Tsunami strikes Chile: Live updates after massive 8.3 magnitude earthquake causes giant wave

Mirror UK ^ | 4-2-14

[kingattax]

A wave of more than six feet in height has hit the port of Iquique in Chile.

It is a key copper exporting port, close to the country's main copper mines.

Mining companies Codelco and BHP Billiton said that had not yet received reports of damage to mines.

[Southern Magnolia]

That's a big one.

[freeandfreezing]

Apparently some of the journalists covering this earthquake don't realize that the copper mines themselves are many miles inland, and at high elevations.

That said, damage is likely from even relatively small tsunami surges in the ports along the coast. Luckily much of the coastline has significant bluffs, and is sparsely populated.

[kingattax]

In 2010, an 8.8-magnitude quake triggered a tsunami that caused major damage in several coastal towns in central-south Chile and killed hundreds of people.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

We get that on a regular basis. It’s called high tide.

[philly-d-kidder]

Most of the copper Mines are OPEN Pit Mines..
Iquique construction was of wooden Houses or
Mortar Based... There will be Tremendous flooding as this is a very Dry Region to north Atacama desert..

The Town of Iquigue when you arrive it has a Pungent fish smell as much canning/packaging is done their.

[Cvengr]

Those are for waves with about 20sec periods with a wave vel of about 50m/s. The tsunami 6ft wave might last 200sec with a wave vel of about 500m/s. Since the Salton Sea is below sea level, it would only take about a 10ft surge in elevation to reconnect the Indio sink to the Sea of Cortez.

[chris37]

It doesn’t matter how high it is, it matters what the wavelength is.

[ClearCase_guy]

Size doesn't matter? It's the motion?

That's what some folks say. Sort of.

[Fledermaus]

Wow. Amazing.

[Starstruck]

We get that on a regular basis. It’s called high tide.

What happens if it's high tide on top of high tide?

[Jack Hydrazine]

What’s the frequency, Kenneth?

[Jack Hydrazine]

Do you mean what happens if the tsunami rolls in during high tide?

[gigster]

Gotcha. Thank You.

[Jack Hydrazine]

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000nzvd#summary

http://cnnworldlive.cnn.com/Event/Powerful_earthquake_strikes_off_Chile

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_CHILE_EARTHQUAKE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-04-01-20-17-03

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/02/us-chile-earthquake-idUSBREA3101G20140402

[Jack Hydrazine]

[Ramius]

More to the point... The 6 ft tsunami height is the height of the wave AT SEA. As the wave approaches shore and gets into shallower water it will build up and break several times higher than that.

Another difference is the period. Instead of a normal wave with a period of only a few seconds... A tsunami could have a period of several minutes. That is, the wave comes in, and just KEEPS coming...

[Starstruck]

Do you mean what happens if the tsunami rolls in during high tide?Interesting. I never thought of that.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

What happens if it's high tide on top of high tide?

Storm tide. Throws rocks on the roads, washes them out. Maybe takes out some expensive houses built on the beach and washes away all their sand.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Just add the predicted tide to the tsunami and you have the total height.

[blueplum]

so a 6 ft tsunami could be, on shore, 12-18 ft?