We just had an Earthquake. A big one. We have no telephones at the moment but I think the internet is working.
I need to know if it has been on the news in the UK, I am concerned that my parents may see it.
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Just switched off the TV. Nothing yet.
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www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-34275783
three minutes ago =about 15mins past midnight
Chile hit by 7.9 earthquake, US Geological Survey says, with buildings shaking in Santiago and tsunami possible.
no more info as item is so new.
Last edited by: henry k on Thu 17 Sep 15 at 00:21
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Yes, it's been mentioned by Sky. Quite a big one, 7 point something on Richter scale but offshore, buildings swaying in Santiago, tsunami warning in Hawaii.
Hope you and yours are OK FMR.
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Just had another. Would somebody text my sister for me?
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Now announced as 8.3
Tsunami warnings and evacuation of coastal towns such as Vina del Mar and Valparaiso.
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Just had a BBC TV item but just repeated what was on their website
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BBC expanded report - 3mins ago
The 7.9-magnitude tremor centred off the coast, about 153 miles (246km) north-west of the capital. Chilean officials said it measured 7.2.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center warned that "widespread hazardous tsunami waves are possible".
There were no immediate reports of damage, Chile's emergency office was quoted as saying by Reuters.
U.S. officials said the quake struck just offshore in the Pacific at 7:54 p.m. and was centered about 141 miles (228 kilometers) north-northwest of Santiago. It said the quake was 4.8 miles (5 kilometers) below the surface.
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Thanks Henry...
8< snip - removed at OPs request
Joanne. Big earthquake in Chile. Mark and family fine. No phones, probably just heavy usage. . Tell parents. Mark will call when he can.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 17 Sep 15 at 01:32
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Now estimated as 7.9 to 8.3
Essentially i believe the scientific estimate is f##### big.
It wasn't just big, the first was the longest i have been in. I thought it was going to be the big one.
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message sent to your sister
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Rhank you Henry. That's one worry less
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I have offered to send a reply if she wishes.
I expect your reassurance will be enough for now.
Brgds
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Dave, please remove my sister's number when you have minute. Thank you
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FM2R
My red face as I also updated the mods to remove the number.
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The BBC item has been expanded,
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>> Dave,
Done. Hope all is ok?
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There will be chaos here, but there is not likely to be any more big ones this time.
They are evacuating the entire coast - all 3,000 Kilometres of it. So far the sign s are that the waves won't be that big.
This one was a long one. Very long, very strong and very scary. Being brave for the children calms me.
Thank you.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 17 Sep 15 at 01:40
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VXFan
Thanks. I think all can sleep and be bit more relaxed now.
Message sent so maybe a reply in the morning unless phones are worikng in Chile..
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The earthquake was so strong that it set off car alarms in Buenos Aires which is 700 miles away.
There was more than one earthquake, there were 12.
Leading up to the big one over the two hours...
5.0 magnitude, 32 km depth
5.2 magnitude, 10 km depth
5.3 magnitude, 10 km depth
5.7 magnitude, 35 km depth
6.4 magnitude, 31 km depth
6.2 magnitude, 10 km depth
6.1 magnitude, 10 km depth
6.3 magnitude, 47 km depth
8.3 magnitude, 25 km depth
And a few more since....
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Mark, just read this and understand Henry has gone to bed, I'm up and will be now if you need anything further doing during the small hours.
Email me and I can send messages for you.
Pat
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Very kind Pat.
I think that having sent via Henry a "be calm everything is ok" unless something really dramatic happens I shall leave it alone for now.
We're still having shakes, just this moment had another, but they are diminishing. [touch wood
I really appreciate the thought and will bear it in mind. Thank you.
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Probably the best course of action Mark, bt you and I both know, as parents, they will more than likely be sitting there glued to the news on TV and drinking many cups of tea.
It's on BBC News now....Tsunami alert for Califonia coastline.
Showed pics from Santiago and Chile, reassuring that everything is mostly ok.
Warnings of big waves in the next couple of hours. (Peru, New Zealand and Equador)
One or two deaths and little damage just said now.
Pedant warning: I'm typing as they talk!
Pat
Last edited by: Pat on Thu 17 Sep 15 at 03:10
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I'm pretty sure that the direct earthquake danger has passed. It was very scary, much longer than they normally last and really deep down powerful.
Earthquakes are also very noisy, which makes them even more intimidating.
I am at the house in the suburbs at the moment, so no high rise and therefore outside is safest.
You know you are doing the right things but when you're stood next to two Landcruisers both heavily bouncing on their suspension as the ground ripples under your feet it is very, very difficult to take.
For me, acting calm in front of the children actually keeps me calm. But with a long one like this, particularly with quick following and powerful aftershocks, then once you're where you should be with everybody who should be there, then there is nothing you can do but wait it out - and that is the worst bit.
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I can imagine how scary it is Mark.
Save your battery in case you need it......I'll keep checking back here and an eye on emails!
Pat
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Glad to hear you're OK, NoFM. Will check for news of my Santiago-based colleagues; my employer is pretty good about checking up on our people at times like this, so I hope there'll be a reassuring message on the intranet when I get in.
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Not currently pushing anything else off the news currently - it will probably run again at 8am in a couple of minutes.
Hope that's the end of it and you come out of it OK.
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News here now seems to be pretty low key, biggy it may have been but reporting here that casualties seem remarkably light and tsunami risk seems limited.
Looks like the worse than can follow theses things has been avoided. Glad you and family are ok.
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Heard several reports on the radio overnight - major item on World Service. Interviewees all commented, as MArk does, on how long the main one lasted for.
Aftershock occurred during what i think was a live link c 05:00 UK time.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Thu 17 Sep 15 at 08:02
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Glad you and your family are safe NO FM2R!
What a great place this forum is - Good show Henry k!
Last edited by: zippy on Thu 17 Sep 15 at 08:32
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Good to hear you are all OK, take care.
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In spite of our (public!) differences I am truly pleased that you and yours are OK.
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Glad you and your family are ok, Mark.
Last edited by: Clk Sec on Thu 17 Sep 15 at 11:50
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Likewise
Hope you and yours are all well
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Sorry about the source Mark, but it seems to be quite sensible in tone
www.breitbart.com/london/2015/09/17/strong-quake-shakes-chile-some-tsunami-flooding-along-coast/
Hope all goes well
Neil
Last edited by: neiltoo on Thu 17 Sep 15 at 12:02
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Thank you everybody.
The aftershocks continued through the night. They were all pretty strong although nothing compared to the 8.4 - I wish I could tell you what it is like, but its something you need to experience to understand. And I recommend that you don't.
The shocks are frightening, especially some of the larger or longer ones, because one instantly fears this is going to be a biggie.
The truth is that we get earthquakes all the time, but they're generally in the 4s with an occasional 5 or 6.
Last night was a biggie. It was also very long. I was up in my office, I had to get down the stairs, get the girls, assess that this wasn't a "hug and wait", this was a "get the hell out fast"
Get out and away from the house or anything else which might fall, hug and hang on. And then you stay there, the ground is moving so much that you can see the waves, the car alarms are all going off and the cars are bouncing around on their suspension.
All you hear is crashing and banging as things smash against each other, doors and windows bang open and close, trees bang into each other and fences etc. etc.. Santiago is built to withstand earthquakes, but there is a limit to what even the buildings here can take.
And it goes on and on. Now No 2. is crying, utterly terrified, and my wife and No. 1 are being strong.
Contrary to the BBC reports, people don't really panic. They do shout though, instructions and looking for each other. "Gritar" translates to either "shot" or "scream", I guess the BBC picked the wrong one.
Neither do they run aroudnlike headless chickens - everybody *knows* where they are going. Away from tall stuff while everything is moving, and then straight for high ground when it stops.
Eventually it slows. The noise from everywhere is intense. It always takes time to stop. This time, before it does, the next one hits. No. 2 loses the plot and I start to wonder if this is "the big one".
The second is much less and much shorter.
And we calm everybody down in time for the next one about 30 minutes later, and so it goes on all night. Just the 8.3 was so bad, although there are many 6.x through the night.
The telephones are out, everything in the house is only just starting to flicker back on and we wait till we see what we get back.
The television comes back and with it the internet, but still no phones. And so we start using Facebook, Whatsapp and any other internet based tool we can to start checking that each other is safe and getting word to others that we are safe. (Thank you Henry, when the messages came through this morning it was apparent that my sister had got your message and she had let my parents know, and they had seen reports).
The shocks continued through the night. Large enough to scare, not quite large enough to wake my exhausted 10 yr old.
And this morning things are quiet. I doubt people will go to work today, tomorrow is Independence Day anyway. But people are calm with that kind of quiet relief that always comes after such fear and worry.
Thank you Henry, thank you Pat for your offers, thank you all for your concern.
And Roger - thank you. We'll never agree and no doubt we'll do it again, but sometimes it does one good to be reminded of what's really important.
Note:
I presume you realise that the scale is not linear. e.g.
Richter scale (Seismic energy)
1 30 lbs
2. 1 ton
3. 29 ton
4. 1000 ton
5. 32000 ton
6. 1 million ton
7. 32 million ton
8. 1 billion ton
9. 32 billion ton
10 1 trillion ton.
So the last earthquake I recall being reported in the UK was a 3.x so a few hundred ton. What we had last night was many BILLION ton.
The earthquake which devastated San Francisco in 1989 was a 6.9 - this was 8.3 - roughly the San Fran earthquake could be measured in million tons, this one is measured in Billion tons.
I saw an estimate once that said London would be flat with a 6.5
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>> Richter scale (Seismic energy)
>> 1 30 lbs
ie. equivalent to energy released by approx 30 lbs of TNT, in case anyone else was wondering.
Glad you're all ok.
EDIT: or perhaps not; figures where I got that from are a bit different to those above
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale
Last edited by: Focusless on Thu 17 Sep 15 at 13:18
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I don;t know which is more accurate.
I would describe an 8.3 as "Cycle clips required".
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Glad you're all OK, NF. Hope little 'un gets over it quickly.
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>> Richter scale (Seismic energy)
>> 1 30 lbs
>> 2. 1 ton
>> 3. 29 ton
>> 4. 1000 ton
>> 5. 32000 ton
>> 6. 1 million ton
>> 7. 32 million ton
>> 8. 1 billion ton
>> 9. 32 billion ton
>> 10 1 trillion ton.
I have always thought that the richter scale was ridiculously non linear and hence utterly non descriptive or informative about what it really means. Look art this chart for an idea of how it all goes wild from about 6 onwards
www.e-education.psu.edu/earth520/content/l2_p26.html
how can you understand 1-6 relatively minor, and then 8 bad 8.5 really really bad and 9.9 end of the world?
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 17 Sep 15 at 13:56
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Sounds pretty horrific - appears that everyone knows what they are doing, and there is an excellent state of preparedness, so life will move swiftly back to normal (ie. compare a 6 inch snowfall on London with one on Gothenburg)
The 1960 Valdivia quake must have required a giant bung as well as the bicycle clips..... around 100 times the energy of last nights biggie.
Last edited by: Lygonos on Thu 17 Sep 15 at 14:09
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>>I have always thought that the richter scale was ridiculously non linear
It's just like decibels, isn't it. (Except there you get 10-fold per 10, and with Richter you get 1000-fold per 2.)
40dB - quiet background noise
60dB - conversation
80dB - alarm clock
90dB - noisy factory; ear protection required
110dB - deafening
130dB - threshold of pain
Anyway, glad to hear all's well (as can be expected) in Chile, Mark.
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Mark.
So glad I was able to help.
I was concerned this morning and called your sister but got message" Unfortunately this number is not in use"
I sent your message while the number was still on the screen and then copied it onto paper but was left in limbo until you updated us.
We had a similar " cannot contact" event last month.
A brother of my son's wife works in Bangkok where the bomb went off.
His office is right by the site .
He had left the scene 90 seconds earlier and was not contactable from the UK, Again we think the phone system was swamped.
(My son got married on Friday so a raised a few glasses to all of them in person.)
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Well, one way or another she got the message which calmed my Mother in particular so thanks for that.
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dupe
Last edited by: henry k on Thu 17 Sep 15 at 15:11
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Just an offer in good faith to anyone on here.
I am always up and online by 2.30am at the latest, when most others are asleep.
My email address is open and in my profile.
In the unlikely event anything like this should happen again I would be only to happy to be contacted by email (I get alerts) and will do whatever you need by phone etc.
........even if we previously have 'had words', I never hold a grudge:)
Pat
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Zero - have a look at this.
I don't know if you have to be logged into Facebook to see it.
www.facebook.com/Geografismos/videos/762416657205150/
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>> www.facebook.com/Geografismos/videos/762416657205150/
Some more info on the biggest one, 9.5 Valdivia 1960 (Chile again, no doubt Mark knows all this):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_Valdivia_earthquake
Waves as high as 10.7 metres (35 ft) were recorded 10,000 kilometres (6,200 mi) from the epicenter
estimate of 6,000 dead
EDIT: as mentioned by Lygonos earlier
Last edited by: Focusless on Thu 17 Sep 15 at 15:33
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Glad you're all ok, I can't imagine what it must have been like and I hope I never experience it. It sounds terrifying beyond understanding.
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Glad you're all okay Mark. That graphic on Facebook (does not need a logon) shows how much bigger these really big ones.
Let us hope there's no lots of damage to property and injury and loss of life is low.
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Loss of life is low - about 15 I think. Injury is reasonably ok as well.
Damage to property at the coast is substantial. One of the waves was 4m high. Imagine that hitting your house!
In particular the surf area I go to had about 4 wooden shacks as bars and surf stores - they are all just blasted flat.
I have a house at the beach and its only about 25ft from the sand. But fortunately what with the sea wall and the rock that the house is built on, even the lowest part of it is about 5m or so up from the sand.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 17 Sep 15 at 16:11
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...4m high. Imagine that hitting your house.
Exactly what I did when I read about it. Top of the upstairs windows, and that's just the wetness; I don't think I can imagine the destructive energy.
Your girls will be fine. Even the younger one, terrified as she undoubtedly was, will have drawn strength from the calmness of the rest of you, and that'll help her to get over the scare. Could even be a good thing in the long term: we can't insulate children from all the nasties in life but she's come through this frightening experience and seen (a) that the world didn't end, and (b) that her family knew what to do to keep her safe. When she's stopped shaking, that'll be a positive thought to hold on to - for you too, I hope.
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Utter good sense there. WDB.
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Thanks WdB. For No. 2 though, I fear that it s a phobia, and unlikely to go in the near future.
I've seen her complete a cheerleading show with a broken ankle and then spend 6 weeks in plaster; hard as nails normally, but earthquakes cause her to crumble.
She does trust us to keep her safe, which is why she clings to us, but it just doesn't cause her fear to subside. Don't forget, this was a big one, but we get about 300 earthquakes a year that you can feel.
For everybody else, I doubt you'll ever be in an earthquake. But waste a couple of minutes of your time reading this anyway.
www.ilovechile.cl/earthquakes-chile-101/
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The other thing that bothers her, now I think about it, is that she is very sensitive to how those around her feel.
And everybody, absolutely everybody, is scared during an earthquake. I have never met anybody breathing who was dumb enough not to be scared.
And she knows it.
Of course she also knows that fear need not paralyse; but then my wife is an exotic animal vet who knows that snakes usually don't kill, but you want to see her move when we get one!!
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For No. 2 though, I fear that it's a phobia...
That's a tough one. Any mileage in the idea that none of the next 300 is likely to come close to what's just happened? Not a rational process, though, so not something you can force. With luck it'll fade away by itself.
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>With luck it'll fade away by itself.
Not according to recent, very highly acclaimed, peer reviewed-research:
"MANAGEMENT PRIZE — Gennaro Bernile [ITALY, SINGAPORE, USA], Vineet Bhagwat [USA], and P. Raghavendra Rau [UK, INDIA, FRANCE, LUXEMBOURG, GERMANY, JAPAN], for discovering that many business leaders developed in childhood a fondness for risk-taking, when they experienced natural disasters (such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and wildfires) that — for them — had no dire personal consequences."
www.improbable.com/ig/winners/#ig2015
;-)
Best wishes to you and your's Mark. Keep prepared, I see that you are still getting rumbles.
earthquaketrack.com/recent
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>> Mark. Keep prepared, I see that you are still
>> getting rumbles.
I bet he had an enormous rumble when the 8.3 one occurred.
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Got woken up in the night by a bigish.
We've had 30 in the last 24hours, two were over 6.0
Its wobbly. Definitely wobbly.
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>> We've had 30 in the last 24hours, two were over 6.0
>> Its wobbly. Definitely wobbly.
Stay clear of heavy buildings FMR. Look after yourself and those precious nippers.
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>>I bet he had an enormous rumble when the 8.3 one occurred.
No, but I had a *$^&$&%^ enormous vodka about 30 minutes after.
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>> No, but I had a *$^&$&%^ enormous vodka about 30 minutes after.
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Would that be slightly more than the usual half pint tumbler?
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>> >> No, but I had a *$^&$&%^ enormous vodka about 30 minutes after.
>> >>
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>> Would that be slightly more than the usual half pint tumbler?
leave him alone, the bloke has clearly gone native. I mean moving from Gin to Vodka. How very un english.
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>> For everybody else, I doubt you'll ever be in an earthquake. But waste a couple
>> of minutes of your time reading this anyway.
>>
>> www.ilovechile.cl/earthquakes-chile-101/
>>
Only been in one once, here in the UK, nothing in comparison to the ones in Chile. I think it might have been a 4. Like a really big wagon going past, glasses banging against each other etc.
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>> Only been in one once, here in the UK, nothing in comparison to the ones
>> in Chile. I think it might have been a 4. Like a really big wagon
>> going past, glasses banging against each other etc.
Friend of mine has been in a UK one - A piddly 3.8 on the richter scale. Said its the only noise they ever heard that seems to have no source or direction but is coming from everywhere all around you.
They lived on the top of a hill, the house shook and the internal doors never fitted again properly.
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Horrendous Mark...hope things are returning to normal. To think I was moaning when I woken by a mere tremor the other morning.
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There was one - in Wales was it? - a decade or two back. It woke me up in Ldbroke Grove, then I thought, Oh, just a big truck going over that bump across the road. Then I realised there wasn't any passing traffic just then, 3 or 4 a.m. And it went on for three times as long as the usual passing truck, which used to shake the house for a moment or two, but not for twenty seconds. So I thought Good God, not an earthquake surely? But that's what it was. Some of the many cracks in the house got a bit wider.
There was no sound at all, and it wasn't frightening exactly, more like 'disturbing'. Took me a while to get back to sleep.
Sorry the sprogette took it hard. She'll soon be dining out on it though I'm sure.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Thu 17 Sep 15 at 20:49
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I too hope all is ok with you and your loved ones.
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There was a 4.3 at Budbrooke in Warwickshire, barely 5km from our home at the time, in September 2000. It was 5.30 on a Saturday morning and - I'm ashamed to say - it didn't wake us up. My then-California-based cousin, to whom we defer on such matters, described it as 'a perfectly respectable little earthquake'. I wonder how she'd describe this one.
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>> For everybody else, I doubt you'll ever be in an earthquake.
I felt a bigish one in Tbilisi, Georgia once. Spring 1991. When it hit I was on the 13th floor of a Soviet hotel, naked and sitting on the toilet. I thought I was going to do an Elvis. The chap I was sharing a suite with was in the bedroom looking out of the window, he calmly informed me that all the people on the ground were either running from our building as fast as they could, or standing pointing up at it, mouths gaping. The day before we had driven through parts of Armenia which had had a major earthquake a few years earlier, which had been (unusually for Soviet times) widely reported in the West, had cost many thousands of lives and was quite fresh in our memories. We had seen the rubble and remains of Spitak and Leninakan, a notable sight was a row of giant Norwegian oil barrels which had been turned into temporary homes. We imagined that this quake we felt in Tbilisi may well have caused similar destruction in the area and may have been reported at home - and had feelings similar to yours, NF, about families hearing of it and not knowing we were OK. We could not get international telephone services there and had to wait until our return to Moscow to send telegrams home confirming we were OK. Of course, the quake had not been reported at home and we only alarmed our families in the end by telling them about it.
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>> confirming we were OK. Of course, the quake had not been reported at home and
>> we only alarmed our families in the end by telling them about it.
Similar to the great non Tornado of '87 that hit the south. We were in Singapore, and my mother went out of her way to get a message to us to reassure us that she was ok and both out houses were still standing.
Our response was"Huh? WFT is she on about"
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I hope you are keeping a diary ! The year you've had has got to be worth a couple of million compared with the cack churned out in book deals by c'lebs.
Glad you and your immediate are all well.
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So, did you get a tent? Hope you don't have to use it except for planned camping trips. Stay safe.
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As a slight thread drift, when my dad ended up on hospital 2 years ago with double pneumonia, we set up a group chat on Messenger for the siblings and partners. That way, anyone visiting him or have any update, could put it on there and everyone else could get an instant update and there was no "non sharing" of information.
Now we also have a Whatsapp group for the family but also including my dad (he is not on Facebook / Messenger and refuses to do so). Again lots of general day to day chat as and when, phone will ping with any updates and a quick scan will tell you if its important or just chat. We still keep the other one going when we don't want my dad to know what we are saying (well he is 83 and there are still some things or jokes you don't do in front of your parents!).
Very rarely now do I send a conventional text to any of my siblings now, most of the time it will be done by one of these methods. Since getting the iphone, I find it much easier to send links to articles than my last android did so find that more and more I would share these by whatsapp or messenger.
Only issue comes when you don't have data, like last week in Torremolinos, so could only get these updates as and when I got Wi-Fi.
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And another 6.3 around 4.00am this morning. This is becoming a real pain.
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The missus went to Tokyo with her boss once upon a time, and, um, the earth moved for her. She didn't know what woz going on at the time, and thought it was just the result of jet lag.
She said it was like being on a boat, to a certain extent. It wasn't 'til she got back to the London office that she learnt it was, um , a big one.
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>> And another 6.3 around 4.00am this morning. This is becoming a real pain.
Wuss. Here in the UK some people are waking up to the devastation caused by a 2.8 quake:
www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-3245983/2-8-magnitude-earthquake-hits-Rutland.html
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"Emergency services have not reported any casualties or damage to property."
With a 2.8? Imagine my relief.
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Chile has had:
10 earthquakes today
205 earthquakes in the past 7 days
230 earthquakes in the past month
499 earthquakes in the past year
57 earthquakes > 5.1 in the last 7 days.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Wed 23 Sep 15 at 12:36
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Hope your nearest and dearest are still OK and not too traumatized FMR. If they and you aren't, you can remind them of the rock lyric Wish I could Shimmy like my Sister Kate/Shakin like a jelly/On a plate, and so on.
I hope the tectonic plate you're on the edge of settles down soon anyway and stops grumbling.
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Its getting wearing, as much being disturbed at night as anything. No. 2 and I have been having long and realistic conversations about earthquakes. We've done quite a lot of investigation on the internet.
I decided that it was her imagination that was getting her, so we've done a lot of frank and brutal investigation into what the real dangers are and what actually kills people. Then we've been able to address them one by one.
She has her own action plan and grab bag. She is still scared, but we have moved on from total panic & collapse.
Its the worry that gets you. Unless we're unlucky it'll take a high 8 at least to harm us, and now they've mostly calmed down to mid 5s with the occasional 6. There's probably 2 a day which are disturbing. Of course, up North they are suffering much more.
The stress comes in because every time an earthquake starts you don't know how big its going to be until it stops. And it is stress rather than fear. More insidious, somehow.
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The stress comes in because every time an earthquake starts you don't know how big its going to be until it stops. And it is stress rather than fear. More insidious, somehow.
Yes, that I can understand. Humans can put up with quite a lot, but not knowing the outcome reduces that quite a lot. Fear of the unknown etc.
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URGENT, Is anyone awake? - Fullchat
