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Earthquake in Chile brings tsunami warning in Hawaii

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Written by Scott Lamb

February 27, 2010, 10:55 AM

While most of us were sleeping last night:

A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, collapsing buildings, killing at least 16 people and downing phone lines. President Michele Bachelet declared a “state of catastrophe” in central Chile and said the death toll was rising. (AP)

As a result of the earthquake, there is the possibility of a tsunami striking Hawaii, with the first waves hitting around 4 EST.

A tsunami warning – the highest alert level – was issued for Hawaii, where emergency officials planned to wake residents with sirens alerting them to the impending waves. Even before daybreak, lines formed at supermarkets with residents stocking up on water, canned food and batteries. Cars lined up 15 deep at several gas stations.

…A tsunami after a magnitude-9.5 quake that struck Chile in 1960, the largest earthquake ever recorded, killed about 140 people in Japan, 61 in Hawaii and 32 in the Philippines.

–UPDATE (7 EST)– Hawaii was spared from a tsunami.

Topic: Global, News Desk

Keywords: Chile, earthquake, Hawaii

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back to top31 Comments to “Earthquake in Chile brings tsunami warning in Hawaii”

BY donna j 02.27.10 AT 11:19 AM

We’re getting a tsunami warning for California as well today from the Coast Guard, they’re cautioning boaters and others to stay out of the water & harbors, away from beaches. They’re expected no more than some rough and unpredictable waters here, however.

Praying for those who were in the earthquake and that Hawaii won’t be impacted by more serious wave action.
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BY MCDIVITT 02.27.10 AT 12:28 PM

This quake was an 8.8, which is said to be a thousand times stronger than the 7.0 that hit Haiti. In 1960 Chile was hit with a 9.5, which was about 450,000 times stronger than the one in Haiti.

Let’s hope tsunamis don’t develop out of this.
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BY Chas 02.27.10 AT 12:31 PM

MCDIVITT is correct. 8.8 is BIG. But Chile has a government, that helps.
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BY hopesprings 02.27.10 AT 12:31 PM

Hawaii and countries along the Pacific coast are under tsunami warnings or advisories.
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BY adios 02.27.10 AT 1:59 PM

Asking for prayers. The son of a good friend is in Chile with YWAM. He said it is the summer high season with hundreds of thousands of extra people in coastal towns. The coastal town he is in was hit very quickly by a tsunami. All the men of YWAM are working rescue now. The head of the group has not heard from his two oldest daughters, pro-surfers, who were camping on the beach in Concepcion.
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BY NJLawyer 02.27.10 AT 2:00 PM

There was also an earthquake in Japan this week, so it would appear the “ring of fire” is wide awake, so to speak. Also, Antartica let loose a large iceberg. God is in control.
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BY Peter L 02.27.10 AT 2:19 PM

#6 NJLGod is in control.

Earthquakes and volcanoes along the Pacific Rim, tsunamis along the coast, fires and mudslides in California, extreme summer heat in the Southwest, tornadoes and blizzards in the Midwest, bitter cold and mountains of snow out East, hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico- there is no “perfect” place. No matter where you live, there are dangers from nature. I am glad God is in control, as natural events show us we are not.
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BY MCDIVITT 02.27.10 AT 2:49 PM

Why is God sending all these powerful earthquakes all of a sudden?
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BY adios 02.27.10 AT 2:54 PM

Peter L,

Quite true and along the Pac Rim this is not really out of the norm.
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BY opinionated teen 02.27.10 AT 3:14 PM

Okay, from some of you people who have a larger perspective: Are natural disasters getting more frequent, or is it just because we hear about everything that goes wrong on the news?
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BY NJLawyer 02.27.10 AT 3:27 PM

I just read that the Antarctic iceberg will block deep cold water from forming which will mean “cooler” winters in the North. There’s really nothing the climate change people can say that will convince me that the planet doesn’t know what it’s doing and that all these so-called “problems” we have aren’t truly and ultimately natural. Where did the arrogance form in man that we would dare to think we are in control?

OT, I can’t say for sure whether there are more “disasters” — just that these events have always occurred. So are they really truly disasters? Sure for the people who are killed, but this is how the planet behaves. What do we learn from these occurences? That’s the real question.
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BY MCDIVITT 02.27.10 AT 4:02 PM

There’s really nothing the climate change people can say that will convince me that the planet doesn’t know what it’s doing and that all these so-called “problems” we have aren’t truly and ultimately natural. Where did the arrogance form in man that we would dare to think we are in control?

OT, I can’t say for sure whether there are more “disasters” — just that these events have always occurred. So are they really truly disasters? Sure for the people who are killed, but this is how the planet behaves.

A few posts back you said God is in control. Now you say that the planet knows what it’s doing. These seem to contradict each other. Do you subscribe to the Gaia theory, that Earth is a living, intelligent organism?
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BY kBells 02.27.10 AT 4:15 PM

I’m trying to figure out how the climate change people will blame these earthquakes on humans
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BY Peter L 02.27.10 AT 4:50 PM

OT- Where have you been?

To answer your question- these events have always happened, it is just that now we have instant news via the internet and 24/7 news TV. SO it only seems they are more common. Then, Jesus said we would see more such events in the end times (Matthew 24.4-8)
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BY Xion 02.27.10 AT 5:43 PM

Here is a fascinating look at the tsunamis caused by the 1960 Chilean earthquake. It took 22 hours for the tsunami to reach Japan.

My son and his wife live in Japan and they felt a 6.6 the earthquake there yesterday. They are watching to see if a tsunami will make it there from Chile. It is amazing that a wave can travel that far.
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BY NJLawyer 02.27.10 AT 5:53 PM

And who set up how the planet works? That would be God.
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BY Xion 02.27.10 AT 6:13 PM

Here is an interesting site that explains “How Tsunamis Work”. They can travel across the ocean at 600 miles per hour. The waves are mostly underwater until they strike land, so they are hard to spot.

The news says that the waves have already hit Hawaii and so far it hasn’t been a problem. Some knuckleheads are out surfing.
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BY Random Name 02.27.10 AT 6:55 PM

Science is an uncertain and painfully developed way to provide explanations and make (imperfect) predictions.

Religion may be a way to comfort us and inspire us. It has very little predictive value in regard to phenomena such as storms, earthquakes, and volcanoes.
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BY Xion 02.27.10 AT 6:55 PM

Tsunami warning for Hawaii was just canceled.
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BY opinionated teen 02.27.10 AT 7:00 PM

Thanks, everybody.

Well, Mr. L, I got a facebook account, and it all kind of went downhill from there. I’m laying off the facebook for more intelligent conversation, however.
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BY opinionated teen 02.27.10 AT 7:02 PM

Praise the Lord, who knows what happens and has a plan in mind. May he help the suffering and comfort the families of the dead.
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BY Peter L 02.27.10 AT 10:33 PM

OT- I was hoping it was because you were devoting yourself to your studies, but I should have known.
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BY montyfisherwoof 02.27.10 AT 11:40 PM

I wonder what people are thinking when they fill up their cars with gas and then watch them float away into the ocean???
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BY Xion 02.28.10 AT 12:04 AM

#10 OT “Are natural disasters getting more frequent…”

MSNBC asks the same question, Big quake question: Are they getting worse?

Answer: Yes
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BY opinionated teen 02.28.10 AT 1:39 AM

Quick! Somebody blame it on Bush!

Mr. L, there’s that too. My AP Goverment class is killer. But it’s mostly facebook.
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BY NJLawyer 02.28.10 AT 7:49 AM

I think a prediction made by Jesus Christ himself is a statement of fact.
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BY Xion 02.28.10 AT 10:36 AM

The tsunami has past in Japan with minor damage. Our children are safe. We thank God.
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BY Rom116 03.02.10 AT 1:07 AM

OT, your AP Gov is a killer? I was lucky, I got a good teacher in high school for that class. All I know is I thank God that the tsunami was a whole lot weaker than we were expecting.
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BY krm 03.02.10 AT 12:42 PM

I am laughing at the media – and their innumeracy & scientific ignorance over their reporting of this. Richter Scale is exponential, each increase of 1.0 on that scale is “10 times” stronger than the number before. Wouldn’t an increase of 2.0 would be 100 times stronger? And an icrease of 1.8 like here would be less than 100 times stronger, no?
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BY krm 03.02.10 AT 12:48 PM

Ah, apparently the media is talking total energy release (which runs up at about 31.6 times for each 1.0 Richter increase).
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BY krm 03.02.10 AT 1:01 PM

XION – the MSNBC article compares the period from 1970 – 1990 to the period from 1990 – 2010 and says the last 15 years have been more active than that particular preceding 20 years period.

So the answer is … not answered in the article. You need a much longer base line of data to make any valid conclusions as to a longterm trend.
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