The
1960 Valdivia earthquake or
Great Chilean Earthquake of Sunday, 22 May 1960 is to date the most powerful
earthquakeAn earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
ever recorded on Earth, rating 9.5 on the
moment magnitude scaleThe moment magnitude scale is used by seismologists to measure the size of earthquakes in terms of the energy released. The magnitude is based on the seismic moment of the earthquake, which is equal to the rigidity of the Earth multiplied by the average amount of slip on the fault and the size of...
. It occurred in the afternoon (19:11 GMT, 15:11 local time) and its resulting
tsunamiA tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
affected southern
ChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
,
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
,
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, the
PhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, eastern
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, southeast
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and the
Aleutian Islands in
AlaskaAlaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
.
The
epicenterThe epicenter or epicentre is the point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or underground explosion originates...
was near
LumacoLumaco is a town and commune in Malleco Province in the Araucanía Region of Chile. Its name in Mapudungun means "water of luma". Lumaco is located to northeast of Temuco and from Angol...
(see map) some 570 km (354.2 mi) south of
SantiagoSantiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
, with Temuco being the closest large city, while
ValdiviaValdivia is a city and commune in southern Chile administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia and Cau-Cau Rivers, approximately east of the coastal towns of Corral and Niebla...
was the most affected city. It caused localised tsunamis that severely battered the Chilean coast, with waves up to 25 metres (82 ft). The main tsunami raced across the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
and devastated Hilo, Hawaii. Waves as high as 10.7 metres (35 ft) were recorded 10000 kilometres (6,213.7 mi) from the epicenter, and as far away as
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and the
PhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
.
The death toll and monetary losses arising from such a widespread disaster are not certain.
Various estimates of the total number of fatalities from the earthquake and tsunamis have been published, with the
USGSThe United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
citing studies with figures of 2,231; 3,000; or 5,700 killed, and another source uses an estimate of 6,000 dead. Different sources have estimated the monetary cost ranged from 400 million to 800 million US dollars (or 2.9 to 5.8 billion in 2011 dollars, adjusted for inflation).
Earthquake development
The 1960 Chilean earthquake was actually a series of strong earthquakes that affected Chile between May 21 and June 6, 1960. The first was the Concepción earthquake and the strongest was the Valdivia earthquake.
The Concepción earthquakes
The first
Concepción earthquakeThe 1960 Concepción earthquake was actually a succession of three destructive earthquakes that happened between 21 and 22 May 1960.The first was on May 21 at 06:02 UTC-4. Its epicenter was west of Curanilahue, Biobío Region, Chile, and its magnitude was 7,9 or 8,3MW and 7,3 or 7,5MS...
was at 06:02
UTC-4UTC−04-00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of −04.This offset is used in the Atlantic Standard Time Zone in Canada and the North American Eastern Time Zone during daylight saving time , in the Caribbean region this is considered as the Eastern Caribbean timezone...
on 21 May 1960. Its epicenter was near
CuranilahueCuranilahue is a Chilean commune and city in Arauco Province, Biobío Region.-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Curanilahue spans an area of and has 31,943 inhabitants . Of these, 30,126 lived in urban areas and 1,817 in rural areas...
. Telecommunications to southern Chile were cut off and President
Jorge AlessandriJorge Alessandri Rodríguez was the 27th President of Chile from 1958 to 1964, and was the candidate of the Chilean right in the crucial presidential election of 1970...
cancelled the traditional ceremony of the
Battle of IquiqueThe Battle of Iquique was a confrontation that occurred on May 21, 1879, during the naval stage of the War of the Pacific, a conflict between Chile and Peru and Bolivia. The battle took place off the, by then, Peruvian port of Iquique...
memorial holiday to oversee the emergency assistance efforts. The second and third
Concepción earthquakeThe 1960 Concepción earthquake was actually a succession of three destructive earthquakes that happened between 21 and 22 May 1960.The first was on May 21 at 06:02 UTC-4. Its epicenter was west of Curanilahue, Biobío Region, Chile, and its magnitude was 7,9 or 8,3MW and 7,3 or 7,5MS...
s occurred at 06:32
UTC-4UTC−04-00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of −04.This offset is used in the Atlantic Standard Time Zone in Canada and the North American Eastern Time Zone during daylight saving time , in the Caribbean region this is considered as the Eastern Caribbean timezone...
and 14:55
UTC-4UTC−04-00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of −04.This offset is used in the Atlantic Standard Time Zone in Canada and the North American Eastern Time Zone during daylight saving time , in the Caribbean region this is considered as the Eastern Caribbean timezone...
, on May 22.
The Valdivia earthquake
The Valdivia earthquake occurred at 15:11
UTC-4UTC−04-00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of −04.This offset is used in the Atlantic Standard Time Zone in Canada and the North American Eastern Time Zone during daylight saving time , in the Caribbean region this is considered as the Eastern Caribbean timezone...
on May 22. This earthquake affected all of Chile between
TalcaTalca is a city and commune in Chile located about south of Santiago, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region . As of the 2002 census, the city had a population of 193,755....
and
Chiloé IslandChiloé Island , also known as Greater Island of Chiloé , is the largest island of the Chiloé Archipelago off the coast of Chile, in the Pacific Ocean...
, more than 400000 square kilometres (154,440.9 sq mi). Coastal villages, such as
TolténToltén is a Chilean commune located at the lower flows Toltén River at the southern coast of Cautín Province which is part of Araucanía Region...
, disappeared. At Corral, the main port of Valdivia, the water level rose 4 m (13.1 ft) before it began to recede. At 16:20
UTC-4UTC−04-00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of −04.This offset is used in the Atlantic Standard Time Zone in Canada and the North American Eastern Time Zone during daylight saving time , in the Caribbean region this is considered as the Eastern Caribbean timezone...
, a wave of 8 m (26.2 ft) struck the Chilean coast, mainly between
ConcepciónConcepción is a city in Chile, capital of Concepción Province and of the Biobío Region or Region VIII. Greater Concepción is the second-largest conurbation in the country, with 889,725 inhabitants...
and Chiloe. Ten minutes later another wave measuring 10 m (32.8 ft) was reported.
Hundreds of people were already reported dead by the time the tsunami struck. One ship,
Canelos, starting at the mouth of
Valdivia RiverThe Valdivia River or Río Valdivia, as it is known locally, is a major river in southern Chile. It is the continuation of the Calle-Calle River, from the point where it meets the Cau-Cau River in the city of Valdivia. The Valdivia river ends in Corral Bay, on the Pacific coast. Other tributaries...
sank after being moved 1.5 km (0.93205910497471 mi) backward and forward in the river; its mast is still visible from the road to
NieblaNiebla is a coastal Chilean town close to the city of Valdivia, Valdivia Province, Los Lagos Region. Niebla is located on the northern edge, at the mouth of the Valdivia River, across from Corral. Niebla's beach and folk market are popular tourist destinations during the summer, together with the...
.
A number of Spanish-colonial
fortificationsThe Fort System of Valdivia are a series of Spanish colonial fortifications at Corral Bay, Valdivia and Cruces River established to protect the city of Valdivia, in southern Chile. During the period of Spanish rule , it was one of the biggest systems of fortification in the Americas. It was also a...
were completely destroyed. Soil subsidence also destroyed buildings, deepened local rivers, and created wetlands in places like 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 totally 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.
The earthquake did not strike all the territory with the same strength; measured with the
MercalliThe Mercalli intensity scale is a seismic scale used for measuring the intensity of an earthquake. It measures the effects of an earthquake, and is distinct from the moment magnitude M_w usually reported for an earthquake , which is a measure of the energy released...
scale tectonically depressed areas suffered heavier damage. The two most affected areas were Valdivia and
Puerto OctayPuerto Octay is a town and commune located on the north shore of Llanquihue Lake in Los Lagos Region in the south of Chile. It was settled by German colonists in 1852. Puerto Octay was an important port with regular traffic to Puerto Varas before the coming of railway in 1912.-History:Its origin...
near the northwest corner Llanquihue Lake. The overall picture of damage showed that Puerto Octay was the center of a north-south elliptical area in the
Central ValleyThe Central Valley , Intermediate Depression or Longitudinal Valley is the depression between the Chilean Costal Range and the Andes Mountains. The central valley should not be confused with Central Chile that encompasses part of the valley...
where the intensity was at its highest if not counting the Valdivia Basin. East of Puerto Octay in a hotel in
Todos los Santos LakeLake Todos los Santos is a lake located in the Los Lagos Region of southern Chile, 96 km northeast of the regional capital Puerto Montt and 76 km east of Puerto Varas, within the boundaries of the Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park. It has a surface area of 178.5 km² and a maximum depth of 337 m...
piles of plates were reported to have remained in place.
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 due to the lack of communication in Chile at the time. The relatively low death toll in Chile (estimated at 6,000) is explained in part by the low population density and by buildings being built taking into account that the region is very active geologically. Other possible reasons include a high number of wooden houses and that coastal towns also tended to be located on higher ground, following a pre-Hispanic tradition.
Tectonic interpretation
The earthquake was a
megathrust earthquakeMegathrust earthquakes occur at subduction zones at destructive plate boundaries , where one tectonic plate is forced under another. Due to the shallow dip of the plate boundary, which causes large sections to get stuck, these earthquakes are among the world's largest, with moment magnitudes ...
resulting from the release of mechanical stress between the subducting
Nazca Plate]The Nazca Plate, named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. The ongoing subduction along the Peru-Chile Trench of the Nazca Plate under the South American Plate is largely responsible for the...
and the
South American PlateThe South American Plate is a continental tectonic plate which includes the continent of South America and also a sizeable region of the Atlantic Ocean seabed extending eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge....
, on the
Peru-Chile TrenchThe Peru-Chile Trench, also known as the Atacama Trench, is an oceanic trench in the eastern Pacific Ocean, about 160 kilometres off the coast of Peru and Chile...
. The focus was relatively shallow at 33 km, considering that earthquakes in
northern ChileNorte Grande is a civil parish in the municipality of Velas on the island of São Jorge in the Azores; owing to the existence of an ecumenical faith community throughout its history, the parish has also taken on the name of its religious invokation...
and Argentina may reach depths of 70 km. 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 long, stretching from
AraucoArauco is a city and commune in Chile, located in Arauco Province in the Biobio Region. The meaning of Arauco means Chalky Water in Mapudungun. The region was a Moluche aillarehue...
(37° S) to
Chiloé ArchipelagoChiloé Archipelago consists of several islands lying off the coast of Chile. It is separated from mainland Chile by Chacao Channel in the north, the Sea of Chiloé in the east and Gulf of Corcovado to the southeast. All of the archipelago except Desertores Islands, which are part of Palena...
(43° S). The rupture velocity has been estimated as 3.5 km per second.
Landslides
The earthquake triggered numerous landslides, mainly in the steep glacial valley of the southern
AndesThe Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
. Within the Andes most landslides occurred on forested mountain slopes around the
Liquiñe-Ofqui FaultThe Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault is major geological fault that runs a length of roughly 1000 km in a north-south direction and exhibits current seismicity . It is located in the Chilean northern patagonean Andes. It is a dextral intra-arc transform fault...
. Some of these areas remain sparsely vegetated while others have naturally developed more or less pure stands of Nothofagus dombeyi. These landslides did not cause many fatalities nor significant economical losses because most of the areas were uninhabited with only minor roads. One landslide did however cause destruction and alarm following its
blockage of the outflow of Riñihue LakeThe Riñihuazo is the name given to the damming of Riñihue Lake on 22 May 1960, after a landslide caused by the Great Chilean Earthquake blocked its outflow. According to the chronicler Mariño de Lobera a similar event occurred after the 1575 Valdivia earthquake.During the Great Chilean Earthquake,...
. About 100 km south of
Riñihue LakeThe Riñihue Lake is a lake of glacial origin in eastern Valdivia Province, southern Chile. It is surrounded by several mountains. The eastern side receives the waters of the Panguipulli Lake, by the Enco River its main contributor. It is the last of the Seven Lakes chain. In the west is it cut...
landslides in the mountains around
Golgol RiverThe Gol-Gol River is a the main tributary of Puyehue Lake in southern Chile. Gol-Gol River runs in a east-west direction between the volcanoes Puyehue-Cordón Caulle and Casablanca. Its catchment areas covers the whole area between these massifs from the Cardenal Antonio Samoré Pass to Puyehue Lake....
caused this river to dam up and then burst creating a flood down to
Puyehue LakePuyehue Lake is an Andean piedmont lake located in the border of Los Lagos Region with Los Ríos Region of Chile...
. These landslides destroyed also parts of the international
Route 215-CHthumb|250px|right|Image of Route 215-CH between [[Puyehue Lake]] and [[Golgol River|Golgol Valley]]Route 215-CH is a branch line road going eastward from Osorno at Chile Highway 5 to Cardenal Antonio Samoré Pass at the border to Argentina...
that connects to Bariloche in
ArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
through
Cardenal Antonio Samoré PassCardenal Antonio Samoré Pass it is one of the main mountain pass through the southern Andes along the border between Argentina and Chile.Together with Paso Libertadores, it is one of the easiest of the Argentina-Chile passes, and one of the few with asphalted roads in the region...
.
Tsunami
Earthquake-induced
tsunamiA tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
s affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, south east Australia and the
Aleutian Islands. Some localised tsunamis severely battered the Chilean coast, with waves up to 25 metres (82 ft). The main tsunami crossed the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
at a speed of several hundred km/h and devastated Hilo, Hawaii, killing 61 people, allegedly due to their failure to heed warning sirens. Hilo's position in the bay caused a cumulative bounce of tsunami waves far more destructive to Hilo than to other more exposed areas of Hawaii. In Japan, the tsunami arrived about 22 hours after the earthquake and 142 people were killed. Tsunami waves as high as 10.7 metres (35 ft) were recorded 10000 kilometres (6,213.7 mi) from the epicentre, several as far away as
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and the
PhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
.
On 22 May, a tsunami occurred also in
Nahuel Huapi LakeNahuel Huapi Lake is a lake in the lake region of northern Patagonia between the provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén, in Argentina. The lake depression consists of several glacial valleys carved out along faults and Miocene valleys that were later dammed by moraines.Nahuel Huapi lake, located...
, on the Argentinean side of the
AndesThe Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
, more than 200 km away from Valdivia. The wave, most likely produced by an eathquake-triggered sediment slide at the lake bottom, killed two people and destroyed a pier in
San Carlos de BarilocheSan Carlos de Bariloche, usually known as Bariloche, is a city in the , situated in the foothills of the Andes on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake and is located inside Nahuel Huapi National Park...
city.
Riñihuazo flood
During the Great Chilean Earthquake, several
landslideA landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments...
s west of
TralcánTralcán is a triangular shaped mount near Riñihue Lake, Chile. It is located south of the outflow dividing western Riñihue in two arms. Despite been sacred for the huilliches for centuries, the mount became famous when several landslides near Tralcan dammed the Riñihue Lake, after the Great...
Mountain blocked the outflow of
Rinihue LakeThe Riñihue Lake is a lake of glacial origin in eastern Valdivia Province, southern Chile. It is surrounded by several mountains. The eastern side receives the waters of the Panguipulli Lake, by the Enco River its main contributor. It is the last of the Seven Lakes chain. In the west is it cut...
(39°45′00"S 72°30′00"W). Riñihue Lake is the lowest of the Seven Lakes chain and receives a constant inflow from the
Enco RiverEnco River is a river in Panguipulli commune in southern Chile. By flowing from Panguipulli Lake to Riñihue Lake Enco River carries the water of the six upper lakes of the Seven Lakes area into Riñihue, the last lake in the chain...
. The blocked San Pedro River, which drains the lake, passes through several towns and the city of Valdivia before finally reaching
Corral BayCorral Bay is a bay in the mouth of the Valdivia River, southern Chile. Its main towns are Corral and Niebla. The mouth of the bay is between Juan Latorre point and Morro Gonzalo, with a width of 5.5 km. All the year the bay is transited by merchant, transport and fish boats...
.
Because the San Pedro River was blocked, 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 4,800 million cubic meters of water would release into the San Pedro River (easily overpowering its flow capacity of 400 cubic metres (14,125.9 cu ft) 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, and had 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
ENDESAEndesa Chile is the largest electric utility company in Chile. It was created as a subsidiary of the state-owned CORFO in 1 December 1943 and was privatized in 1989. As of April 2009, it is owned by Enersis with a 60% stake, which in turn is 61% owned by Endesa International SA, a wholly owned...
,
CORFOProduction Development Corporation is a Chilean governmental organization that was founded in 1939, by President Pedro Aguirre Cerda, to promote economic growth in Chile...
, and MOP started an effort, called the Riñihuazo, to control the lake. Twenty-seven
bulldozerA bulldozer is a crawler equipped with a substantial metal plate used to push large quantities of soil, sand, rubble, etc., during construction work and typically equipped at the rear with a claw-like device to loosen densely-compacted materials.Bulldozers can be found on a wide range of sites,...
s were put into service, but they had severe difficulties moving in the mud near the dams, so dykes had to be constructed with shovels. The work was not restricted to the lake; drainages from other parts of the Seven Lakes were also dammed to minimize the flow into Riñihue Lake. These dams were removed later, with the exception of
Calafquén LakeCalafquén Lake is a lake of Chile, which straddles the border between the Araucanía Region and Los Ríos Region. It is one of the Seven Lakes and forms part of the drainage basin of the Valdivia River....
, which still retains its dam.
By 23 June, the main dam had been lowered from 24 to 15 m (78.7 to 49.2 ft), allowing 3,000 million cubic meters of water to leave the lake gradually, but still with considerable destructive power. The team was led by ENDESA engineer
Raúl SáezRaúl Sáez Sáez was a noted Chilean engineer who also served as Minister of Finance in Chile in 1968.-Early life and education:...
.
Cordón Caulle eruption
On 24 May, 38 hours after the main shock of the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, Cordón Caulle began a
rhyodaciticRhyodacite is an extrusive volcanic rock intermediate in composition between dacite and rhyolite. It is the extrusive equivalent of granodiorite. Phenocrysts of sodium rich plagioclase, sanidine, quartz, and biotite or hornblende are typically set in an aphanitic to glassy light to intermediate...
fissure eruption. Being located between two sparsely populated and isolated Andean valleys, the eruption had few eyewitnesses and received little attention by local media, preoccupied with the huge damages and losses caused by the earthquake. The eruption fed a 5.5 km long and N135° trending fissure where 21 individual vents have been found. These vents produced an output of about 0.25 km
3 DRE both in form of lava flows and
tephra200px|thumb|right|Tephra horizons in south-central [[Iceland]]. The thick and light coloured layer at center of the photo is [[rhyolitic]] tephra from [[Hekla]]....
. The eruption ended on 22 July.
Urban impact in Valdivia
It has been estimated that about 40% of the houses in Valdivia were destroyed, leaving 20,000 people homeless. The most affected structures were those built of concrete, which in some cases collapsed completely due to lack of earthquake engineering. Traditional wooden houses fared better and were in many places left uninhabitable but without collapse. Houses built upon
tectonically elevated areasThe Bahía Mansa Metamorphic Complex or BMMC is a group of metamorphic geologic formations of the Chilean Coast Range in southern Chile. It consists mainly in pelitic schists, metagreywackes and oceanic type mafic metavolcanics....
suffered considerably less damage compared to those on the lowlands. Many
city blockA city block, urban block or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest area that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, they form the basic unit of a city's urban fabric...
s with destroyed buildings in the city center remained empty until the 1990s and 2000s, with some of them still being used as
parking lotA parking lot , also known as car lot, is a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface....
s. Some of these blocks had before the earthquake modern concrete buildings built after the great fire of 1909. In terms of urban development Valdivia suffered the loss of the minor but significant Cau-Cau bridge, a bridge that has not been rebuilt. The other bridges suffered only minor damage. Land subsidence in
Corral BayCorral Bay is a bay in the mouth of the Valdivia River, southern Chile. Its main towns are Corral and Niebla. The mouth of the bay is between Juan Latorre point and Morro Gonzalo, with a width of 5.5 km. All the year the bay is transited by merchant, transport and fish boats...
improved navigability as
shoalShoal, shoals or shoaling may mean:* Shoal, a sandbank or reef creating shallow water, especially where it forms a hazard to shipping* Shoal draught , of a boat with shallow draught which can pass over some shoals: see Draft...
banks produced earlier by sediments from
Madre de Diosthumb|right|250px|View of one of the Mines in the Madre de Dios areaMadre de Dios, located east the town of Máfil in Chile, is a placer deposit of gold that has been mined several times since its discovery in 1556. The bedrock of the Madre de Dios area is made of metamorphic and crystalline rocks...
and other nearby gold mines sunk and compacted.
The earthquake and the degradation to a provincial capital are seen in retrospect as the culmination of a long period of economic decline that began with shifts in trade routes due to the expansion of railroads in southern Chile and the opening of the
Panama CanalThe Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
in 1911. Industrial activity in Valdivia, dominated by Germans, declined further due to human and capital migration after the earthquake. Facilities of several industries, such as the Anwandter
breweryA brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
and the Rudloff shoe factory, were destroyed and activity eliminated.
In 1974 Valdivia lost its capital status to
Puerto MonttPuerto Montt is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region. The commune spans an area of and had a population of 175,938 in 2002. It is located 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago...
when the
military government of ChileChile was ruled by a military dictatorship headed by Augusto Pinochet from 1973 when Salvador Allende was overthrown in a coup d'etat until 1990 when the Chilean transition to democracy began. The authoritarian military government was characterized by systematic suppression of political parties and...
reorganized the country's
administrative divisionAn administrative division, subnational entity, or country subdivision is a portion of a country or other political division, established for the purpose of government. Administrative divisions are each granted a certain degree of autonomy, and are required to manage themselves through their own...
s. Valdivia had previously been a first level administrative center within Chile since the 16th century. It regained its status in 2007 with the creation of the
Los Ríos RegionThe XIV Los Ríos Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Valdivia. Pop. 356,396 . It began to operate as region on October 2, 2007. It was created by subdividing the Los Lagos Region in southern Chile...
.
Creation of emergency committee
After the 1960 Valdivia earthquake a committee was formed to solve problems caused by the earthquake. However this committee was not dissolved afterward and in 1974 it became
ONEMIONEMI or Oficina Nacional de Emergencia del Ministerio del Interior is a Chilean government agency dedicated to the prevention, organization, coordination and information relative to natural disasters. After the 1960 Valdivia earthquake a committee was formed to solve problems caused by the...
(Spanish acronym for National Emergency and Information Office) when it acquired by law independent status as a governmental office.
Human sacrifice
In the coastal village Collileufu, native
LafkenchlpesThe Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
carried out a ritual
human sacrificeHuman sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practised in various cultures throughout history...
during the days following the main earthquake. Collileufu, located in the
Budi LakeBudi Lake is a tidal brackish water lake located near the coast of Araucanía Region, southern Chile. The lake is part of the boundaries between Saavedra and Teodoro Schmidt commune....
area, south of Puerto Saavedra, was by 1960 highly isolated and inhabitants there spoke mainly
MapudungunThe Mapuche language, Mapudungun is a language isolate spoken in south-central Chile and west central Argentina by the Mapuche people. It is also spelled Mapuzugun and sometimes called Mapudungu or Araucanian...
. The community had gathered in Cerro La Mesa, while the lowlands were struck by successive tsunamis. Juana Namuncura Añen, a local
machiA machi is a traditional healer and religious leader in the Mapuche culture of Chile and Argentina. Machis play significant roles in Mapuche religion. Women are more commonly machis than men.-Description:...
, demanded the sacrifice of the grandson of Juan Painecur, a neighbor, in order to calm the earth and the ocean. The victim, 5-year-old José Luis Painecur, had his arms and legs severed by Juan Pañán and Juan José Painecur (the victim's grandfather), and was stuck into the sand of the beach like a stake. The waters of the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
then carried the body out to sea. The sacrifice came to be known after a boy in the commune of
Nueva ImperialNueva Imperial is a city and commune in the south of Chile. It is located in Cautín Province in the Araucanía Region. Nueva Imperial lies about to the west of Temuco, the regional capital.-Geography:...
denounced to local leaders the theft of two horses that were allegedly eaten during the sacrifice ritual. The 2 men were charged with the crime of murder and confessed, but later recanted. They were released after 2 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
TimeTime is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine article, although with little detail.
Previous and later earthquakes
There is evidence that a similar
landslide and earthquakeThe 1575 Valdivia earthquake was an earthquake in Chile that caused the subsequent flood of Valdivia much like the 1960 Valdivia earthquake caused the ensuing Riñihuazo flooding. It occurred at 14:30 local time on December 16, 1575. It had an estimated magnitude of 8.5 on the surface wave...
occurred in 1575. This earthquake was of similar strength and also caused a
RiñihuazoThe Riñihuazo is the name given to the damming of Riñihue Lake on 22 May 1960, after a landslide caused by the Great Chilean Earthquake blocked its outflow. According to the chronicler Mariño de Lobera a similar event occurred after the 1575 Valdivia earthquake.During the Great Chilean Earthquake,...
. According to Mariño de Lobera,
corregidorA corregidor was a local, administrative and judicial position in Spain and its empire. He was the highest authority of a Corregimiento. In the Americas a corregidor was often called an alcalde mayor. They began to be appointed in fourteenth century Castile and the institution was definitively...
of Valdivia in 1575, a landslide blocked the outflow of the lagoon of Renigua and several months later caused a flood. Mariño de Lobera states that while the flood killed many Indians, Spanish settlers waited on high ground until after the dam burst.
On 27 February 2010 at 03:34 local time an
8.8 magnitude earthquakeThe 2010 Chile earthquake occurred off the coast of central Chile on Saturday, 27 February 2010, at 03:34 local time , having a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, with intense shaking lasting for about three minutes. It ranks as the sixth largest earthquake ever to be recorded by a...
occurred just to the north (off the coast of the Maule region of Chile, between Concepción and Santiago). This quake was reported to be centered approximately 22 miles (35.4 km) deep and several miles off shore. This
2010 Chile earthquakeThe 2010 Chile earthquake occurred off the coast of central Chile on Saturday, 27 February 2010, at 03:34 local time , having a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, with intense shaking lasting for about three minutes. It ranks as the sixth largest earthquake ever to be recorded by a...
may be related or consequential to the 1960 tremor.
In popular culture
A 1969 episode of the U.S. television series
Hawaii Five-OHawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...
titled "Forty Feet High and it Kills!" referenced the tsunami that devastated Hilo in 1960.
Chilean novelist
Isabel AllendeIsabel Allende Llona is a Chilean writer with American citizenship. Allende, whose works sometimes contain aspects of the "magic realist" tradition, is famous for novels such as The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts , which have been commercially successful...
included the 1960 Valdivia earthquake in
The House of the SpiritsThe House of the Spirits is the debut novel by Isabel Allende. Initially, the novel was rejected by several Spanish-language publishers, but became an instant best seller when published in Barcelona in 1982. The novel was critically acclaimed around the world, and catapulted Allende to literary...
(1982) and
The Stories of Eva LunaEva Luna is a novel written by Chilean novelist Isabel Allende in 1985 and translated from Spanish to English by Margaret Sayers Peden.Eva Luna takes us into the life of the eponymous protagonist, an orphan who grows up in an unidentified country in South America...
(1989).
See also
- 1964 Villarrica eruption
- List of earthquakes in Chile
- Seismicity of the Chilean coast
Seismicity of the Chilean coast identifies and describes the seismic activity of an area of Chile. Seismicity refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time. The Chilean coast is on the southern part of South America, which is near a Pacific Ocean subduction...
- List of largest earthquakes by magnitude
External links