The 1939 Chillán earthquake occurred in south-central

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

on 24 January with a

surface-wave magnitude The surface wave magnitude (M_s) scale is one of the magnitude scales used in seismology to describe the size of an earthquake. It is based on measurements of Rayleigh surface waves that travel along the uppermost layers of the Earth. This mag ...

of 8.3 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). With a death toll of around 28,000, compared to the 2,231–6,000 (official estimates vary greatly) (Exact data location missing from URL) of the Great Chilean earthquake of 1960, it is the single deadliest

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

in Chile.

Earthquake

At 23:32, the earth began to shake strongly underneath

Chillán Chillán () is the capital List of cities in Chile, city of Ñuble Region, Diguillín Province, Chile, located about south of the country's capital, Santiago, near the center of the country. It has been the capital of the new Ñuble Region since ...

, destroying more than half of it, including around 3,500 homes and the recently constructed Casa Rabié which then was in the city. Aftershocks followed although they were less intense, which left the city completely destroyed. Until then, the Cathedral of Chillán had been one of the principal buildings of the area, but it was completely destroyed. The church that was built to replace it was designed specifically to withstand future earthquakes. At 23:35, Concepción was violently hit. Almost all of the buildings (around 95% of the houses) were completely destroyed. There was a show going on in the theater where the large chandelier started to swing. The people inside were terrified, so they fled down the stairs, but the spiral staircase cracked, causing many people to fall into the gap. In the intersection of O’Higgins and Aníbal Pinto avenue, the bodies accumulated, which were later brought to the cemetery, and interred in large strips of land. The electricity was cut in all of the city and tens of fires were reported in various points of the city. The

potable water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

supply was also seriously affected. The material damage in all of the city was evaluated to be more than three thousand million pesos. Various emblematic buildings of the city were destroyed, like the central market, Correos de Chile, but the most emblematic was the plaza of independence, which was seriously damaged. Its two towers leaned dangerously, and because of this, they had to be demolished. Another building that was affected was the first building of the old Central Station of Concepción. In 1941, the construction of a second station building began.

Geology

The community of Chillán is situated in the continental territory of Chile. The city of Chillán was built on a tectonic structure at the end of the

Tertiary Period The Tertiary ( ) is an obsolete Period (geology), geologic period spanning 66 million to 2.6 or 1.8 million years ago. The period began with the extinction of the non-bird, avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at t ...

in the part of the Longitudinal Valley which is identified with the Central level. Morphologically, the land corresponds to an alluvial plain, which predominates with fluvioglacial sediments, conformed during the Cuaternario by the action of the Rivers Nuble and Cato in the north and the River Chillán in the south, both tributary streams of the large drainage basin of Itata. The natural flow of the enclave of Chillán is confirmed by later geological studies, found the root of the earthquake of 1939, when a prospection of more than 80 meters was carried out, without finding the

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bed ...

Response

At the start of February 1939, Major Caleb V. Haynes of the U.S. Army Air Corps commanded a special "flight of mercy" with medical supplies from the

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

loaded in the experimental prototype Boeing XB-15 bomber. The airplane departed from Langley Field, Virginia for Santiago, Chile, and covered a distance 4,933 miles in 49 hours and 18 minutes, with only two stops to refuel in the

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone (), also known as just the Canal Zone, was a International zone#Concessions, concession of the United States located in the Isthmus of Panama that existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of the Panama Canal and an area gene ...

and in Lima, Peru. The crew was also awarded the

Mackay Trophy The Mackay Trophy is awarded yearly by the United States Air Force for the "most meritorious flight of the year" by an Air Force person, persons, or organization. The trophy is housed in the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museu ...

for 1939 for the "most meritorious flight of the year" made by members of the Air Corps. In the aftermath, the Chilean government created

CORFO The Production Development Corporation (CORFO, from ) is a Chilean governmental organization that was founded in 1939 by President Pedro Aguirre Cerda to promote economic growth in Chile. Originally, CORFO was responsible for the creation of ...

(Spanish acronym for ''Production Development Corporation'') to help in the reconstruction of the country and to industrialize the country, mechanize the agriculture and help mining to develop.

Gallery

Image:Calle Barros Arana en 1939.jpg, Concepción Image:Miradoraleman1938.jpg, "El Mirador Alemán", in Concepción Image:1939 Chile Earthquake Memorial Placard.jpg, A memorial placard next to the cathedral in Chillán commemorates the victims 50 years later

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1939 Chillan earthquake History of Biobío Region Chillan Concepción, Chile History of Ñuble Region 1939 disasters in South America