1960 Valdivia Earthquake Research Paper

568 Words3 Pages

On May 22, 1960, in Valdivia, Chile, there was an Earthquake that was a major geologic disaster that affected people in many ways. According to the Wikipedia article "1960 Valdivia earthquake." , The magnitude of the earthquake was 9.4-9.6. It is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded. The earthquake killed an estimated amount between 1,000-6,000 people. The earthquake caused 400-800 million dollars of damage in US which is between 3.24-6.48 billion dollars US today. The earthquake lasted about 10 minutes. The ripple effect could be felt over 6,000 miles away in Japan, and the Philippines where they experienced 35ft waves.(“1960 Valdivia earthquake.) According to “VALDIVIA, CHILE MAY 22 1960: THE LARGEST EARTHQUAKE EVER RECORDED, RESULTS …show more content…

For example, one environmental impact of the event was according to “1960 VALDIVIA EARTHQUAKE, CHILE” by Asti Tobias and Chris Lee it is estimated that 40% of the homes in Valdivia were destroyed leaving 20,000 of its residents homeless. Some structures completely collapsed due to the lack of earthquake engineering in many of the buildings. Houses built on high elevation suffered less damage than the homes built in the lowlands because the lowlands received much more energy from the earthquake that the high land didn't receive. The city center of Valdivia was so destroyed that it was uninhabited until the 1990s, and the 2000s. (Tobias & Lee). According to “1960 Chile Earthquake’s Exponential Effects” by Riley Stockton, another economic impact of this event was would changes the economy in Chile for years. In 1959 Chile was in the middle of a great recession the GDP per capita was decreasing by 8%. In 1960 things were looking good the GDP per capita had grown by 6%, but the Valdivia earthquake halted that growth. In later years from 1961-1963 the GDP per capita would only grow by 2%. From 1964- 1965 Chile would go through another recession, but Chile received international help from the United States and many other countries, and they came together to donate millions of dollars to the people of Chile.(Stockton). According to the Wikipedia article "1960 Valdivia earthquake.",another social