The 1888 Río de la Plata earthquake occurred on 5 June measuring 5.5 on the

Richter magnitude scale The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...

, and shook the upper

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...

at 3:20 UTC-3. The epicentre was located southwest of

Colonia del Sacramento , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = Basilica del Sanctísimo Sacramento.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Basílica del Santísimo Sacramento , pushpin_map = Uruguay , subdivisio ...

(

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

) and east of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

(

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

), with a

hypocentre In seismology, a hypocenter or hypocentre () is the point of origin of an earthquake or a subsurface nuclear explosion. A synonym is the focus of an earthquake. Earthquakes An earthquake's hypocenter is the position where the strain energy s ...

at a depth of .

Newspaper articles

On 5 June 1888, the

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

journal ''La Tribuna Popular'' reported the earthquake and its effects: ''The houses' woodwork creaked loudly, lamps swung, furniture moved and paintings fell off walls. Glassware objects broke and porcelain could be seen jolting out of cupboards. Astonished at the strong earthquake, inhabitants have had a sleepless night...'' Also, a Colonia del Sacramento local journal ''La Lucha'' reported on a particular event: ''The steamer 'Saturno' en route from the neighbouring country's capital (Buenos Aires) was calmly sailing in of water along the centre of the channel when she came to a sudden halt, as though she had run aground. The captain had soundings taken but the vessel, as if moved by some hidden force, was freed from the ground and continued on her way.'' River Plate

Consequences

Every settlement along the Río de la Plata's shore was affected, especially the cities of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. Only slight damage occurred since there were no high buildings or underground trains in those cities at the time. However, at no time since this earthquake have antiseismic building measures been taken in either of the two nations.

Background, precedents and provisions

The panic caused by this earthquake among the inhabitants of both banks of Río de la Plata was marked, because they were unfamiliar with seismic events, as are today's inhabitants. However, a previous event had been recorded: the 15 August 1848 earthquake which, just as that of 1888, caused no major damage and may have been seen as an isolated phenomenon or since its epicentre was faraway from the continent and thus distant from settlements, it may have been considered that future quakes would probably occur in those latitudes and cause no damage on the continent. It is worth mentioning, though, that there are no aseismic regions in the world. Such an event could therefore happen again in the River Plate as evidenced by 26 June 1988 and 10 January 1990 earthquakes, the latter being the only one registered on Uruguayan mainland territory. These earthquakes are believed to have originated in a particular region, the

Punta del Este Punta del Este () is a seaside city and peninsula on the Atlantic Coast in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. Starting as a small town, Punta del Este later became internationally known as a resort for the Latin and North American j ...

basin, which is highly faulted and where tectonic plates might experience certain movement thus causing the earthquake waves, according to Alberto Benavídez Sosa MGEOPHYS, agronomical engineer and former president of CERESIS (Seismology Regional Centre for South America) Earthquakes in the easternmost edge of the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

tectonic plates Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...

can occasionally be felt in the Argentine

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

coast, including Buenos Aires and only rarely on the Uruguayan coast.

References

External links

* CERESIS (Seismology Regional Centre for South America) http://www.ceresis.org * Assignment Report for the Buenos Aires-Colonia Bridge Project. https://web.archive.org/web/20051108193845/http://www.puentep-laracolonia.com.ar/ingles/cooperacion/informe.html * Benavídez Sosa, Alberto. ''Seismicity and Seismotectonics in Uruguay''(Spanish) http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/revistas/fis/02144557/articulos/FITE9898110167A.PDF {{DEFAULTSORT:1888 Rio De La Plata Earthquake Geology of Buenos Aires Province

1888 In Germany, 1888 is known as the Year of the Three Emperors. Currently, it is the year that, when written in Roman numerals, has the most digits (13). The next year that also has 13 digits is the year 2388. The record will be surpassed as late ...

Rio De La Plata Earthquake, 1888 Rio De La Plata Earthquake, 1888 Rio De La Plata Earthquake, 1888 June 1888 events 1888 disasters in Argentina 1888 disasters in Uruguay

Newspaper articles

Consequences

Background, precedents and provisions

See also

References

External links