Earlier today-14 November 2007, two earthquakes occurred in Antofagasta, Chile. But the epicentre was situated between the localities of Quillagua and Tocopilla , which affected Tarapacá and the regions in northern Chile.

The release of stresses generated by the subduction of the oceanic Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate resulted in the earthquake. The region known as the Peru-Chile subduction zone, the Nazca Plate thrusts beneath South America at an approximate rate of 79 mm/year in an east-north-east direction. The earthquake shows subduction-related thrusting, probably on the intermix between those two plates.

The earthquake struck at a powerful magnitude of 6.8 , when the country was struck with a 7.7 magnitude temblor which reportedly killed two people and left hundreds without their homes, the day before. But seventeen aftershocks of magnitude above 5.0, one of which was 6.8(mentioned earlier) and two others of magnitude 6 or higher followed after the 7.7 magnitude temblor which was said to have lasted for 50 seconds.

Reports even showed that the earthquake could be felt at Santiago, 1245km south from the epicentre to La Paz, which was approximately 700km north-northeast.

The damage caused by the earthquake was quite big. Two people were killed, dozens were injured and most people were left homeless. And as Chile's the world's top supplier of copper, the quake caused the price of metal to increase by more than 6%. 1200 houses were demolished and that is 30% of the standing structures in Tocopilla alone. There were also reports of a collapsed highway tunnel which crushed several dozens of workers. Not only that, but there were also power outages in the region, including cities of Calama and Arica. A tsunami warning was also issued later, but was cancelled soon after.

The government though, assembled a working military hospital and assured portable homesteads for the homeless. The government and army workers also scrambled to gave out tons of food, nourishment and medicine.

I think one of the only ways to minimise damages to earthquakes is a good education. And educate more people to build more effective seismographs, and educate more students to be promising and intellectual scientists to observe the movement of plates and of course, teach the students to be kind, caring and contribute more to the society by being a good citizen who will be willing to help the country in case of more serious disasters in the future.