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.
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