Clarification and warning by mega-earthquake of magnitude greater than 8 ° in Chile

[Inkriql]

Last Friday, the research led by the geologist Marcos Moreno Switt, from the Universidad de Concepción, was made public. There he announced an earthquake of 8 degrees or more, possibly causing a tsunami. The committed areas would be the Valparaíso Region and the south of the Coquimbo Region.

Before this information, his colleagues went to clarify that this study is not an announcement or prediction but is a possibility by the movements of the plates that are on the surface of Chile.

The geologist Cristian Farías made public his explanation about the investigation carried out by Moreno.
The foundation
In Chile, the great majority of large earthquakes occur due to the subduction of the Nazca plate with the South American one. During an earthquake they move suddenly with respect to each other, and then they block, accumulating tension.

Plate movements: Nasca and South American.
By blocking it is understood that they no longer move with respect to each other, but that they are "stuck", even though they want to move.

For this reason, a lot of tension accumulates. This "blockade" has been measured, identifying areas of Chile that are more blocked than others (in black).

Areas of Chile blocked.
The interesting thing is that many of the great earthquakes have occurred in highly blocked areas, which makes sense, since they are the ones that accumulate the most tension.

A clear example is the 2014 earthquake in Iquique, which occurred in an area where the plates are very blocked.

Highly blocked areas accumulate the greatest tension.
The clarification
The occurrence of an earthquake of magnitude 8 or 9 in the past does not prevent having another in the future.

After the tension is released, the area becomes blocked again, and accumulates again. An earthquake of magnitude 8 can occur, and still leave a remnant, and so on until in the future there is another mega-earthquake.

The last mega-earthquake off the coast of Valparaíso occurred in 1730, and it has been suggested that it broke the crust from Coquimbo to Concepción. Huge.

From there there has been a long sequence of earthquakes, but not all the tension that has accumulated has been released.

And in front of Valparaíso there is a very blocked area. Moreover, Marcos Moreno and his colleagues have seen that, in several cases, the seismicity of the area tends to "surround" the highly blocked region (what they call roughness), in the years before the tension of it is released.

And that is what has been seen in the roughness in front of Valparaíso. Now, this does not say that the earthquake will happen tomorrow, in a month, in a year, or in a decade. It can not be predicted. Nor does it say that the whole area of roughness will be broken at once.

Nor do we have to believe that a sequence of earthquakes of magnitude 7 will "save" everyone. One of magnitude 8 is 32 times larger, so we would need 32 of the M 7 to be able to "gently" release all the accumulated tension.

So then, the fundamental thing is to understand that we are facing a scenario that can bring many problems. The earthquake will happen at some time. It will be the responsibility of society and each person, how it will face.