Wednesday, August 16, 2006
This Day in History
On this day in 1906 (just a few months after the Great San Francisco Earthquake) Valpariso, Chile is hit by a big earthquake on that part of the Pacific coast. Valparaiso was no stranger to disaster--the Dutch destroyed it in 1600, the Spanish in 1866, and the Chilean civil war in 1891; and there were earlier earthquakes in 1731, 1822, 1839, and 1873, This one struck after a night of unusually violent thunderstorms. It destroyed two thirds of the city, the coastline was raised three feet, and 1,500 died (compared to the 600 some who died in San Francisco).
(h/t Those Were the Days)
(h/t Those Were the Days)
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 8:20 AM 
