Tall buildings in Sao Paulo shake and tremble as residents flee into the streets in fear

Residents of many high-rise buildings in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo fled their homes in fear late on Thursday, the 18th, when buildings several blocks away suddenly began to shake and tremble. Panic was high, but the Civil Protection, which had confirmed the occurrence of light earthquakes in the city, had no information on casualties or damage to property until this Friday.

The tremors were felt around 11:00 p.m. local time, 3 a.m. in Lisbon, at exactly the same time that a strong earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale struck the Atacama Desert region of Chile, another country in the South of America, but which does not border Brazil. According to geologists associated with the USP of the University of São Paulo, the capital of São Paulo is not a seismic region, but is located in a sedimentary geological zone, which increases the peripheral effects of earthquakes recorded at large distances, such as in Chile, where the farthest from the city is three thousand kilometers.

There are reports of buildings being emptied in the west of the city, such as Perdizes and Pompeia, in the east, such as Mooca and Tatuapé, in the central region and even in neighbouring towns such as Guarulhos. Residents felt beds and sofas shaking, saw chandeliers shaking on the ceiling, objects being thrown out of the room and ran out into the streets, some of them crying from nervous breakdowns.

On social media, countless residents of the capital of São Paulo, known for its large skyscrapers, posted images of the moment of the tremors, which in some cases lasted several minutes, and the panic that erupted in the buildings where they live. In some of these buildings, entire families of all ages crowded the interior staircases, along with other neighbors who also left their apartments in panic because, depending on the building, it seemed like it was about to collapse.