Chile Forum

admin wrote:As far as what to do to prepare, move to a wood structure. No one died in this earthquake that was inside a wood structure, at least that I have heard about. In the largest earthquakes in modern history, only a handful of people have died in wood structures. Most that died in those where when the soil under the foundation gave way not the building itself, such as when the building was on a hill like those in California. Wood is your super earthquake friend.

Yup, but it's swings and roundabouts... Concrete doesn't burn, wood and gas cooking and wood stoves mix very poorly, and big quakes happen once every 25-50 years. In Valdivia they insist on brick or concrete firebreaks between terraced houses (amazing, when you think what else gets past the inspectors...), and if one goes up, once people have been evacuated, the fire brigade will generally stand back and just try to stop the fire from spreading.

eeuunikkeiexpat wrote:Interesting interview with a seismologist today in the online rag known as The Santiago Times.
She said the largest aftershock is usually 1 point below the size of the original quake which means a 7.8ish quake is still in the cards for us.

Worrying... any idea what the largest aftershock after the 1960 quake was?

Those child proof latches people with young children install on lower cabinets would probably work well on uppers to prevent doors flying open and contents spilling out.
Not expensive here; easily installed and operated.

Wood is your super earthquake friend--if you make sure to keep the termites away! I lived in a wood-frame house in California, and it had to be inspected yearly, sometimes more often when we noticed termite signs, and spot-treated somewhere almost every inspection. And even with all that it needed to be tented when we sold the house. Given the average Chilean attitude toward maintenance, most of them are probably safer with concrete and rebar.

So the great hope for Chile, Pres. Pinera is in New Orleans, Louisiana speaking with its' failed, incompetent mayor Ray Nagin. Pinera is seeking his advice on how to handle the aftermath of a natural disaster. I guess that means sitting on your ass and waiting for the government to relocate you, throw debit cards at you so you can buy pocketbooks instead of renting an apartment, and rebuild your homes that you never bothered to maintain in the first place.
Pinera should instead be looking at World War Two footage of London and Berlin. When the bombs stopped falling, civilians were outside with fire hoses and shovels cleaning up and preparing to rebuild. Government help is the final leg of the stool, individuals helping themselves and each other are the first legs.
According to my wife's friend, the tsunami returned to the beach barrels of chemical and biological waste that had been dumped in the waters off Tome. Can anybody verify this?
Supposedly, this dumping was tacitly approved by Bachelet. Could that be part of the cause of the tainted salmon?
Finally, many of the bridges and overpasses which were severely damaged or destroyed were designed by engineers from Spain. In Spain, many of the bridges and roads are designed by Scandinavian engineers. Hmm.

Thank you for taking the time and posting all these resources.

Jordan.

Well said, Zenth. New Orleans is no model for Chile. New Orleans was appropriated $ by the US Congress, long before Katrina, to formulate emergency evacuation plans but wasted the money and had no updated plans ready. Then it didn't start evacuating on time as Katrina approached. So much easier to blame the President. Granted, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," was a highwater mark in dumb comments, but New Orleans didn't help itself before, during or after Katrina.