Experts from NASA reported on March 1st that the 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile had changed the Earth's axis, thus shortening the length of a day.
A geophysicist named Richard Kloos explained that the strong earthquake moved the Earth's axis by approximately three inches, which shortened the day by 1.26 microseconds (one second equals one million microseconds).
"Strong earthquakes changing the Earth's axis are not uncommon," Kloos said. The 9.1-magnitude earthquake in Indonesia in 2004 also moved the Earth's axis by about three inches and correspondingly shortened the day. This scientist noted that since these changes are extremely minute, they will not affect human life.
Islands were also affected by the earthquake. Earthquake physicist Roger Musson from Liverpool University stated that after the earthquake, Chile's Santa Maria Island suddenly rose by six feet. In many previous earthquakes, this island had also "grown taller."