A powerful magnitude-8.3 earthquake hit off Chile's northern coast Wednesday night, causing buildings to sway in the capital of Santiago and prompting authorities to issue a tsunami warning for the Andean nation's entire coast. Officials reported one death in a town north of the capital and heavy waves and some flooding in a handful of coastal cities. The tremor was so strong that people on the other side of the continent, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, reported feeling it. Four aftershocks above magnitude-6 and other strong shakes rattled the region after the first major tremor since a powerful quake and tsunami killed hundreds in 2010 and leveled part of the city of Concepcion in south-central Chile. Jorge Medina, a Santiago resident, said he was in an aerobics class when the quake hit. "People started screaming that everything was shaking," he said. Officials ordered people to evacuate low-lying areas along the 2,400 miles (3,900 kilometers) of Chile's Pacific shore, from Puerto Aysen in the south to Arica in the north. Fishing boats headed out to sea and cars streamed inland carrying people to higher ground. Santiago's main airport was evacuated as a precaution. Authorities said some adobe houses collapsed in the inland city of Illapel, about 175 miles (280 kilometers) north of Santiago. Illapel is about 34 miles (55 kilometers) east of the quake's epicenter. Illapel's mayor, Denis Cortes, told a local television station that a woman had been killed in the city but declined to give any details. Electricity was knocked out, leaving the city in darkness. "We are very scared. Our city panicked," Cortes said. The U.S. Geological Survey initially reported the quake at a preliminary magnitude of 7.9 but quickly revised the reading upward to 8.3. Chilean authorities put the magnitude at 8.4. U.S. officials said the quake struck just offshore in the Pacific at 7:54 p.m. (6:54 p.m. EDT, 1154 GMT) and was centered about 141 miles (228 kilometers) north-northwest of Santiago. It said the quake was 7.4 miles (12 kilometers) below the surface.

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=event_desc&edis_id=EQ-20150917-50109-CHL

I have a cousin living there. Her husband and her are living on the 15th floor of an apartment building.

They didn't sleep well last night because of 39 strong aftershocks. Their dog kept them up all night too.

She's staying in Santiago, Chile, btw. She said they're up to 44 strong aftershocks now.

yea, i was looking at the aftershocks, from mag 5-7, all of them... and some were predicting this to happen near Cali, but i guess it went further south...

I pray that Fukashima doesn't have another one. We take our environment for granted.

don't worry, they still have 4 more in earthquake/volcano zones...

The last Chilean quake shifted our axis a bit. I wonder if this one did also.

so did the Japanese Quake, made the day about a minute longer...

but both were about 100-1000 times stronger...

the Chilean Quake your talking about was the strongest on record, with Alaska quake 2nd, and the Japanese quake third....

The New Madrid earthquake of 1811 changed the course of the Mississippi River for several hours.


This site said it had a magnitude of 7.7:

http://plate-tectonics.org/earthquakes/new-madrid-earthquakes.html


This site said it was estimated to have had a magnitude of 8.6:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/earthquake-causes-fluvial-tsunami-in-mississippi


The articles are interesting, IMO.

think about what a 9 would do there now... millions would die

A 7.7-8.6 can reverse the Mississippi for a few hours. A 9 would be devastating.

When I bought my home, my insurance company said they insure frame homes but not brick homes because of the New Madrid fault.

also the flooding involved when it does reverse, yall might have a new great lake there... not to mention the bridges down, fires and buildings that are not earthquakeproof...

We're still getting mini-quakes frequently here around Dallas. They used to be a rarity here. I wonder if the surfing will be good here?

I've always heard that the "Big One" is inevitable. It's just a question of when. Here's the latest time theory:

"The USGS estimates the chance of having an earthquake similar to one of the 1811-12 sequence in the next 50 years is about 7 to
10 percent, and the chance of having a magnitude 6 or larger earthquake in 50 years is 25 to 40%."

"It is the most seismically active area of the United
States east of the Rockies."

"There is broad agreement in the scientific community that
a continuing concern exists for a major destructive earthquake
in the New Madrid seismic zone. Many structures in Memphis,
Tenn., St. Louis, Mo., and other communities in the central
Mississippi River Valley region are vulnerable and at risk."

This talks about the flooding and damages that could happen to Memphis. It also shows the map of the New Madrid zone:

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2009/3071/pdf/FS09-3071.pdf

Chile quake-triggered tsunami waves reach Japan

"Waves triggered by the massive 8.3 magnitude earthquake in Chile and dozens of aftershocks, have reached Japanese coasts, where authorities issued a tsunami advisory."

"Wednesday's earthquake was in the top 30 most powerful recorded earthquakes in world history, Chilean Interior Minister Jorge Burgos said at a press conference."

More here:

http://www.rt.com/news/315794-japan-tsunami-waves-chile/