Massive Chile earthquake was enough to move cities, islands to west by as much as 10 feet

As Chile shook, cities rolled to the west a bit

WASHINGTON — The Earth really did move during the massive Chile quake: Researchers say cities and islands physically shifted west a bit.

Thanks to GPS, scientists at Ohio State University and the University of Hawaii found that the city of Concepcion moved at least 10 feet to the west. It is the nearest major city to last month’s quake,

Chile’s capital, Santiago, moved just shy of a foot, and even Buenos Aires, in Argentina, moved an inch. The Falkland Islands also went a tad west.

Researcher Ben Brooks said this happens with every quake, but usually it is too small to notice. This time with an 8.8 magnitude whopper, the scientists saw a great deal of shifting.