An earthquake shook Antarctica and bases are on alert

08/30/2020 - 14:53

• Clarín.com
• Society

The Government reported this Sunday that a 5.1 magnitude earthquake was registered in Antarctica, 35 kilometers west of the Argentine scientific station "Base Carlini" .

According to the official statement, the sequence began on Friday, August 28, this event being the second that occurs in the year, of greater magnitude and perceived by the people who inhabit the base.

Carlini's chief scientist, Jazmín Fogel, who is carrying out scientific-technical tasks for the Argentine Antarctic Institute, reported that the earthquake did not cause damage to the base and that all personnel are in optimal condition .

As a precedent, the JUBA seismographic station at the Carlini Base registered movements of similar magnitude in 1980 and 2019 . 

"The Foreign Ministry is in permanent communication with the geologists of the Argentine Antarctic Institute (IAA) and the personnel of the Carlini Scientific Base, who follow the evolution of seismicity," the official statement concludes.

The Carlini Base, managed and operated by the National Antarctic Directorate, is located on the Potter peninsula of the 25 de Mayo Island, about 3,700 kilometers from Buenos Aires and 1,200 from Ushuaia. 

In the area where the earthquake was felt, there are, in addition to the Argentine base, nine more bases from Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, China, Korea, Peru, Poland and Russia.

Javier García Duchini, Minister of Defense of Uruguay, told through Twitter that he contacted the head of the Artigas Base in Antarctica to find out the situation of the personnel who are at that base and they transmitted that "there was no consequence, human or in infrastructure ".

AFG