When it comes to tsunamis, people's minds will flash through the mountain-high wall of water, and its overwhelming momentum is devastated everywhere it goes.
In March 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake struck eastern Japan, and the earthquake was felt strongly throughout eastern Japan, including Tokyo. Immediately after, a huge tsunami swept through Iwate, Fukushima and other areas, killing more than 15,000 people.
The tsunami not only destroyed all buildings along its way, but also destroyed the Fukushima nuclear power plant, leaving humanity facing the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, and the Pacific coast is still shrouded in the haze of the Fukushima nuclear leak.
Before the East Japan Earthquake, in 2004, an even more terrifying earthquake struck the western waters of Indonesia. At that time, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake triggered a powerful tsunami that killed 230,000 people because of its proximity to densely populated Southeast Asia.
The lethality of earthquakes and tsunamis is often related to the magnitude of earthquakes and population density. The lethality of Indonesia's tsunami is equivalent to directly leveling a small city, and the combined power of earthquake and tsunami can be seen.
That time, the Pacific Plate had an earthquake magnitude of 9.5, equivalent to the power of 27,000 nuclear bombs, and directly shifted the Earth's axis by 8 centimeters. The resulting tsunami traveled directly halfway around the world to the coast of Asia.
The Chilean earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people, injured 100,000 and turned 2 million refugees into refugees was enormous, interrupting Chile's development and long-term economic stagnation.
So, what was the 1960 Chile earthquake like? How horrific is the impact of this earthquake?
1. May 21, 1960, which went down in history
On May 20, 1960, the whole country of Chile was preparing to celebrate the second day, Navy Day, which originated from a war nearly 100 years ago.
In 1879, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia fought the saltpeter war, in which the two sides fought over the "saltpeter" of the Atacama Desert.
On May 21 of that year, a naval battle broke out between the Chilean Navy and the Peruvian Navy at a place called Iquique, in which the Chilean Navy won and sank a Peruvian warship.
This battle was important in the "saltpeter war", giving Chile the initiative at sea and thus winning the war.
The victory of the "saltpeter war" made Chile a small hegemon in South America and began to develop rapidly. So in later generations, May 21 is the glory day of the Chilean Navy, and celebrations are held throughout the country.
In order to welcome the Navy Day, Chilean President Alessandro originally prepared a grand celebration, not only in the capital Santiago, but also in major cities across Chile.
Traditionally, the government organizes military parades in the city, children perform in naval uniforms, and vendors come into the city to do business.
But in rural areas, life is business as usual, and farmers are not interested in secular festivals, and they do not have time to go into the city to join the fun.
Rural animals are very restless, dogs, cows, pigs, sheep are barking in agitation, and even pigs knock down the wall of the pigsty and run around the fields. The rats in the field fled with their families, forming black "rivers" on the ground, and birds in the sky also migrated in flocks and flew inland.
At 6 a.m. that day, the whole of central Chile was shaking, and an earthquake occurred in the Chilean province of Arauco, which was felt in the capital.
The earthquake, which was later measured at magnitude 8, caused considerable damage in Arauco, paralyzing local circuits and losing contact with the outside world.
Alessandro was awakened by the earthquake, and after hearing the report of his subordinates, he was still very calm. Because Chile has a high incidence of earthquakes, this earthquake is not a big deal.
Chile is located at the junction of the "Nazca Plate" and the South American Plate, which belongs to the Pacific Plate, and geological activity is frequent, earthquakes are commonplace, nearly 200 earthquakes are felt every year, and earthquakes of magnitude 6-7 are very common.
Alessandro, accustomed to it, arranged rescue without hurry, the Chilean army, police, and doctors were ready to go, and at noon that day, a huge rescue team was already lining up on the highway.
But at 2:55 p.m., an even bigger disaster struck — a 9.5-magnitude earthquake shook the whole of western South America on the bottom of the sea near the central Chilean city of Valdivia.
The earthquake was of unprecedented magnitude and felt throughout Chile, with several cities in central China reduced to rubble in a matter of minutes.
In the epicenter of Valdivia, more than half of the houses collapsed, and there were a large number of cracks in the streets of the city, and the scene of landslides and cracks seemed like the end of the world.
President Alessandro in the capital, Santiago, also felt the strong earthquake, but he did not know anything about what was happening in the south, communications in the central region were completely paralyzed and the government knew nothing about the situation in the disaster area.
After the earthquake, Chile became a country of ruins
Immediately after the earthquake, survivors in the affected area began to rescue, but they also observed that the water in the bay had completely receded. The bottom of the sea is exposed, and you can see garbage, fish and shrimp in the silt.
After 20 minutes, a white line appeared on the sea in the distance, and the white line was getting closer and closer, and the people on the shore exclaimed "the tsunami is coming."
Continuous waves hit the Chilean coast, killing tens of thousands of people in the first tsunami alone. Chilean cities along the coast were affected, and the beaches were littered with floating corpses, but the Chilean government did not know the severity of the disaster until the next day.
Alessandro immediately ordered: "The Chilean government has entered a state of emergency!" And the world was informed about the disaster, and the news of the earthquake in Chile spread around the world.
However, the horror continues.
As waves of tsunamis hit, coastal towns and villages in central Chile were engulfed and locals abandoned all their possessions and rushed inland. The tsunami was accompanied by river flooding and strata subsidence, as well as localized flooding and mudslides in central Chile.
In the distant Pacific Ocean, the effects of earthquakes also drift westward with the sea.
The waves caused by the Chilean earthquake became a succession of tsunamis in the eastern Pacific, spreading outward at a speed of 700-800 kilometers per hour, and a few hours later reaching small islands in the South Pacific, such as Easter Island.
On May 22, 15 hours after the quake, the tsunami reached the southern Hawaiian Islands in the United States, killing more than 180 people on the beach.
From the afternoon to the evening of the same day, the tsunami actually affected the Japanese archipelago, and although the tsunami occurred in eastern Japan, although the Japanese government urgently evacuated residents, hundreds of people died or disappeared, a large number of houses were destroyed, and 150,000 people became refugees.
The earthquake in Chile was so devastating that geologists feared a similar aftershock in Chile that would devastate the Pacific Rim.
From May 21 to June, Chile did experience more than 200 aftershocks, three magnitude 8 and seven magnitude 7, all of which caused tsunamis of varying magnitude.
The huge earthquake extended Chile's coastline outward by some distance, and Chile's area expanded by 1 square kilometer.
During the golden 72 hours after the earthquake, many Chilean cities did not organize efficient rescues.
Fortunately, Chile at that time was not a modern look full of buildings, most of the houses were low, and many were old wooden houses, so the casualties were not too exaggerated.
In the aftermath of the earthquake, Chile counted more than 50,000 casualties, another 110,000 injured, and most of those in the interior lost no one under the rubble.
In addition, the energy of the earthquake also gave the earth a little propulsion, which was studied by American geophysicist Gross to speed up the Earth's rotation, shortening the time of the day by 1.26 microseconds.
President Alessandro was in a state of distress, and since he came to power in 1958, he has been engaged in economic reform and economic development. Moreover, Chile was ready to host the 1962 World Cup, and the country was ready for the World Cup, but it did not expect to suffer such a disaster.
Chile had to turn to international help.
From now on, Navy Day is also a day of mourning
Although countries and regions around the Pacific Rim have suffered disasters, everyone has lent a helping hand. South American countries also actively supported Chile, donating money and materials and sending aid workers, which finally allowed Chile to return to normal order in a few months.
Unfortunately, the Chilean earthquake erupted in the less densely populated south-central part of the country, otherwise its cost would have been even greater.
Later, the Chilean government calculated that the direct economic losses caused by the earthquake were 800 million US dollars, accounting for 20% of Chile's GDP that year. At the time, Chile was still an underdeveloped third world country, and this loss almost bankrupted the Chilean government.
In addition to losing money, the government had to pay to feed 2 million refugees and build new homes for them, a process that would take at least three or five years, which was even worse for the Chilean government, but it was helpless.
Finally, the Chilean government called on the people to unite, and the government established an "emergency office" dedicated to disaster relief and relief. But as the fiscal gap widened, Chile had to borrow heavily from the U.S. government.
At this time, the outside world began to doubt whether Chile could host the World Cup, because Chile no longer had any intact cities. But President Alessandro still insisted on hosting the World Cup to prove Chile's strength.
In 1962, Chile hosted the World Cup as scheduled, and the ruins of many cities had not yet been cleared, so this World Cup was also called the "World Cup on the Ruins".
Despite hosting the World Cup, Chile's economy deteriorated, and in order to finance the deficit, Alessandro's government issued additional currency, causing inflation. The Chilean government also raised taxes to boost government revenue, eventually bogging the economy into a quagmire.
In Chile, where consumption is sluggish and imports and exports are weak, Alessandro ended his term as an economic failure despite actively signing trade deals with South American countries.
Chile's minerals are considered fat in the eyes of the United States, especially copper ore with huge volume and excellent quality. U.S. multinational companies have increased their investment in Chile every year, and each of them has made a lot of money.
The inability of the Chilean government to resist the United States eventually led to the country becoming the cow of American capital in the early 70s, which also brought the left-wing Allende to power and broke with the United States, which in turn triggered the coup d'état in Chile in the 70s.
Economically and diplomatically, despite the inability of Chileans to do so, the Chilean government has been active in reforming internally after the earthquake.
The country has a series of laws specifically for earthquakes, ranging from building standards to daily disaster prevention training, relief stockpiles, and disaster prevention propaganda.
Since then, Chile has achieved the highest level of earthquake resistance in the world, surpassing Japan for a time, due to the impact of the 1960 earthquake.
Since 1960, Navy Day on May 21 in Chile has taken on a new meaning, a day of mourning for the tens of thousands of earthquake victims.
In 2020, on the 60th anniversary of the earthquake, the President of Chile also made a speech to remember the victims and thank the countries that helped Chile when it was killed.
Literature / Commerce
Resources:
1. "Super Earthquake in Human History - Remembering the 1960 Chile Earthquake", Yibo
2. "The Largest Tsunami in History - A Review of the 1960 Chile Earthquake and Tsunami", Fengyan