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6 Killed in Earthquake off Northern Chile Responding to Quake, Chile Uses Lessons of Past
(about 11 hours later)
SANTIAGO, Chile — A magnitude 8.2 earthquake struck off the coast of northern Chile on Tuesday night, setting off a tsunami and forcing a huge evacuation along the country’s long coastline. At least six people were reported to have died. SANTIAGO, Chile — Soon after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit southern Chile in 2010 near the end of President Michelle Bachelet’s first term, officials failed to issue a tsunami warning before a massive wave killed a large number of the 525 people who died in the disaster. Looting then plagued hard-hit areas after Ms. Bachelet delayed allowing the military to move in.
The first waves hit several cities along the coast, which extends 2,653 miles. Dozens of aftershocks rattled the region, but by Wednesday morning the tsunami warning had been lifted. This time around, when an 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck Tuesday night off the coast of northern Chile, officials leapt into action by comparison.
The epicenter of the earthquake, which struck at 8:46 p.m., was in waters 53 miles southwest of Cuya, a small town in Arica Province near the border with Peru. The deaths were the result of heart attacks or falling debris, Interior Minister Rodrigo Peñailillo said. The national emergency service had ordered the immediate evacuation of all coastal areas throughout the country, including Easter Island and the archipelago of Juan Fernández. Officials ordered the evacuation of Chile’s entire coast, an operation that proceeded largely without major problems aside from the escape of hundreds of inmates from a women’s prison in the northern city of Iquique. It also took just hours for Ms. Bachelet, now at the start of her second term, to send in special police forces as reinforcements, while also putting military generals in control of security in two regions most affected by the earthquake.
The coasts of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua were also put on alert, and an advisory was issued for Hawaii, but no major damage was reported. By the time the authorities lifted the tsunami warning on Wednesday morning, they counted just six people dead from the earthquake. The feared tsunami was far less intense than previous killer waves, and Defense Minister Jorge Burgos said the situation in the affected regions was normal, with no disruptions of public order.
“We are evaluating minute by minute the variations in tide, and ask the population to remain informed,” Mr. Peñailillo said. While good luck and the earthquake’s location seem to have prevented more destruction, the response by officials revealed important shifts in Chile’s preparation for such disasters.
In the hours after the earthquake, more than 300 prisoners escaped during the evacuation of a women’s prison in Iquique, the authorities said. More than a dozen of the inmates were recaptured, according to the police. “The 2010 earthquake provided us with an enormous learning opportunity,” said Helia Vargas, an official at Onemi, Chile’s national emergency service.
The government said it was sending more than 100 special forces personnel and military troops to coordinate with the security forces in Iquique, Mr. Peñailillo added. The changes, largely carried out during the four-year administration of President Sebastián Piñera, a conservative businessman who took office shortly after the 2010 earthquake, included the completion of emergency-response offices throughout the country with staff members prepared to work around the clock.
Electricity failures occurred across most of Arica, a port city of about 200,000 people, and some adobe homes crumbled in the quake, Chilean news media reported. Mining companies in northern Chile did not immediately report damage to their installations. Ms. Vargas said that telecommunications systems were strengthened and protocols were established to improve coordination on tsunami alerts between public and private emergency relief agencies. Moreover, officials have been carrying out evacuation simulations, establishing routes and procedures used by coastal residents on Tuesday night.
No looting was reported, said Ricardo Toro, the director of the national emergency service. Ms. Bachelet, speaking from Iquique on Wednesday, pointed to the ability of Chile, one of Latin America’s most prosperous and stable countries, to respond “in an exemplary way,” as calm prevailed over areas rattled by the earthquake.
Chile lies in one of the world’s most earthquake-prone zones. A magnitude 8.8 earthquake in 2010 off the coast of central Chile left at least 525 people dead. In 1960, a magnitude 9.5 earthquake, thought to be the largest of the 20th century, hit near Chile’s coast near the city of Valdivia; the disaster left about 1,600 people dead, largely from a subsequent tsunami. With about 300 smaller earthquakes shaking northern Chile in recent weeks in an unusual surge in seismic activity in the region, geologists say the nation’s preparedness could be tested again soon.
About 300 earthquakes of varying magnitude have shaken Chile’s northern coast in several weeks, delivering an unusual surge in seismic activity in the region. Since the 2010 earthquake, the Chilean authorities have sought to improve evacuation procedures. “This one didn’t release all the energy of its earthquake-producing zone,” said Richard W. Allmendinger, a structural geologist at Cornell University who also teaches at a university in Antofagasta, a port city in northern Chile. “It appears to be something of a pipsqueak, making us wonder if it’s a foreshock of a much larger earthquake.”
The evacuations on Tuesday night seemed to proceed in a calm and orderly fashion. Since 2010, there have been several tsunami emergency drills along the coast, so people are much more prepared and aware of what they should do. It was in 1960 near the Chilean city of Valdivia, Dr. Allmendinger pointed out, that a 9.5-magnitude earthquake, the most powerful recorded since 1900, left trails of destruction and about 1,600 people dead. Another earthquake in Iquique in 1877, with a magnitude of 8.5, set off a 75-foot-high tsunami that left thousands dead.
In contrast, the waves created by Tuesday’s earthquake were just a few feet high. A larger tsunami may have been avoided because of the earthquake’s location near the coastline, preventing a larger wave from forming, according to preliminary analyses by geologists.
Not everyone is convinced that Chile has significantly improved its emergency preparedness methods since the 2010earthquake.
Michel De L’Herbe, an emergency management consultant, said that policies remained highly centralized, preventing bottom-up responses. Beyond that, he said, recently hired employees of the national emergency service lack experience and training, and only a small portion of equipment purchased during Ms. Bachelet’s first term for the National Seismic Center has been installed.
“The advances are more cosmetic than technical a lot of the time,” Mr. De L’Herbe said.
Electricity and water are gradually returning to Arica and Iquique. Gen. Miguel Alfonso Bellet, who is in charge of security for the Arica-Parinacota region, said that there was enough food and gas for at least 25 days and that access routes in the area would be reopened shortly.