Illapel () is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

, 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 provinc ...

, 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 is located on its north s ...

and marks the country's narrowest point along a

parallel Parallel may refer to: Mathematics * Parallel (geometry), two lines in the Euclidean plane which never intersect * Parallel (operator), mathematical operation named after the composition of electrical resistance in parallel circuits Science a ...

(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, borough cou ...

, headed by an

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

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 This article covers the electoral division of Chile, which involves two distinct systems: # Chamber of Deputies of Chile, Chamber of Deputies and Senate of Chile, Senate: Chile is divided into electoral districts and senatorial constituencies for ...

, 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 Bourb ...

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 Communes of Chile, commune of Combarbala. It is located in the Limarí Province, Coquimbo Region, Region of Coquimbo, at an elevation of 900 m (2,952 ft). It is known for the tourist astronomic o ...

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 Monte Patria is a city and one of four communes in the Limarí Province of Chile's north-central Coquimbo Region. Administration As a commune, Monte Patria is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a Communal Council (Sp ...

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

, Canela). The commune is represented in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

by Evelyn Matthei Fornet (

UDI Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi Hills, Enugu State, Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People Given name * Udi Aloni (born 1959), Israeli-American film ...

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

Demographics

According to the 2002

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

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 area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

s and 8,529 (28.1%) in

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

s. 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. Determination The primary purpose of a ...

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 A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

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