Originally published on April 2, 2014
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An 8.2 magnitude earthquake shook Chile on Tuesday evening, sending tsunami waves to the coast where people have been asked to evacuate.
Chile's president declared a state of emergency and deployed anti-riot police and soldiers to recapture about 300 inmates that had escaped from a women's prison. Additionally, Chile's National Emergency Office has issued a tsunami warning, asking those near the country's northern coast to evacuate.
"There have been multiple aftershocks and communications have been cut off in many of the affected areas, so people are waiting in the dark hills not knowing what is to come, and hoping they will be able to return to their homes safely," Fabrizio Guzman, World Vision emergency communications manager in Chile, said in a CNN report.
The quake erupted 99 km northwest of the coast city Iquique at a depth of 20 km, triggering a landslide. Tsunami waves measuring at roughly two metres in length had washed up to the coast of Pisagua, Chile. There, five people were crushed or suffered from fatal heart attacks as a result of the quake.
The powerful tremor likely resulted from a significant shift at the fault line between the Nazca plate and the South American plate. As force continues to build up between the two grinding plates, one plate slips up against the other, generating an earthquake and displacing seawater, triggering a tsunami. The magnitude reflects the amount of motion of the earth crust when it is displaced. Typically, a magnitude 6 or higher earthquake with a significant vertical shift is needed to generate a tsunami.
Roughly 500 people were killed in 8.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated Chile on February 27, 2010.
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