In May 1960, on the Pacific coast of South America, in Chile, there were several very strong and many weak earthquakes. The strongest of them, at 11-12 points (the strongest earthquake in the 20th century on the scale of the Japanese seismologist Kanamori), was observed on May 22. Its epicenter was in the south of the Arauco Peninsula. Within 1-10 seconds was spent great amount energy hidden in the bowels of the Earth. More than half of the provinces of Chile were affected, at least 10 thousand people died. The destruction covered the Pacific coast for more than 1000 km. Were destroyed big cities- Concepción, which existed for more than 400 years, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Osorno and others. The coastal strip with an area of ​​10 thousand km2 sank after the earthquake below the ocean level and turned out to be blocked by a two-meter layer of water. As a result Chilean earthquakes 14 volcanoes began to operate.
Between May 21 and May 30, 1960, a series of subsequent aftershocks killed 5,700 people and left another 100,000 homeless, destroying 20% ​​of the country's industrial complex. The amount of damage caused was estimated at $400 million. In 7 days, almost the entire countryside of the country turned into ruins. Numerous strong aftershocks and a giant tsunami devastated more than 100,000 square kilometers of Andean countryside. Several million Chileans were left homeless.

Giant sea waves that originated off the coast of Chile during the 1960 earthquake reached Hawaii, traveling 11,000 km in about 15 hours (speed - 730 km / h). A mariner in Hilo, Hawaii, alternately noted the rise and fall of the water level, which occurred at about 30-minute intervals. Despite warnings, these waves in Hilo and elsewhere in Hawaii caused 60 deaths and $75 million in damage. After another 8 hours, the waves reached Japan, once again destroying the port facilities there; while 180 people died. There were also casualties and destruction in the Philippines, in Nov. Zealand and other parts of the Pacific Rim.

The destruction inflicted on the Pacific coast of Chile was monstrous. The cause of the destruction was tremors, landslides, landslides, eruptions of awakened volcanoes. But no less terrible were the destruction caused by giant tsunami waves. In Chile, not so many people died from tsunami waves, except for the villages located at the mouth of the Maulin River. About a thousand people are believed to have drowned there. The tsunami washed away the port of Ancund, the capital of the island of Chiloe off the coast of Chile.

Shortly after the powerful 3 p.m. low level low tide. With cries of horror "The sea is leaving!" everyone rushed to the hills. The wave rushed further across the expanses of the Pacific Ocean. Easter Island was her next victim. The most majestic building of the island - ahu Tongariki is a stone building made of huge blocks. The wave, which was born 2,000 km from Easter Island, jokingly scattered multi-ton stone blocks. Then the tsunami reached the Hawaiian Islands. Here the wave height was about 10 meters and the destruction was terrible. Residential houses, administrative buildings, cars were washed away or destroyed. The victims of the tsunami were 60 people. Rolling through the whole Pacific Ocean, giant waves hit Japan. Thousands of houses were washed into the sea, hundreds of ships sank or were wrecked, 120 people became victims of rampant water elements.
Here is how one of the eyewitnesses who survived this catastrophe describes his impressions: “First, there was a rather strong push. Then there was an underground rumble, as if a thunderstorm was raging somewhere in the distance, a rumble similar to the rumblings of roma. Then I again felt the vibrations of the soil. I decided that, as it happened before, everything would soon stop. But the earth continued to tremble. Then I stopped, looked at the same time at the clock. Suddenly, the tremors became so strong that I could hardly stay on my feet. The aftershocks continued, their strength constantly increased and became more and more violent, I became scared. I was thrown from side to side, like on a steamer in a storm. Two cars passing by were forced to stop. In order not to fall, I knelt down, and then got on all fours. The tremors did not stop. I became even scarier. Very scary ... Ten meters from me, with a terrifying crack, a huge eucalyptus broke in half. All the trees swayed with incredible force, well, how would you say, as if they were twigs that were shaking with all their might. The surface of the road swayed like water. I assure you, it was exactly like that! And what: further all this continued, the more terrible it became. The tremors were getting stronger. The earthquake seemed to go on forever.”

The earthquake in Chile in April 2014, fortunately, is nothing compared to the largest earthquake on record, the Great Chile earthquake in May 1060, which had a magnitude of 9.5. The earthquake in Chile in 1960 claimed the lives of 10 thousand people, the cities of Concepción, Valdivia, Puerto Montt were destroyed, and the tsunami that followed the earthquake caused enormous damage not only to Chile, but also to Hawaii.

As you know, on the night of April 1, 2014, a strong earthquake occurred in Chile, which caused the death of several people, fires and mass evacuation from dangerous areas, and the threat of a tsunami still persists.

Earlier it was reported that on April 1, at about four in the morning Moscow time, an explosion occurred off the coast of Chile. powerful earthquake magnitude 8.2. The outbreak was located at a depth of 10 kilometers, the epicenter was off the coast of the province of Tarapaca, 99 kilometers northwest of the city of Iquique.

natural disaster caused power outages, collapse of non-seismic buildings, and fires. About ten people died, perhaps this figure will increase, there is evidence that there are still victims and bodies of the dead under the rubble.

As a result of the earthquake in the Pacific Ocean, a 1.92 m high tsunami arose. First, seismologists warned that the tsunami threatened all countries Latin America with access to the sea. However, according to the latest data, the threat remains only for the coast for Chile and Peru. For Chile, the warning will remain in effect until at least 0800 GMT on Wednesday. The authorities of these countries have already announced the evacuation of coastal areas.

The April 1 earthquake was the third major in this earthquake-prone region in recent times: so, on March 17, an earthquake of magnitude 6.7 occurred in Chile, and on March 24 - a magnitude of 6.1.

And the worst earthquake that ever covered this country occurred on May 21, 1960. It was called the Great Chilean earthquake and became the strongest in the history of observations. The magnitude of the Great Chilean earthquake ranged from 9.3 to 9.5.

The epicenter of the earthquake was located near the city of Valdivia (which is why it is sometimes called the Valdivia earthquake) 435 kilometers south of the Chilean capital of Santiago. The cities of Concepcion, Valdivia, Puerto Montt were destroyed. Immediately after the earthquake, the country was covered devastating tsunami, whose waves reached a height of more than ten meters. The number of victims of the tsunami exceeded the number of victims of the earthquake itself, and significant damage was caused not only to the Chilean coast, but also to the city of Hilo in Hawaii, about 10 thousand kilometers from the epicenter. Tsunami waves then even reached the coast of Japan.

The number of victims was about ten thousand dead, tens of thousands were injured, more than half a million Chileans were left homeless. The damage in 1960 prices amounted to about half a billion dollars.

One of the strongest earthquakes of our century - the Chilean one - occurred on May 29, 1960. It completely destroyed the city of Concepción, which had existed for more than 400 years. Was and turned into the ruins of Valdivia, Puerto Montt and other cities. Tremors, rock falls and landslides have affected an area of ​​more than 200 thousand km 2, turning into ruins a territory that is larger than Great Britain in area.

Here is how one of the eyewitnesses who survived this catastrophe describes his impressions: “At first there was a rather strong push. Then there was a subterranean rumble, as if a thunderstorm was raging somewhere in the distance, a rumble like thunder. Then I again felt the vibrations of the ground. I decided that, as it used to be, everything would soon stop. But the earth continued to shake. Then I stopped, glancing at the same time at my watch. Suddenly, the tremors became so strong that I could hardly keep up with yoga. The tremors continued, their strength continually increased and became more and more furious. I got scared. I was tossed from side to side, like on a ship in a storm. Two passing cars were forced to stop. In order not to fall, I knelt down and then got on all fours. The tremors did not stop. I got even more scared. Very scary... Ten meters from me, a huge eucalyptus broke in half with a terrifying crack. All the trees were swaying with incredible force, you know, like they were twigs that were shaking with all their might. The surface of the road swayed like water ... I assure you, it was exactly like that! And the longer this went on, the more and moose is scarier. The earth tremors intensified. The earthquake seemed to go on forever. G. Taziev. When the earth trembles. M., Mir, 1968, p. 35).

One of the exceptional features of this catastrophic earthquake was the subsidence of a huge strip of coastline under the sea level. It is difficult to imagine the size of this gigantic geological phenomenon, which happened only 15 years ago and was accurately recorded by comparison. topographic maps before and after the disaster. In a few seconds, a strip of land 20-30 km wide and 500 km long sank by almost 2 m.

Earth tremors caused a colossal tsunami.

Several giant waves rolled onto the Chilean coast. The first tide of the sea - "gentle", as the inhabitants called it - was small. Having risen 4-5 m above the usual level, the sea remained motionless for about 5 minutes. Then it began to recede. The ebb was swift and accompanied by a terrible noise, similar to the sound of water being sucked in, with a kind of metallic timbre mixed with the roar of a falling waterfall. The second wave surged after about 20 minutes. It rushed to the shore with a roar at a tremendous speed of 50-200 km / h, rising up to 8 m. Like a giant hand crushing a long sheet of paper, the wave with a roar demolished all the houses one by one. The sea stood high for 10-15 minutes and then receded with the same disgusting suction rumble. The third wave was seen from a distance an hour later. It was higher than the second, reaching 10-11 m. Its speed was about 100 km/h. Having collapsed on the wreckage of houses piled up by the second wave, the sea again froze for a quarter of an hour, and then began to recede with the same metallic sound.

Giant waves that originated off the coast of Chile spread throughout the Pacific Ocean at speeds up to 700 km / h. The main impact of the Chilean earthquake occurred at 19:00. 11 min. GMT, and at 10 a.m. 30 min. waves reached the Hawaiian Islands. The town of Hilo was partially destroyed, 61 people drowned, 300 were injured. Six hours later, continuing its movement, a 6 m high tsunami hit the coast - Japanese islands Honshu and Hokkaido. 5,000 houses were destroyed there, about 200 people drowned, and 50,000 were left homeless.

The descriptions of some of the catastrophic earthquakes given above should help us find the reason that led to the death of Platonic Atlantis.

An earthquake, especially on the coast of the ocean, is much closer in the nature of its manifestation on the earth's surface to Plato's descriptions than cosmic catastrophes. It is also significant that even the strongest seismic paroxysms occur a thousand times more often than the fall of large meteorites.

For our further reasoning, it is important that strong earthquakes do not occur everywhere on the globe, but only in relatively narrow seismically active zones encircling our planet. Therefore, if the death of Atlantis is associated with an earthquake, then it should have been located within one of these seismic zones.

The belts where earthquakes occur can be divided into two groups. The first of these includes areas where historical time are known and, but by geological data, destructive and catastrophic earthquakes are possible in the future. The second group includes seismic belts, in which, although tangible earthquakes occur, they have never reached a destructive force, and even more so a catastrophic one.

The longest belt of destructive earthquakes is located along the periphery of the Pacific Ocean. Within its limits, catastrophic earthquakes most often occur, one of which (Chile) we have described. A feature of this global seismically active zone is also that the overwhelming majority of the most powerful tsunamis are confined to it, since very often the epicenters of the strongest earthquakes are located under the ocean floor. The majority of active volcanoes are confined to this highly seismic Pacific zone.

It is easy to see that this grandiose seismic belt is many thousands of kilometers away from those areas where the location of Atlantis is supposed. Therefore, we have no reason to associate the intense geological processes taking place in this belt with the death of Platonic Atlantis.

Attention should be drawn to another highly seismic zone crossing the Eurasian and and mainland in the sublatitudinal direction. It starts off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean (Portugal, Spain), captures the Mediterranean and Southern Europe, continues through the highlands of Central Asia up to the Pacific Ocean. The Lisbon catastrophe of 1755 and the earthquake of 1870 in Greece took place in this zone. Another highly seismic zone extends from the Pamirs towards Mongolia and the Baikal mountainous country, in which dozens of catastrophic earthquakes have been recorded in historical time, including the Gobi-Altai earthquake of 1957. Outside these zones, catastrophic earthquakes are unknown.

Areas of moderate seismicity are usually located at the edges of highly seismic zones, and also form a number of independent bands. Such are the bands of weak earthquakes stretching along the Urals or the Scandinavian Peninsula. The seismic belt of the underwater mid-ocean ridge, which runs along the axis of the Atlantic Ocean, also falls into this group.

We emphasize that, although tremors occur within the underwater Atlantic Wall, earthquakes here are by no means catastrophic. Consequently, the moderate seismic activity of the mid-ocean ridge of the Atlantic cannot serve as confirmation, as many atlantologists believe, of the death of Atlantis there as a result of a catastrophic earthquake. In contrast to the Atlantic Ocean, the seismicity of the Mediterranean is very high.

Seismic activity is manifested in the frequency of earthquakes, and most importantly - in their strength. The strength of an earthquake is usually measured in points. We have a 12-point scale in the Soviet Union. Thus, the Ashgabat earthquake of 1948 - the most severe seismic catastrophe in our country in terms of the number of victims - was a force of 9 points. But the strength of the earthquake on the surface of the Earth does not yet indicate the magnitude of the energy that has been released underground.

If the earthquake source is located deep, then an earthquake with a higher energy can manifest itself on the surface more weakly than in the case of a less energetic shock near the earth's surface. To compare earthquakes in terms of energy, seismologists use the concept of magnitude, which is the logarithm of the ratio of the amplitude of a seismograph oscillation to the amplitude of a standard earthquake. If the magnitude of two earthquakes differ by one, this means that the amplitude of oscillations of one of them is 10 times greater than the other. By comparing earthquakes by magnitude, we are essentially comparing them by energy.

Since the advent of modern instrumental seismology, the following two shocks should be attributed to the strongest earthquakes in the world: January 31, 1900 on the coast of Northern Ecuador and an underwater earthquake on March 2, 1933 east of the northern part of Japan. But neither of these grand Earth spasms are mentioned in the popular earthquake literature, as they both occurred far away from major earthquakes. settlements and did not cause destruction and death of people. The magnitude of these earthquakes reached 8.9. The Ashgabat earthquake had a magnitude of 7.0. Consequently, it was almost 100 times weaker than the strongest earthquake.

The magnitude of the 1960 earthquake on the Chilean coast is 8.5. Thus, this earthquake was only 5 times inferior in strength to the maximum of the paroxysms registered on Earth. The question arises: can an earthquake of a much greater force than we know? After all, geological processes continue on Earth for many millions of years, and the quantitative data obtained by seismology are limited to only six to seven decades.

Geophysics and geology now answer quite definitely that earthquakes stronger than those with a magnitude of 9 cannot occur on Earth. And that's why. Each earthquake is a shock or a series of shocks resulting from the displacement of rock masses along a fault. The strength of an earthquake and its energy are determined primarily by the size of the earthquake source, t. the size of the area in which the displacement of rocks occurred. Calculations have shown that even in weak earthquakes, barely perceptible by a person, the area of ​​​​revived in earth's crust The fault is measured in length and vertically by several meters. With earthquakes of medium strength, causing the formation of cracks in stone buildings, the size of the focus is already kilometers. The strongest catastrophic earthquakes have a source 500-1000 km long and extending to a depth of 50 km.

Comparative characteristics of weak and strong earthquakes, the sizes of sources and energy values ​​are given in Table. 1 (according to N.V. Shebalin, 1974).

The focus of the largest recorded earthquake is 1000 × 100 km. This figure is already close to the maximum length of faults known on the earth's surface. A further increase in the depth of the focus is also impossible, since at depths of more than 100 km the terrestrial matter is already in a plastic state close to melting. Therefore, such an earthquake as the Chilean one can be considered close to the maximum.

No matter how terrible the destruction from such earthquakes, they are still limited to an area of ​​​​a certain size. Since a catastrophic earthquake occurs along an extended fault, the zone of greatest destruction is extended by a relatively narrow strip, which is a maximum of 20-50 km in width and 300-500 km in length. Outside this zone, an underground strike no longer has a catastrophic force. Consequently, Platonic Atlantis could not be completely destroyed by one push, no matter how strong it was. An earthquake would destroy only part of the country.

It is important to note that traces of ancient earthquakes are preserved for a long time. Based on material from the Baikal mountainous region, N. A. Florepsov and V. P. Solopenko developed a method for determining the strength of earthquakes that occurred many millennia ago, based on the traces of ledges and mountain landslides preserved in the relief. Scars on the face of the Earth tell us about the earthquake and the time when it happened (by determining the absolute age of the wood by radiocarbon dating and archaeological excavations).

As can be seen from the examples, during catastrophic earthquakes there is a subsidence (or rise) of significant areas, measured in tens of thousands of square kilometers. If the area subjected to earthquakes is located near the sea, then a vast territory can fall under its level. This took place during the Baikal earthquake of 1861, when the Gypsy steppe with an area of ​​more than 200 km 2 went under water in the delta of the Selenga River, or on the Chilean coast of the Pacific Ocean.

Such a phenomenon seems to resemble the situation described by Plato - Atlantis went under water. However, an earthquake could not drown Atlantis. The fact is that one catastrophic earthquake will lower the zone adjacent to the epiceptral line by only a few meters, no more. Consequently, the ruins of Atlantis on the coastal bottom could be discovered not only by a scuba diver, but also by any swimmer. In order to plunge Atlantis much deeper, some atlantologists allow the legendary country to sink repeatedly, for example, due to earthquakes repeating one after another. But such an assumption is not well founded. The experience of studying earthquakes, accumulated throughout the world, indicates that where a strong, and even more catastrophic earthquake has occurred, the next seismic catastrophe will not happen soon. An earthquake is a discharge of long-term accumulated stresses in the earth. The stronger the earthquake, the larger the area surrounding the source, the accumulated stresses are removed. For the next strong earthquake to occur, it takes time for the stress in the earth's crust to reach again. and maximum.

How much time is required for this? In different geological zones, this period is different and is measured from tens of years to several millennia or more. In the area of ​​Ashgabat, destroyed by the earthquake, there was the Anpau mosque, built in the middle of the 15th century. It stood in complete safety for 000 years and in 1943 was completely destroyed. Consequently, in this area for six centuries there were no tremors, even of medium strength. On the outskirts of Ashgabat, excavations were carried out on the hills of Ak-Tepe and Staraya Nisa. According to prof. G.P. Gorshkov, who studied the archaeological materials in detail, the destruction of these cities was caused by earthquakes. According to archaeological dating, one earthquake around the 2nd millennium BC. e. (Ak-Tepe), the second one, which destroyed the palace in Old Nisa, in the 1st century BC. n. e., the third strong earthquake was in 943, when more than 5 thousand people died in the area of ​​Old Nisa. Thus, the frequency of earthquakes in the Ashgabat region is as follows: approximately one per thousand years.

There are numerous cases when a long period of rest followed a strong earthquake. However, another fact is also noted: a devastating earthquake occurred where there were no such catastrophes before (in historical time). Thus, there is no reason to assume that there are zones where catastrophic earthquakes are repeated so often that they can submerge any significant area deep under the ocean level in several millennia. An earthquake would have destroyed part of the state of Atlantis, would have turned its capital into ruins, but it was not able to plunge Atlantis into the depths of the ocean.

Could a giant tsunami have caused the death of Atlantis? As is known, a tsunami is one of the side effects of an underground impact or a volcanic explosion near the sea. Therefore, in all such cases, the root cause is not a water wave, but an earthquake or eruption. But often, especially on the Pacific coast, coastal cities are hit by a tsunami caused by an earthquake, the epicenter of which is located thousands and even tens of thousands of kilometers from the place of destruction.

Strong tsunamis produce huge destruction of coastal cities. Therefore, scientists are currently intensively engaged in the problem of studying tsunamis. In the Soviet Union, Japan and the United States, there are special services to warn the population of an approaching sea wave. Based on historical and archival materials, catalogs of all strong tsunamis in historical time have been compiled.

We know that catastrophic tsunamis are not ubiquitous. Most of the shores of the Pacific Ocean are subject to them (but also far from being equally). On other oceanic coasts, tsunamis have not been recorded, or they are so weak there that they do not exceed the destruction from storm waves in strength.

Huge tsunamis without earthquakes and volcanic explosions, coming from afar, will not destroy Atlantis. First of all, we note that the action of the will, no matter how high they are, is limited to a maximum of several kilometers of the coastal strip. Elevated regions are generally beyond the reach of these waves. We do not know of examples when even a relatively small island was completely devastated by a tsunami.

The tsunami is practically non-existent in the Arctic, Atlantic and most of Indian Oceans. No, because tsunamigenic earthquakes do not occur under the bottom of these oceans. Since we have no reason to place Plato's Atlantis on one of the islands of the Pacific Ocean, we must conclude that the tsunami that arose from a distant earthquake could not be the cause of the death of Atlantis.

Special attention should be paid to the possibility of tsunami waves in the Mediterranean Sea. The Greek seismologist A. Galanopoulos devoted a special article to this issue. The information he collected about 6 tsunamis that had previously occurred in the Mediterranean showed that the coast of this sea basin is subject to the action of a tsunami caused by two causes - underwater and earthquakes, as well as volcanic eruptions under water and near water. It turned out that tsunamis from earthquakes are weaker in wave height and do not produce catastrophic destruction on the coast. On the tsunami formed from volcanic explosions, we will stop further specifically. Here we note that one tsunami could destroy Atlantis. Tsunami can serve as an additional cause of the disaster, but not as the only one.

In May 1960, on the Pacific coast of South America, in Chile, there were several very strong and many weak earthquakes. The strongest of them, at 11-12 points (the strongest earthquake in the 20th century on the scale of the Japanese seismologist Kanamori), was observed on May 22. Its epicenter was in the south of the Arauco Peninsula. Within 1-10 seconds, a huge amount of energy lurking in the bowels of the Earth was used up. More than half of the provinces of Chile were affected, at least 10 thousand people died. The destruction covered the Pacific coast for more than 1000 km. Large cities were destroyed - Concepción, which existed for more than 400 years, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Osorno and others. The coastal strip with an area of ​​10 thousand km2 sank after the earthquake below the ocean level and turned out to be blocked by a two-meter layer of water. As a result of the Chilean earthquakes, 14 volcanoes began to operate.
Between May 21 and May 30, 1960, a series of subsequent aftershocks killed 5,700 people and left another 100,000 homeless, destroying 20% ​​of the country's industrial complex. The amount of damage caused was estimated at $400 million. In 7 days, almost the entire countryside of the country turned into ruins. Numerous strong aftershocks and a giant tsunami devastated more than 100,000 square kilometers of Andean countryside. Several million Chileans were left homeless.

Giant sea waves that originated off the coast of Chile during the 1960 earthquake reached Hawaii, traveling 11,000 km in about 15 hours (speed - 730 km / h). A mariner in Hilo, Hawaii, alternately noted the rise and fall of the water level, which occurred at about 30-minute intervals. Despite warnings, these waves in Hilo and elsewhere in Hawaii caused 60 deaths and $75 million in damage. After another 8 hours, the waves reached Japan, once again destroying the port facilities there; while 180 people died. There were also casualties and destruction in the Philippines, in Nov. Zealand and other parts of the Pacific Rim.

The destruction inflicted on the Pacific coast of Chile was monstrous. The cause of the destruction was tremors, landslides, landslides, eruptions of awakened volcanoes. But no less terrible were the destruction caused by giant tsunami waves. In Chile, not so many people died from tsunami waves, except for the villages located at the mouth of the Maulin River. About a thousand people are believed to have drowned there. The tsunami washed away the port of Ancund, the capital of the island of Chiloe off the coast of Chile.

Shortly after the powerful 3:00 p.m. shock, coastal residents noticed that the sea first swelled and rose well above the level of the highest tides, and then suddenly receded, and much further than the lowest level of ebb tide. With cries of horror "The sea is leaving!" everyone rushed to the hills. The wave rushed further across the expanses of the Pacific Ocean. Easter Island was her next victim. The most majestic building of the island - ahu Tongariki is a stone building made of huge blocks. The wave, which was born 2,000 km from Easter Island, jokingly scattered multi-ton stone blocks. Then the tsunami reached the Hawaiian Islands. Here the wave height was about 10 meters and the destruction was terrible. Residential houses, administrative buildings, cars were washed away or destroyed. The victims of the tsunami were 60 people. Rolling across the entire Pacific Ocean, giant waves hit Japan. Thousands of houses were washed into the sea, hundreds of ships sank or were wrecked, 120 people became victims of rampant water elements.
Here is how one of the eyewitnesses who survived this catastrophe describes his impressions: “First, there was a rather strong push. Then there was an underground rumble, as if a thunderstorm was raging somewhere in the distance, a rumble similar to the rumblings of roma. Then I again felt the vibrations of the soil. I decided that, as it happened before, everything would soon stop. But the earth continued to tremble. Then I stopped, looked at the same time at the clock. Suddenly, the tremors became so strong that I could hardly stay on my feet. The aftershocks continued, their strength constantly increased and became more and more violent, I became scared. I was thrown from side to side, like on a steamer in a storm. Two cars passing by were forced to stop. In order not to fall, I knelt down, and then got on all fours. The tremors did not stop. I became even scarier. Very scary ... Ten meters from me, with a terrifying crack, a huge eucalyptus broke in half. All the trees swayed with incredible force, well, how would you say, as if they were twigs that were shaking with all their might. The surface of the road swayed like water. I assure you, it was exactly like that! And what: further all this continued, the more terrible it became. The tremors were getting stronger. The earthquake seemed to go on forever.”

Earthquake in Armenia in 1988.

On December 7, 1988, a strong earthquake, one of the strongest in this country, occurred in Armenia, in the southwestern part of the former USSR. The earthquake had a magnitude of about 7 on the Richter scale. The impact of tremors manifested itself on the territory of the Republic of Armenia, which is located on the border of two tectonic plates - Anatolian, shifting to the south, and Eurasian, shifting to the north.
Dozens of cities and towns in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia fell into the earthquake zone. Armenia suffered the most. The city of Spitak (population 16 thousand people), located in the immediate vicinity of the epicenter of the earthquake, was completely wiped off the face of the earth. The earthquake source was located at a depth of up to 20 kilometers from the day surface and six kilometers northwest of the city.
More than 80% of the housing stock was destroyed in Leninakan, the second largest city in Armenia with a population of about 250 thousand inhabitants. Half of the buildings were missing in Kirovakan. In total, 400 villages were affected, of which 58 were badly damaged. According to estimates, 25 thousand people died (from other sources - 50 thousand people), more than 17 thousand were injured, 514 (up to 530 according to other estimates) thousand people lost their homes. Along with Spitak and nearby villages, buildings in twenty-one cities and towns, 324 villages were damaged by the earthquake. The destruction worsened after the main shock was followed by a series of aftershocks, the strongest of which was equal to 5.8R. About 2 million Armenians were left homeless and suffered from winter frosts.
The earthquake disabled about forty percent of the industrial potential of Armenia. There was significant damage to approximately nine million square meters of housing, of which 4.7 million square meters were simply destroyed or later demolished due to disrepair. As a result of the earthquake, general education schools for 210,000 pupils, kindergartens for 42,000 pupils, 416 healthcare facilities, two theaters, 14 museums, 391 libraries, 42 cinemas, 349 clubs and cultural centers were destroyed or fell into disrepair. 600 kilometers of roads, 10 kilometers of railways were put out of action, 230 industrial enterprises were completely or partially destroyed.
After the earthquake, more than one hundred strong aftershocks were registered in the region of the epicenter by the seismological service of the Caucasus in just one month. Four minutes after the main shock, a strong aftershock occurred, the vibrations from it superimposed on the seismic waves from the first and apparently increased the damaging effect of the earthquake.
During the earthquake, a 37-kilometer rupture of the earth's surface occurred, with displacement amplitudes from 80 to 170 centimeters. It was formed on the site of a tectonic fault that already existed here, confirming once again that strong earthquakes in this area have occurred before. Strong earthquakes occurred in Armenia in 1679, 1827, 1840, 1926, 1931. However, despite all this, the territory of the Spitak earthquake at that time was not classified as potentially seismically dangerous.
The first plane of the USSR Ministry of Defense, together with military field surgeons and medicines, almost immediately as it became known about the earthquake, took off from Moscow's Vnukovo airport. In Yerevan, military doctors boarded a helicopter and landed in Leninakan two hours later. We sat down late at night and in complete darkness. Not a single light shone below, and it seemed strange where the living city had gone, where were its houses, streets, squares, squares? But there was no electricity in the city, just as there was not a single whole house - instead of them there were mounds and red tufa, rubble, concrete, brick, glass and furniture remnants. Shouts and groans were heard from all sides. With rare lanterns, men climbed these mounds, calling out the names of their wives and children and looking for their lost relatives. Occasionally, in the darkness, one could see the headlights of ambulances that were picking up the wounded.
The representative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia, who arrived in Spitak in the very first hours of the tragedy, said: “In three days, more than 1,700 people were taken out of the ruins, and more than 2,000 people taken out of the ruins cannot be returned. volunteers from all parts of the republic and the country. But there is still not enough equipment, especially powerful cranes ... "
A sad coincidence - in the minutes when it happened Spitak earthquake in Ashgabat, which suffered from a devastating earthquake forty years earlier, an all-Union meeting of seismologists was held, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Ashgabat disaster when, according to the seismic station in Ashgabat, an earthquake was reported in Armenia. Just received seismograms were laid out right in the meeting room. According to them, it became clear that this is a catastrophe and that the destruction is great, and people are now dying under the rubble of buildings in Armenia.
The causes of the tragedy were predetermined in advance - not taking into account the high seismic hazard of the area where the cities of Spitak, Gyumri and Kirovakan are located. Houses here were built with the expectation of a much lower intensity of seismic impacts. And just as it has already happened almost everywhere - the extremely poor quality of buildings built without an accurate assessment of the soil conditions for construction sites.

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In May 1960, on the Pacific coast of South America, in Chile, there were several very strong and many weak earthquakes. The strongest of them, at 11-12 points (the strongest earthquake in the 20th century on the scale of the Japanese seismologist Kanamori), was observed on May 22. Its epicenter was in the south of the Arauco Peninsula. Within 1-10 seconds, a huge amount of energy lurking in the bowels of the Earth was used up. More than half of the provinces of Chile were affected, at least 10 thousand people died. The destruction covered the Pacific coast for more than 1000 km. Large cities were destroyed - Concepción, which existed for more than 400 years, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Osorno and others. The coastal strip with an area of ​​10 thousand km2 sank after the earthquake below the ocean level and turned out to be blocked by a two-meter layer of water. As a result of the Chilean earthquakes, 14 volcanoes began to operate.

Between May 21 and May 30, 1960, a series of subsequent aftershocks killed 5,700 people and left another 100,000 homeless, destroying 20% ​​of the country's industrial complex. The amount of damage caused was estimated at $400 million. In 7 days, almost the entire countryside of the country turned into ruins. Numerous strong aftershocks and a giant tsunami devastated more than 100,000 square kilometers of Andean countryside. Several million Chileans were left homeless.

Giant sea waves that originated off the coast of Chile during the 1960 earthquake reached Hawaii, traveling 11,000 km in about 15 hours (speed - 730 km / h). A mariner in Hilo, Hawaii, alternately noted the rise and fall of the water level, which occurred at about 30-minute intervals. Despite warnings, these waves in Hilo and elsewhere in Hawaii caused 60 deaths and $75 million in damage. After another 8 hours, the waves reached Japan, once again destroying the port facilities there; while 180 people died. There were also casualties and destruction in the Philippines, in Nov. Zealand and other parts of the Pacific Rim.

The destruction inflicted on the Pacific coast of Chile was monstrous. The cause of the destruction was tremors, landslides, landslides, eruptions of awakened volcanoes. But no less terrible were the destruction caused by giant tsunami waves. In Chile, not so many people died from tsunami waves, except for the villages located at the mouth of the Maulin River. About a thousand people are believed to have drowned there. The tsunami washed away the port of Ancund, the capital of the island of Chiloe off the coast of Chile.

Shortly after the powerful 3:00 p.m. shock, coastal residents noticed that the sea first swelled and rose well above the level of the highest tides, and then suddenly receded, and much further than the lowest level of ebb tide. With cries of horror, the Sea is leaving! everyone rushed to the hills. The wave rushed further across the expanses of the Pacific Ocean. Easter Island was her next victim. The most majestic building of the island - ahu Tongariki is a stone building made of huge blocks. The wave, which was born 2,000 km from Easter Island, jokingly scattered multi-ton stone blocks. Then the tsunami reached the Hawaiian Islands. Here the wave height was about 10 meters and the destruction was terrible. Residential houses, administrative buildings, cars were washed away or destroyed. The victims of the tsunami were 60 people. Rolling across the entire Pacific Ocean, giant waves hit Japan. Thousands of houses were washed into the sea, hundreds of ships sank or were wrecked, 120 people became victims of rampant water elements.

Here is how one of the eyewitnesses who survived this catastrophe describes his impressions: “First, there was a rather strong push. Then there was an underground rumble, as if a thunderstorm was raging somewhere in the distance, a rumble similar to the rumblings of roma. Then I again felt the vibrations of the soil. I decided that, as it happened before, everything would soon stop. But the earth continued to tremble. Then I stopped, looked at the same time at the clock. Suddenly, the tremors became so strong that I could hardly stay on my feet. The aftershocks continued, their strength constantly increased and became more and more violent, I became scared. I was thrown from side to side, like on a steamer in a storm. Two cars passing by were forced to stop. In order not to fall, I knelt down, and then got on all fours. The tremors did not stop. I became even scarier. Very scary ... Ten meters from me, with a terrifying crack, a huge eucalyptus broke in half. All the trees swayed with incredible force, well, how would you say, as if they were twigs that were shaking with all their might. The surface of the road swayed like water. I assure you, it was exactly like that! And what: further all this continued, the more terrible it became. The tremors were getting stronger. The earthquake seemed to go on forever.”