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The Chilean The Chilean Tsunami of Tsunami of

19601960

One of the planet’s greatest natural disasters

By Daniel Raphael

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Premise of The Tsunami

On May 22, 1960, at 19:11 GMT, an earthquake occurred off the coast of South Central Chile. A Pacific-wide tsunami was triggered by the earthquake, which had a surface-wave magnitude of 8.6, an epicenter of 39.5° S, 74.5° W, and a focal depth of 33 km. The number of fatalities associated with both the tsunami and the earthquake has been estimated to be between 490 to 2,290. Damage cost estimates were over a half billion dollars.

Nearly fifteen minutes after the earthquake, the tsunami first hit land, flooding more than 500 miles of the Chilean coast. With the combined earthquake, tsunami, and mudslide damages, it was estimated that one in every three houses in the earthquake zone had been lost.

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The Earthquake

Before the tsunami, an earthquake happened which had a magnitude of 9.5. This was the highest earthquake ever recorded in history, thus making for one of the largest tsunamis.

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The Damage

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The Aftereffects of the disaster After the tsunami had passed the Hawaiian Islands

damage costs were estimated at $24 million and 61 people had died. Hilo, on the main island of Hawaii, was the hardest hit city in the islands. The tsunami arrived at Hilo 14.8 hrs after the it originated off the coast of South Central Chile. The - at Hilo was measured at 10.7 m.

Along the Peru-Chile coast the estimated lost of life from the tsunami ranged from 330 to 2000 people and the - was measured as high as 25m. A city along the western coast of the United States which received notable run-up was Crescent City, California, where the run-up reached 1.7 m and the first wave arrived 15.5 hrs after the tsunami was triggered.

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Could a disaster like this be prevented today? In the 1960s technology was not nearly as

accurate for measuring disasters. It made it very hard to predict when something was going to happen. It is true however that still today there are many disasters that we are unprepared for and handle them inefficiently. However, evacuation and other things were not an option during this tsunami, as it happened too quickly with very little previous knowledge.

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How this changed awareness After the tsunami happened many people

began to fear of such occurrences happening again, and with such a high destruction rate. Many systems were implemented around the world to deal with natural disasters. (FEMA- Federal Emergency Management Act)

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Questions

What does FEMA stand for? How many lives were lost? What was the magnitude of the

earthquake preceding the tsunami? What was the public’s outcry after the

tsunami? Where did this tsunami happen?

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Resources

1960 Chilean Tsunami http://www.ess.washington.edu/tsunami/general/historic/chilean60.html 12/7/09

Biggest Tsunami Countdown http://fohn.net/biggest-tsunami/ Site Copyright © 2005 12/7/09