1960 Valdivia earthquake

9.4–9.6 magnitude earthquake in Chile May 2024 October 2025 1960 Valdivia earthquake Valdivia after earthquake, 1960.jpg Collapsed buildings in Valdivia Chile Chile -20.22 -70.15 Iquique right 120 Green pog.svg Chile -33.45 -70.67 Santiago right 120 Green pog.svg Chile -38.74 -72.60 Temuco right 120 Green pog.svg Chile -38.24 -73.05 40 Bullseye1.png Chile -53.15 -70.91 Punta Arenas right 120 Green pog.svg yes 290 center infobox 1960-05-22 19:11:14 879136 iscgem879136 1960 5 22 y 15:11:14 10 minutes 9.4–9.6 w y 25 km on -38.24 -73.05 region:CL_type:event inline,title Megathrust Chile, Pacific Rim XIIhttps://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazel/view/hazards/earthquake/event-more-info/4227 19 September 2016 United States Geological Survey Significant Earthquake Database https://web.archive.org/web/20170105065421/https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/results?bt_0=&st_0=&type_17=EXACT&query_17=None+Selected&op_12=eq&v_12=&type_12=Or&query_14=None+Selected&type_3=Like&query_3=&st_1=&bt_2=&st_2=&bt_1=&bt_4=&st_4=&bt_5=12&st_5=12&bt_6=&st_6=&bt_7=&st_7=&bt_8=&st_8=&bt_9=&st_9=&bt_10=&st_10=&type_11=Exact&query_11=&type_16=Exact&query_16=&bt_18=&st_18=&ge_19=&le_19=&type_20=Like&query_20=&display_look=1&t=101650&s=1&submit_all=Search+Database 5 January 2017 live 2.93 ghttps://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/official19600522191120_30/shakemap/analysis?source=atlas&code=atlas19600522191117 M 9.5 - 1960 Great Chilean Earthquake (Valdivia Earthquake) USGS ShakeMap 21 September 2023 Up to 25 m ft Yes 1,886–6,000 dead 311 cm/s On 22 May 1960, an earthquake and tsunami occurred in Chile, devastating the city of Valdivia. Most studies have placed it at 9.4–9.6 on the moment magnitude scale, making it the strongest earthquake ever recorded, while some studies have placed the magnitude lower than 9.4.Fujii Yushiro Satake Kenji 1 September 2013 Slip Distribution and Seismic Moment of the 2010 and 1960 Chilean Earthquakes Inferred from Tsunami Waveforms and Coastal Geodetic Data Pure and Applied Geophysics 170 9 1493–1509 10.1007/s00024-012-0524-2 1420-9136 free 2013PApGe.170.1493FHo Tung-Cheng Satake Kenji Watada Shingo Fujii Yushiro 2019 Source Estimate for the 1960 Chile Earthquake From Joint Inversion of Geodetic and Transoceanic Tsunami Data Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 124 3 2812–2828 10.1029/2018JB016996 free 2019JGRB..124.2812H 2169-9313 It occurred in the afternoon (19:11:14 UTC, 15:11:14 local time), and lasted 10 minutes. The resulting tsunamis affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, southeast Australia, and the Aleutian Islands. The epicenter of this megathrust earthquake was near Lumaco, approximately 570 km mi south of Santiago, with Valdivia being the most affected city. The tremor caused localized tsunamis that severely battered the Chilean coast, with waves up to 25 m. The main tsunami traveled across the Pacific Ocean and devastated Hilo, Hawaii, where waves as high as 10.7 m were recorded over 10000 km mi from the epicenter. The death toll and monetary losses arising from this widespread disaster are not certain.1960 Video: Cataclysm. Volcano, Tidal Waves, Devastate Pacific Area, 1960/05/27 (1960) https://archive.org/details/1960-05-27_cataclysm Universal Newsreel 22 February 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20130428014247/http://archive.org/details/1960-05-27_cataclysm 28 April 2013 live Various estimates of the total number of fatalities from the earthquake and tsunamis have surfaced, ranging between 1,000 and 6,000 killed. Different sources have estimated the monetary cost ranged from 400million to $800millionhttp://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/world/1960_05_22_articles.html 11 January 2007 United States Geological Survey The Largest Earthquake in the World – Articles https://web.archive.org/web/20070107005353/http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/world/1960_05_22_articles.html 7 January 2007 (or US 0.4 1960 1billion to $US 0.8 1960 1billion in US, adjusted for inflation).US Geological context Earthquakes in Chile Chile is located along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a known zone of high seismicity. The earthquake was a megathrust earthquake resulting from the release of mechanical stress between the subducting Nazca plate and South American plate on the Peru–Chile Trench, off the coast of southern Chile. Because of its geography, Chile remains one of the most seismically active countries in the world. left|thumb|202x202px|Chile at the intersection between the Nazca and South American plates, with arrows depicting directionality of plate movements Tectonic interpretation thumb|The Valdivia earthquake (light blue at the bottom left of this graph) released almost a quarter of all global seismic energy between 1906 and 2005 The focus of the earthquake was relatively shallow at 33 km on, considering that earthquakes in northern Chile and Argentina may reach depths of 70 km on. A 2019 research paper postulates that the Liquiñe-Ofqui fault had a w9.07 strike-slip sub-event along with the w9.37 main thrust sub-event which could help account for how the plate boundary event seemingly "overspent" its tectonic budget. In other words, the previous and current more widely accepted explanation for the earthquake involves the Peru-Chile Trench slipping further than its accumulated slip deficit (the amount of slip available for an earthquake) should allow. The alternative explanation, with two faults slipping nearly simultaneously, could help explain the true mechanism of the earthquake.Kanamori Hiroo July 2019 Evidence for a large strike-slip component during the 1960 Chilean earthquake https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334143123 Geophysical Journal International 218 1 1–32 10.1093/gji/ggz113 free 9 July 2022Cisternas M. Carvajal M. Wesson R. Ely L. L. Gorigoitia N. 1 November 2017 Exploring the Historical Earthquakes Preceding the Giant 1960 Chile Earthquake in a Time-Dependent Seismogenic Zone https://doi.org/10.1785/0120170103 Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 107 6 2664–2675 2017BuSSA.107.2664C 10.1785/0120170103 25 August 2022 26 April 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230426032132/https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/bssa/article-abstract/107/6/2664/520075/Exploring-the-Historical-Earthquakes-Preceding-the?redirectedFrom=fulltext live subscription Subduction zones are known to produce the strongest earthquakes on Earth, as their particular structure allows more stress to build up before energy is released. Geophysicists consider it a matter of time before this earthquake will be surpassed in magnitude by another. The earthquake's rupture zone was ≈800 km on long, stretching from Arauco (37° S) to below the Chiloé Archipelago (44° S). Rupture velocity, the speed at which a rupture front expands across the surface of the fault, has been estimated as 3.5 km on per second.Kanamori Hiroo Hiroo Kanamori Cipar, John J. 1974 Focal Process of the Great Chilean Earthquake May 22, 1960 http://gps-prod-storage.cloud.caltech.edu.s3.amazonaws.com/people_personal_assets/kanamori/HKpepi74.pdf live Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 9 2 128 1974PEPI....9..128K 10.1016/0031-9201(74)90029-6 https://web.archive.org/web/20160610023751/http://gps-prod-storage.cloud.caltech.edu.s3.amazonaws.com/people_personal_assets/kanamori/HKpepi74.pdf 10 June 2016 20 April 2016 The average slip across all 27 Nazca sub-faults was estimated to be 11 m, with 25 – 30 m of slip 200 – 500 km south of the epicenter on offshore sub-faults. While the Valdivia earthquake was extraordinarily large, the 2016 Chiloé earthquake hints that it did not release all the potential slip in that segment of the plate interface.Cisternas M. Carvajal M. Wesson R. Ely L.L. Gorigoitia N. 2018 Exploring the Historical Earthquakes Preceding the Giant 1960 Chile Earthquake in a Time-Dependent Seismogenic Zone https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1125&context=cotsfac live Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 107 6 2664–2675 2017BuSSA.107.2664C 10.1785/0120170103 https://web.archive.org/web/20201103191747/https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1125&context=cotsfac 3 November 2020 30 August 2020 subscription Earthquake sequence Concepción earthquakes 1960 Concepción earthquakes The 1960 Chilean earthquakes were a sequence of strong earthquakes that affected Chile between 21 May and 6 June 1960, centered in the Cautín, Malleco, Aysén, and Biobío provinces of the country. The first three quakes, all registering in the planet's top 10 by magnitude for 1960, are grouped together as the 1960 Concepción earthquakes. The first of these was the 8.1 Mw Concepción earthquake at 06:02 UTC-4 on 21 May 1960. Its epicenter was near Curanilahue. The second and third Concepción earthquakes occurred the next day at 06:32 UTC-4 (7.1 Mw) and 14:55 UTC-4 (7.8 Mw) on 22 May. These earthquakes formed a southward migrating foreshock sequence to the main Valdivia shock, which occurred just 15 minutes after the third event.The 1960 Chile earthquake: inversion for slip distribution from surface deformation Barrientos S.E. Ward S.N. Geophysical Journal International 1990 103 3 589–598 10.1111/j.1365-246X.1990.tb05673.x 1990GeoJI.103..589B free The earthquake interrupted and effectively ended a protest by coal miners from Lota, who were attempting to march to Concepción to demand higher salaries.Reyes Herrera Sonia E. Rodríguez Torrent Juan Carlos Medina Hernández Patricio 2014 El sufrimiento colectivo de una ciudad minera en declinación. El caso de Lota, Chile http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-71832014000200010 Horizontes Antropológicos 20 42 es 9 February 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20190503211447/http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-71832014000200010 3 May 2019 live Valdivia earthquake The Valdivia earthquake occurred at 15:11 UTC-4 on 22 May, and affected all of Chile between Talca and Chiloé Island, more than 400000 km2 sqmi. Coastal villages, such as Toltén, were struck. At Corral, the main port of Valdivia, the water level rose 4 m ft on before it began to recede. At 16:20 UTC-4, a wave of 8 m ft on struck the Chilean coast, mainly between Concepción and Chiloé. Another wave measuring 10 m ft on was reported ten minutes later. Hundreds of people were already reported dead by the time the tsunami struck. One ship, Canelo, starting at the mouth of the Valdivia River, sank after being moved 1.5 km mi on backward and forward in the river; as of 2005, its mast was still visible from the road to Niebla.Barría Sandra El domingo en que Valdivia sufrió el terremoto más violento del mundo La Tercera 1 February 2005 http://www.tercera.cl/medio/articulo/0,0,3255_5666_106009196,00.html https://web.archive.org/web/20080311025637/http://www.tercera.cl/medio/articulo/0%2C0%2C3255_5666_106009196%2C00.html 11 March 2008 18 July 2012 dead 180px|thumb|left|USGS United States Geological Survey ShakeMap for the mainshock Soil subsidence also destroyed buildings, deepened local rivers and created wetlands in such places as the Río Cruces and Chorocomayo, a new aquatic park north of the city. Extensive areas of the city were flooded. The electricity and water systems of Valdivia were completely destroyed. Witnesses reported underground water flowing up through the soil. Despite the heavy rains of 21 May, the city was without a water supply. The river turned brown with sediment from landslides and was full of floating debris, including entire houses. The lack of potable water became a serious problem in one of Chile's rainiest regions.Chile Terremoto de Valdivia: cómo fue el poderoso sismo de 1960, el mayor registrado de la historia – Vivienda al Día https://infoinvi.uchilefau.cl/chile-terremoto-de-valdivia-como-fue-el-poderoso-sismo-de-1960-el-mayor-registrado-de-la-historia/ 26 April 2023 infoinvi.uchilefau.cl 26 June 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220626204203/https://infoinvi.uchilefau.cl/chile-terremoto-de-valdivia-como-fue-el-poderoso-sismo-de-1960-el-mayor-registrado-de-la-historia/ liveA 60 años del terremoto de 1960 Deutsche Wochenzeitung Cóndor in Chile https://www.condor.cl/2020/05/23/a-60-anos-del-terremoto-de-1960/ 26 April 2023 es 27 March 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230327105303/https://www.condor.cl/2020/05/23/a-60-anos-del-terremoto-de-1960/ live The earthquake did not strike all the territory with the same strength; measured with the Mercalli scale, tectonically depressed areas suffered heavier damage. The two most affected areas were Valdivia and Puerto Octay, near the northwest corner of Llanquihue Lake. Puerto Octay was the center of a north–south elliptical area in the Central Valley, where the intensity was at the highest outside the Valdivia Basin. East of Puerto Octay, in a hotel in Todos los Santos Lake, stacked dishes were reported to have remained in place.Weischet W. Von Huene, R. Further observations of geologic and geomorphic changes resulting from the catastrophic earthquake of May 1960, in Chile Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America December 1963 53 6 1237–1257 10.1785/BSSA0530061237 1963BuSSA..53.1237W http://bssa.geoscienceworld.org/content/53/6/1237.abstract 15 March 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20150505041213/http://bssa.geoscienceworld.org/content/53/6/1237.abstract 5 May 2015 live subscription With the exception of poor building sites, the zone of Mercalli scales intensities of VII or more all lay west of the Andes in a strip running from Lota (37° S) southwards. The area of intensities of VII or more did not penetrate into the Central Valley north of Lleulleu Lake (38° S) and south of Castro (42.5° S). Two days after the earthquake Cordón Caulle, a volcanic vent close to Puyehue volcano, erupted. Other volcanoes may also have erupted, but none were recorded because of the lack of communication in Chile at the time. The relatively low death toll in Chile (5,700) is explained in part by the low population density in the region, and by building practices that took into account the area's high geological activity. Earthquake lights were reported in Purén.Navarrete Carrillo 2020 85 Aftershocks One of the main aftershocks occurred on 6 June in Aysén Province.Kanamori Hiroo Rivera Luis 2017 An Mw =7.7 slow earthquake in 1960 near the Aysén Fjord region, Chile https://authors.library.caltech.edu/82533/1/ggx292.pdf Geophysical Journal International 211 93–106 10.1093/gji/ggx292 free 29 March 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20180718233846/https://authors.library.caltech.edu/82533/1/ggx292.pdf 18 July 2018 live This magnitude 7.7 earthquake probably occurred along the Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault, meaning that the fault would have moved as a consequence of the 22 May Valdivia earthquake. Natural disasters Tsunamis thumb|upright=1.2|Travel time of the tsunami across the Pacific Ocean at one-hour intervals Earthquake-induced tsunamis affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, China,http://www.weather.gov.hk/gts/equake/tsunami_mon_e.htm Tsunami Monitoring in Hong Kong weather.gov.hk 1 February 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20130114053740/http://www.weather.gov.hk/gts/equake/tsunami_mon_e.htm 14 January 2013 dead eastern New Zealand, southeast Australia, and the Aleutian Islands. Some localized tsunamis severely battered the Chilean coast, with waves up to 25 m on. The main tsunami crossed the Pacific Ocean at a speed of several hundred km/h and devastated Hilo, Hawaii, killing 61 people.Gates, Alexander E.; Ritchie, David. (2009). Encyclopedia of Earthquakes and Volcanoes https://web.archive.org/web/20200424235151/https://books.google.com/books?id=b1sXfJCiCHQC&pg=PA49 24 April 2020 . Ed. Infobase Publishing. 9780816072705. p. 49 Most of the tsunami-related deaths in Japan occurred in the northeast Sanriku region of Honshu. The Chilean coast was devastated by a tsunami from Mocha Island (38° S) to Aysén Province (45° S). Across southern Chile, the tsunami caused huge loss of life, damage to port infrastructure, and the loss of many small boats. Further north, the port of Talcahuano did not suffer any major damage, only some flooding. Some tugboats and small sailboats were stranded on Rocuant Island near Talcahuano.Vargas Sáez Juan Francisco 2000 Historial del Mar de Chile: Algunos Siniestros Marítimos Acaecidos en el Siglo XX Valparaíso, Chile 391–398 978-956-288-739-7 es In Valdivia, the tsunami swell penetrated along Calle-Calle River as far as Huellelhue, putting ashore piles of firewood that lay in the fields.Olivares Reyes Muñoz Contreras Correa 2022 78 After the 21 May Concepción earthquake, people in Ancud sought refuge in boats. A carabinero (police) boat, Gloria, was towing a few of these boats when the second earthquake struck on 22 May. As the sea regressed Gloria became stranded between Cerro Guaiguén and Cochinos Island. The stranded boat was wrecked when a tsunami wave engulfed it. All the new infrastructure of the small port of Bahía Mansa was destroyed by the tsunami, which reached heights of up to 10 metres above sea level there. The boat Isabella in Bahía Mansa quickly left the port but lost its anchors. thumb|250px|Wrecks of Carlos Haverbeck (top) and Canelo (bottom). In the Valdivia River and Corral Bay, several vessels were wrecked by the earthquake, among them Argentina, Canelo, Carlos Haverbeck, Melita, and the salvaged remnants of Penco. Canelo was anchored at Corral when the quake struck, filling a cargo of wood and other products destined for northern Chile. The engine of Canelo was warmed up after the earthquake. After hours of drifting around in Corral Bay and Valdivia River, the ship was wrecked and subsequently abandoned by its crew at 1800 local time. Two men on board Canelo died in the incident. As of 2000, the remnants of Canelo were still visible. Santiago, another ship anchored at Corral at the time of the quake, managed to leave Corral in a bad state but was wrecked off the coast of Mocha Island on 24 May. The schooner La Milagrosa departed from Queule on 22 May to load a cargo of Fitzroya wood shingles in a small port south of Corral. La Milagrosa was battered by the currents and waves of the tsunami for four days while moving south. Outside Corral the crew rescued six nearly unconscious and dehydrated children on board two boats. The boats found were used to navigate in Valdivia River and Corral Bay but had drifted into the high sea.Jaramillo Basso 2013 61–63 thumb|left|Hilo, Hawaii, after the tsunami The coastal localities of Nilahue and Mehuín were struck by the tsunami, causing the loss of fishing boats.Navarrete Carrillo 2020 78 150 boats, most of them used for fishing, were reported to have "disappeared" in Mehuín.Navarrete Carrillo 2020 78 Some kilometres north of Mahuín in the coastal town of Queule, a carabinero reported hundreds of people dead or missing some days after the tsunami. Historians Yoselin Jaramillo and Ismael Basso report that people in Queule decades later knew about 50 people to have died because of the earthquake and tsunami.Jaramillo Basso 2013 64 Landslides thumb|Effect of the tsunami at Kamaishi, Japan The earthquake triggered numerous landslides, mainly in the steep glacial valleys of the southern Andes. Within the Andes, most landslides occurred on forested mountain slopes around the Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault. Some of these areas remain sparsely vegetated while others have naturally developed more or less pure stands of Nothofagus dombeyi.Veblen Thomas T. Thomas T. Veblen Ashton, David H. Catastrophic influences on the vegetation of the Valdivian Andes, Chile Vegetatio 31 March 1978 36 3 149–167 10.1007/BF02342598 32393448 These landslides did not cause many fatalities nor significant economic losses because most of the areas were uninhabited, with only minor roads. One landslide caused destruction following its blockage of the outflow of Riñihue Lake (see below). About 100 km on south of Riñihue Lake, landslides in the mountains around Golgol River caused the river to dam up; when it burst through the earthen dam, it created a flood down to Puyehue Lake.Chapron Emmanuel Ariztegui Daniel Mulsow Sandor Villarosa Gustavo Pino Mario Outes Valeria Juvignié Etienne Crivelli Ernesto Mario Pino Quivira Impact of the 1960 major subduction earthquake in Northern Patagonia (Chile, Argentina) Quaternary International 1 December 2006 158 1 58–71 10.1016/j.quaint.2006.05.017 2006QuInt.158...58C The Golgol landslides destroyed parts of international Route 215-CH, which connects to Bariloche in Argentina through Cardenal Antonio Samoré Pass. While most landslides clustered around north–south strips in the Andes, other areas that were affected by large numbers of landslides were the coast, mainly the foot of the Chilean Coast Range, and the shores of Llanquihue Lake. Seiches A seiche (type of standing wave) of more than 1 meter was observed on Panguipulli Lake following the earthquake.Rojas Hoppe 2010 67 On 22 May, a seiche occurred also in Nahuel Huapi Lake, on the Argentine side of the Andes, more than 200 km away from Valdivia. The wave, most likely produced by an earthquake-triggered sediment slide at the lake bottom, killed two people and destroyed a pier in San Carlos de Bariloche city.Villarosa G. etal 2009 Origen del tsunami de 1960 en el Lago Nahuel Huapi, Patagonia: Aplicación de técnicas batimétricas y sísmicas de alta resolución Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina es 65 593–597 Riñihue Lake's flood Riñihuazo During the Great Chilean earthquake, several landslides west of Tralcán Mountain blocked the outflow of Riñihue Lake. Riñihue Lake is the lowest of the Seven Lakes chain and receives a constant inflow from the Enco River.Urrutia & Lanza 1993, p. 294. The dammed San Pedro River, which drains the lake, passes through several towns before reaching the city of Valdivia near the coast.El 'Riñihuazo' y su lucha contra la naturaleza Diario Austral es 22 May 2010 http://www.australdelosrios.cl/prontus4_nots/site/artic/20100522/pags/20100522000605.html 10 August 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20131202230703/http://www.australdelosrios.cl/prontus4_nots/site/artic/20100522/pags/20100522000605.html 2 December 2013 dead As the San Pedro River was impounded, the water level of Riñihue Lake started to rise quickly. Each meter the water level rose was equivalent to 20 million cubic meters, which meant that 480 million cubic meters of water would release into the San Pedro River, easily overpowering its flow capacity of 400 m3 cuft per second if it rose above the final, 24-meter-high dam. This potential disaster would have violently flooded all the settlements along the course of the river in less than five hours, with more dire consequences if the dam suddenly broke. About 100,000 people lived in the affected zone. Plans were made to evacuate Valdivia, and many people left. To avoid the destruction of the city, several military units and hundreds of workers from ENDESA, CORFO, and MOP started an effort to control the lake. Twenty-seven bulldozers were put into service, but they had severe difficulties moving in the mud near the dams, so dykes had to be constructed with shovels from June onwards. The work was not restricted to the lake; drainages from other parts of the Seven Lakes were dammed to minimize additional flow into Riñihue Lake. These dams were removed later, with the exception of Calafquén Lake, which still retains its dam. By 23 June, the main dam had been lowered from 24 to 15 m ft on, allowing 3 billion cubic metres of water to leave the lake gradually, but still with considerable destructive power. The team was led by ENDESA engineer Raúl Sáez. Cordón Caulle eruption thumb|Eruption of Cordón Caulle following the earthquake Puyehue-Cordón Caulle On 24 May, 38 hours after the main shock of the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, the Cordón Caulle volcano erupted.https://www.britannica.com/event/Chile-earthquake-of-1960 Chile earthquake of 1960 Pallardy Richard 17 August 2018 Encyclopaedia Britannica Online https://web.archive.org/web/20180915002300/https://www.britannica.com/event/Chile-earthquake-of-1960 15 September 2018 live 14 September 2018 The eruption was believed to have been triggered by the earthquake. Between two sparsely populated and isolated Andean valleys, the eruption had few eyewitnesses and received little attention by local media, which was preoccupied with the severe and widespread damage and losses caused by the earthquake.Lara L.E. Naranjo, J.A. Moreno, H. Rhyodacitic fissure eruption in Southern Andes (Cordón Caulle; 40.5°S) after the 1960 (Mw:9.6) Chilean earthquake: a structural interpretation Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 1 November 2004 138 1–2 127–138 10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2004.06.009 2004JVGR..138..127L 10533/175011 free The eruption was first noticed and reported as an explosion by the crew of a United States Air Force plane that was heading to Santiago from Puerto Montt.Petit-Breuilh Sepúlveda 2004 222 The eruption fed a 5.5 km-long fissure on 135° heading where 21 individual vents have been found. These vents produced an output of about 0.25 km3 DRE both in form of lava flows and tephra. The eruption ended on 22 July, 59 days later. As a result of an evacuation plan, there were no reported human deaths associated with the eruption.Petit-Breuilh Sepúlveda 2004 224 Consequences and response Urban impact thumb|The destroyed center of Corral, Chile The levels of material damage were relatively low despite the high magnitude of the earthquake. Part of the reason behind this was the limited infrastructure development of the region next to the rupture zone. Structures that had been designed to resist earthquakes performed well during the earthquake, chiefly suffering damage when affected by soil subsidence or small fault movements. Houses built by their owners fared badly. In the provinces of Curicó, Talca, Maule and Bío Bío, houses built from adobe and masonry proved weak, while from Malleco to the south weak houses were mainly those built with inappropriate wood that had decayed over time. It has been estimated that about 40 percent of the houses in Valdivia were destroyed, leaving 20,000 people homeless.Terremoto de Valdivia https://web.archive.org/web/20110202042703/http://www.icarito.cl/enciclopedia/articulo/segundo-ciclo-basico/ciencias-naturales/tierra-y-universo/2010/05/64-9124-9-terremoto-de-valdivia.shtml 2 February 2011 , Icarito. The most affected structures were those built of concrete, which in some cases collapsed completely, because they were not built using modern earthquake engineering. Traditional wooden houses fared better; although many were uninhabitable if they did not collapse. Houses built upon elevated areas suffered considerably less damage compared to those on the lowlands, which absorbed great amounts of energy. Many city blocks with destroyed buildings in the city center remained empty until the 1990s and 2000s, with some of them still used as parking lots. Before the earthquake, some of these blocks had modern concrete buildings built after the Great Valdivia fire of 1909. Around the main city square most buildings collapsed except for Edificio Prales and a few others.Olivares Reyes Muñoz Contreras Correa 2022 46Olivares Reyes Muñoz Contreras Correa 2022 55 The hospital of Valdivia, built in 1939, suffered major damage and patients had to be evacuated.Navarrete Carrillo 2020 29 The United States quickly set up a field hospital following the earthquake. Aided by the United States, a geological survey of Valdivia was done following the earthquake and resulted in the city's first geological map. Mexico built and donated the public school Escuela México after the earthquake.López Cárdenas, Patricio. 2009. Las administraciones municipales en la historia de Valdivia. pp. 62–65. Valdivia's bridges suffered only minor damage. The damage caused to Calle-Calle Bridge led to its temporary closure after the earthquake, with traffic redirected to Teja Island through Caucau River where people crossed it on boats and, reportedly, also a rudimentary and temporary wooden bridge.Navarrete Carrillo 2020 83Olivares Reyes Muñoz Contreras Correa 2022 52 Land subsidence in Corral Bay improved navigability as shoal banks, produced earlier by sediments from Madre de Dios and other nearby gold mines, sank and were compacted. As the earthquake destroyed Valdivia's flood barriers, general land subsidence exposed new areas to flooding.Rojas, C. "Genesis y manifestación de las inundaciones en el sur de Chile" https://web.archive.org/web/20131113181139/http://www.observatoriogeograficoamericalatina.org.mx/egal11/Procesosambientales/Proteccioncivil/07.pdf 13 November 2013 , Observatorio Geográfico de América Latina. Parts of the botanical garden of the Austral University of Chile that were next to Cau-Cau River and the city's southern outskirts along Route 206 were permanently flooded.http://www.bgci.org/worldwide/article/363/ The Ecological Approach to the Conservation of Plants in Botanic Gardens – The Experience of the Botanic Garden in Valdivia, Chile BGCI June 1998 7 July 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140425000714/http://www.bgci.org/worldwide/article/363/ 25 April 2014 deadChile: The Bradt Travel Guide Burford Tim 2005 9781841620763 475 Bradt Travel Guides The earthquakes damaged an area that had suffered a long period of economic decline, which began with shifts in trade routes due to the expansion of railroads in southern Chile and the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914.Figueroa, Victor; Gayoso, Jorge; Oyarzun, Edgardo; Planas, Lenia. "Investigación aplicada sobre Geografía Urbana: Un caso práctico en la ciudad de Valdivia" https://web.archive.org/web/20141025010536/http://mingaonline.uach.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-64281998000200006&lng=es&nrm=iso 25 October 2014 . Gestion Turistica, UACh. Unlike Valdivia, Osorno was saved from major destruction. In Osorno only about 20 houses were totally destroyed, although many firewalls and chimneys collapsed.Rojas Hoppe 2010 68 Puerto Montt, a major city today, had in the early 1960s about 49,500 inhabitants. The bulk of the damage in Puerto Montt was located in the neighborhood of Barrio Modelo and the northern part of Bahía Angelmó, where artificial fills subsided.Wolfgang Contribuciones al estudio de las transformaciones geográficas en la parte septentrional del sur de Chile por efecto del sismo del 22 de mayo de 1960 Editorial Universitaria 1960 95–121 es Angelmó and other coastal areas of Puerto Montt were among the few urban areas that suffered "total destruction" by the earthquake.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265292558 Estudio de los daños de los terremotos del 21 y 22 de mayo de 1960 M. Astroza I. R. Lazo H. 2010 Congreso chileno de sismología e ingeniería antisísmica. X jornadas es 10 May 2017 5 November 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20211105164245/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265292558_ESTUDIO_DE_LOS_DANOS_DE_LOS_TERREMOTOS_DEL_21_Y_22_DE_MAYO_DE_1960 live After the earthquake a myth related the unusually warm and clear weather conditions prior to the earthquake to its triggering.Navarrete Carrillo 2020 79 When compared with the years that followed in the 1960s the autumn of 1960 in southern Chile was not particularly dry nor warm.Rojas Hoppe 2010 43 Impact in the countryside thumb|Destroyed infrastructure of Altos Hornos y Acerías de Corral, a steel factory closed a few years before the earthquake. The tsunami that struck the coast of southern Chile destroyed seaside farms, killing numerous livestock and people.Rytkönen P Fruits of Capitalism: Modernization of Chilean Agriculture, 1950–2000 Lund Studies in Economic History 31 132 Barns and industrial structures were destroyed by the quake.Rojas Hoppe 2010 67 The dairy industry was among the few industries of the affected zone that received subsidies and investment after the earthquake. It received state support through a long-term policy after the earthquake. As a result of the earthquake, an international technological cooperation programme was established in the dairy sector. More specifically, the German and Danish governments helped to create the Centro Tecnológico de la Leche (the Milk Technological Centre) in the Southern University of Chile.Rytkönen P Fruits of Capitalism: Modernization of Chilean Agriculture, 1950–2000 Lund Studies in Economic History 31 139 The scholar Erik Dahmén believes that the earthquake resulted in a "creative destruction" for farmers of Southern Chile.Rytkönen P Fruits of Capitalism: Modernization of Chilean Agriculture, 1950–2000 Lund Studies in Economic History 31 133 A large area of former pastures and cultivated fields around the lower course of Cruces River was permanently flooded as a result of c. 2 m of subsidence caused by the earthquake.Ramirez, C., E. Carrasco, S. Mariani & N. Palacios. 2006. La desaparición del luchecillo (Egeria densa) del Santuario del Rio Cruces (Valdivia, Chile): una hipótesis plausible. Ciencia & Trabajo, 20: 79-86 Over the years the new wetlands were colonized chiefly by Egeria densa (es luchecillo). Egeria densa and other plants created a rich aquatic ecosystem that attracted a permanent bird fauna, notably black-necked swans. The protected area of Carlos Anwandter Nature Sanctuary was created in 1981 to protect the ecosystem. A whole neighbourhood of Corral, Corral Bajo was wiped by the tsunami, while the nearby upper area, Corral Alto, suffered the loss of about 20 to 30% of its houses.Navarrete Carrillo 2020 20 Among the material loses were a series of stilt houses between Corral Bajo and Amargos.Navarrete Carrillo 2020 20 After the earthquake many families in Corral relocated to the neighbourhood of La Aguada.Reconstrucción de la memoria histórica del barrio La Aguadam1906-2010 Schwerter Langenbach Carolina Unidad de Comunicaciones Consejo de la Cultura y las Artes Región de Los Ríos 2010 36 Spanish Basso Zapata Ismael The economy of the coastal town of Queule had during the 1950s developed significantly. Its economy based on fishing, agriculture and industry had grown. Queule was connected by road in 1957 to the rest of the country and the town had developed into a balneario (resort town). This era of prosperity ended with the 1960 earthquake.Jaramillo Basso 2013 52–57 Further north the earthquake destroyed numerous houses in the coal-mining town of Lebu.Breves recuerdos de algunas actividades mineras del carbón Davis Eliodoro Martín 1990 Departamento de Geociencias, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Concepción Actas 189–203 Santiago, Chile Segundo Simposio sobre el Terciario de Chile es The coal mine of Pupunahue suffered severe damage which led to coal production recovering to "acceptable levels" only by 1963.Memorias Bajo Tierra: (Re)construcción de la Memoria Colectiva en torno a la minería del Cárbon en la Comuna de Máfil (1935-2001) Aliaga Armijo Paula 2009 Spanish Sepúlveda Márquez Cristian 44 Creation of a national emergency management agency CORFO ONEMI After the earthquake, the Chilean Ministry of Economics began to develop a comprehensive reconstruction plan. The efforts of President Alessandri led to the creation of a new institutionality in order to facilitate future emergency preparation and to tackle the country's recovery after the earthquake. The then-newly named Ministry of Economics and Reconstruction was given the task of coordinating rebuilding efforts in joint venture with CORFO, an existing Chilean agency for the promotion of economic growth. Concomitantly, a ministerial-level committee, COPERE (Comisión de Planificación de la Economía y de Reconstrucción), was officially named as the government's Planning and Reconstruction Committee. CORFO acted the secretariat of the committee and was entrusted with the preparation of the reconstruction plan and its detailed execution.November 2016 National Strategy for Research, Development and Innovation for a Chile Resilient to Disasters of Natural Origin https://ctci.minciencia.gob.cl/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Informe-Hacia-un-Chile-Resiliente-frente-a-Desastres.-Una-Oportunidad-2016.pdf live 25 April 2023 Transition Observatory on Science, Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship.(Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation) 30 June 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220630102254/https://ctci.minciencia.gob.cl/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Informe-Hacia-un-Chile-Resiliente-frente-a-Desastres.-Una-Oportunidad-2016.pdf3 March 1962 CONSULTATION REPORT ON ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING https://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/19389/S6200197_en.pdf 25 April 2023 Digital Repository of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean 26 April 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230426032130/https://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/19389/S6200197_en.pdf live COPERE had also been entrusted with coordinating provincial activities while CORFO remained the technical secretariat of those provincial committees. A comprehensive national plan for emergencies that helped Chile better prepare for future disasters was enacted, in conjunction with legislation that increased the powers of the President in times of national emergency. CORFO also created the National Company of Telecommunications (ENTEL) out of a pressing need to improve and modernize communication efforts in times of disaster. In 1974, after the 1971 eruption of Villarrica volcano, COPERE was officially succeeded by ONEMI (Ministry of Interior National Emergency Office)—Chile's modern-day emergency management agency—when it was authorized by law as an independent governmental office by President Salvador Allende.Petit-Breuilh Sepúlveda 2004 238 Human sacrifice In the coastal village Collileufu (Cautín Province), native Lafkenches carried out a human sacrifice during the days following the main earthquake. Collileufu is located in the Budi Lake area, south of Puerto Saavedra, which was highly isolated in 1960. The Mapuche spoke primarily Mapudungun. The community had gathered in Cerro La Mesa, while the lowlands were struck by successive tsunamis. Juana Namuncura Añen, a local machi, demanded the sacrifice of the grandson of Juan Painecur, a neighbor, in order to calm the earth and the ocean.El cristo mapuche se perdió en el mar https://web.archive.org/web/20110707005843/http://www.australdelosrios.cl/prontus4_nots/site/artic/20100523/pags/20100523104628.html?s=www.australdelosrios.cl 7 July 2011 , El Diario Austral de Valdivia. 23 May 2010.Tierney Patrick https://archive.org/details/highestaltarunve00tier/page/172/mode/2up?q=grandson The Highest Altar: Unveiling the Mystery of Human Sacrifice Penguin Books 1989 0140139745 173 registration The victim was 5-year-old José Luis Painecur, an "orphan" (huacho) whose mother had gone to work as a domestic worker in Santiago and left her son under the care of his father. The sacrifice was learned about by authorities after a boy in the commune of Nueva Imperial denounced to local leaders the theft of two horses; these were allegedly eaten during the sacrifice ritual. Two men were charged with the crime of murder and confessed, but later recanted. They were released from prison after two years. A judge ruled that those involved had "acted without free will, driven by an irresistible natural force of ancestral tradition". The story was mentioned in a Time magazine article, although with little detail.http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,869529,00.html Time CHILE: Asking for Calm 4 July 1960 8 February 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20100317104741/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C869529%2C00.html 17 March 2010 dead Previous and subsequent earthquakes An earthquake of similar magnitude occurred in this area around 1800 BC, as has been determined by dating charcoal and shells washed into the Atacama Desert by the tsunami. This apparently caused the hunter-gatherers of the area to stop living near the coast for the next thousand years or so.Michael Marshall Ancient Chilean tsunami scared local people away for 1000 years New Scientist 16 April 2022 https://www.newscientist.com/article/2315204-ancient-chilean-tsunami-scared-local-people-away-for-1000-years/ 15 April 2022 15 April 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220415122445/https://www.newscientist.com/article/2315204-ancient-chilean-tsunami-scared-local-people-away-for-1000-years/ liveetal Diego Salazar Did a 3800-year-old Mw ~9.5 earthquake trigger major social disruption in the Atacama Desert? Science Advances 6 April 2022 8 14 eabm2996 10.1126/sciadv.abm2996 35385303 8985920 2022SciA....8M2996S There is evidence that a similar earthquake and landslide occurred in 1575 in Valdivia.http://www.buscalibros.cl/libros.php?c=226 https://web.archive.org/web/20070218034335/http://www.buscalibros.cl/libros.php?c=226 dead 18 February 2007 1971 Editorial Francisco de Aguirre Breve Historia de Valdivia 8 February 2010 This earthquake was of similar strength and also caused a Riñihuazo. According to the chronicle of Mariño de Lobera, corregidor of Valdivia in 1575, a landslide blocked the outflow of the lagoon of Renigua. Several months later in April, it caused a flood.Mariño de Lobera, CAPITULO III https://web.archive.org/web/20131019102115/http://www.biblioteca-antologica.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/MARI%C3%91O-DE-LOBERA-Cr%C3%B3nica-del-Reino-de-Chile-YA.pdf 19 October 2013 , Reino de Chile. He said that the Spanish settlers had evacuated and waited on high ground until after the dam burst, but many aboriginals died in the flood waters. While the 1575 earthquake is considered the one most similar to that of 1960, it differed in not having caused any tsunami in Japan.Watanabe H. 1998 Comprehensive List of Destructive Tsunamis to Hit the Japanese Islands ja University of Tokyo Press Japan Other lesser earthquakes that preceded the 1960 event occurred in 1737 and 1837.Cisternas Marco Atwater Brian Brian Atwater Torrejon Fernando Sawai Yuki Machuca Gonzalo Lagos Marcelo Eipert Annaliese Youlton Cristian Slagado Ignacio Kamataki Takanobu Shishkura Masanobu Rajendran C.P. C. P. Rajendran Malik Javed Rizal Yan Husni Muhammad Predecessors of the giant 1960 Chile earthquake Nature 15 September 2005 404–407 http://www.geology.cwu.edu/facstaff/tim/g501/pdf/Cisternas_2005.pdf 437 7057 10.1038/nature03943 2005Natur.437..404C 16163355 4398549 31 January 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20151126042951/http://www.geology.cwu.edu/facstaff/tim/g501/pdf/Cisternas_2005.pdf 26 November 2015 live On 27 February 2010 at 03:34 local time, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake occurred just to the north (off the coast of the Maule region of Chile, between Concepción and Santiago).http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100227/twl-tsunami-after-deadly-earthquake-hits-3fd0ae9.html Tsunami After Deadly Earthquake Hits Chile 27 February 2010 27 February 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20100301162803/http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100227/twl-tsunami-after-deadly-earthquake-hits-3fd0ae9.html 1 March 2010 dead This quake was reported to be centered approximately 35 km mi deep and several miles off shore. It may have been related or consequential to the 1960 Valdivia quake, the strongest as recorded using modern technology.Than Ker 2 March 2010 https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100302-chile-earthquake-earth-axis-shortened-day/ Chile Earthquake Altered Earth Axis, Shortened Day https://web.archive.org/web/20180527163324/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100302-chile-earthquake-earth-axis-shortened-day/ 27 May 2018 National Geographic News This 2010 earthquake was the largest to affect Valdivia since the 1960 event. Thirty five houses were severely damaged and some 44 other suffered reparable damage.El terremoto chileno del 27 de febrero de 2010: Análisis preliminar de las consecuencias en la ciudad de Valdivia Investigaciones Geográficas Rojas Hoppe Carlos 60 139–153 Díez Lorente Silvia 10.14198/INGEO2013.60.08 2013 60 Spanish free 10045/34749 free A survey showed that 434 persons in Valdivia had their homes damaged by the earthquake. The damage was to areas of poor soil quality, chiefly former wetlands and artificial fills. Some sidewalks near the river shore in Valdivia cracked and collapsed much like in the 1960 earthquake. Overall the 2010 areas of damage in Valdivia were few and highly localized. See also Chile Earth sciences 1964 Villarrica eruption Geology of Chile Great Chilean drought of 1968–1969 List of earthquakes in 1960 List of earthquakes in Chile List of largest earthquakes by magnitude List of megathrust earthquakes References PAGER-CAT Earthquake Catalog https://earthquake.usgs.gov/static/lfs/data/pager/catalogs/ https://web.archive.org/web/20200313112456/ftp://hazards.cr.usgs.gov/web/data/pager/catalogs/ dead 13 March 2020 4 September 2009 United States Geological Survey Version 2008_06.1 Long-Term Perspectives on Giant Earthquakes and Tsunamis at Subduction Zones http://cires1.colorado.edu/~bilham/Honshu2011/Satake%20and%20Atwater.pdf K. Satake Kenji Satake B. Atwater Brian Atwater 2007 Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 35 1 355 10.1146/annurev.earth.35.031306.140302 2007AREPS..35..349S 21 March 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160109225025/http://cires1.colorado.edu/~bilham/Honshu2011/Satake%20and%20Atwater.pdf 9 January 2016 live Bibliography Jaramillo Yoselin Basso Ismael 2013 Queule, Entre Mar y Tierra 1950–2012 es Valdivia Arte Sonoro Austral Ediciones 978-956-8716-04-2 Cataclismo: Memorias de la megacatástrofe de 1960 Olivares Reyes Héctor 2022 978-956-414-095-7 Spanish Muñoz Juan Carlos Contreras Carla Correa Katherine Sesenta historias del Terremoto del 60 Navarrete Daniel 2020 Libros Verde Vivo 9789560919069 Spanish Carrillo Daniel Petit-Breuilh Sepúlveda María Eugenia 2004 La historia eruptiva de los volcanes hispanoamericanos (Siglos XVI al XX): El modelo chileno Huelva, Spain Casa de los volcanes es 84-95938-32-4 Rojas Hoppe Carlos Fernando Valdivia 1960: Entre aguas y escombros Ediciones Universidad Austral de Chile Valdivia, Chile 2010 es Urrutia de Hazbún Rosa Lanza Lazcano Carlos Catástrofes en Chile 1541–1992 1993 es Editorial La Noria Santiago External links Chilean earthquake and tsunami https://web.archive.org/web/20061101030326/http://www.geophys.washington.edu/tsunami/general/historic/chilean60.html 1 November 2006 – University of Washington Tsunami of 1960 – George Pararas-Carayannis Hawaii Events – Pacific Disaster Center 22 May 1960 South Central Chile Tsunami Amplitudes – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The Largest Earthquake in the World – United States Geological Survey 879136 Category:Megathrust earthquakes in Chile Valdivia earthquake Valdivia earthquake Category:History of Los Ríos Region Category:Floods in Chile Valdivia Category:Tsunamis in Chile Category:Tsunamis in Japan Category:Tsunamis in the United States Valdivia earthquake Category:Tsunamis in New Zealand Category:1960 natural disasters Category:1960s landslides Category:May 1960 in South America Category:Presidency of Jorge Alessandri