From my current post at La Plaza, on life in the land of earthquakes, Chile:
The city has endured two to three major aftershocks a day since the Feb. 27 "megathrust" earthquake – and then some. A 6.4 earthquake hit to the north of the capital on Thursday night, followed by up to four considerable aftershocks between midnight and breakfast time on Friday.
More were recorded on Sunday, including a 5.0 magnitude temblor off the coast of Valparaiso. And then -- almost cruelly -- two more considerable aftershocks hit Santiago before dawn Monday, one measuring 4.9 and another measuring 5.1.
In all, nearly 200 aftershocks have rattled nerves in central Chile. Inside homes and apartment buildings, fresh cracks crawl across walls. Day after day, windows and lampshades rattle, walls buckle slightly, and floors sway gently for a few seconds, as if in a lilting breeze. The effect is dizzying.
Read the whole thing here. Embedded links lead to all of our L.A. Times coverage from Santiago, Mexico City, and the most affected areas of central-southern Chile.
To get a sense of just how major this major earthquake was -- not just for Chile but for the planet -- consider this: Hard-hit Concepcion shifted three meters to the west in the quake. Santiago moved 11 inches to the west, and Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina, moved west all of one inch.
Now that's a big earthquake.
* Photo above, Chilean youth cheering in support of earthquake victims at Parque Bustamante, March 6.