TV special on quake rattles Valparaiso officials

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Local officials are often thrilled to see their communities featured on National Geographic specials. But the mayor of Valparaiso, Chile, isn’t smiling about the ‘Ultimate Earthquake’ episode, reports the Santiago daily El Mercurio.

The program, airing Sunday in Chile, simulates the catastrophic effects of a magnitude 9.5 quake off the tectonically active Chilean coast. A quake on May 22, 1960, centered near Valdivia, south of Valparaiso, reached magnitude 9.5, making it the most powerful quake ever recorded. That event shook the coast and sent tsunamis rolling across the Pacific.

Valparaiso Mayor Aldo Cornejo worries that the gripping, simulated images of tumbling buildings, buckled roadways and an inundated coastal city could hurt tourism and scare residents.

Posted by Patrick J. McDonnell and Andrés D’Alessandro in Buenos Aires