Chile earthquake: nation in shock as death toll climbs

The death toll from the massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile on Saturday has reached 300 and is expected to climb further as authorities estimate two million people were affected by the disaster and half a million homes were severely damaged or destroyed.

The country is in shock after the most powerful earthquake in a century hit 200 miles southwest of the capital Santiago.

The number of dead is expected to exceed 300 and the country’s president has declared a “state of catastrophe".

Following the earthquake, Chileans fearful of strong aftershocks - one as powerful as the devastating Haiti quake of Jan 12 - camped outside on the streets, as officials struggled to grasp the scale of the damage to the country’s transport, energy and housing infrastructure.

The earthquake tore apart houses, bridges and motorways, and Chileans near the epicenter were thrown from their beds by the force of the temblor, which was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil — 1,800 miles to the east.

"We think the real (death) figure tops 300 and we believe this will continue to grow,” said Carmen Fernandez, head of the National Emergency Agency

Year 13 - Energy Security:

Just as we start the Energy Security topic as part of the Contested Planet unit, Britain finds itself in a row with Argentina over oil exploration and extraction off the Falkland Islands (which the two countries went to war over in the 1980's).

You can hear a 19 minute podcast from The Guardian newspaper about the disagreement over energy by following this link.

Britain and the Falkland Islands have made a deal to split any proceeds from the controversial oil drilling programme in the South Atlantic.

UK ministers have revealed that the Executive Council in Port Stanley had "offered to share some of any future hydrocarbons-related revenues", which could be worth billions of pounds. If a 30-day drilling programme begun by a British firm last week strikes oil, the yield from corporation taxes and royalties in the fields north of the islands alone could be more than £100bn.

A Foreign Office source said the Government had already begun negotiations over the eventual share-out, and had reached an "understanding" that could see the Treasury taking up to half the profits. Officials have pointed to Britain's multimillion-pound programme of support to the islands over almost three decades since the war following Argentina's invasion in 1982.

Argentina, which disputes the British claim to the Falklands, last week asked the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, to bring the UK into talks over the islands' sovereignty. The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, said British oil exploration in the area was "completely in accordance with international law".


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Chile earthquake: death toll passes 200

A massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Chile early yesterday, killing at least 140people, bringing down homes and hospitals, and setting off a tsunami that triggered warnings and evacuations across the entire Pacific. At the time of writing, a tidal wave of as yet undetermined height is heading, at a speed of hundreds of miles an hour, towards places as far away as Australia, the Philippines and even Russia. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii called for "urgent action to protect lives and property".

Yesterday's quake was far stronger than the 7.0 magnitude tremor that killed more than 200,000 in Haiti in January, but it happened in a country that is better prepared than most. Yet the impact was immediate and, for those feeling it, severe. Chilean TV showed images from the city of Concepcion of collapsed homes, broken roads, large buildings engulfed in flames, the injured lying in the streets or on stretchers, and residents huddled in streets strewn with glass and masonry.

Many were terrified by the powerful and repeated aftershocks. In just a few hours after the quake, there were no fewer than 29 that registered a magnitude greater than 5.0, and one at 6.9 – within a whisker of the main Haiti tremor. The country's President, Michelle Bachelet, wasted little time in declaring a "state of catastrophe" in central Chile. The death toll is expected to rise, but not, according to the country's Interior Minister, Edmundo Perez, dramatically. He may yet be proved wrong.

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Click here to read more about earthquakes and why larger earthquakes don't always kill more people - this earthquake is 500 times more powerful than the Haiti one.

Giant iceberg breaks off from Antarctic glacier

An iceberg the size of Luxembourg has broken off from a glacier in Antarctica after being rammed by another giant iceberg, scientists said on Friday, in an event that could affect ocean circulation patterns.

The 2,500 sq km (965 sq mile) iceberg broke off earlier this month from the Mertz Glacier's 160 km (100 miles) floating tongue of ice that sticks out into the Southern Ocean.
The collision has since halved the size of the tongue that drains ice from the vast East Antarctic ice sheet.
"The break up (calving) itself hasn't been directly linked to climate change but it is related to the natural processes occurring on the ice sheet," said Rob Massom, a senior scientist.

This 97 km long slab of ice is a remnant of an iceberg of more than 5,000 sq km that broke off, or calved, in 1987, making it one of the largest icebergs ever recorded in Antarctica

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Massive earthquake hits Chile

A massive earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8 has struck central Chile, the country's largest in 25 years.

The quake struck at 0634 GMT about 91km (56 miles) north-east of the city of Concepcion and 317km south-west of the capital, Santiago.

Chilean television is reporting 16 deaths so far. President Michelle Bachelet also said a large wave had affected one southern island group.

The US issued an initial tsunami warning for Chile, Peru and Ecuador.

That was later extended to Colombia, Antarctica and Central America. Japan's meteorological agency warned of a potential tsunami across large areas of the Pacific.

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Why did so many people die in the Haiti earthquake?

The devastating earthquakes that hit China on 12 May 2008, Italy on 6 April 2009 and Haiti one month ago all measured above 6.0 and took many lives. But why was the human cost so much greater for Haiti?

Click on the title to go to a BBC report on why the Haiti earthquake was so devestating. It has lots of graphics to look at and provides a fascinating insight into what happened in Haiti.

Fifty-five countries pledge to cut greenhouse emissions

Fifty-five countries have formally pledged to cut or limit their emissions in a move welcomed by the UN's climate change body as an important step towards achieving a legally binding global agreement.

They include the US, all EU countries and China, as well as major emerging economies such as Brazil, Indonesia and India. The 55 nations between them emit 78% of the world's greenhouse gases. But, significantly, the group includes only Brazil from South America, and just six out of 55 African countries. In all, 137 countries have not made pledges.