Massive 8.0 Earthquake Hits Chile, Chile Tsunami Won’t Affect California
- Massive 8.0 Earthquake Hits Chile, Chile Tsunami Won’t Affect California
A influential 8.8 magnitude earthquake has hits the Pacific Ocean near the coast of central Chile, according to U.S. Geological Survey authorities has generate a 9-foot high local tsunami in Pacific Ocean.
The epicenter of the shake, which occurred at 5.34pm (AEDT), was 99 kilometres southwest of the Chilean town of Talca and 117 kilometres northeast from Concepcion, also in Chile, the US Geological Survey said.
“An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines near the epicenter within minutes and more distant coastlines within hours,” the National Weather Service said in a statement.
Simon Shalders, who lives in Santiago, told: “There was a lot of movement.
The houses were really shaking, walls were moving backwards and forwards, and doors were swinging open.
He added: “The new buildings in Santiago are designed to withstand fairly strong quakes and they probably held up pretty well.
