Chilean Surveyor Geo-Mar Maps Tsunami Damage in Talcahuano

摘要

Most ports conduct hydrograpmc surveying to make sure they know the exact depth of each part of their harbor. But when the Chilean Port of Talcahuano hired engineering company GeoMar to survey their harbor, the objective was different: they wanted to find shipwrecks. When Chile was struck by a devastating earthquake two years ago, Talcahuano bore more damages than any other port in the country. The earthquake struck at 3:30 in the morning on Saturday, February 27, registering an 8.8 on the Richter magnitude scale - one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded. Talcahuano, a modest-sized port that mainly exported grains and farmed fish from Chile's agricultural heartland, was torn apart by the earthquake and the following tsunami. The shaking was so fierce that a containment wall collapsed and the wharf caved into the water.