Earthquakes in south-central Chile raise concerns: could they herald a major event?

The first happened early in the morning. The clock read 3:35 and, according to data from National Seismological Center of the University of Chile registered A earthquake magnitude 5.1 79 kilometers west of Cobquecura, Ñuble region. Its depth was 39 kilometers.

In a few hours, at 10:51 a.m. , another movement occurred in the area. This time, 20 kilometers east of Concepción, Biobío region, and had a magnitude of 5.2 and a depth of 35 kilometers.

This keeps the Maule, Ñuble and Biobío regions and, indeed, the entire country on alert. And that’s it Many residents linked these latest movements to earthquake on February 27, 2010, since the epicenters are in the same area of the powerful earthquake which caused the disaster.

Furthermore, many others believe the movements are linked to last night’s earthquake in Taiwan.

Is there a big event coming up for Chile? This is the answer from an expert.

To dispel any speculation about the recent earthquakes in Chile and Taiwan, Luis Donoso, seismologist and geophysicist at the Universidad del Desarrollo explains to The third What What happened in this Asian country “has no connection with the seismic activity perceptible in the Biobío region”.

And, according to the specialist, “What happened in Taiwan responds to the dynamics of this region. » This country is located between an intersection where two plates converge, a “complex” scenario this would have allowed an earthquake of such magnitude as yesterday’s.

Once the above was clarified, the seismologist assured that earthquakes in the south-central area of ​​Chile They are also not linked to the earthquake of February 27, 2010. “The seismic activity of Biobío responds to the dynamics of a subduction zone on the Chilean side and is coincidentally located in the same 27F rupture zone. »

In this sense, he assured that all earthquakes in the region are “expected”: “Nothing we’ve seen before, and it can’t be extrapolated to generating a new, higher severity earthquake (like 27F) because it has no energy. It’s barely ten years ago.

That’s to say, Enough energy has not yet been built up for a large earthquake to occur in the region again.

“The problem is we humans want to connect all the dots to find a pattern and predict when this big earthquake will happen, but that’s not possible,” Donoso reassures.

Concerning the risk of generating more earthquakes in the area, The expert assures that “it could shake more, but on the other hand, it might not be the case. “The system is unpredictable.”