The
1960 Valdivia earthquake or
Great Chilean Earthquake of 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. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a seismograph...
ever recorded, 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...
. It occurred in the afternoon (19:11 GMT, 14:11 local time) and its resulting
tsunamiA is a series of water waves that is caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, such as an ocean. The original Japanese term literally translates as "harbor wave." Tsunamis are a frequent occurrence in Japan; approximately 195 events have been recorded...
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 state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...
,
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of 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 with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
, eastern
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
, south east
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
and the
Aleutian IslandsThe Aleutian Islands are a chain of more than 300 small volcanic islands forming part of the Aleutian Arc in the Northern Pacific Ocean, occupying an area of 6,821 sq mi and extending about westward from the Alaska Peninsula toward the Kamchatka Peninsula...
in
AlaskaAlaska is the largest state of the United States of America 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 Cañete (see map) some 700 km (435 miles) south of
SantiagoSantiago , is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the centre of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of 520 m AMSL...
, although
Valdivia, ChileValdivia 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 15 km east of the coastal towns of Corral and...
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. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
and devastated Hilo, Hawaii. Waves as high as 10.7 metres (35 ft) were recorded 10,000 kilometres (6,000 miles) from the epicentre, and as far away as
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of 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 with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
.
The death toll and monetary losses arising from such a widespread disaster can never be precisely known.
Various estimates of the total number of fatalities from the earthquake and tsunamis have been published, with the USGS citing studies with figures of 2231, 3000, or 5700 killed, and another source uses an estimate of 6000 dead. Different sources have estimated the monetary cost ranged from 400 million to 800 million US dollars (or 2.8 to 5.5 billion in 2007 dollars, adjusted for inflation.)
The earthquake in Chile
The Great Chilean Earthquake came after a smaller earthquake in
Arauco ProvinceArauco, a coastal province of southern Chile, bounded N., E. and S. by the provinces of Concepción, Biobío, Malleco and Cautín. Area, 2458 sq. mi.; pop. 70,635. The province originally covered the once independent Indian territory of Araucanía, but this was afterwards divided into four provinces....
at 06:02 on 21 May 1960. Telecommunications to southern Chile were cut off and President
Jorge AlessandriJorge Alessandri Rodríguez was President of Chile from 1958 to 1964, and was the candidate of the centre-right in Chile's crucial presidential election of 1970...
had to cancel the traditional ceremony of the
Battle of IquiqueThe Naval 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 the alliance between Peru and Bolivia. The battle took place off the Chilean port of Iquique...
memorial holiday to oversee the emergency assistance efforts. The government was just beginning to organize help to the affected region when the second earthquake occurred at 14:55 UTC on 22 May in Valdivia.
The second earthquake affected all of Chile between
TalcaTalca is a city and commune in Chile, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region ....
and
Chiloé IslandChiloé Island , also known as Greater Island of Chiloé , is the largest island of Chiloé Archipelago off the coast of Chile, in the Pacific Ocean. The island is located in southern Chile, in the Los Lagos Region...
, more than . 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. The commune is administered by the municipality in Nueva Toltén located within the commune, that is the main harbour and town within the commune....
, disappeared. Later studies argued that the earthquake actually had 37 epicenters through a north-south line that lasted from 22 May to 6 June. At Corral, the main port of Valdivia, the water level rose before it began to recede. At 16:20 UTC, an wave struck the Chilean coast, mainly between
ConcepciónConcepción is a city in Chile, capital of Concepción Province and of the Bío-Bío 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 was reported.
Hundreds of people were already reported dead by the time the tsunami struck. One ship,
El Canelo, 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 backward and forward in the river. The mast of the
Canelo 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
fortificationThe 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 most rainy regions.
The earthquake did not strike all the territory with the same strength; measured with the Mercalli scale tectonically depressed areas suffered heavier damages. 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 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....
near the northwest corner Llanquihue Lake. The overall picture of damages showed that Puerto Octay was the center of an north-south elliptical area in the
Central ValleyThe Central Valley , Intermediate Depression or Longitudinal Valley is the depression between the Chilean Coast Range and the Andes Mountains. The central valley should not be confused with Central Chile that encompases 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 LakeTodos los Santos Lake is located in the 10th region of 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. It is possible that other volcanoes also erupted, but none were recorded due to the lack of communication in Chile at that time. The relatively low death toll in Chile (estimated at 6,000) is explained in part by the low population density and the fact that this region is a very active geological zone and builders know they have to build stronger structures. 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.
The Riñihuazo
During the Great Chilean Earthquake, several
landslideA landslide is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rock falls, 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
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...
. 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 4800 million cubic meters of water would release into the San Pedro River (easily overpowering its flow capacity of ) 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, S.A. is the largest electric utility company in Chile. It was created as a subsidiary of the state-owned CORFO on 1 December 1943 and was privatized in 1989...
,
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...
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 to , allowing 3000 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
thumb
On May 24, 38 hours after the main shock of the 1960 Valdivia earthquake Cordón Caulle begun 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 Cordón Caulle located between two sparsely populated and by then isolated Andean valleys the eruption had few eyewitnesses and received little attention by local media due to huge damages and losses caused by the proper earthquake. The eruption was 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
tephra250px|thumb|right|Tephra horizons in south-central [[Iceland]]. The thick and light coloured layer at the height of the [[volcanologists]] hands is [[rhyolitic]] tephra from [[Hekla]]....
. The eruption ended on July 22.
Human sacrifice
A book by investigative journalist Patrick Tierney,
The Highest Altar: Unveiling the Mystery of Human Sacrifice (1989) ISBN 9780140139747, documents a possible modern ritual
human sacrificeHuman sacrifice is the act of killing 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 practiced in various cultures throughout history...
during the devastating earthquake and tsunami of 1960 by a
machiA machi is a shaman or a good Witch doctor in the Mapuche culture of South America; and is also an important character and the Mapuche mythology.-Description:...
of the
MapucheThe Mapuche are the indigenous inhabitants of Central and Southern Chile and Southern Argentina. They were known as Araucanians by the Spaniards. This is now considered pejorative by the people and the term Mapuche is the one most often used by people in conversation...
in the
Lago BudiBudi 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 comune....
community. The victim, 5 year old José Luis Painecur, had his arms and legs removed 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. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
then carried the body out to sea. The sacrifice was rumored to be at the behest of local machi, Juana Namuncurá Añen. The 2 men were charged with the crime 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 newsmagazine. 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. As of 2009, Time no longer publishes a Canadian advertiser edition...
magazine article, although with little detail.
Previous 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 on December 16, 1575. Pedro Mariño de Lobera, who was corregidor of Valdivia by that time wrote that the...
occurred in 1575. This earthquake was of similar strength and also caused a
Riñihuazo200px|thumb|right|The town of [[Riñihue, Chile|Riñihue]] flooded during the 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 Mariño de Lobera,
corregidorCorregidor is an island in the entrance of the Philippines' Manila Bay. Due to its position in the bay, it has served as a focal point for the naval defenses of the capital city of Manila...
of Valdivia by 1575, a landslide blocked the outflow of the
lagoon of Renigua and several months later caused a flood.
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