Surviving Chile's tsunami
Witness History27 Feb 2025

Surviving Chile's tsunami

In 2010, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck the coast of Chile.

It shook the central and southern parts of the country for more than three minutes, causing widespread damage which destroyed buildings, bridges and roads.

The earthquake triggered a tsunami in the Pacific Ocean, which travelled 600 kilometres west to the remote island of Juan Fernandez where Alison Campbell and her family were on holiday.

Hundreds of people died, and thousands were left injured and homeless.

Alison Campbell tells Jane Chambers what it was like when the tsunami struck.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Rescue workers in Juan Fernandez. Credit: JORGE AMENGUAL/AFP via Getty Images).

Episoder(2000)

Peter Singer’s Drowning Child thought experiment

Peter Singer’s Drowning Child thought experiment

In 1971, the region that is now Bangladesh fought for independence from Pakistan. At the time, Peter Singer was a philosophy lecturer at the University of Oxford. Horrified by the suffering in Banglad...

29 Apr 10min

Car-free Sundays during the global oil crisis

Car-free Sundays during the global oil crisis

In October 1973, the Netherlands was the only western European country to face a full oil embargo from the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, OAPEC.During the global oil crisis, they ...

28 Apr 10min

The world's first perfume archive

The world's first perfume archive

On 26 April 1990, the world's first perfume archive opened in Versailles, France.The idea behind L'Osmothèque was to create a collection of scents and preserve their memory.Perfumer Jean Claude Ellena...

27 Apr 10min

The Tabasco floods

The Tabasco floods

In 2007, the Mexican state of Tabasco experienced its worst flooding in 50 years, with more than a million people affected. Eighty per cent of the region was under water, with people having to be res...

24 Apr 10min

The clean-up of Chernobyl

The clean-up of Chernobyl

The disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Ukraine, on 26 April 1986, was the world’s worst nuclear accident. The explosion in reactor four caused radioactive parts to be spread over the ne...

23 Apr 10min

Canada's war in the woods

Canada's war in the woods

In 1993, plans to log one of Canada’s ancient rainforests sparked the country’s largest act of civil disobedience. It was known as the war in the woods. For months, protesters blocked a remote logging...

22 Apr 10min

Europe’s long drought of 2011

Europe’s long drought of 2011

In 2011, after months of little or no rain in central and eastern Europe, water levels on some parts of the Danube River fell to their lowest level in 70 years.It’s one of Europe’s busiest shipping ro...

21 Apr 9min

Mymba Kuera: The race to save wildlife at the Itaipu dam

Mymba Kuera: The race to save wildlife at the Itaipu dam

In October 1982, Paraguay and Brazil closed the gates of the Itaipu River, beginning to fill the reservoir of what would soon be the world's largest dam. Located in a rainforest on the border betwee...

20 Apr 10min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
konspirasjonspodden
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
intervjuet
popradet
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
grenselos
wolfgang-wee-uncut
min-barneoppdragelse
rss-espen-lee-usensurert
synnve-og-vanessa
rss-dannet-uten-piano
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
frokostshowet-pa-p5
fladseth
krisemoter