27 February 2010, MW 8.8, Off Central Chile

2010-03-01T19:14:20+00:00

Event summaries

Summary article (Kong et al., Pacific Tsunami Warning System: A Half-Century of Protecting the Pacific, 1965-2015., 2015, PDF, 3 MB)
Video Summary, incl impact photos (ITIC, 2019)

The 27 February 2010 8.8 Mw South-Central Chile earthquake (3:34 am Chile time) generated a tsunami with wave heights up to 29 m and coastal uplift of 2 m.

The epicenter of the earthquake was located in the center of Conception-Constitucion area identified as a mature seismic gap. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information (formerly National Geophysical Data Center) NCEI/NGDC, http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/) Global Historical Event databases, this is the largest instrumental earthquake observed in Chile since the 1960 magnitude 9.5 Valdivia earthquake and tsunami that killed over 1,200 people, including 60 deaths in Hawaii. Globally, this is the 6th largest instrumental earthquake and one of 280 deadly tsunamis.

Tsunami damage in Dichato (left) and Talcahuano (below), Chile (credit USGS-ITIC)

The earthquake and tsunami caused a total of 521 deaths, 46 missing and presumed dead, and USD $30 billion damage. However, only 156 were tsunami-related in the regions of Maule and Biobio, Robinson Crusoe Island of the Juan Fernandez Archipelago, and Isla Mocha. Additionally, in spite of the great size of the earthquake, only a relatively small amount of earthquake damage occurred – this is generally attributed to the strong earthquake building code which structures have been built to over the decades since the 1960 M9.5 Chilean earthquake.

Similarly for the tsunami, while coastal residential dwellings were destroyed from tsunami waves, very few people lost their lives (compared to the potential vulnerable population, perhaps 100,000+ people) – this is largely attributed to pre-event preparedness, awareness, and education. Elders who lived through the 1960 tsunami passed on their experience and wise advice to their children and grandchildren, and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and more recent earthquakes reminded everyone of the need to be aware and prepare. These efforts were led by the Chile Navy’s Hydrographic Service (SHOA), Chile disaster management agency (ONEMI), and universities and community organizations; inundation maps, hazard and evacuation signage, and awareness and education materials were distributed along the coasts. Without these efforts for the decades before, it is sure that many more would have perished.

Factors that helped reduce vulnerability for this event were generally limited earthquake damage due to well-engineered structures, tsunami signage, tsunami-prepared police and fire responders who assisted in warning and evacuation, and a prepared and educated coastal public who also received training in schools and through in-community practice drills. Factors that unfortunately increased the vulnerability were the time of day (many were sleeping so that the earthquake was their early warning), no or little tsunami hazard information at visitor facilities (such as campgrounds) to help uninformed/unaware tourists and workers, and the long duration of destructive tsunami waves (several to 4 hrs so people returned before the end). In the case of Constitucion, where 45 died, inopportune timing was the principal cause of death (many were camping on an island at the river mouth with no evacuation method, and this was the night after a summer-ending fireworks celebration).

Following the earthquake, the NOAA Tsunami Warning Centers issued warnings for locations all over the Pacific from Antarctica to Seward, Alaska. As a result of the warnings, although tsunami waves of between 3-6 feet and strong currents were observed in many locations, no lives were lost outside of the epicentral region. The highest tsunami amplitudes were observed in Constitucion and Isla Mocha, Chile. An International Post-Tsunami Field Survey, coordinated by UNESCO Santiago, ITIC, and local scientists, was conducted starting on 8 March 2009 to document the impacts.

Today, like in the South Pacific, Chile is working to strengthen their early warning systems, especially in hardening the communications infrastructures critical for providing information on warning and evacuation, and in improving the earthquake and tsunami detection networks to more quickly assess tsunami threat to their coasts. Many are aware that the next tsunami will probably be to the north where there is already a long history of destructive tsunamis. Awareness and outreach campaigns in this region aim to further strengthen community preparedness. Again, the emphasis for local tsunamis is to ensure that everyone knows a tsunami’s natural warning signs and then knows to immediately take action since the tsunami may attack coasts within 10-30 minutes after the earthquake.

1) Alert Information	International PTWC Official Messages (DOC, 111 KB) WC/ATWC Official Messages (DOC, 85.5 KB) IOC Event Timeline Summary (draft) (UNESCO/IOC) (DOC, 105 KB) Tsunami Travel Time map (ITIC) (ZIP, 4.61 MB)
2) Sea Level	Tsunami observations - Summary (NCEI, XLS, 198 KB) Sea Level Gauge measurements, Summary map (NCEI (NGDC), PDF, 113 KB) Sea Level Records recorded by PTWC (ITIC) South America, 27Feb10, 1800Z (14 stations) (ZIP, 427 KB) Central Pacific, 27Feb10, 1900Z (5 stations) (ZIP, 291 KB) Southwest Pacific American Samoa, Samoa, 27Feb10 2026Z, 28Feb10 2202Z (2 stations) (ZIP, 325 KB) Southwest Pacific, 28Feb10, 0012Z (10 stations) (ZIP, 334 KB) All, 1Mar10, 0420Z (75 stations) (ZIP, 6.47 MB) Coastal Sea Level Data and Graphs (NTWC, Website) Sea Level Records (Sakhalin Warning Center, ZIP, 352 KB) Bering Island, Kamchatka, Paramushir, Okhostsk Sea, Shikotan, Sakhalin Eyewitness Kamchatka (J. Bourgeois, Univ of Washington, DOC, 23.5 KB) Mexico (New Zealand, J. Borrero, Univ of Southern California, DOC, 36.5 KB) San Diego, California, USA (P. Whitmore, San Diego Weather Forecast Office, DOC, 33.5 KB) Sea Level Gauges around New Zealand (National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA), New Zealand, PDF, 635 KB)
3) Seismic	Rupture (GFZ, Animated GIF, 781 KB) Event Page (U.S. Geological Survey, Website) Historical Earthquake Plot (PTWC, JPG, 128 KB) Earthquake Plot (USGS, GIF, 86.6 KB) Historical Seismicity (USGS, JPG, 203 KB) Earthquake summary and wave animations, Teachable Moments (IRIS, Website) Seismic Wave Propagation (Website) Chile Historical Earthquakes (University of Tokyo, Website) Historical EQs (Univ of Chile, JPG, 316 KB) IPGP, CNRS-INSU Deformation GPS, InSAR, seismic,other maps (UNAVCO, Website) GPS - Summary, South America, Chile Summary (PDF, 1.14 MB) South America (JPG, 488 KB) Chile (JPG, 202 KB)
4) Model Simulations	NOAA PMEL Center for Tsunami Research (Website) Pacific-wide simulation (University of Tokyo) (Website) Energy Flux (IOS, Sidney, BC, Canada, JPG, 312 KB) Population of Talcahuano coast is highly exposed against the massive tsunami (Disaster Control Research Center, Tohoku University, Japan, Website) Tsunami Travel Times, Energy Pattern (NTL, Russia, ZIP, 483 KB) Summary and Modeling (CEA DAM/DIF/DASE/LDG, Website)
5) Media	Chile earthquake kills 122 and triggers tsunami (Times Online, PDF) Map: Chile earthquake (BBC News, Website) Tsunami Spares US, Takes Aim at Japan (ABC News, PDF) 1.5 Million Displaced After Chile Quake (New York Times, Website) Hawaii Tsunami Warning and Evacuation (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, PDF)
6) Photos - Other	Chile Earthquake Photos (CBS News, Website) Nighttime Light Outages, Chile, 26-28 Feb 2010 (National Geophysical Data Center, Website) Tsunami, Severo-Kurilsk (Sakhalin Warning Center, Website) Evacuation, Severo-Kurilsk (Sakhalin Warning Center, Website)
7) Videos	Event Summary, incl impact photos (ITIC) Hilo, Hawaii, USA, Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes, (Univ. of Hawaii, Hilo, Website) 1100-1830 local, Civil Defense, onlookers, tsunami at (1) Breakwall (2) Wailuku River (3) Coconut Island (4) Wailoa Pond. High-water lines at Bayfront & Suisan (YouTube) Hilo Bay, Wailuku River, Hilo, Hawaii, USA (YouTube) 0:40 to 2:40 local, north (seaward, or makai) of eastern terminus of Piopio Street, Wailoa River State Recreational Area. The two-humped bridge is visible from satellite photos (Google Earth) as well as the circular top of the Wailoa Center building, looking east. Remainder video is Wailuku River, near Wailuku Drive, Wainaku Avenue and Puueo Street. Lyttleton, Christchurch, NZ (YouTube) Heathcote & Avon estuary, 5th wave, 1750 local, 28Feb10 Crescent City, CA, USA (L. Dengler, Humboldt State, YouTube) Dichato, Chile (YouTube)
8) Post-Earthquake Post-Tsunami Surveys	Mw 8.8 – Chile Earthquake 2010-02-27 Clearinghouse Website (Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Website) ITST-Chile (ITIC, Website)

2010 Tsunamis - International Tsunami Information Center

27 February 2010, MW 8.8, Off Central Chile