Chilean Earthquake.

[GrumpyPom]

The Earthquake in Chile at the weekend was 500 (five Hundred) time more powerful than the one that hit Hailti recently. Having been through a few Quakes in the mid 5's here in NZ it does make it difficult to comprehend what these poor people are going through.

[poodicat]

Hi grumpy as we dont have mega earthquakes in the uk and not the threat of a tsunami we cannot comprehend the angst these people are going through

[rov1200]

I think you have to be careful when saying its 500 times more powerful than Haiti. Its because it uses the logarithmic scale. Its the same with hearing which is not judged on a linear scale.

[TCL-MUMPING]

"Mark Benthien of the USC Earthquake Center said an 8.8 quake causes 512 "times the shaking" that a 7.0 does. It produces a larger rupture surface, meaning a broader area is shaken. The duration of the movement is also longer". I thought a magnitude 8 was ten times worse than a magnitude 7 but in terms of energy released, it's about 31.6 times greater. A difference of 1.8 does work out to be more than 500 times more energy.

[jackthehat]

I think the mathematics of the scale is academic (!?!)..........the resultant devastation will be equally felt whatever the magnitude of the earthquake.
If you have been left homeless, destitute and bereaved, you won't be thanking your lucky stars that "it could have been worse. It could have been a bigger quake.........."

[jno]

Not necessarily, Jack. If a few homes are destroyed, government relief efforts and aid services should be able to cope; but when something the size of the Chilean quake hits, they struggle to deal with the scale of the emergency, and the death tolls may rise if more people are left out in the cold or buried under rubble.

[jackthehat]

When you have been devastated by a 7.0 or an 8.8 magnitude quake, the 1.8 difference will be small comfort.
Naturally the smaller the quake the less damage to the infrastructure of a country, but in this case we are specifically addressing Haiti and Chile............