The Largest Earthquake in History: Chile 1960

Essay by vanilla_roseHigh School, 12th grade April 2004

download word file, 2 pages 3.7

In the history of this world there have been many large, disastrous earthquakes. The

largest earthquake ever recorded was the earthquake that took place in Chile, South

America, in 1960. This earthquake caused much damage. Many people were injured and a

large number of people were killed. The earthquake caused a large tsunami, and damaged

many towns. The enormous tremble of the earthquake was felt at different places around

the world.

The famous Chilean earthquake was recorded as 9.5 M. This occurred on May 22,

1960. The earthquake struck at 2:11 p.m. local time. The epicenter of the earthquake was

60 meters down below the eastern Pacific Ocean floor, about 100 miles off the west coast

of Chile. The towns that were most affected by the earthquake were Valdivia and Puerto

Montt, because they are so close to the center of this massive earthquake.

Approximately 30 minutes before the big 9.5

earthquake hit, there were

foreshocks. The civilians that were in the area that felt the large forshocks ran into the

streets. There were 2, 300 people that died from the earthquake that day and over 3, 000

people injured. If it were not for the forshocks, the people would not have been prepared

for the immense 9.5 earthquake that was heading their way. There would have been many

more deaths and injuries if there were no foreshocks.

Since the earthquake occured on the ocean floor, it caused a tsunami heading in all

directions. The tsunami reached 25 meters high, and was traveling more then 200 miles

per hour. The tsunami wiped out much of the beaches and anything near the beaches. The

tsunami reached Chile and created a lot of destruction, but it even reached Hawaii and

also the coast of Japan and the Philippines where...