Why Did Chiles Earthquake Do Less Damage Than Haitis?
Six weeks after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake killed 220,000 in Haiti, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck Chile, killing 700. How could a weaker earthquake kill so many more people in Haiti? Chile, which is still suffering from aftershocks, had some geographic advantages. The epicenter of the Haiti quake was closer to the surface and closer to a major population center. (It hit the edge of Port-au-Prince, while the Chile quake hit 70 miles from Concepcion.) But historical, political, and economic factors may have had just as much to do with Chile’s success in withstanding the quake. For one thing, Chile simply has more experience with earthquakes. While a major quake hadn’t hit Haiti in 250 years, Chile gets them every few decades. As a result of Chile’s history and its relative affluence (it’s the richest country in Latin America; Haiti is the poorest), the country has invested in extensive earthquake research and preparation. Chile has more seismologists and earthquake engineers per capi
