According to the CNN, “A mighty 8.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern Chile late Tuesday, triggering small landslides, cutting power and generating a tsunami” (Ford & Ahmed, 2014). As being on the so-called "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines circling the Pacific Basic that is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The aftermath of the earthquake is four men and one woman died. Besides, 300 prisoners took advantage of the earthquake and escaped.

The casualties make the earthquake may seem less likely to be defined as a disaster, because there is a very little injury/death rate and no major destruction to Chile. As mentioned above, Chile is on the so called “fire ring” and constantly suffered earthquakes and Tsunamis. “About 500 people were killed when an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile on February 27, 2010. That quake triggered a tsunami that toppled buildings, particularly in the Maule region along the coast” (Ford & Ahmed, 2014). The fact that multiple earthquakes taken place every year, leads to numerous earthquake drills organized by the governments and setting building regulation in order to prevent more casualties.

As comparing to the casualties in Haiti, “On Feb. 27, at 3:34 a.m. local time, a magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck offshore Maule, Chile, 325 kilometers southwest of the capital, Santiago. The quake released 500 times more energy than the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti on Jan. 12, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) — yet the smaller quake produced more extensive damage: The Haitian quake killed more than 200,000 people and left more than 1.2 million people homeless, whereas the Chilean quake killed at least 711 people and displaced 2 million people” (Wayman, 2010). Chile is able to minimize the casualties with education and earthquake drills while Haiti was unprepared and the citizens were mostly uneducated regarding to earthquakes. Thus, I believe education and earthquake drills are definitely necessary and the international society should learn from Chile of how to prevent the earthquake crisis to become a catastrophic disaster.

Work Cited

Ford, Dana, and Saeed Ahmed. "Powerful Earthquake Strikes off Chile, Triggers    Tsunami."       CNN. Cable News Network, 02 Apr. 2014. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.

Wayman, Erin. "Chile's Quake Larger but Less Destructive than Haiti's."    Earthmagazine.org. EARTH Magazine, 01 Mar. 2010. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.