Pretty Valaparaiso in 2005
I noticed a lot of traffic to the blog today from google searches for people looking for info on the fate of the telescopes in Chile after last weekend’s huge earthquake that has devastated the central part of the country. The bottom line is that they all seem to be fine – although let’s not forget that the damage to Chile’s infrastructure could easily pay for hundreds of VLTs. As for the lives lost, well, no hardware can replace those.
On a personal note, my only experience of earthquakes dates back to 2005, while observing at Gemini South at Cerro Pachon, near La Serena in Chile. In our week-long observing run we suffered 2 earthquakes of magnitudes 5.8 and 5.0 or so, if I remember correctly. Our telescope operator, recognising the distant rumble, gave us a few seconds’ warning that a quake was under way, giving me ample time to freak out completely. Having just escaped the London bombings a few weeks earlier, I guess my nerves were pretty shot, but it was still pretty scary. I can only imagine how terrifying a magnitude 8+ quake must be when you’re sound asleep in your home at 3 am and I truly hope I never get to find out.
Anyway, here’s a round-up of some of the statements released by the astronomy organisations with bases in the country.
ESO released a press statement on 26/02, expressing its support for the victims of the quake, and reporting that
[n]o casualties among ESO staff have been reported. At present, power cuts and network interruptions mean that communication may be limited. Disruption to staff travel plans within, to, and from Chile should be expected. We urge Visiting Astronomers with observations planned at ESO observatories to put their trips to Chile on hold until further notice. International flights to and from Santiago International Airport are currently either cancelled or diverted. Information about observing programmes will be provided at a later date.
ESO’s La Silla site, near La Serena, lost power in the quake for 10 minutes, facilities further North at Paranal and Chajnantor were unaffected.
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), which also operates facilities near La Serena, reports no significant damage and has ensured the safety of most (though not yet all) of its staff around the country. Gemini, whose Gemini South telescope is located just adjacent to CTIO, reports similar minor disturbances but no damage.
Las Campanas Observatory, hosting amonst others the 6.5-m Magellan telescopes, suffered no damage to the telescopes either but is still gathering information on its staff and their families around the country.
Thijs de Graauw, Director of ESO’ sub-millimeter observatory ALMA in the far North of Chile, sent a quick email to much of the Dutch community for information and reassurance. An excerpt:
For example the local (in Chile) tsunamis were completely unreported till 24 hours after the facts.
Thats why the death toll was initially so limited but then it jumped up to above 700.Also for us here in Chile, the extent of the disaster is slowly emerging as reports were initially only from the most accessible areas.The observatories have no damage as they are far away from the quake center.
The level was so low that some me have not noticed the motion at all.
But there is observatory staff from the disaster areas and they are very worried and we are working on to get them “home”.
If anything else of note turns up I’ll add it to this post.
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