The massive earthquake which struck the west coast of Chile last month moved the entire city of Concepcion more than 3m to the west, scientists said on Monday.
Preliminary measurements drawn from global positioning stations showed that Concepcion, Chile’s second largest city, is now 3.04m further west than it was prior to the 8.8 magnitude quake that struck on Feb. 27.
It was the fifth most powerful quake recorded since instruments have been available to measure seismic shifts and there have been hundreds of aftershocks, several exceeding magnitude 6.0.
The Chilean capital of Santiago also shifted 27.7cm to the west, measurements gathered by a team of Chilean and US scientists and released by Ohio State University showed.
On South America’s east coast, Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires moved nearly 4cm to the west and significant displacements were recorded as far away as the Falkland Islands
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Chilean children returned to class on Monday as a revised death toll continued to climb nine days after an earthquake and tsunami waves devastated the country.
Students’ screams of joy at finding their old friends rang throughout schools, while parents recounted the horror of days scrambling for food and water and sleepless, chilly nights outside their crumbled homes.
“It’s good for the children to go back to school, because they will focus on their stories,” a mother said as she dropped off her son at Subcaseaux Junior High School in Santiago.
Teachers underwent training to receive with “lots of love, lots of willingness to listen” the young ones still in shock from the tremor that affected 2 million people, Chilean Education Minister Monica Jimenez said.
“I missed my friends, I’ve been afraid of the aftershocks,” a boy said just before entering class for the first time since the end of the southern hemisphere’s summer.
Only children in the hardest-hit regions of Maule and Bio Bio did not go back to class, with their return delayed until late this month or late next month because so many schools were destroyed in the quake.
During a visit to Subcaseaux, which is hosting students from affected areas, Jimenez said nearly 80 percent of children were returning to class.
Chilean emergency crews continue to search through the devastation for the dead.
Patricio Rosende, the deputy interior minister, said 45 new bodies had been identified, bringing the official death toll to 497.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique