Illapel () is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an city, which is the capital of the

Choapa Province Choapa Province is one of the provinces making up the Coquimbo Region of Chile. It has an area of 10,079.8 km² and a population of 81,681. The capital of the province is the town of Illapel. Administration The current presidential provinci ...

, Coquimbo Region. It lies along the

Illapel River The Illapel River is a river of Chile located in the Coquimbo Region. One of its most important tributaries is Aucó Creek. The Las Chinchillas National Reserve is located in the Aucó Creek basin. The city of Illapel Illapel () is a Chilean ...

and marks the country's narrowest point along a

parallel Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Computing * Parallel algorithm * Parallel computing * Parallel metaheuristic * Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel * Parallel Sysplex, a cluster of IB ...

(94 km). It is located to the east of

Los Vilos Los Vilos (From mapuche: ''Filu'', ‘snake’) ? is both a Chilean coastal commune and a coastal city with over 9,000 inhabitants (18,275 in comuna), located in the Province of Choapa, part of the IV Region of Coquimbo. The city has a harbour ...

Administration

As a commune, Illapel is a third-level

administrative division of Chile The administrative division or territorial organization of Chile exemplifies characteristics of a unitary state. State administration is functionally and geographically decentralized, as appropriate for each authority in accordance with the law. ...

administered by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural council ...

, headed by an

alcalde Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian '' cabildo'' (the municipal council) a ...

who is directly elected every four years. The 2008–2012 alcalde was Denis Cortés Vargas (

IND Ind or IND may refer to: General * Independent (politician), a politician not affiliated to any political party * Independent station, used within television program listings and the television industry for a station that is not affiliated with ...

/ JPM). Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Illapel is represented in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

by Adriana Muñoz ( PDC) and Luis Lemus ( Ind.) as part of the 9th electoral district, (together with

Combarbalá Combarbalá is the capital city of the commune of Combarbala. It is located in the Limarí Province, Region of Coquimbo, at an elevation of 900 m (2,952 ft). It is known for the tourist astronomic observatory Cruz del Sur; the petr ...

Punitaqui Punitaqui is a town and commune of Chile in the Limarí Province. History Punitaqui was once part of the Ovalle Department before the administrative restructuring of 1976. 1997 earthquake On October 15, 1997 the town was nearly demolished by ...

, Monte Patria, Salamanca,

Canela Canela may refer to: Places * Canela, Rio Grande do Sul, a town in Brazil * Canela, Chile, a commune in Chile * La Canela, a legendary location in South America * Isla Canela, an island in Andalusia, Spain Other uses * Canela (surname), i ...

). The commune is represented in the Senate by Evelyn Matthei Fornet (

UDI Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People * Udi Gal (born 1979), Israeli Olympic sailor * Udi Vaks (born 1979), Israeli Olympic judoka ...

) and Jorge Pizarro Soto ( PDC) as part of the 4th senatorial constituency (Coquimbo Region).

Demographics

According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Illapel spans an area of and has 30,355 inhabitants (14,940 men and 15,415 women). Of these, 21,826 (71.9%) lived in urban areas and 8,529 (28.1%) in rural areas. The population grew by 4.6% (1,348 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Earthquake of September 16, 2015

On September 16, 2015, at 22:54:33 UTC (19:54:33 local time), a great earthquake of magnitude 8.3 hit the area, with an

epicenter The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Surface damage Before the instrumental pe ...

west of Illapel. The earthquake caused physical damage, the loss of human lives, forced the evacuation of one million people from the coast (some sources mistakenly claimed a million people evacuated from Santiago), and a tsunami warning was issued for parts of South America, Hawaii, California and French Polynesia. Copper prices spiked in early trading, on fears of supply disruption.

References

External links

*
Municipality of Illapel
*
Comercioillapel.com Tu Brujula del Valle del Choapa
{{Authority control Capitals of Chilean provinces Populated places in Choapa Province Communes of Chile Populated places established in 1752 1750s establishments in the Captaincy General of Chile 1752 establishments in South America 1752 establishments in the Spanish Empire

Administration

Demographics

Earthquake of September 16, 2015

See also

References

External links