My heart goes out to the victims of the very strong earthquake that hit Chile yesterday. After last month's Haitian quake, who would have thought that we would have an even stronger quake in the same hemisphere? This one was was an 8.8 which makes it one of the strongest in recorded history.I wonder if mother nature is trying to tell us something. And I wonder where the next strong earthquake will strike. Could it be the San Francisco Bay Area, which is overdue for "the" big one, according to geologists? I think that if I lived there I would be quite concerned.
But back to yesterday's quake. At first it was thought that it might produce a devastating tsunami that might swamp the Hawaiian Islands along the lines of the one that devastated Indonesia and other countries in 2004, but thank God, it appears that it won't happen. The last I heard was that they are still watching for a potential tsunami in Japan however.
At least in the case of Chili, they have an infrastructure that will be able to help them rebuild from the destruction caused by the quake. That is unlike poor Haiti, where virtually no infrastructure existed. So far apparently Chili hasn't even requested outside assistance from other countries. However, tragically, there has been considerable loss of life, with the toll already in the hundreds and destined to go higher.
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_14486570
