AlexBrandonShiva

 Chile and Haiti Earthquakes [|Chile] Chile's earthquake this year was a very big one. It had a magnitude of 8.8 on the Richter Scale. This earthquake turned out to be one of the biggest earthquakes in Chilean history. Even though it was not quite as big as the 9.5 magnitude earthquake they had in 1960, it is still one of the biggest the world has seen. It was big enough to trigger a tsunami. The tsunami was expected to arrive at Hawaii, but not as big and severe as the massive tsunami from the 1960 Chilean earthquake. This was because of the location of the epicenter was closer to the shore line and the magnitude was larger. This earthquake even had a big depth. Its depth was 22 kilometers (13.67 miles). Because it was so big, there were many casualties. There were at least 214 deaths. Even though this doesn't sound like much for such a big earthquake, 214 dead people is a lot of dead people. If you want to see the mass destruction of this earthquake click the link below:

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[|Haiti]The earthquake in Haiti was both big and tragic. It ended in so many deaths. In fact, there were at least 230,000 people who died, 300,000 injured, and 1,000,000 people homeless. This is mainly because Haiti doesn't have all its buildings up to earthquake code. Many buildings fell. This huge earthquake was rated 7.0 on the Richter Scale and was 13 kilometers deep (8.08 miles). Also, it had at least 52 aftershocks. These aftershocks were all had about 4.5 magnitude on the Richter Scale. It occurred at 4:53 local time. Many people are trying to help Haiti because it needs it. It hasn't been able to maintain itself after the earthquake. Many countries are helping out. There were also tsunamis from the earthquake, but it was small and localized, and it didn't cause lots of damages. To learn more about this tsunami catastrophes click these links: http://www.universetoday.com/2010/02/27/8-8-magnitude-earthquake-in-chile-tsunamis-predicted-for-pacific-region/ []