March 30, 2012

Deep earthquake rumbles Chile

Posted by Austin Elliott

On March 25, 2012 a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck central Chile–the same region that was rocked in 2010 by an the Great 8.8 quake. This one was much smaller than that, and at a depth of 34km was more mild at the surface than it could have been, but it nonetheless walloped the region just before dusk on Monday, and plenty of people recorded it. In fact, it interrupted a soccer match between two Chilean first-division club teams, although the players didn’t much care.

Below is a sampling of footage from elsewhere in Chile.

Dogs and people are alarmed, and the plants and houses jostling sure make a lot of noise. As the shaking winds down you hear all the car and house alarms set off by the temblor.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/o2SXYeRakIc]

 

The sound of their apartments rattling dominates this sunset scene in the city of Talca:

[youtube=http://youtu.be/ofd6wzvJFZ8]

 

In what may be the most dramatic scene from this quake, a mall-goer captures the chaotic noise and panic of the earthquake shaking a mall full of people. Despite the relatively modest shaking, the sound of so much rattling overwhelms the situation, and the rush to leave the building means that emergency procedures must still function properly or there’d be a different disaster to contend with.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/SFtuzsNch-k]

 

If you watch those on YouTube you’ll find a multitude of others in the “related videos” but they’re mostly of poorer quality, so I decided I’d leave you with those three… the best picks. The Chileans are fine, and there was no remarkable tsunami, so it wound up being simply a firm reminder of the forces beneath their feet.