The earthquake caused a city to move nearly 2m

Seismic measuring devices said: The 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck a week ago, leaving Concepcion city at least 2 meters to the west.

Strong vibrations - ranked fifth from the past - also make many other parts of South America shifted, from the Falkland Islands (also known as Malvinas) in the easternmost of South America to the Brazilian seaside Fortaleza. North of this country.

The earthquake took place on the coast of Maule, Chile, one of the hot spots of the Earth, where the Nazca tectonic plate was compressed below. The tension created when the strata slid against each other and caused Chile to stretch to relieve these repression.

One can measure the Earth's motion while the earthquake is happening by comparing the locations recorded correctly on the geostationary satellite (GPS) before and after the earthquake. These measurements allow scientists to better understand seismic processes in an earthquake.

Professor Ben Brooks, of the University of Hawaii and researchers in Chile's GPS project, said: "This is the biggest earthquake we have studied. We now have machines and equipment in place. Being modern and accurate to assess this phenomenon, it was possible to measure aerial data to determine changes caused by earthquakes . ' With the data obtained by GPS, the houses The study has developed a map of the range of earthquake displacement locations in Maule, Chile.

Other movements on the South American continent caused by an earthquake in Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital with a displacement of 2.5cm and Santiago, Chile's capital, is 2.8cm. The cities of Valparaiso and Mendoza in Argentina and northeast Concepcion were also significantly moved.

The project research program in the near future is to increase the number of GPS stations now that are 25 stations scattered across the mountains in Central and South America to triple the complete picture of things shift and deform the Earth's crust in this territory.

Mike Bevis of Ohio University, who was the host of the program in 1993, said: "Only by building new stations can the distortions after earthquakes take place for many years and allow We understand the physics of this very complicated process in the ground '.