Valparaiso, Chile Area Earthquake

Very strong earthquake near Valparaiso, Chile – Very interesting shaking video

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 6.5
UTC Time : Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 03:50:14 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Monday, April 16, 2012 at 11:50:14 PM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 25.9 km
Geo-location(s) :
42 km (26 miles) NNE of Valparaiso, Valparaiso, Chile
81 km (50 miles) W of Los Andes, Valparaiso, Chile

Intensity map courtesy USGS

– Historically, there have been at least 50 damaging earthquakes within a 100km radius of the epicenter

– Strongest intensities have been experienced in Titil and Rancagua following ONEMI Chile (MMI VII = very strong shaking)

– ONEMI Chile is calling the earthquake one of Mayor Intensidad (great intensity).

– 532,000 people will have experienced a strong shaking and nearly a million people a moderate shaking. 8 million people a light shaking

– The epicenter may be positioned in the sea or just below land

– The earthquake struck on the coastal strip 42 km to the north of Valparaiso and 112 km from the Capital Santiago

– The Video below is a very important video which shows the studio of CNN Chile with a footer already in the screen of the earthquake as well as the text that SHOA (agency for tsunami prediction) reports that NO tsunami conditions are present. The text messages must have appeared after the automatic systems from the Chile authorities have received the P-Wave signal at instruments close to the epicenter. Santiago de Chile was only 112 km from the epicenter and while the journalist is commenting the just occurred quake, the studio is starting to shake.  Following ONEMI Chile, the shaking we are seeing on this video is labeled approx. MMI VI (strong shaking). 
Once more CHILE proves that they are standing at the top of earthquake preparedness. If reports are distributed this fast to the media, all evacuation and preparedness measures like tsunami evacuation is very efficient too. Japan has a similar system. Earthquake-Report.com congratulates the Chile authorities with the way they have learned from the February 27, 2010 earthquake and historic earthquakes.

– Earthquake-Report.com reader message from Valparaiso : No previous sound, It started reaaally strong, right from the beginning, some things fell, the sad thing is telephones lines went down… again.

– Update 08:44 UTC : Preventive evacuation has been lifted 3 hours 48 minutes after the mainshock!

– In the video below captured in the CNN studios from Santiago de Chile, we have timed that the strongest shaking went on for about 8 seconds and that the shaking ended after approx. 35 seconds.

– Power is now been restored to 99% of the grid and only the town of Maitencillo in the Vth district has still some areas without power

– Update 07:57 UTC : 8 aftershocks since the mainshock

– A seismologist from the Universidad de Chile Santiago has declared that today’s earthquake is NOT related with the February 27, 2010 mega-quake.

for more information, and updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2012/04/17/very-strong-earthquake-near-valparaiso-chile/