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| Image Credit: U.S. Geological Survey |
Earthquakes are really amazing geological occurrences in my opinion. Destructive of
course, but at the same time I find them fascinating.
One thing that rarely comes to my mind are the economic costs of
large earthquakes. I see the destruction, but for whatever reason it rarely
clicks in my head the loss of goods and infrastructure for example.
On September 16, 2015 an earthquake occurred with a
magnitude of 8.3 off the coast of Chile. I ended up doing a decent bit of
research over this specific earthquake as it is recent and certainly large
enough to worry a significant amount of people.
Luckily this earthquake wasn’t extremely terrible. The U.S.Geological Survey (USGS) estimated a 46% probability that the economic loss
will be between $100 million and $1 billion in US dollars. Still a significant amount of money. From what information I was able to find the numbers did seem to be in that range.
Chile I would say is well accustomed to earthquakes due to
its location. Just off the coast is the Nazca Plate and South America Plate
tectonic boundary. This area is also a part of the Ring of Fire.
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| Image Credit: U.S. Geological Survey |
Most of the earthquakes at this location occur when the
compressional stress builds up beyond the rock’s limit and the plate slips
releasing a massive amount of energy.
The seismic energy released causes the ground to shake, and
the sudden displacement of water sends out a series of waves. Tsunami alerts
are sent clear across oceans usually for these events.
I have felt a few earthquakes so far in my life. I remember
two while I was in Okinawa, Japan, and one during my time in California. Lucky
for me the intensity was low enough for all of these that they just rattled everything
in the room.
If anyone has some experiences, stories, further
information, or questions then I welcome you to comment and share.
