Video: Chile Earthquake through Citizen's Eyes

Santiago After the Earthquake by pviojo CC-By

Santiago After the Earthquake by pviojo CC-By

As the day comes to a close,  more videos crop up of the devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Chile at 3:30 am. The earthquake, which not only affected the mainland through the ground movements, also generated tsunami waves that set out an alarm throughout the Pacific as different nations prepared for the waves to hit their shores.

Some videos were made during the earthquake itself, as this amateur video found on YouTube. It starts with a shot of a computer in a room, and as the earth moves the rumble of the earth can be heard, then the lights go out and we are left in the dark, hearing only the voices of a woman and a man we assume to be the one holding the camera trying to calm her down.

(Video has since been removed from YouTube due to a Copyright claim made by Jonathan Munizaga)

This next one was recorded by YouTube user ikonsento during one of the aftershocks:

Ikonsento has been reporting since minutes after the first earthquake, when he uploaded this video showing how his house fared: the way furniture slid on the floor and toppled over bearing witness to the earthquake's strength:

This video was made minutes after the quake, as this next one where two men who had just arrived in Chile experience the quake and then decide to leave their building and stand outside for a bit. As lights come back on their building, they walk back and the building's inhabitants are all milling in the lobby, and as they return to the building, the assess the damage: broken water pipes and cracked concrete.

As daylight came, more people went out to the streets and recorded the damage they observed:

Netprox
drove through the highway, and had to squeeze under a fallen bridge to get through.

Rafael Vial also went out to the streets and recorded a collapsed bridge in Llaillay, Chile, which he streamed through his mobile phone on Qik.

Communications in many areas of Chile are down and it gets harder to get in touch with loved ones to make sure they are all right. This couple of girls took advantage of YouTube and recorded their video, where they tell friends and family they are OK, and narrate a bit of what they've seen and heard regarding the earthquake:

And others, in their need to help are spreading valuable information regarding what to do to maximize the possibility of staying alive in a collapsed building. Such is the case with this video which is being passed after the quake. The Life Triangle theory basically states that the safest place to hide in an earthquake is not under furniture, but besides a strong piece of furniture: that way, if the piece of furniture is crushed by falling materials, it will not collapse on the person hiding under it. Instead, the person will be safe in the pocket created on the object's side. This promotional video which was adapted and translated into Spanish, explains why hiding under desks or under doorways is just not going to allow you to survive.

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