On March 3rd...
M7.8 - Offshore Valparaiso, Chile, 1985
At least 177 people killed, 2,575 injured and extensive damage in central Chile, including the cities of San Antonio, Valparaiso, Vina del Mar, Santiago and Rancagua. Maximum intensity VIII in the Valparaiso area. Liquefaction occurred in saturated beach dune sands in the Vina del Mar and San Antonio areas. Reports of extensive ground cracks and subsidence throughout most of the epicentral area. Numerous landslides in the coastal mountains. Felt in Chile along a 2,000 km strip from Copiapo to Valdivia. Felt (VI) at Mendoza and (V) at San Juan, Argentina. Also felt by people in highrise buildings in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Tsunami generated.
M - Washington, D.C., 1879
The United States Geological Survey was established on March 3, 1879, just a few hours before the mandatory close of the final session of the 45th Congress, when President Rutherford B. Hayes signed the bill appropriating money for sundry civil expenses of the Federal Government for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1879. The sundry civil expenses bill included a brief section establishing a new agency, the United States Geological Survey, placing it in the Department of the Interior, and charging it with a unique combination of responsibilities: `classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain.'
From The United States Geological Survey: 1879-1989, USGS Circular 1050 by Mary C. Rabbitt.
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