\nTHE massive earthquake which struck the west coast of Chile last month moved the entire city of Concepcion more than three metres to the west.<\/p>\n
Preliminary measurements drawn from global positioning stations showed that Concepcion, Chile’s second largest city, is now 3.04 meters further west than it was prior to the 8.8-magnitude quake which struck February 27.<\/p>\n
It was the fifth most powerful quake recorded since instruments have been available to measure seismic shifts and there have been hundreds of aftershocks, several exceeding magnitude 6.0.<\/p>\n
The Chilean capital of Santiago also shifted 27.7 centimetres to the west, according to measurements gathered by a team of Chilean and US scientists and released by Ohio State University.<\/p>\n
On South America’s east coast, Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires moved nearly four centimetres to the west and significant displacements were recorded as far away as the Falkland Islands.\n<\/p>\n