25 years ago, on 3 March 1985 6.47p.m. local time, an earthquake with a magnitude 7.8 on the Richter magnitude scale, killed at least 177 people, injured 2575 and caused 372,000 to be homeless with its devastating power, resulting in a loss of US$1.8billion. 45,000 homes were also destroyed and 76,000 were badly damaged. Also, bridges broke down, the roads cracked and there were landslides. The basic services were interrupted for a long time. Apart from this, the earthquake had also triggered a tsunami that affected countries such as Hawaii, Japan and Alaska. The earthquake could be felt at an amazing distance of 2000km from its epicenter, the south coast of Valparaiso Region. I feel that the people should have been warned early so that the damage would not be so serious. The people should have also take the advice and move out the place immediately instead of waiting for the earthquake to come. People from other countries should also help the victims by providing medical treatment or financial assistance and empathize with them. The government also plays a part by having some drills as to how to protect yourself when an earthquake happens. Campaigns should be held to create awareness on how serious earthquakes can be. Although we cannot stop this natural disaster from happening, we can minimize the damage by working together as a whole. USGS, http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/events/1985_03_03.php, extracted 28-02-2010 (information)
Wikipedia, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/1985_Chilean_earthquake.png, extracted 28-02-2010 (photo)
