February 27, 2010 Tsunami: Central Chile

There were no fatalities reported far from the epicenter, however, near the epicenter of the Chilean coast, official accounts indicate over 156 fatalities due to the tsunami. Preliminary measures of a Rapid Survey Team deployed the week after the event by UNESCO showed run-up measurements as high as 30 m with most common measurements between 6 and 10 m in the most affected area of the Chilean coast. (reference #9405)

The tsunami is believed responsible for much of the deaths and damage. The magnitude-8.8 quake - one of the strongest on record - and the tsunami that followed ravaged a 435-mile stretch of Chile's Pacific coast. In the coastal town of Constitucion, firefighters were looking for bodies of people swept away by the tsunami as they camped on Isla Orrego, an island in the mouth of the Maure River that flows through the city. Constitucion suffered perhaps the greatest loss of life in the disaster, in part because many people had come for carnival celebrations and were caught in huge waves that reached the central plaza. "There were about 200 people in tents who disappeared" on Isla Orrego, Fire Chief Miguel Reyes told The Associated Press. (ref. #6836)

Yet a large wave crashed later into the Chilean islands of Juan Fernandez, killing at least 8 people and leaving another 8 missing, the emergency office said. (ref. #6810)

While the Pacific basin was spared a major tsunami, there was major tsunami damage in Chile. In the coastal city of Talcahuano, where the surge reached nearly 5 m from peak to trough, a bizarre exchange took place: While even larger boats landed in the city centre, entire homes floated out to sea. 'The water swept aside everything that got in its way,' said a resident of the small town of Boyecura. A wall of water swept across the Chilean island of Robinson Crusoe, 670 km off the coast, destroying many buildings and sweeping 5 people out to sea. Eleven others were missing. The Chilean Navy admitted it failed to give adequate tsunami warning to Robinson Crusoe, which lies in the Chilean archipelago of Juan Fernandez. (ref. #6811)

Islanders in the Chilean archipelago of Juan Fernandez felt a slight tremor early Saturday, one just like any other of those they hardly take notice of, and they slept on. Over the course of the morning, they saw on television the damage that the massive quake had caused in the city of Concepcion and elsewhere on the southern Chilean mainland. And then officials started waiting for information about a possible tsunami, but it ever came. Instead, as they saw the sea starting to rise, they rushed to switch on the sirens - but it was too late for some. The tsunami killed 5 people on the island, while 14 remained missing a day later, a toll that may have been avoided had the tsunami-detection and warning mechanisms been in order, some say. Upon hearing the sirens, some of the 629 residents of the village of Juan Bautista on Robinson Crusoe Is ran to the hills with no time for salvage. A wall of water - possibly nearly 5 metres high - ravaged everything in its way. Within a few minutes, the scene of the adventures of Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk - marooned on the island from 1704 to 1708, and immortalized in Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe - had been razed to the ground. "Everything that had been along that three-km stretch just disappeared," said Fernando Avaria, the first pilot to fly over the area after the disaster. The cemetery, the churches, sports facilities and the area's only school were reduced to planks of wood and broken glass. The buildings of the local authority simply disappeared. "It was devastating, really out of a horror film," said Margot Salas, a local who toured the area with Chilean state television cameras almost 24 hours after the disaster. As the sea receded, Robinson Crusoe Is faced a new flood - one of despair. Mud covered everything within 3 km of the coast. (ref. #6812)