| Date: | 2010-03-06 12:20:00 | |
| Sender: | Bernd Sierk, BKG/TIGO <slrmail@dgfi3.dgfi.badw-muenchen.de> | |
| Subject: | [SLR-Mail] No. 1843: 7405 CONL down after earthquake | |
| Author: | Bernd Sierk, BKG | |
| Content: | ******************************************************************************** SLR Electronic Mail 2010-03-06 12:20:00 UTC Message No. 1843 ******************************************************************************** Author: Bernd Sierk, BKG/TIGO Subject: 7405 CONL down after earthquake Dear colleagues, as you may have heard in the media, Concepci=F3n has been struck by a major eathquake (magnitude 8.8) last Saturday at 3:34 local time. I am glad to tell you that all TIGO personnel of whom I have heard since the earthquake (all three Germans and 6 out of 16 Chileans) and their families are doing well. I do not expect any bad news from the remaining 10 colleagues, as the damages in Concepci=F3n are rather limited to a few buildings and places. In general we have been very lucky, much more than those in the devastated areas closer to the coast. This also applies to the TIGO observatory, which has suffered some damage, but seems remarkably intact. The two GPS receivers have been recording at 1 sec. rate without interruption during the event and thereafter. The superconducting gravity meter and the seismometer are also running continuously as they are supplied by solar batteries (and generators at night). The VLBI antenna has not moved at all and shows no signs of damage, but a detailed assessment is pending. The SLR unit has probably been affected most: The telescope has been displaced by about 15 cm but there is no obvious optical damage. As the laser container has jumped back and forth during the earthquake (according to the observer on duty) the laser table, connected to the basement, has been torn out of its socket and fell over. Amazingly the optical components seem to be undamaged, but I´ll have a closer look once the table is back in place. It is difficult to say for how long 7405 will be down. There is still a curfew imposed on the city, which allows to be on the streets only from 12:00 to 18:00, which prevents TIGO´s personnel to come to work. I optimistically estimate 3-4 months before SLR operation may start again. Some of you (including me) may wonder what all this means for the ILRS workshop, planned to be carried out at Concepci=F3n between January 17 and 22, 2011. I ask for patience to allow me to monitor the situation here. If the necessary infrastructure recovers quickly, I am sure we can still organize the workshop, which may give a sign of hope to the station, the University of Concepci=F3n and the region. For email communication, please use (temporarily) the following address: bsierk@gmail.com The servers at UdeC are still down and my usual email address (sierk@tigo.cl) is currently not operative (just got electricity and internet at home). Of course the TIGO-team regrets the loss of data, but at the same time we are glad to be still around and are grateful to those who have been worried about us. Best wishes, Bernd Sierk ---1149172827-1893304981-1267874385=:19480-- From: slrmail@dgfi3.dgfi.badw-muenchen.de ******************************************************************************** |