March 3rd, 2010

Chile Earthquake Facts 2010: An Axis Change, Destroyed Buildings, and Shattered Dreams.  On Saturday, mother nature showcased her wrath again on Saturday when an 8.8 earthquake shook the Latin American country of Chile.  The aftermath of the quake has resulted in numerous aftershocks and even caused a tsunami in the American state of Hawaii.

One strange fact of the Chile earthquake 2010 is that it moved the earth 3 inches off its axis, shortening our day by milliseconds.  The change won’t cause a change in weather patterns, but it’s scary to think what continued earthquakes could do to the planet as we know it.

The Wall Street Journal estimates that the insured damages from the Chilean quake could cost up to $8 billion.  This means that the earthquake could cost insurers in the Latin American country lots and lots of money.  On top of general weak world economies, the losses could cause crippling blows to the country.

Over a million people are said to be displaced by the quakes.  This means that there are lots of shattered hopes and dreams. Some have lost all that they have.  Looters, riots, and general chaos abound as people don’t know what to do.

Initially, everyone thought that the Chile earthquake wasn’t as bad as the earthquake in Haiti. However, with the insured losses mounting and the general chaos – some think that the Chilean quake is actually a lot worse.

Of course, the worst losses are the losses of human life.  We can rebuild buildings and fix infrastructure, but we can’t fix the human losses and that’s the greatest tragedy of all.

Source:

Wall Street Journal

Photo Credit: Morguefile.com Free Photo