The massive earthquake that struck Chile last month perceptibly shifted much of the country to the west. The hardest hit city, Concepcion, “jumped” more than 3 metres toward the Pacific Ocean, according to researchers.

The 8.8 magnitude quake moved locations as far flung as the Falkland Islands and eastern Brazil. Though Buenos Aires lies 1,290 km from the epicentre, it shifted as much as 4 cm.

Researchers determined the movements based on precise GPS readings taken before and 10 days after the Feb. 27th quake.

“The Maule (Chile) earthquake will arguably become one of the, if not the most important, great earthquakes yet studied,” University of Hawaii geophysicist Ben Brooks said in a release. “We now have modern, precise instruments to evaluate this event, and because the site abuts a continent, we will be able to obtain dense spatial sampling of the changes it caused.

“As such, the event represents an unprecedented opportunity for the earth-science community if certain observations are made quickly and comprehensively.”