Why Chile's Huge Earthquake Wasn't Much Worse
Map of Chile Earthquakes USGS A map showing historic earthquakes in Chile. Yellow dots show earthquakes larger than a magnitude 8.3, like the one that happened on September 16. The quake that struck just off the coast of Chile last night was huge by any standard. It measured a magnitude 8.3, shaking considerably more than the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated Nepal earlier this year. So why did over 8,000 people die in the Nepal quake and its aftershocks while only an estimated 8 people died in Chile? There are a lot of factors that made this particular natural disaster less disastrous, including its location. While the initial quake in Nepal occurred around 50 miles outside the heavily populated capital of Kathmandu, the Chilean quake occurred over...