Qualla: Riñihuazo https://qualla.com/rinihuazo en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:39:57 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Riñihuazo https://qualla.com/rinihuazo Riñihuazo: Introduction https://qualla.com/rinihuazo/ The ground had already done its worst. On 22 May 1960, the most powerful earthquake ever measured tore through southern Chile, and as the land heaved, whole flanks of mountain slid down near Tralcán and choked the only outlet of Riñihue Lake. The shaking stopped. The real danger was just beginning. Behind those collapsed slopes, water was rising at twenty million cubic meters per meter of height, building toward a wall that, if it broke, would empty the lake down the San Pedro River and reach the city of Valdivia in less than five hours.

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]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/2/u/m/rinihuazo-wp/62um-ri-ihuazo-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Riñihuazo: A Lake With Nowhere to Go https://qualla.com/rinihuazo/ Riñihue is the lowest in the chain known as the Seven Lakes, and it never stops filling. The Enco River pours into it without pause, and the San Pedro River normally carries that water away, threading past Los Lagos, Antilhue, and Pishuinco before reaching the sea at Corral Bay. ...

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]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/2/u/m/rinihuazo-wp/62um-ri-ihuazo-a-lake-with-nowhere-to-go.mp3 0:06 2 full Riñihuazo: The Iron Battalion https://qualla.com/rinihuazo/ Plans were drawn to evacuate Valdivia, and many residents simply left, watching the river and waiting. The Chilean Army sent the Batallón Escuela de Suboficiales south from San Bernardo, a unit made largely of young conscripts, boys who arrived to dig drainage ditches by hand at ...

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]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/2/u/m/rinihuazo-wp/62um-ri-ihuazo-the-iron-battalion.mp3 0:06 3 full Riñihuazo: A Race Measured in Meters https://qualla.com/rinihuazo/ The engineer Raúl Sáez of ENDESA took charge of an operation that the country came to call simply the Riñihuazo. The strategy was patience under pressure: not to stop the water, which no one could, but to let it out slowly enough that the river could survive it. Crews carved chan...

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]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/2/u/m/rinihuazo-wp/62um-ri-ihuazo-a-race-measured-in-meters.mp3 0:06 4 full Riñihuazo: What the Water Spared https://qualla.com/rinihuazo/ By 23 June the main dam had been brought down from twenty-four meters to fifteen, releasing some three cubic kilometers of water in a controlled, grinding descent rather than a single catastrophic surge. Even tamed, the flood had teeth. Los Lagos, Antilhue, Pishuinco, and the riv...

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]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/2/u/m/rinihuazo-wp/62um-ri-ihuazo-what-the-water-spared.mp3 0:06 5 full