Scientists and engineers in Chile and the U.S. agree that even though 500,000 homes were heavily damaged by the earthquake, stringent building codes resulted in fewer deaths.
A massive earthquake strikes Chile, killing at least 214 people and sending potentially dangerous tsunami waves splashing ashore in countries around the Pacific.
The earthquake that flattened Haiti’s capital and left thousands dead also crushed hopes that the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation was beginning to dig itself out of abject poverty.