8.8 earthquake hits Chile; tsunami alert for Pacific

One big-ass quake hits a few miles offshore at a depth of about 40 miles.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61Q0S920100227

Hawaii is on alert, as is Australia. I'm thinking it happened in shallow enough water that it won't be a 2004 repeat, but these things are tricky. Chile lies in a subduction zone, which means some big-time thrust with their quakes.

 

Jeez. It's like the planet is really, really pissed off at us.

 

Can't imagine why. We're taking such good care of it.

 

THAT'S BECAUSE THERE ARE A LOT OF HOMOS IN CHILE!!!! [\Pat Robertson]

 

They're saying it's 500 times more powerful than Haiti. How is this possible? How could anything be standing?

Is it just because it was centered at a depth of 40 miles?

 

I have family and friends in Chile. Heard from most of them (through facebook and Skype) that they are fine, thank goodness. They have said that it was really scary and that some of the destruction has been massive in certain places. Really chaotic there. Hopefully, that is the worst of it and the rest of the Pacific Rim does not get him by tsunamis.

 

CNN is doing a crackerjack job of explaining the science behind the quake and tsunami. The meteorologist on duty this morning brought a friend in from GaTech who is an expert and the two of them spent 10 minutes playing around on the magic screen, giving lots of explanation.

Two things I've learned so far: 1. We don't use the Richter scale anymore and 2. "Breaking news" in Spanish must also be "Breaking News" because that's what the chyrons on the local Chile feeds show.

 

More interesting coverage here...

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/

 

Boy howdy.

 

A former coworker just posted on FB that his son (at least I presume it's his son) is heading for higher ground with his kids.