Chile is known by geologists as the earthquake capital of world.
In fact the country holds the record for the largest tremor in history.
In 1960 scientists registered a 9.5 magnitude quake.
Hundreds of residents in Constitucion and Concepcion, Chile have died and many more are missing after Saturday morning's thunderous 8.8 quake.
"I think it's ranked as the third largest earthquake in the 20th century," said Dr. Keith Putirka, a professor of geology at Fresno State.
Putirka specializes in vulcanology. "In terms of plate boundaries, we have the Nazca plate sliding underneath Chile and as those two plates get rammed up against one another there is a lot of stresses that build up and that's the cause, it's been going on for millions of years."
Putirka said it will continue which is why the government is most likely reviewing structural rules for building on such an active continent. "That can help a government develop addition building codes. Engineers and scientist can go in and say this is what we need to do next time to protect homes and protect office buildings," he said.
Valley Catholics affected by the amount of loss in this South American country reached out to their religious leaders Sunday.
"I was there with the whole council of churches, latin American council of churches," said Father James Torrens of St. Alphonsus Church.
In 2008, Catholics made up 70% of Chile's population according to the Roman Catholic Church. Father Torrens said he is asking his congregation to pray for them.
"There are very resilient and assertive people so they will deal with it," said the Father.