower than expected, and no damage was reported."
After the incident in Haiti, many governments are becoming even more aware and responsive to warnings. Let's just hope that the people of Chile are safe.
1 comment:
I was shocked to learn that Chile was stuck by an earthquake so soon after the one in Haiti, and such a strong one at that-it was stronger than the Haitian earthquake. Luckily, the epicenter was further away from large cities that the one in Haiti, and apparently it also ran deeper in the ground and caused less surface damage though. I think the biggest difference between this earthquake and the one in Haiti is the Chilean infrastructure. Part of what was so devastating in Haiti was that there were large buildings, but they were unregulated and crumbled at the first sign of an earthquake. Chile, however, does have much better infrastructure, and it is already quite clear that there will be less casualties than in Haiti. I was always under the impression that the magnitude of the earthquake determined the death toll, but Haiti was a 7.0 and this is a 8.8. It only makes me more aware of how sad it is that Haiti could probably have prevented many deaths if they had the financing to regulate building. It just seems so depressing that money is determining "life or death" for some people.
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