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A massive magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, killing at least 85 people, triggering a tsunami and damaging buildings more than 200 miles away.
President Michelle Bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe".
This is absolutely terrible. First Haiti and now this.
No words can describe how sad this is. Alaskans who went through the big earthquake in 1964 of 8.6 will most certainly identify with the ruin of lives and property. I hope we are reminded to get our act together with our individual/family earthquake emergency preparedness plan. We are probably "due", Chile had its last big earthquake of 9 something in 1960.
ReplyDeleteEarthquakes and other natural disasters are suppose to increase before the time of the Great Tribulation, which many believe will begin in 2012.
ReplyDeleteMaybe there IS something to all that Bible prophecy stuff after all...
Japan had a 6.9 around the same time as the Chile quake. They don't expect any tsunami from it, but there will be one from the Chile quake. All Pacific nations are on alert and evacuation plans are at the ready. The wave is supposed to hit Hawaii at around 4:20PM EST.
ReplyDeleteMy heart and prays goes out to Chile
ReplyDeleteWonder how long it will take Pat Robertson to come up with a reason why God needed to punish the people of Chile for their heathen-ness? Wonder what burr has been under God's saddle lately? Sure wish Robertson would enlighten us, otherwise it just seems like God has really been a dick these past few months.
ReplyDeleteJust read that places as far away as Alaska may be threatened by the tsunami.
ReplyDelete@anonymous 6:17- Maybe there is something to the 'great tribulation" the bible speaks of in Revelation and Daniel's prophesy, and Christian websites are quick to point at the things happening on earth starting with the world wars. However, they seem to forget the outcome, which is... "the meek shall inherit the earth"... and people like Sarah Palin are the warmongers.
ReplyDeleteWe're under a tsunami alert and I live in an evacuation zone in Maui. Please send a few good thoughts our way.
ReplyDeleteMickey Musing:
ReplyDeleteWe (Hawaii) are in a tsunami warning now. I can't wait to hear what Pat Robertson has to say about that also.
anon @ 6:17
ReplyDeleteMassive earthquakes and tsunamis have been happening much, much longer than Judaism or Christianity has even existed.
Learn some science and get a life!
Everyone please prepare to dig a little deeper and donate but please don't forget Haiti and leave them hanging because they've become 'old news.'
ReplyDeleteMy niece and her friend just traveled to Santiago last Monday, to teach English for the next 6-12 months. We finally heard from her around 10:30 am (EDT) this morning, but with no details about her hostel or belongings.
ReplyDeleteHer name is Katie and her friend is Karen. Please hold a thought for them and their fellow teachers, as well.
Melangell Mudpuppy
Last week a disaster also befell the island of Madeira, the birthplace of my parents. A flash flood caused unprecedented devastation not only to the capital, Funchal, but other towns and villages as well. My parents village, Paul do Mar, was one of many cut off for days due to landslides and rockfalls. Thankfully all my family and friends are OK.
ReplyDeleteMy heart-shaped avatar is a representation of the Madeiran flag.
To the Hawaii bloggers on this thread...I will keep you in my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI have seen the devistation in Haiti first hand and it is unbelievable.
It must be comforting to Alaskans to know that you have had minimal building codes to keep you safe in an event that a repeat of the 1960's tragedy ever hits you again. Wouldn't want any nasty "govmint interference" in contractors lives.
There is a cartoon I remember as a kid, featuring spike (a large bull dog) and his side kick, some little rat dog that had attached itself to this great white beast with the confidence of a blood hound tic, squatty little legs, and the “made for a fly swatter” personality of a chihuahua.
ReplyDeleteTypical mismatch of a slightly dim, intellectually unburnished schoolyard bully and his evil twin handler, patrolling the schoolyard in the late afternoon, trolling for stragglers and easy pick en’s.
Spike the alpha, provides the muscle but endures poking, prodding, and is egged on mercilessly by the rat dog, and as it turns out, spike really isn’t all that spikey. More so, the rat dog is the real protagonist in this saga of Mutt and Jeff personalities and basically carries the leash.
So here in my new castle in the great north west, I had my own version of Spike and Rat dog for housemates in the room next door. Wino Mike and big jawed Steve. That was what lay behind door number one.
Hidden behind door number two was the front lawn trio I had encountered so often when making my way down the LoveJoy sidewalk. I never did get which of the three had the resources to lease the room, or if by some stray act of kindness some unknown benefactor had stepped up to the plate, but yes indeed, the rough and ready jungle was rooted right next door.
Honestly? I don’t think they ever recognized me. I know they saw me as very different from themselves, I wasn’t really the “street bro that had their backs” so to speak, I was just a fresh faced kid that dressed up in a whitish gray herringbone suit jacket setting out early in the mornings to try to find work in down town Portland.
So nature has it’s way and cream floats to the top right?
I wouldn’t say so looking back and not forgetting how bad things were. It was less than 1980, there was a recession in full swing, any one without a particular song to flourish by was doomed to whatever obscure second choice was left on the dinner table. College was still on the back side of the menu. The post Vietnam stuff mixed it into a cloudy mess, a bowl of soup that salted everyone’s vision and tended to tempt away individual courage.
And then there was the latest crop of 18 year olds. An abundance of youth and the newest journey yet, trying to figure out what happened to the spirit that took us to the moon and bypassed the gun. There was more to it than skipping breakfast, avoiding a cereal box of carnage, and pursuing songs as an alternative to living life.
War had passed but the past was war, so it became a waiting game against facing reality, but again not really a game. It was becoming abundantly clear that the product of living could not be reconciled on a balance sheet, the scales don’t tip as a cumulative function of ones actions. Changing your fate is a tricky business and for the most part requires intrepid action and steadiness of conviction. But some times, just sometimes- plain and painful ignorance “dumb luck” as some would have it, can get you a little further ride.
So taken in that context, I must say I was truly in the middle of a grove of lost souls of which I think I was one- or about to become one. One shouldn’t walk away from the odd and unexpected crossroads that further separates us from childhood in life’s table of circumstance, so I did what still came natural… I said hi, and introduced myself to my new housemates.
http://teutonic13.wordpress.com/
If you have any relatives in Chile about whom you are concerned here is a link to the US State Dept page on this:
ReplyDeletehttp://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/chile_earthquake.html
'64 Alaska earthquake was finally rated at 9.2.
ReplyDeleteStrongest ever recorded was Chile, 9.5 in 1960, PWS Alaska was #2, Rat Islands, Aleutians 9.1 in 1957, Indonesia quake/tsunami 9.0.
This Chilean quake will be in the top 10, terrifying.
Expect an announcement blaming this quake on climate change/global warming before lunch.
ReplyDeleteMy heartfelt wishes and prayers go out to all of these folks. Mother earth is talking. We have been due for some big ones of the subduction zones for awhile.
ReplyDeleteO/T this young reporter in Chile has better English than SP. Very understandable despite her accent.
I'm crossing everything for Hawaii, and will throw a few prayers in, too. Hope this isn't an indication that we are entering some sort of 'decade of devastation' or something, but come on? Seems we don't have time to recover from one massive disaster before another hits. Anyway, I sure hope Hawaii escapes relatively unscathed.
ReplyDeleteWow. So sad and devastating. Feel helpless while watching the news; all we can do is wait and pray.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's it, Mother Nature is mad and it's all the xtians fault. Thanks to those that provided that very scientific commentary on this latest natural disaster.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts and prayers are not only with all those effected in Chile, but also all those in the path of the coming tsunami.
ReplyDeleteGryphen do you live in an area of Alaska that will be effected? How about any of the other "regulars" here? What are they telling you to expect?
Kat, I've already begun praying for your safety.
Anonymous at 8:05, I am so glad you've heard from your niece and her friend.
This website has interesting scientific data regarding the size and frequency of earthquakes.
ReplyDeletehttp://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php
Did you see the Obama press conference on this international crisis just now? I hope they will reveal who the assh@le reporter was that yelled to Obama, as he was walking away, to comment on Charlie Rangel. If it wasn't someone from Fox or a right winger, I'd really be surprised. You just can't explain inappropriate, heartless people.
ReplyDeleteI speak to Mother Nature as a friend, not as a Xtian or one of those jerks who will blame this on someone's failings.
ReplyDeleteI spent a lot of time with the USGS. We're fortunate that the subductions zones along the West coast have been so quiet.
I hope everyone in Hawaii and the other south pacific islands are safe.
I presume that the building codes in Chile are better than in Haiti, so, hopefully, a lot of death and destruction will be avoided. And, hopefully, the tsunami alerts will work and people will be getting out of the potential areas.
ReplyDeleteWeren't a lot of the deaths in Thailand with that tsunami a few years ago due to the utter surprise of the thing?
Here is the website to follow the earthquakes and aftershocks. New 6.3 in Argentina as well.
ReplyDeletehttp://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.php
Looks like not much to see here in the lower Cook inlet but will take camera and watch shore at 5:30+-
ReplyDeleteKachemac bay is calm today so any change will be visible.
Anon @6:17
ReplyDeleteQuestion:
How many earthquakes took place worldwide between the years 1 and 1000 A.D.?
Another question:
How many earthquakes took place around the world between the years 1000 and 1900 A.D.?
What is a Richter Scale?
When and by whom was it invented?
Do you think that that person became schooled in science so that he could invent that measuring device by studying the Bible and being afraid of a 2000-year-old prophecy?
--or do you think he studied and learned about subjects like Science, Physics, Mechanics and Mathmatics in text books, because he had an interest in seismology?
Considering (and this is just my guess) that you have no idea how many earthquakes have occurred, where they occurred and their intensity between 1 A.D. and the end of the nineteenth century, your suggestion that we are approaching the "great Tribulation" because the natural earthquake process is occurring in increased numbers is a demonstration of less than rational and logical thought.
Please do yourself a favor and get a little less scared to death by whatever religion mindset someone is filling your head with and, instead, a little more informed about seismology--and become acquainted with the natural processes of the earth beneath your feet--please do it for your own sake, and for the sake of all our grandchildren.
That great tribulation you have been taught to be afraid of and/or look forward to is more likely to be purposely man-made, than as a direct result of God's anger--even your God. So, if you want to be afraid, maybe you should direct your fear and informed questions toward those who are filling your head with the acceptance of the great tribulation nonsense and point out to them that Charles Richter wasn't born until, as I recall, 1900 A.D. and ask them the same questions I initially asked you.
Earthquakes? Increased in number? Compared to what? Show me the data.
Oh, while you're at it, you might want to inquire--if an earthquake, even an intense one, occurred in, oh say, 950 A.D. in an unpopulated or sparsely populated area, and the people in that place didn't keep written records--how would even know, today, that it ever took place?
P.S. Perhaps I didn't make this clear. Obviously there have been earthquakes for millions of years. It's just that the knowledge of only a few of them have actually been recorded so that we can identify their time frame and locations. More? Less? No one knows.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Anon 6:17, if you head off to church in the morning, and you hear your preacher say that the earthquake in Chili was, for whatever reason, God's will and/or punishment on the men, women and children who live there--you might want to think long and hard about what motive he/she--most likely he--has for trying to instill that notion into your--and the minds and hearts of the people who are sitting in the pews around you.
Thanks so much, y'all! My niece, her friend, and all of the teachers and staff of Teaching Chile are apparently fine. My niece's parents eventually spoke to her for 30 minutes via Skype.
ReplyDeleteEven though they were staying a building built in the 1800's, they were all safe and had water. As of this afternoon, the only damage to the building was the sacrifice of beautiful plaster ceilings - a very small price to pay.
A special thank you to the person who provided the State Dept link!
Bless all of you, and we are keeping those of you in the path of the tsunamis in our thoughts and prayers. I know today went well, and pray that any aftershocks do minimal damage to Chile, and the tsunami threat.
Melangell Mudpuppy
Good news from family in Hawaii. All clear! Whew. Good news from friends on the West Coast in the Seattle area. No impact expected.
ReplyDeleteI am praying for the families of everyone who has loved ones anywhere that may be affected by this earthquake.
(((Maria)))
Namaste
If all the people tithed their full 10% at church each week then god wouldn't be so unhappy; just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteOops.."Chile"
ReplyDeleteSorry.
Remember, the end times Rapture meme has only been around for a few hundred years; it's a modern phenomenon rather than a biblical one. It's a modern reworking of of certain christian biblical texts and was not present in the actual writing or translation of the original christian bible.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be just another scare tactic, or a hopeful scenario for the "blessed" that will never come to fruition.
Thanks for all the good thoughts & prayers. We avoided the bullet.
ReplyDeleteReports that Hilo Bay was drained of all water & that fish were flopping on the rocks were GREATLY exaggerated. (From fantasy land?)
The preparation, round-the-clock media coverage was excellent. Fire trucks drove up & down the streets in the evacuation zones warning people to get out. Many roads were closed so you couldn't drive into the danger areas.
I live in an evacuation zone but didn't leave. I was packed to go - but watched the reports from the Big Island when the tsunami hit and determined that we were going to be safe. If if had been bad, I still had time to get to high ground. Did move my vehicle though. Most of my neighbors with small children moved out.
If the tsunami had been generated locally, the story could have been much different - no hours of early warning as we had with this. The response was excellent! Thank heavens for technology.
Yes, it was a big bad subduction quake, but that's all it was (not God, not climate change, not anything unexplainable at all). People died, like they always do in the big subduction quakes. The Chileans will clean up the rubble, rebuild, and give thanks that they don't live in Haiti. I am not being cold, just used to living along the big bad Cascadian subduction zone and hoping every day that my husband is not at work when our 9.2 hits, because I really don't want to be torn between digging my mom out of the rubble and hoping that somebody is digging my husband out of the rubble from his basement office.
ReplyDeleteSending good thought out to everyone affected. Today it's someone else, tommorrow it may be us. These geologic changes have been happening since day 1. It's how the earth rebuilds itself. Most of the injuries and deaths are because people building.
ReplyDeleteHope Pat Robertson keeps his trap shut this time. I can't imagine a loving God punishing people for being human.