Map showing the location of the most significant aftershock to strike
Chile. Today's temblor measured magnitude 7.2. (USGS) See the
latest images from earthquake recovery images in the slideshow below.
Still recovering from a monstrous earthquake last month, Chile was rocked this morning by a significant 7.2 magnitude earthquake. That temblor was then followed by magnitude 6.9 and 6.0 quakes.
- Update, 9:39am MST - The USGS has downgraded the largest quake today to a magnitude 6.9 and the second to a 6.7.
Since the major magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck that nation on February 27th, aftershocks have continued to frighten residents and threaten to collapse already weakened structures. Today’s quakes represent the most significant since the initial quake and occur at the same time the nation is inaugurating new president Sebastian Pinera.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the magnitude 7.2 quake today originated 21.7 miles below the earth’s surface. They placed the epicenter as 70 miles west of Rancagua or 95 miles southwest of the nation’s capital of Santiago. It struck at 11:39am local time.
The second quake this morning occurred 16 minutes after the first and was deeper at 27.6 miles and closer to Santiago. The third, another 11 minutes later, was the shallowest at a depth of 19.9 miles and its epicenter was between the first two.
Chile is known to be a hot bed of seismic activity and was home to the largest earthquake in recorded history – a magnitude 9.5 temblor that struck in 1960.
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Hundreds were killed in the most recent quake, a death toll that could have been much worse were it not for preparations the nation has made in recent years. The quake last month was the fifth largest since 1900 and sent a tsunami across the Pacific Ocean that was felt in Hawaii and Japan.
Scientists have determined that the quake was powerful enough to have shifted the Earth’s axis and shortened the length of its days. It moved the city of Concepcion 10 feet to the west and the capital of Santiago 11 inches to the west-southwest.
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