Sunday, January 2, 2011

Chile gets another wobble

The USGS is reporting a 7.1 mag (maybe 7.2) earthquake in the Bio Bio region of Chile this afternoon, some 600km South of the capital, Santiago. That's a nice, chunky magnitude number and a decent sized quake by anyone's standards, so here are three thoughts:

1) Initial reports are that the quake has caused little material damage (though electricity cut-offs are widespread) and officials say there's little cause for alarm.
2) If you've ever been in a 7-or-above quake you'd be alarmed as hell, I personally guarantee that one. When a rumble is 7+ and not at depth, officials can stick their soothing words where the sun doesn't shine.
3) We're nowhere near a full moon, setty. Next one is January 19th. Nice video though.