Breaking: Magnitude 8.2 Earthquake off Chile. Tsunami Warnings Issued

[Atomic Cow]

000
WEPA40 PHEB 020235
TSUPAC

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 005
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 0235Z 02 APR 2014

THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC
OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...
WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.

... A TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH ARE IN EFFECT ...

A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR

 CHILE / PERU

WARNING AND WATCH FOR ALL PREVIOUSLY NAMED AREAS ARE
CANCELLED

FOR ALL OTHER AREAS COVERED BY THIS BULLETIN... IT IS FOR
INFORMATION ONLY AT THIS TIME.

http://ptwc.weather.gov/ptwc/text.php?id=pacific.TSUPAC.2014.04.02.0235

000
WEHW42 PHEB 020247
TIBHWX
HIZ001>003-005>009-012>014-016>021-023>026-020447-

TSUNAMI INFORMATION STATEMENT NUMBER   5
NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI
447 PM HST TUE APR 01 2014

TO - CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII

SUBJECT - TSUNAMI INFORMATION STATEMENT

THIS STATEMENT IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY. NO ACTION IS REQUIRED AT
THIS TIME. HOWEVER... THE TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII IS STILL
BEING EVALUATED.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

   ORIGIN TIME - 0147 PM HST 01 APR 2014
   COORDINATES - 19.8 SOUTH   70.8 WEST
   LOCATION    - OFF THE COAST OF NORTHERN CHILE
   MAGNITUDE   - 8.2  MOMENT

EVALUATION

 A WARNING IS STILL IN EFFECT FOR CHILE AND PERU.
 WE ARE STILL INVESTIGATING LEVEL OF TSUNAMI THREAT
 FOR HAWAII.

 IF TSUNAMI WAVES IMPACT HAWAII THEIR ESTIMATED EARLIEST ARRIVAL
 TIME IS

                     0324 AM HST WED 02 APR 2014

FURTHER STATEMENTS WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER AS CONDITIONS
WARRANT UNTIL THE THREAT TO HAWAII HAS PASSED.

http://ptwc.weather.gov/ptwc/text.php?id=hawaii.TIBHWX.2014.04.02.0247

[SPQR]

The Northwest is no stranger to mega subduction zone quakes. At 9PM on January 26, 1700 one of the world's largest earthquakes occurred along the west coast of Washington State. The resulting tsunami reshaped the coast of Japan all the way across the pacific. If that would happen today, and they say its not IF but When the death toll could be in the tens of thousands  from the shaking alone, and  more from the tsunami.

That is the Juan De Fuca plate you are mentioning. That is responsible for the creation of the Cascade mountain region as it rams into along the Pacific plate

[truth_seeker]

Pacific Ring of Fire

[SPQR]

Pacific Ring of Fire

These are where the buoys are located as of 2007. I assume DART is completed:

[EC]

Is this level of activity normal?

It seems there have been a lot of quakes along the Americas side recently. Is it the normal level which is just more visible thanks to real time, world wide reporting? Or has activity kicked up a few notches?
Can't seem to find out either way.

[SPQR]

Is this level of activity normal?

It seems there have been a lot of quakes along the Americas side recently. Is it the normal level which is just more visible thanks to real time, world wide reporting? Or has activity kicked up a few notches?
Can't seem to find out either way.

It happens everywhere. Surface movement does not happen on one side then switches to the other. Our planet is constantly active. USGS constantly tracks even the smaller ones

[mountaineer]

More:

The death toll rose to six in the 8.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile’s northern coast – but officials said it remained a remarkably low toll for such a powerful shift in the Earth’s crust.

Authorities also lifted tsunami warnings for the South American nation’s long Pacific coastline early Wednesday, easing fears or more widespread death and destruction. ...

The quake touched off landslides that blocked roads, knocked out power for thousands, damaged an airport and ignited raging fires that destroyed several businesses.

About 300 inmates escaped from a women’s prison in the city of Iquique, forcing the closure of the border with Peru. Officials said some two dozen had been captured early Wednesday.  ...

The tsunami warning center initially had cancelled tsunami watches for areas other than northern Chile and southern Peru. The only U.S. impact might be higher waves Wednesday for Hawaii’s swimmers and surfers, it said.

The US Geological Survey initially reported the quake at 8.0, but later upgraded the magnitude of the quake that struck 61 miles northwest of Iquique.

More than 20 significant aftershocks followed, including a 6.2 tremor. ...

[mountaineer]

Interesting story from March 25, 2014:

Are Chile’s 300 earthquakes this week a harbinger of doom?
By Associated Press
March 25, 2014 | 10:03am


SANTIAGO, Chile — More than 300 earthquakes have shaken Chile’s far-northern coast the past week, keeping people on edge as scientists say there is no way to tell if the unusual string of tremors is a harbinger of an impending disaster.

The unnerving activity began with a strong magnitude-6.7 quake March 16 that caused more than 100,000 people to briefly evacuate low-lying areas, although no tsunami materialized and there was little physical damage from the shaking.

But the land has not settled down. More than a dozen perceptible quakes were felt in the city of Iquique just on Monday.

“The situation is out of the ordinary. There’s a mix of a string of tremors and their aftershocks that make things more complex to evaluate,” Mario Pardo, deputy head of the Universidad de Chile seismology center, told the local newspaper La Tercera. “We can’t rule out a larger quake.”

Chile is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries. A magnitude-8.8 quake and ensuing tsunami in central Chile in 2010 killed more than 500 people, destroyed 220,000 homes, and washed away docks, riverfronts and seaside resorts. ...

Rest of story

[NavyCanDo]

If you take away all the aftershocks I'm not sure that 300 earthquake figure is correct. An earthquake of this size can have hundreds of aftershocks, some fairly large, some so small that only a seismograph can see it. I think many of those are included in that headline figure.

Take away this 8.2 and the most activity has been on our own west coast.


Here is the map of the earthquakes this last week.    And before anybody panics, it goes up and down each week and locations change, but this is pretty much the type of activity I see each week. And I pull this up often. In fact the activity in my home state of WA is down big time this week.

http://earthquakes.tafoni.net/
 

[EC]

Thank you for the map! Very useful. 

Earthquakes scare the crap out of me for some reason - even small ones.

[NavyCanDo]

Thank you for the map! Very useful. 

Earthquakes scare the crap out of me for some reason - even small ones.

I've been in a 7.2 and a 6.5 and a few smaller ones. They are quite scary and where I work it is all built on land fill over an ancient swamp, so the shaking last longer.   My home however is on good glaciel till on a hill and has come through unscathed.