The recent massive earthquake that hit Chile might have shifted the Earth’s axis by 8 centimeters and made days shorter by 1.26 microseconds, RIA Novosti news agency reported referring to a report by NASA. To define the consequences of the earthquake in Chile the scientists used the same mathematical methods they used in 2004 to define the consequences of the Sumatra earthquake. That was a 9.1-magnitude earthquake which caused the most powerful tsunami in the world history. The Sumatra earthquake shortened the day by 6.8 microseconds and shifted Earth’s axis by 7 centimeters.

The magnitude of the earthquake in Chile on February 27 is estimated at 8.8. The death toll of the disaster exceeds 700 people, some persons are reported missing. The earthquake has left about 2 million people homeless. The earthquake was followed by a series of tsunami, which waves reached even the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia’s Far East.