Seismologists found that the “earthquake of the century” magnitude of 8.3 will occur in the area of the capital, Santiago. It can happen in the next few decades, says Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
By calculations of experts, the likelihood of powerful aftershocks in the current year is estimated at three percent (which is above the norm about three times). Every year this risk, according to the latest forecasts, will increase.
The epicenter of the earthquake, presumably, will be in the city of Valparaiso, located 120 kilometers from Santiago.
According to scientists, the disaster may lead to the gradual dip of the oceanic Nazca plate beneath the South American plate. The speed of the process – about eight inches a year.
By far the most powerful on the planet is the earthquake in Chile in 1960. Then recorded magnitude of 9.5.
Earlier it was reported that in Chile there was an earthquake. The epicenter of earthquake was located at a distance of 51 kilometers to the South of the city of Ovalle. The earthquake lies at a depth of 43.2 kilometers.
