Chilean earthquake so strong, it moved an entire city 10 feet

Researchers say the magnitude-8.8 earthquake that hit Chile was so strong, it moved the city of Concepcion 10 feet (or more!) to the west. The Chilean capital, Santiago, was bumped about 11 inches to the west-southwest. (via kristielustout)

• [moniker42]

  I am such a nerd. I was all “I was going to post this on my twitter yesterday” but now I can’t because it was on boingboing! Curses!

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  A few of those in LA and they’ll have to let those students back into Beverly Hills High.

• [Roy Trumbull]

  The largest lateral movement from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was 23 feet on Sir Francis Drake near the town of Olema. There are photos of walks going to the front doors of houses with large offsets.

• [mko]

  I wonder how the property boundaries are recalculated in a situation like this. I mean if your property was split in half by a huge gaping chasm do you now have two pieces of property or none?

  • [gollux]

    Not often that this would happen(chasm). What is more likely is that benchmarks (gps coordinates) will no longer match to your corner markers and that information would have to be rerecorded. In the case of a thrust fault, your property could theoretically widen or narrow.

    In the case of this lateral movement by 10 feet, where property gets lost in a subduction zone is that the seashore has dropped by a varying amount and if you had coastal property, it may be partially or wholly under water. But then, the Tsunami probably has taken care of whether you care or not.