|
Post by FaithWalker on Sept 2, 2009 6:53:06 GMT -6
JAKARTA, Indonesia — A powerful earthquake rattled a large swath of southern Indonesia on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people, injuring dozens and causing extensive damage to houses and buildings. The quake struck at 2:55 p.m. (0755 GMT) off the southern coast of the main island of Java with a preliminary magnitude of 7.0. It had a depth of about 30 miles (50 kilometers), the U.S. Geological Survey said. A tsunami alert was issued, but revoked less than an hour later. Some of the victims were killed in a rock slide near the southern coast of Java island, while the others died when houses or buildings collapsed, disaster officials said. Hospitals across the region were admitting scores of injured people. "We all ran out in panic, we didn't even put our sandals on," said Muharaham Ardan, a university lecturer in the town of Tasikmalaya, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) from the epicenter. Ardan said it was the biggest quake he had ever felt. "The neighbors were shouting: 'Get out of the house! Get out of the house!"' At least 10 people died in the southern Cianjur district of West Java, and another in the coastal village of Pelabahan Ratu where dozens of buildings were severely damaged, said National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Satrio Nurhadiwibowo. "A dozen houses were buried by a landslide triggered by the earthquake in Jeblong village," Nurhadiwibowo said. The shaking was felt over roughly half of Java island, where the majority of the country's population of 235 million live. In the capital, Jakarta, more than a hundred miles (160 kilometers) away, panicked office workers ran onto the streets. Health Ministry Crisis Center chief Rustam Pakaya said at least 27 people were admitted to the hospital in Jakarta and the number of injured was rising. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake was powerful enough to cause a local tsunami, but there were no immediate reports of high waves. "Sea level readings indicate a significant tsunami was not generated," the center later said in a statement retracting the alert. Indonesia, a vast archipelago, straddles continental plates and is prone to seismic activity along what is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. A huge quake off western Indonesia caused a powerful tsunami in December 2004 that killed around 230,000 people in a dozen countries. Link
|
|
|
Post by FaithWalker on Sept 21, 2009 11:50:27 GMT -6
GAUHATI, India — A 6.3-magnitude earthquake shook the remote mountain nation of Bhutan on Monday, killing at least seven people when their houses collapsed and damaging buildings across the region, officials said. The afternoon earthquake was initially reported in Gauhati, the capital of India's northeastern Assam state, but it was centered in a little-populated eastern region of the tiny nation of Bhutan. Much of Bhutan is sparsely populated, reachable only by walking paths and without electricity or telephones. "We're trying to piece together information to assess the damage," Ugyen Tenzing, the country's director of disaster management said from Thimphu, Bhutan's capital. He said at least seven people were killed when their houses collapsed in the eastern districts of Munggar and Trashigang, and rescuers were searching for survivors under the debris of other buildings. He had no further details. Most buildings in that region are small farmhouses made of mud and stone with tin roofs. The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake's magnitude as 6.3 and said it was centered about 80 miles (125 kilometers) north of Gauhati and 115 miles (180 kilometers) east of Thimphu at a depth of 4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers). "I dragged my family out. ... We ran down the staircase from our third floor apartment," said Sadeq Hazarika, an Assam state official who lives in Gauhati. "We saw our building developing a big crack. This was the biggest tremor I felt in many years." The region has been hit by major earthquakes in the past, including in 1950 and 1897. Assam has been shaken by a series of small quakes in recent weeks. The quake briefly rocked Bhutan's capital. "We felt a strong shock for a moment — one second. People panicked and rushed out of their homes and businesses," said Tashi Dhendup, who runs a travel agency in Thimphu. He was not aware of any damage to buildings in that city. The quake was also felt in Bangladesh and Lhasa, the Tibetan capital in southwest China, but there were no signs of damage in either place, officials said. Link
|
|
|
Post by FaithWalker on Sept 29, 2009 13:41:09 GMT -6
PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — DEVELOPING: A tsunami swept into Pago Pago, American Samoa, shortly after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 8.3 erupted in the area. There were no immediate reports of injuries or structural damage Tuesday. Fili Sagapolutele, who works at the Samoa News, says the water flowed inland about 100 yards before receding, leaving some cars stuck in the mud. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu issued a tsunami warning for American Samoa and other areas of the Pacific, including New Zealand. A tsunami watch was posted for other areas, including Hawaii and the Marshall Islands. American Samoa is a U.S. territory located in the South Pacific, about 2,300 miles south of Hawaii. Link
|
|
|
Post by FaithWalker on Oct 1, 2009 7:09:49 GMT -6
LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Geological Survey says an earthquake with a 5.1 magnitude has been reported in central California. A preliminary earthquake report said the quake was recorded at 2:01 a.m. Thursday (1001GMT) about 148 miles west of Las Vegas and within the vicinity of Death Valley National Park. Link
|
|
|
Post by FaithWalker on Oct 8, 2009 7:25:16 GMT -6
Thursday, October 08, 2009 Print WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Thousands of panicked South Pacific islanders raced away from coastlines after a series of strong earthquakes rocked the region and generated a small tsunami Thursday, just over a week after a massive wave killed 178 people in the Samoas and Tonga. There were no immediate reports of damage, and tsunami warnings for 11 nations and territories were soon canceled. But people across the South Pacific took no chances, scrambling up hillsides and maneuvering through traffic-clogged streets to reach higher ground. "There is panic here, too," Chris McKee, assistant director of the Geophysical Observatory in Papua New Guinea told The Associated Press. "People have rushed out onto the streets and are climbing hills." The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a regional tsunami warning after a quake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck 183 miles (294 kilometers) northwest of the Vanuatu island of Santo at a depth of 21 miles (35 kilometers). Within an hour, two other temblors of magnitude 7.7 and 7.3 followed. The Hawaii-based center canceled the warnings after sea-level readings indicated that the wave generated by the quakes was too small to cause much damage. A fourth quake of magnitude 7.0 was recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey nearly 10 hours after the initial quake at a depth of 21 miles (35 kilometers) in the same ocean area northeast of Vanuatu. No tsunami alert was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. There were no immediate reports of injury or damage from officials in Vanuatu, a chain of 83 islands. It lies about 1,400 miles (2,200 kilometers) northeast of Sydney, Australia. "We felt the quake -- it shook the ground, but not very strongly," said a police officer in the town of Luganville on the island of Santo, the Vanuatu island nearest to the quakes' epicenters. The officer declined to give his name as he was not authorized to speak to the media. Thursday's small tsunami came just over a week after a magnitude 8.3 quake sparked a large wave in the South Pacific that devastated coastal villages in Samoa, American Samoa and northern Tonga. The death toll from the Sept. 29 tsunami rose by five Thursday to 183, after searchers in Samoa found more bodies, said Vaosa Epa, chief executive in the office of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Another 32 people were killed in American Samoa and nine in Tonga. That tragedy was fresh in the minds of residents of Tuvalu, a low-lying nation of eight coral atolls with about 10,000 people. Thousands fled inland after Thursday's alerts, some clustering around the government building in the capital, Funafuti -- the only multistory building in the country. In Samoa, where at least 142 were killed in the Sept. 29 tsunami, residents quickly headed for the hills. Cars clogged the roads leading inland, resident Russell Hunter told the AP in the capital, Apia. "People were genuinely afraid," said Hunter, editor of the Samoa Observer newspaper. "They saw what happened last week and didn't want to be part of that again." Thursday's warnings also created worry in American Samoa. Schools, government buildings and other residents were evacuated in the U.S. territory. In New Caledonia, officials warned residents with alert horns and text messages. Schools were evacuated along the east coast and on the nearby Loyalty Islands. Seismologist Rafael Abreu with the U.S. Geological Survey said Thursday's quakes appear to be unrelated to the Sept. 29 quake near Samoa. The quakes occurred on different fault lines and the way the earth's plates moved in both events also differed, he said. Link
|
|
|
Post by FaithWalker on Oct 23, 2009 7:11:46 GMT -6
A strong earthquake has rocked part of Indonesia's eastern Papua island, causing panic among residents. Reports on injuries were not immediately available, but local television says at least one building collapsed. Friday's quake came as Indonesia is still recovering from another, more powerful earthquake on Papua that killed more than 1,000 people last month. The Indonesia's Meterology and Geophysics Agency says Friday's magnitude-6.0 earthquake was centered about nine miles southeast of Manokwari in West Papua province. The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake was at a depth of about 22 miles. Local MetroTV reported that the quake caused at least one building to collapse. Link
|
|
|
Post by FaithWalker on Oct 23, 2009 7:24:17 GMT -6
A strong 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit northeast Afghanistan on Friday, the US Geological Survey said, shaking buildings in the capital Kabul. The quake struck 77 kilometres (48 miles) south-southeast of Feyzabad, near the border with Tajikistan and Pakistan, the USGS said. The tremor was felt in Kabul, where buildings shook and electricity supplies were disrupted, an AFP reporter said. Link
|
|
|
Post by FaithWalker on Nov 4, 2009 8:28:21 GMT -6
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's state news agency says an earthquake has injured at least 700 people in the country's south. IRNA reported Wednesday that 100 of the injured had been hospitalized while the rest were minor cases. The 4.9-magnitude quake struck the southern port city of Bandar Abbas at 2:56 a.m. local time, cutting power and telephone lines and sending residents streaming into the streets. The broadcast said there were no reports of deaths in the quake, which hit 850 miles south of the capital. Bandar Abbas is one of Iran's key ports and home to a large oil refinery that primarily serves the domestic market. Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. Link
|
|
|
Post by FaithWalker on Nov 9, 2009 7:56:20 GMT -6
Sunday, November 08, 2009 Print A strong earthquake was reported in the ocean off Indonesia on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake measured a magnitude of 6.7, the survey reported. It hit at 3:41 a.m. local time. It struck at a depth of 11 milesand had its epicenter about 10 miles north-northwest of Sumbawa and 830 miles east of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. There were no immediate reports that tsunami warnings were issued and no immediate reports of damage. An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck off West Sumatra in Indonesia on Sept. 30 and killed hundreds of people and caused massive property damage. Link
|
|
|
Post by FaithWalker on Apr 14, 2010 7:01:20 GMT -6
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately 25 km (16 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded. As of 12 February 2010, an estimated three million people were affected by the quake;the Haitian Government reports that between 217,000 and 230,000 people have died, an estimated 300,000 injured, and an estimated 1,000,000 homeless. The death toll is expected to rise.They also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged. The earthquake caused major damage to Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other settlements in the region. Many notable landmark buildings were significantly damaged or destroyed, including the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral, and the main jail. Among those killed were Archbishop of Port-au-Prince Joseph Serge Miot, and opposition leader Micha Gaillard.The headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), located in the capital, collapsed, killing many, including the Mission's Chief, Hédi Annabi. Many countries responded to appeals for humanitarian aid, pledging funds and dispatching rescue and medical teams, engineers and support personnel. Communication systems, air, land, and sea transport facilities, hospitals, and electrical networks had been damaged by the earthquake, which hampered rescue and aid efforts; confusion over who was in charge, air traffic congestion, and problems with prioritisation of flights further complicated early relief work. Port-au-Prince's morgues were quickly overwhelmed with many tens of thousands of bodies having to be buried in mass graves. As rescues tailed off, supplies, medical care and sanitation became priorities. Delays in aid distribution led to angry appeals from aid workers and survivors, and some looting and sporadic violence being observed. On 22 January the United Nations noted that the emergency phase of the relief operation was drawing to a close, and on the following day the Haitian government officially called off the search for survivors. Link
|
|
|
Post by FaithWalker on Apr 14, 2010 7:06:12 GMT -6
The 2010 Chilean earthquake occurred off the coast of the Maule Region of Chile[4] on February 27, 2010, at 03:34 local time (06:34 UTC), rating a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale and lasting 90 seconds. It was strongly perceived in six Chilean regions (from Valparaíso in the north to Araucanía in the south), that together make up 80% of the country's population. The cities experiencing the strongest shaking—VIII (Destructive) on the Mercalli intensity scale—were Arauco and Coronel, Chile. The earthquake was felt in the capital Santiago at Mercalli intensity scale VII (Very Strong). Tremors were felt in many Argentine cities, including Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza and La Rioja.Tremors were felt as far north as the city of Ica in southern Peru (approx. 1500 mi./2400 km).The earthquake triggered a tsunami which devastated several coastal towns in south-central Chile and damaged the port at Talcahuano. Tsunami warnings were issued in 53 countries, causing minor damage in the San Diego area of California and in the Tōhoku region of Japan, where damage to the fisheries business was estimated at ¥6.26 billion (USD$66.7 million). The earthquake also generated a blackout that affected 93% of the country's population and which went on for several days in some locations. President Michelle Bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe" and sent military troops to take control of the most affected areas. The latest death toll as of April 7, 2010 is 486 victims (down from 802 reported by the previous administration on March 3). Seismologists estimate that the earthquake was so powerful that it may have shortened the length of the day by 1.26 microseconds and moved the Earth's figure axis by 8 cm or 2.7 milliarcseconds. Precise GPS measurement indicated the telluric movement moved the entire city of Concepción 3.04 metres (10 ft) to the west. The capital Santiago, suffered a displacement of almost 24 centimetres (10 in) west, and even Buenos Aires, about 1,350 kilometres (840 mi) from Concepción, shifted 3.9 centimetres (1.5 in). The epicenter of the earthquake was offshore from the Maule Region, approximately 11 km (6.8 miles) southwest of Curanipe and 100 km (71 mi) north-northeast of Chile's second largest city, Concepción. The earthquake also caused seiches to occur in Lake Pontchartrain to the north of New Orleans, United States, located nearly 7,500 kilometres (4,700 mi) from the epicenter of the quake. Link
|
|
|
Post by FaithWalker on Apr 14, 2010 7:08:53 GMT -6
BEIJING -- A series of strong earthquakes struck a far western Tibetan area of China on Wednesday, killing at least 400 people and injuring thousands as houses made of mud and wood collapsed, trapping many more, officials said. Paramilitary police were forced to use shovels to dig through the rubble in a township where most of the homes had been flattened, footage on state television showed. Officials said excavators were not available and with most of the roads leading to the nearest airport damaged, equipment and rescuers would have a hard time reaching the area. Downed phone lines, strong winds and frequent aftershocks were also hindering rescue efforts, said Wu Yong, a local military chief. Workers were racing to release water from a reservoir in the disaster area where a crack had formed after the quake to prevent a flood, according to the China Earthquake Administration. The magnitude-6.9 temblor struck an area in southern Qinghai province, near Tibet, on Wednesday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake was centered on Yushu county, a Tibetan area in Qinghai's south, with a population of about 100,000, mostly herders and farmers. The USGS recorded six temblors in less than three hours, all but one registered 5.0 or higher. The China Earthquake Networks Center measured the largest quake's magnitude at 7.1. The main quake sent residents fleeing as it toppled houses made of mud and wood, said Karsum Nyima, the Yushu county television station's deputy head of news, speaking by phone with broadcaster CCTV. "In a flash, the houses went down. It was a terrible earthquake," he said. "In a small park, there is a Buddhist pagoda and the top of the pagoda fell off. ... Everybody is out on the streets, standing in front of their houses, trying to find their family members." The death toll rose to about 400 by afternoon, according to CCTV. Emergency official Pubucairen was quoted as saying that the number of injured has risen to more than 10,000. The earthquake comes a little less than two years after a magnitude-7.9 quake in neighboring Sichuan province left almost 90,000 people dead or missing. That quake flattened several schools, killing thousands of students. Poor design, shoddy construction and the lax enforcement of building codes were found to be rampant. Link
|
|
|
Post by FaithWalker on Apr 19, 2010 6:45:50 GMT -6
KABUL (AP) — A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck in mountains north of Afghanistan's capital early Monday, killing at least seven people and injuring 30, officials said. The temblor hit just before 1 a.m. (2030 GMT Sunday) in Samangan province, about halfway between Kabul and the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, according to the province's deputy governor, Kulam Sakhi Baghlani. Roads and communications are sparse in the area, and casualty reports take time to reach authorities. The quake was felt in Kabul as well as the neighboring countries of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Baghlani said three districts of scattered mud-walled villages were affected, with more than 300 homes damaged and dozens of head of livestock killed. Landslides sparked by the quake had blocked roads, making even more arduous what was already an eight-hour drive along winding mountain trails from the provincial capital of Aybak. "The quake would have been felt much more intensely up in the mountains," Baghlani said. He said three civil defense units had been dispatched to check on the damage and casualties. The Hindu Kush region is capable of producing large earthquakes along faultlines where India slammed against the Asian continent millions of years ago. In 1998, a pair of quakes measuring 5.9 and 6.6 struck along Afghanistan's border with Tajikistan, killing more than 6,000 people. A 5.3 quake that hit Baghlan province next to Samangan in 2002 killed about 1,000 people. Link
|
|