Earthquake Hits Chile

LOCATED on the Pacific Rim ‘ring of fire’, the world’s most seismically active region, Chile suffered one of its worst earthquakes in the early hours of Saturday. Measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale, the tremor made some kind of geological history. According to one report the last earthquake of bigger magnitude recorded took place in May 1960 (in Chile) that claimed almost 2,000 lives. Saturday’s calamity also triggered a tsunami causing 53 countries to issue a warning to their coastal areas. Mercifully, the killer waves forecast did not materialise. Nevertheless, evacuation plans, such as those in Japan and Hawaii, led many to safer ground. As the intensity of the earthquake became clear, the world waited for spine-chilling accounts of death and devastation in Chile. Destruction there has been in abundance — some 500,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed — and more than 700 people have been killed. At least two million have been affected, necessitating the declaration of a “state of catastrophe” in the country. But in spite of its current crisis, Chile stands out as a shining example of how nations can indeed take precautions to avoid the worst fallout of unpredictable natural disasters.