**EARTHQUAKE THREATS** and recent quake activity

List of all the largest quakes this year

2007 quake activity -

11/15/07 -
CHILE - A strong 5.7 earthquake struck northern Chile on Wednesday, just hours after a magnitude 7.7 tremor shook the region. Chilean officials reported two deaths and more than 150 injuries.

11/14/07 -
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are riddled with ancient geological faults. One of the most visible crosses Manhattan island at 125th Street and has created a distinct valley near the Hudson River. "The quake hazard in this region is significant. It isn’t as high as it is in California, but because of the high population and the built-up infrastructure, the risk is significant.” “A magnitude 5 quake can be expected, and it could be damaging. Public awareness of this is important.” The last major quake in this area occurred more than a century ago, which scientists describe as a mere geological blink of an eye. On Aug. 10, 1884, at 7:07 p.m., an earthquake that measured 5.2 on the Richter scale had its epicenter in New York Harbor south of Rockaway Beach, toppling chimneys, ringing church bells and breaking crockery from Connecticut to Pennsylvania. Its effects were noted from Virginia to Maine. The effects of a severe earthquake in Manhattan could be more profound than those in the West because on the East Coast the earth’s rocky crust is older, cooler and more rigid — and capable of transmitting more powerful shock waves — in comparison to the younger Western bedrock. Quakes like the one in 1884 may occur every 50 to 100 years. A stronger magnitude 6 quake, however, has a “return time” between 400 to 500 years in the region. The last temblor of that size occurred at Cape Ann, off the coast of Massachusetts, in 1755. Currently, portable seismographic stations are conducting a “site response analysis” to create a “subsurface shear velocity profile” of areas that could be vulnerable to earthquakes in Manhattan.

CHILE - A major 7.7 earthquake crushed cars, damaged hundreds of houses and terrified people for hundreds of miles around today. Authorities reported at least two deaths and more than 100 injuries. The quake, which struck at 12:40 p.m., shook the Chilean capital 780 miles to the south of the epicenter, and was felt as far away as the other side of the continent - in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1,400 miles to the east. It was followed by several aftershocks, including three larger than magnitude 5. "It was horribly strong. It was very long and there was a lot of underground noise." The quake generated only a two-foot wave along the coast. Scientists in Chile and the United States were trying to determine why such an intense quake apparently did not cause more damage.

11/8/07 -
INDIA - A day after the tremors everything seemed displaced in the three worst affected villages of Hiranvel, Chitrawad and Haripur in Talala taluka of Junagadh district. About 6,300 villagers have been forced to move out in the open, and what they fear more than the quakes now, are the wild animals. All these villages are located on the periphery of Gir forest where lions and leopards venturing out into the open are a common feature. "All the houses have developed major cracks. One more jerk, and they'll collapse. We have no other option for us but to sleep in the open. We have learnt to cohabit with wild animals, but sleeping in the open is fraught with danger."
Are frequent tremors in Gujarat's Saurashtra region a precursor to an earthquake similar to the killer one that devastated the state in 2001? This is the question the Gandhinagar-based Institute of Seismological Research has been researching for the past two years. The tremors in Saurashtra have once again come into focus after the two consecutive ones that hit the region Tuesday. "We have been conducting a detailed study of the tremors and the SUBTERRANEAN BOOMING SOUNDS, which have been emanating from different parts of the Saurashtra peninsula. In 2006 alone, there were more than 200 such shocks of which 50 of them had a magnitude of 1.5 or more on the Richter Scale. These shocks were largely confined to the Kalavad taluka of Jamnagar district. However, this year, the area from where the shocks emanated has grown and spread in an area measuring about 20 km. This year alone, we have already felt 200 such mild shocks and tremors. Most of the seismic activity has been concentrated around Lalpur (in Jamnagar district), about 30 km southeast of Jamnagar city. In the event of such development, a large, damaging earthquake cannot be ruled out in Saurashtra region." Similar activity was also witnessed before the devastating earthquake which struck Latur in Maharashtra in 1993. "These shocks have occurred in a swarm, very near to each other at different intervals of time." The Saurashtra region is surrounded by three of the eight major geological faults that exist in Gujarat, making it more susceptible to a major earthquake.

11/7/07 -
INDIA - A woman was killed and five persons were injured as tremors rocked many parts of Gujarat on Tuesday. The first tremor occurred at 0558 hrs and had a magnitude of 4.8 on the Richter scale. The effect of the first tremor was limited to Junagadh and nearby Amreli district. The second tremor which occurred at around 1520 hrs was measured at 5.1 on the Richter scale. The effect of the second tremor was felt in Saurashtra, Ahmedabad and Surat as well. Around 50 mud houses collapsed in the village of Haripura due to the tremor. Three villages of Talala taluka of Junagadh district - Haripura, Chitravad and Arenver, were the worst hit as several houses developed wide cracks, while many mud houses in these villages collapsed. Reports of damage to houses have also come from seven other villages of the Talala taluka but they were not severe.

11/4/07 -
ANTARCTICA - A RARE, strong earthquake jolted Antarctica - An earthquake registering 6.3 on the Richter scale rocked Antarctica at 2031 GMT Friday. The epicenter of the quake was 3,641 kilometers from Punta Arenas, Chile's southern most city. Earthquakes rarely hit Antarctica, and their scales are normally small.

[A THOUGHT - Ground creep appears to speed up before an earthquake, and thus could serve as a good precursor to a coming quake. If so, could Folsom, California be warning of a pending quake? The city has had a mysterious rash of water line breaks during recent weeks. The FREAK wave of water-line breaks in Folsom has drowned utility staff members under an unanswerable number of repair calls. An UNPRECEDENTED buildup of break repair jobs has caused the city to hire an outside contractor to provide additional help. And still breaks are taking weeks to repair.
Before a moderate-sized (M 5.5) earthquake struck the hamlet of Parkfield along the San Andreas fault on June 27 in 1966 in a remote area of central California, there had been a water pipe line that broke where it crossed the San Andreas fault, and that break occurred about nine hours before the June 27 earthquake. The break in the pipe showed the characteristic movement on the San Andreas fault - east side to the southeast. Researchers found no explanation for the break other than pre-earthquake fault movement.]

11/2/07 -
CALIFORNIA - Nearly 40 small aftershocks struck on the Calaveras Fault on Wednesday, following Tuesday night's moderate earthquake near San Jose that startled residents throughout the Bay Area. The 5.6-magnitude quake caused only minor damage in South Bay communities, and the aftershocks - the largest at 3:54 p.m. with a magnitude of 3.7 - occurred south of the main quake's epicenter near the Calaveras Reservoir. Damage from the quake was minor but widespread near the quake's epicenter. There were small landslides, a downed tree and damage to a trestle bridge in Alum Rock Park, and one landslide partially blocked a road in the park, which is perched in the hills east of downtown San Jose. The succession of aftershocks indicated that the fault was rupturing southward - a good sign - because most of the main quake's energy was being dissipated well away from the more dangerous Hayward Fault to the north. But there is always the possibility that the quake's abrupt release of stress inside the Calaveras Fault might have changed stresses that have long built up within the Hayward Fault. The most recent official report by earthquake experts has placed the probability that a destructive quake will strike within the next 25 years on the Hayward Fault with a magnitude of 6.7 or greater at 27 percent. It also estimated the probability of a similar quake on the Calaveras at 11 percent in the same period.
In the first real-world disaster test of local cellular networks, thousands of mobile phone users were unable to connect calls in the hour following the 5.6 earthquake that struck the Bay Area shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday. Wireless carriers said traffic spiked up to 10 times higher than normal. The flood of calls also tied up AT&T's landline phone service. Wireless officials are urging users to use text messages if they have to contact someone because it's more reliable and far less intensive on the network.
A truck driver was so sure the quake was coming - "because of the tremendous abundance of roadkill lately" - that he started telling people three days before. There were other reports of unusual pet behavior before the quake struck.

11/1/07 -
CALIFORNIA - Representatives from the state Office Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council said that Tuesday's 5.6-magnitude earthquake may be a precursor to a bigger tremor in the coming days. The tremor Tuesday night "has signifcantly increased the probability of a damaging earthquake along the Calaveras and/or Hayward faults over the next few days." Although the overall likelihood of such an event is still low, the Office of Emergency Services recommended that local emergency officials and first-response agencies review and implement elements of their emergency plans related to earthquake advisories.
A man correctly predicted the Bay Area Quake using a system he's worked on for years. On Sunday, he posted his quake prediction on his website called quakeprediction.com and on YouTube. He pointed to a large purple section of his map of California saying the area was at very high risk of an earthquake; the greatest risk in the west around the Bay Area. "We're expecting at least a 4.5 to 5.0 within the next 48 hours." He uses changes in air temperature and other data to make his predictions. He claims to accurately predict 75% of earthquakes.

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10/31/07 -
This morning there has been a 5.6 quake in the SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA - the STRONGEST TO HIT THE BAY AREA SINCE 1989. The temblor came from the lesser-known Calaveras Fault. The quake produced no reports of serious injuries or damage. The USGS reported about a dozen aftershocks, the biggest with a preliminary magnitude of 2.1.

10/28/07 -
PAKISTAN - A girl was killed and 12 villagers injured when a mild intensity earthquake hit Gangche district’s Qundus village in the Baltistan region late on Friday. Tremors were felt at around 12am on Friday, intermittent tremors continued till 4am on Saturday. At least 410 houses in five villages had been partially damaged and 12 villagers were injured. All roads leading to the villages were damaged in the quake. The villagers are living in the open in below zero temperatures and are reluctant to return to their homes. The intensity of quake was 5.2 on the richter scale and its centre was in Azad Kashmir.

10/19/07 -
INDONESIA - Continuing dramatic movement - Researchers say ongoing uplift following the 2004 Great Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake, which triggered massive tsunamis the day after Christmas, is caused by continuing slip on the quake fault. Scientists have observed dramatic post-earthquake movement following several large temblors, including the 2004 quake, and the latter boasts the largest movement recorded since GPS technology became available. GPS sites in the Andamans have recorded uplift ranging from six inches to more than a foot since the earthquake and even larger horizontal movements toward the southwest. A hot topic of debate is what causes the movement. “Our research indicates that the Andaman post-earthquake movements resulted mostly from continuing silent slip on the fault, below the depth that slipped during the 2004 earthquake.” The findings have implications for the earthquake cycle on faults, including how stress accumulates in the time between quakes.

10/18/07 -
CALIFORNIA - October 17th was the anniversary of the 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake that struck the Bay Area 18 years ago. The quake dislodged a segment of the Bay Bridge, collapsed the Cypress Freeway in Oakland, triggered a fire in San Francisco's Marina District and destroyed much of downtown Santa Cruz. There was an even bigger quake 139 years ago in 1868 on the Hayward fault which remains a ticking time bomb today. It was the 12th deadliest temblor in U.S. history. "We don't know where the earthquake started. We don't know what the epicenter of the earthquake is." "It's the most heavily urbanized fault in the U.S. and it's just waiting to go off." Downtown Hayward suffered most of the damage from the old earthquake. The evidence is still here. Cracks line some of the parking lots. "Whoever parks here during the day has no idea what they're parking over." The tip of a crack extends down six miles below the surface and there is a curb that has been offset. One side of the curb is moving one way, the other side is moving the other way. A building which sits atop the fault line has bolts which are meant to strengthen it, but if you look closely you'll see the constant movement of the earth has created a bubble in the middle of the structure. "The side of the building closest to Mission Boulevard is moving to the north. This side closest to us is moving to the south." Research indicates the last five big earthquakes on the Hayward fault occurred at an average of once every 140 years. October of next year will be the 140th anniversary of the last one in 1868. It has been estimated that only 10% of the Bay Area's population is ready for the "big one." If that "big one" hits on the Hayward fault, it may leave 100,000 people homeless, 58 buildings destroyed and more than 200 buildings heavily damaged. Total losses may number $28 billion dollars, with several thousand deaths.

10/17/07 -
NEW ZEALAND - The Earthquake Commission has received claims of $250,000 following the earthquakes in Fiordland this week and expects the total to rise. So far, 44 claims have been received, mostly for damaged walls and chimneys, broken windows and items that fell off shelves. Aftershocks continue to be felt in Fiordland today after a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck at 1.29am yesterday. The quake was centred 60 kilometres west of Milford Sound at a depth of 24km. It was the biggest earthquake in New Zealand since a magnitude 7.2 tremor on August 22, 2003.

CALIFORNIA - An early Tuesday morning 4.2 quake was the latest in series of tremors to hit California. Residents of San Bernardino County were rocked early Tuesday morning by a magnitude 4.2 earthquake. Tremors were felt thought out the region. The quake occurred at 1:53 am about three miles north of Wrightwood, a remote community about 80 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Despite its only 4.2 measurement, people as far north as Glendale, a suburb of Los Angeles, felt the quake, while callers from Pasadena also reported shaking. On Monday afternoon a magnitude-3.1 earthquake, preceded by two smaller tremors, rattled the Hemet area.

10/15/07 -
ISRAEL - Scientists predict that a 3.0-magnitude earthquake, which recently hit Jordan rift valley area, may be a precursor to a much larger quake. The Jordan Rift Valley is a 375-kilometer long strike-slip fault zone some 5 kilometers wide in the north and 23 kilometers wide in the south that forms part of the broader Great Rift Valley. This geographic region includes the Jordan River, Hula Valley, Lake Tiberias and the Dead Sea. Followed by the small earthquakes felt in Jordan rift valley area on Saturday, scientists predict a larger earthquake could occur due to the nearby Syrian-African rift, known for being volatile. Past data proves that such a quake is just a matter of time. "We know that the area between the Kinneret and the Dead Sea was subject to several large quakes, in 31BC, 362BC, 749BC (over 7 on the Richter scale) and 1033AD. Another major one is coming soon."

TAIWAN - Hundreds of thousands of earthworms appeared in a Taiwan vineyard, prompting the owner to consult an expert out of fear that a strong earthquake might be coming soon. The worms crawled out of the earth and covered the surface of Wu Ching-chuan's vineyard in Changhwa County, west Taiwan, Sunday morning. Wu, who bought the vineyard 40 years ago, said he has never seen so many earthworms in his vineyard before and estimated there were 200 to 300 kilograms of them. Seeing the large numbers of earthworms Wu feared that a major quake might be coming because worms and snakes are known to come to the surface when disturbed by seismic activity. Wu consulted a farm expert who said the earthworms crawled out because his vineyards were flooded when Typhoon Krosa hit Taiwan on October 5. Although earthworms like humid environment, they cannot stand extreme moisture or when the underground water level rises too high, so they came out of the earth. Wu's worry about an upcoming strong earthquake eased when it was pointed out that another vineyard near Hu's house has not been invaded by earthworms because it was not flooded during the typhoon's passage.

10/14/07 -
CANADA - Seismologists are trying to figure out if a series of earthquakes in Northern B.C. this week are connected to a dormant volcano 150 km southwest of Prince George. The eight quakes have ranged between a magnitude 2.8 and 3.2 and began on Tuesday evening and the latest happened on Thursday evening. Seismologists aren't sure if the small quakes were caused by tectonic shifts or volcanic activity.

10/11/07 -
AUSTRALIA - The BIGGEST QUAKE IN 40 YEARS to hit the Great Southern has cracked the walls of one man’s home but left his neighbours’ homes unscathed. The quake, which registered 4.8 on the Richter scale, left his house trashed. “I do know that it happened just around 8 oclock because my clocks all jumped off the wall, along with all my pictures, and the clocks stopped.” While many people reported that the quake had shaken their house, for this man the experience was quite different. “I never had a shake I just had an almighty boom.” He has been expecting something like this for some time. “For the last few months I’ve also been getting these booms and it took a while to work out what it was. It sounded like something landing on the roof – we’re talking something pretty heavy, not like a swan or a bird, more like an elephant. I’d ring my neighbours up after and say ‘did you hear that? Did you feel it?’ and they’d say ‘no we never felt anything’. I almost felt like I was going mad, that I was just imagining it although I know one time my daughters were here staying with me and they said ‘what is that dad?’ and I said ‘I don’t really know’. So it’s been very localised but it hasn’t happened for at least a month which had me concerned - either it was going away, or this was coming and this is what came." (photos)

INDIA - A geologist has visited 8 Gir villages to study mysterious rumbling sounds that have been occurring for the past several days. He said that the sounds are certainly not emanating from earthquake tremors or its aftershock, but were caused due to "block system", which might be the after-effect of the 2001 massive earthquake in Kutch. However, he refused to elaborate. Asked about his observation of the recurring phenomena, he replied that he cannot say anything with certainty about its root cause. The villages of Haripar, Jasapar, Moruka, Suruva, Vadla, Akol Vadi, Rasoolpara and Hadamatiya experienced the rumbling sounds on the 8th, spreading panic among the people who rushed out of their houses as the vessels started making a huge rattling sound. Many houses developed cracks on the walls. All of the villages fall within a radius of 15 kilometers. The village of Jaspar experienced 15 such sounds. These events are not new, and three years ago such sounds were felt in Haripur. A seismograph installed between October and December of 2001 has so far recorded more than a thousand tremors, ranging up to 3 on the Richter scale. The Haripur village and nearby areas had again experienced the rumbling sounds during December of 2004.

10/5/07 -
An Israeli scientist said ancient documents suggest a major earthquake triggered by the Dead Sea Fault is long overdue in the Middle East. Although seismologists don't know when the next big earthquake will occur, earthquake patterns recorded in historical documents indicate the region's next significant quake might be imminent. Based on the translations of hundreds of ancient records from the Vatican and other religious sources, a series of devastating earthquakes occurred across the Holy Land during the last 2,000 years. The major ones were recorded along the Jordan Valley in the years 31 B.C. and in 363, 749 and 1033 A.D. "So roughly we are talking about an interval of every 400 years. If we follow the patterns of nature, a major quake should be expected any time because almost a whole millennium has passed since the last strong earthquake of 1033. When it strikes - and it will - this quake will affect Amman, Jordan, as well as Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jerusalem."

INDONESIA plans to build suspension bridge in earthquake hotspot - Indonesia plans to build the world's longest suspension bridge across the earthquake-prone Sunda Strait, passing within 50 kilometres of the active Krakatoa volcano. The bridge, traversing 30 kilometres, will link Indonesia's main islands of Java and Sumatra at an estimated cost of $12 billion. At 70 metres high, large ships would be able to pass underneath. Experts said the bridge was technologically feasible, but extensive and expensive safety measures would be essential to withstand earthquakes.

10/2/07 -
NEW ZEALAND - A string of earthquake jolted parts of New Zealand overnight. These follow the magnitude 7.3 quake that struck near New Zealand's sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands on Sunday night. GNS science recorded five earthquakes yesterday from Mount Cook to Turangi. A magnitude 4.1 quake struck Mount Cook at 5.25pm. It was centred 30km north of the mountain and was 2km deep. Earlier in the afternoon, a quake measuring 4.5 on the richter scale shook the central North Island. The quake at 3.12pm was centred 10km northeast of Turangi and was 5km deep. At 6.20pm a second smaller quake, 2.8 in magnitude, hit 20km north east of Turangi at a depth of 5km. A 3.7 magnitude quake hit 20km south of Porangahau, Waipukurau, at a depth of 25km at 11.05pm. At 11.46pm a magnitude 3.9 quake struck 30km southwest of Takaka at a depth of 5km. Seismologists said aside from the two quakes near Turangi, the earthquakes were not connected, as the epicentres were too far apart. It was likely the second smaller quake in Turangi yesterday was an aftershock to the first magnitude 4.5 quake. New Zealand generally has about four quakes a week on average, so it was more quakes than normal, but they were "purely coincidence" and there was no cause for any alarm.
A leading seismologist thinks more large earthquakes could be on the way for the Eastern Bay. The area has been rocked by the series of jolts recently mainly centred near Matata. While the earthquakes could continue at a low level there is always a chance of a bigger disaster. The swarm could fade away but the latest activity is just a new development in a very long process. The largest earthquake to hit the region lately measured 4.7 on the Richter Scale.

10/1/07 -
NEW ZEALAND - The west of the South Island of New Zealand was shaken by an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale, after which a tsunami warning was put in place in New Zealand, Australia and Fiji. Fiji's Mineral Resources Department said that the tremors and earthquakes in the pacific region in the past several weeks are stress releases, which is good. It said having these stress releases are better than a lull over a long period, which sometimes can build stress up to a massive and very destructive quake.

JAPAN - An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 has jolted the Japanese town of Hakone, southwest of Tokyo, injuring at least three people. The focus of the quake was about 14 kilometres below sea level, prompting the East Japan Railway Company to suspend some of its operations.

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9/30/07 -
So far today there have been several large quakes -
6.8 AUCKLAND ISLANDS, N.Z. REGION
7.4 AUCKLAND ISLANDS, N.Z. REGION
5.8 SOUTH OF MARIANA ISLANDS
7.1 SOUTH OF MARIANA ISLANDS
Two high-magnitude earthquakes have hit different parts of the Pacific Ocean. A 7.3 magnitude quake struck at 0525 GMT south of New Zealand's South Island, with no reports of injuries. Earlier, the US territory of Guam was shaken by a 7.1 tremor. Its epicentre, some 30km (19 miles) deep, was in the southern part of the Mariana Islands. Islanders in high-rise buildings felt the quake but reported no damage. (map)

[On Thursday, there were three articles on this webpage about activity in New Zealand: A massive landslide in the Southern Alps - thought to be THE BIGGEST IN DECADES- occurred on Monday; Mount Ruapehu erupted with no warning on Tuesday; and there was increased earthquake activity near the Bay of Plenty town of Matata - seven shallow tremors this week measuring 3 or greater on the Richter scale, including six in a space of just nine hours on Wednesday (more quakes in the swarm occurred on Friday and Sunday, before the 7.4 quake.) As usual, scientists say none of this activity is related.]

9/28/07 -
NEW CALDONIA - Loyalty Islands - At least 15 moderate-to-strong earthquakes have struck near the French islands of New Caledonia in the South Pacific. The earthquakes, ranging from magnitude 5.0 to 6.6, struck around midday local time (1100 AEST) about 150 kilometres east of New Caledonia's Loyalty Islands. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The largest of the quakes had the potential to generate a local tsunami along the sparsely populated atolls within 100 kilometres of the epicentre. New Caledonia is a collection of small islands with a population of about 221,000 people located some 1,800 kilometres north-east of Australia.

PHILIPPINES - An intensity 5 quake rocked Butuan City in Agusan del Norte shortly before midnight at 11:35 p.m. Thursday. State seismologists said the quake was powerful enough to cause damage. The epicenter traced 32 kms northwest of Butuan. While Phivolcs expected damage in some of the areas hit by the quake, it expects no aftershocks to take place. The incident took place 12 hours after a milder 3.9 quake hit Butuan City at 11:45 a.m. Thursday. At the time, Phivolcs expected no aftershock. In yet another incident, a magnitude-4 quake jolted Bohol province in Eastern Visayas at 1:36 p.m. Thursday. A milder quake measuring magnitude 2.9 in the Richter scale rocked Kidapawan City in Mindanao Thursday night, but state seismologists said they expect no casualty or damage to property. The quake was recorded at 6:34 p.m.

INDONESIA - The powerful quake that rocked Sumatra on September 12 caused millions of dollars in losses. Despite the intensity of the quake (8.4 degrees on the Richter scale), damage to the country's economy was relatively small. However, it left 25 dead, over one hundred injured and caused partial or total collapse of about 86,000 buildings. Worst-hit regions included Bengkulu and Western Sumatra.

9/27/07 -
INDONESIA - Since the September 12th quake in Padang, GPS reports indicate ground movements towards the Southwest and both losses and gains in altitude for the central coast of Pagai Selatan. "Coral reefs have risen in that area by about one metre." Macaroni's surf break is reported shallower than before the September quake, indicating an up-lift of the reef. Five surfers have been wounded there since September 15. Also, the lighthouse of Pulau Singingi is confirmed down. Three months is the estimated time needed to "resettle" the displaced populations, in their villages or up in the hills (whole villages on Pagai Selatan have decided to move their permanent habitat to safer locations - upwards). (map)

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - A large earthquake and small tsunami struck the New Ireland region of Papua New Guinea. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre says the shallow quake, with an magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter scale, posed no destructive widespread tsunami threat, but caused a sea level rise of up to half-a-metre on some PNG coastlines. The region is largely unpopulated.

NEW ZEALAND - While much of the media focus is on the latest eruption at Mount Ruapehu, there has also been increased earthquake activity near the Bay of Plenty town of Matata. There have been seven shallow tremors this week measuring 3 or greater on the Richter scale, including six in a space of just nine hours. The strongest measured 4.3 on the Richter scale, and happened shortly before 9am on Wednesday morning. It was also felt as far away as Tauranga. The Matata area has been subject to earthquake swarms for the past two years.

CALIFORNIA - number of quakes climbing again - 595 in 7 days. Over 100 of these were near The Geysers in northern California.

9/23/07 -
AZERBAIJAN - A total of 715 homes have been damaged as a result of an earthquake which occurred in more than ten districts of Azerbaijan on September 20. The earthquake measuring 4 on the richter scale rendered 10 houses uninhabitable in Azerbaijan’s district of Tartar. The earthquake destroyed the medical center and music school in Tartar’s village of Borsunlu.

9/19/07 -
INDONESIA - A team has established a network of position-markers, linked by satellite, that show a constant creep, northeast, among the islands on Indonesia's Indian Ocean frontier. The first one was placed in August 2002. The 30 measuring stations along Sumatra's western coast tell an ominous tale. Driven by the plate beneath the Indian Ocean, the entire coastline is flexing, as the earth literally bends. The pressures are already enormous, and at some point, probably soon, they will become intolerable. The implications are terrifying. "Eventually it has got to release in (the form) of a giant earthquake." It may be a rare magnitude-9 quake. Scientists are now examining the evidence that they believe indicates the arrival another giant earthquake, and possible tsunami - with the plates so tightly sprung, they believe it will happen sooner, rather than later. "Whenever I am in Padang I think about my escape routes, almost every moment." (quake video)

INDONESIA - It has been suspected that Indonesia's Mentawai Islands were the worst affected by last Wednesday's 8.4 magnitude quake, but the extent of the damage across the remote island chain is only just being revealed. Boatloads of aid have arrived at some the islands off Sumatra but it was too little, too late, to save the lives of two sick children and scores more remain threatened by disease. Almost 90% of some island villages were "obliterated" and 170 people in temporary shelters are already suffering from diarrhoea and other illnesses.

HONDURAS - Massive evacuation continues in central Honduras due to the aftershocks affecting the country since Saturday's devastating 5.5 earthquake. The quake activated faults whose 15-18 aftershocks have left over 1,600 victims and have destroyed 140 homes at 17 Tolupan indigenous communities.

9/18/07 -
INDONESIA - Some villagers in western Indonesia started returning home Saturday, three days after a mammoth quake jolted the region and generated a powerful string of aftershocks. But many remained jittery — a feeling experts say may be justified. The 8.4-magnitude quake that shook Southeast Asia on Wednesday has been followed by more than 60 strong aftershocks — including a magnitude 7.8 and a 7.1 — that have killed at least 17 people, damaged hundreds of homes and churned up a 3-meter (10-foot) high tsunami. Several experts are predicting a repeat of the massive earthquake that triggered the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen Indian Ocean nations. "We are a huge step closer. I think it's just around the corner." Geologists say the biggest quakes in the area are all on the edge of the Mentawai island patch — which last experienced a mammoth temblor in 1833 — and have piled even more pressure onto the fault. Siberut island, part of the Mentawaian archipelago, sits directly over the one spot where pressure continues to build. "We are kind of in amazement that with so much activity going on around here ... it hasn't cut loose." Authorities have predicted the next big one that spawns a tsunami could kill up to 60,000 people near the low-lying seaside town of Padang.

9/16/07 -
INDONESIA - The toll from the severe earthquake on Indonesia's Sumatra island last week has risen to 23 dead and 88 injured, and the area is likely to experience further significant aftershocks. The 8.4 magnitude quake struck off the coast of western Sumatra on Wednesday evening, and has been followed by at least 40 big aftershocks and several tsunami warnings. More than 22,000 houses in the area were either collapsed or damaged.
Days of colossal earthquakes and tsunami warnings have forced traumatized Indonesian villagers to seek safety in the last place imaginable: graveyards. Hundreds are camping in the mud between headstones on the flat, high ground, far from the ocean's reach. Seismologists warn the worst may be yet to come. Several experts are predicting a repeat of the powerful earthquake that triggered the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen Indian Ocean countries. "No one can say whether it will be in 30 seconds or 30 years. But what happened the other day, I think is quite possibly a sequence of smaller earthquakes leading up to the bigger one." Wednesday's quake shook four Southeast Asian countries. A wall of water slammed into several fishing villages along Sumatra island's coast on Wednesday and swept away nearly a dozen houses, but overall damage was "minimal". "There is a strong indication this foreshadows the big one. We all agree there is an 8.5 or stronger earthquake waiting to happen."

THAILAND is drafting regulations to declare Bangkok an earthquake-prone zone after the capital felt the effects of the recent 8.4-magnitude quake in Indonesia. The new law would require all new tall buildings in Bangkok and surrounding provinces to be quake-proof. "Bangkok's soil is soft and it generates more tremors." Three fault lines are within a 100-kilometre (62-mile) radius of Bangkok. Ten of Thailand's 76 provinces are currently listed as earthquake-risk zones, mostly in the northwest. The proposed law would add 12 central and southern provinces to the list. In May, a 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck western Laos near the border with Thailand, sending people fleeing into the streets after high-rise buildings rocked and swayed in Bangkok.

9/14/07 -
Photos of the 8.4 Indonesia quake, the strongest quake recorded anywhere this year.
The first and biggest of the quakes, with a magnitude of 8.4 on Wednesday evening, was the third in a cluster of earthquakes that measured greater than 8.0, in the area in the past three years. That cluster could be a signal that the 1,100-mile-long western coast of Sumatra could face still more danger. “I am more convinced than ever that we are going to be seeing a significantly larger earthquake in the area,” said Kerry Sieh, a seismologist from the California Institute of Technology who has spent several decades studying earthquake risk around Sumatra. “These three big earthquakes, they just encircle this big patch that has not failed, a big strong part of the fault that hasn’t broken yet. The million-dollar question is, is it over?” Wednesday’s major earthquake was followed by a series of aftershocks, one of which, Thursday morning, was a serious earthquake on its own. It struck about 200 miles northwest of the epicenter of the earlier earthquake and had a magnitude of 7.8. In turn, it was followed shortly before noon by another significant earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1. Bengkulu, a city of 1.2 million, was the closest large community to the latest earthquakes and it was the worst damaged. The epicenter of the first was 65 miles southwest of the city; the second was 125 miles to the northwest. 10 people died in Bengkulu. 2,406 buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged, and 13 bridges and roads were badly damaged. About 10,000 people were living in hastily erected refugee camps. The ground continues to shake, and they are afraid to return home for fear of another major shock. In the city of Padang, just two buildings were officially reported to have collapsed, with another 159 heavily damaged. Despite the relatively light damage, many residents of Padang appeared traumatized by the continuing strong shocks. “We are very stressed. Every time we think it’s safe, another tremor rolls underneath our feet and we don’t know what to expect.”

9/13/07 -
INDONESIA - A second strong earthquake hit the Indonesian island of Sumatra a day after an 8.4 magnitude tremor destroyed buildings in several towns and cities. At least six people are confirmed dead, but officials fear bad communications may be hiding the scale of the impact. "You could see the road as if it was waving, people could hardly walk so they just lay flat on the road. I could also feel the earth I was standing on was like the sea." Wednesday's quake was measured by US officials as magnitude 8.4, and a new tremor of 7.8 hit on Thursday. Many buildings, weakened in the first tremor, are now reported to have been destroyed in the city of Padang. Despite several warnings (four tsunami warnings were declared during a period of 24 hours) since the first earthquake, there have so far been no tsunamis. People are being told to leave their homes on the coast and move inland. The initial quake sparked warnings across the Indian Ocean, but only a small wave surge hit Sumatra, causing little damage. Quakes on this scale are RARE and this was one of the most powerful earthquakes in Indonesia since the 8.9 temblor that caused the Asian tsunami in 2004. (An 8.2 quake is about 10 times smaller than a 9.0 quake.)

9/12/07 -
This morning a 7.9 quake hit SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA, causing buildings to sway strongly in the capital, and authorities issued a tsunami warning for much of the Indian Ocean region. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.9 and hit at about 6:10 p.m. (7:10 a.m. EDT). It was centered 9.7 miles underground in the southern Sumatra area. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for wide areas of the region.
Quake magnitude has been revised to 8.2
A TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR: INDONESIA / AUSTRALIA / INDIA / SRI LANKA / THAILAND / UNITED KINGDOM / MALDIVES / MYANMAR / MALAYSIA / BANGLADESH / MAURITIUS / REUNION / SEYCHELLES / MADAGASCAR / SOMALIA / OMAN / PAKISTAN / IRAN / YEMEN / COMORES / CROZET ISLANDS / MOZAMBIQUE / KENYA / TANZANIA / KERGUELEN ISLANDS / SOUTH AFRICA / SINGAPORE
Tsunami warning lifted in Indonesia - around two hours after announcing the warning, emergency authorities in Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia rescinded their warnings and said no tsunami was now expected. Attention was instead focused on the impact on Sumatra, with Indonesian television stations reporting that several buildings in Padang, the main city in west Sumatra, had collapsed or caught fire. There were no initial reports on casualties.
A small tsunami hit the Indonesian town of Padang. An official with Indonesia's meteorological agency says a wave of up to nine feet was reported about 20 minutes after the 7.9 quake. The quake destroyed some homes in the town closest to the epicenter, and could be felt 375 miles away in Jakarta. It was also felt in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

9/11/07 -
CALIFORNIA - The number of small quakes continues to climb, with 521 this week.

COLUMBIA - The magnitude-6.8 earthquake that shook southwest Colombia has left at least five people injured. The tremor also destroyed at least 29 homes in the towns of Iscuande, El Charco, Mosquera and La Tola along Narino's Pacific coast.

9/10/07 -
INDONESIA - A 4.9 magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia's densely populated East Java today, sparking panic and causing damage to scores of houses, but no serious casualties. The quake struck at 1:36am local time and was centred about 100km underground, 43km southeast of the town of Situbondo. A 4.5 magnitude aftershock hit five hours later, 10km beneath the earth and just 28km southeast of the town. "Some 40 houses suffered light damage, such as cracks, damaged windows or roofs, while about 50 others suffered from more serious damage." At least two schools sent pupils home after cracks developed in their buildings amid concern of further aftershocks.

PERU - Earthquake experts who have returned from studying the after-effects of August 15th's big magnitude 8 quake in Peru found some puzzles. The quake resulted in more than 500 deaths and extensive damage to many thousands of buildings and structures. An UNUSUAL feature of the earthquake was the extended duration of shaking; buildings were rocked for two minutes. “A puzzling feature of the earthquake was the good performance of unreinforced masonry (brick) buildings. The variation of the effects on similar buildings in the same area was extreme. Some buildings showed no signs of having been through two minutes of strong shaking. This could be taken to mean that masonry buildings will perform better than we think, or that the soil characteristics affected the nature of the shaking. Unfortunately, there is little information available to solve the puzzle.”

9/6/07 -
BAJA - An earthquake hit Mexico's Gulf of California on Tuesday, not far from the site of a stronger quake recorded on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of damage. The magnitude 5 quake hit about 100 miles north of the resort of Los Cabos on the tip of Baja California. Earthquakes in the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez, do not normally generate tsunamis. The gulf separates the sparsely populated Baja California peninsula from mainland Mexico.

CALIFORNIA - A 4.7 magnitude earthquake that hit Orange County at 10:29 a.m. Sunday caused windows to break at City Hall and tile in the entryway inside the building to buckle. There were no reports of injuries nor of any other damage in the city. The quake was also felt in San Diego, Riverside and Los Angeles counties. It erupted beneath the Santa Ana Mountains, according to seismologists. When asked if Sunday's earthquake might be a precursor to a far larger event, the answer is always the same. "Of course, but with some significant caveats. There's a much larger earthquake to come on any of these fault systems." Unless it comes in the next few days, then this will simply have been a minor event and soon forgotten.

9/5/07 -
JAPAN - The heavily populated Tokai region, which experts say is due for a major earthquake within 30 years, has experienced at least three "super" temblors of unimaginable destruction during the past 5,000 years, according to a study. Unlike so-called Tokai earthquakes that have occurred every 100 years or so for the past 8,000 years, a "super" earthquake is one that causes dramatic change to the landscape through shifts in the Earth's crust. The over-due quake, whose epicenter would be in the Bay of Suruga facing Shizuoka Prefecture, has an anticipated 87% likelihood of hitting by 2037 and it is expected to be around magnitude 8. But some seismologists say the coming quake could actually be one of the "super" jolts that occur every millennium or so. If seismologists are correct in their assessment of risk, a "super" Tokai quake could cause crustal movement three times as big as that of an ordinary Tokai earthquake. These powerful quakes shook the region about 4,800 years ago, between 3,800 and 4,000 years ago and 2,400 years ago.

9/4/07 -
CALIFORNIA - At least four aftershocks were measured following a magnitude 4.7 earthquake in southern California Sunday morning, but with no injuries or damages reported. The earthquake rattled the whole region at 10.29 a.m. and was centered under the Santa Ana mountain range about 90 kilometers southwest of downtown Los Angeles. Automated seismographs reported that the earthquake's tentative epicenter was estimated to be about 13 kilometers west-northwest of the Riverside County city of Lake Elsinore. The network of seismographs and computers in the region showed that a magnitude 2.5 aftershock hit at 10:31 a.m., followed by three minor aftershocks. Seismologists believe there is a chance a major earthquake will hit California due to movement in the San Andreas fault. Experts say the fault line causes a massive quake every 150 years with the last such disaster taking place in 1857.

UTAH - LARGEST QUAKE SINCE 1962 hits northern Utah - A 3.9-magnitude earthquake occurred in northern Utah on Saturday; no damage was reported. The epicenter of the shock occurred north of the Great Salt Lake at the southern end of the Blue Spring Hills, about nine miles southwest of Tremonton.

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8/31/07 -
BRITAIN - The sixth tremor in a month shook the city of Manchester. Seismologists declared that Manchester and its environs were officially at the centre of an “earthquake swarm”. The latest quake struck at 5:45am and measured 2.4 on the Richter scale – a minor tremor but one that caused houses to shake and residents to think that they were being burgled. The swarm - a succession of quakes that do not have a clear distinction between main shocks and after-shocks - is likely to be caused by the same movements of the Earth’s crust that led to 70 tremors in 2002. Manchester lies on top of four large faults – the Pendleton fault, the east and west Manchester faults and the Ardwick fault. The current quakes were likely to be a knock-on effect of friction between the Eurasian plate and either the African plate or the North American plate. “The crust is full of faults because of our turbulent geological past. At the moment we are quite fortunate in that we are far away from any major plate boundaries, but [430 million years ago] Scotland and England were on two separate continents. You’ve got these old faults within the crust that are points of weakness. We are still subject to tectonic stress, and these stresses build up on those points of weakness. The fault slips and we get an earthquake. The origin of the stresses is likely to be a long way away.” Manchester could be hit by further shocks before the swarm subsides. Seismologists are uncertain whether the tremors were caused by a single fault or a cluster. The faults beneath the city have caused swarms of tremors for centuries, including one in 1753 which caused church bells to ring. A previous sequence of quakes caused minor damage between October 2002 and January 2003, when shocks reached a magnitude of 3.9 on the Richter scale. Mancunians have little to fear from the current swarm, however. “It will rumble on for a period of months or weeks, but a volcano rising in the centre of Manchester is completely out of the question." British earthquakes have killed 11 people since 1580. Six were killed by falling stones, two fell from upper floors, two died of shock and one committed suicide. The largest earthquake recorded in Britain had a magnitude of 6.1 and struck offshore in the North Sea on June 7, 1931. The last big British earthquake was in 1990, when a 5.1 tremor hit Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire. The most damaging quake to date was the magnitude 4.6 Colchester earthquake of 1884. It shattered walls and brought down a church spire. A magnitude 5 earthquake occurs on average every ten years. A magnitude 4 earthquake occurs on average every two to three years

PERU - Relief groups say Peru still badly needs aid after quake. Survivors are living on the streets in cardboard shelters under desperate, unhygienic conditions, two weeks after the quake struck.

8/30/07 -
COLUMBIA - False rumors of an earthquake on Tuesday led to the collapse of emergency phone lines and forced thousands of office workers to evacuate high-rise buildings in Bogota. Colombian media reported that a man identifying himself as an engineer from Colombia's geological institute, Ingeominas, sparked the rumor by calling several businesses and government offices and warning an earthquake would strike the Colombian capital at 5 p.m. local time. For hours in the afternoon, office workers rushed to evacuate hospitals and high-rise office buildings downtown, and a city-run emergency telephone line temporarily collapsed under the weight of 50,000 calls from concerned citizens. The hoax comes less than two weeks after a magnitude-8 earthquake in neighboring Peru killed more than 500 people.

8/28/07 -
PERU - the Natural Resources Institute has reported that since the earthquake which struck Peru's southern coast and devastated most of the Ica Region, 60 percent of the sea lion population, which lived on Paracas Bay, has disappeared. "We can only see 50 sea lions where there used to be 150." Paracas Bay is part of an ecological reserve that was near the epicenter of the magnitude-8 earthquake that destroyed most of Peru's Ica Region. Only 2 sea lions were found dead after the earthquake. Therefore the Institute does not discard the fact that the creatures could have migrated. Peruvian authorities have begun evaluating the impact the earthquake has had on Peru's fauna, researching whether it has affected other species, such as birds which live on nearby cliffs.

8/26/07 -
CALIFORNIA - A California researcher says Los Angeles is in the midst of a 1,000-year seismic lull characterized by relatively small and infrequent earthquakes. The Northridge earthquake of 1994 was "a drop in the bucket" compared to the massive jolts that would strike the basin during a period of high seismic activity. "The past 1,000 years has been relatively quiet." This is based on the discovery of several clusters of intense seismic activity separated by periods of relative calm lasting about 1,500 to 2,000 years. Looking at the geological record going back 12,000 years, they found several clusters of seismic bursts, the most recent lasting 4,000 years and ending about 1,000 years ago. Earthquakes that struck Southern California over the last century killed more than 200 people and caused billions of dollars in damage. Scientists argue that when the lull ends, metropolitan Los Angeles will experience significantly bigger and more frequent temblors - up to 15 times larger than the destructive Northridge earthquake of 1994. That could be soon - or 500 years from now. Even more dramatic is the geologists' explanation - welcomed by some scientists and questioned by others - of why the lull is occurring. They theorize that two of the region's most active fault zones are essentially taking turns producing earthquakes, with faults in the Mojave Desert producing bigger and more frequent quakes, while faults under Los Angeles take a break, and vice versa. High-tech monitoring devices show that the region's earthquake faults are building up high amounts of energy, yet the historical record shows that, as an average over time, seismic activity has been much lower. Once the lull ends, the quakes experienced in the region could be significantly larger than the ones we have experienced during the last 1,000 to 1,500 years. These quakes will not only be bigger, but they will likely produce large, slow seismic waves, which can be very damaging to tall buildings and large structures like dams and bridges. Such a quake "is going to pump enormous amount of energy into the L.A. Basin, causing it to resonate. We're going to have a metropolitan area-wide disaster on our hands." Even a seismic lull period has its risks - "Even if we believe Southern California is in a lull, we still had Long Beach and Northridge and Sylmar. If it's quiet, it's not dead."

RUSSIA - more than 1,000 repeat earth tremors have occurred in Nevelsk since August 2 when the town was hit by a powerful earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richer scale. The seismic activity in the Nevelsk area is now higher than the intensity of tectonic cataclysms in the area of the Simushir Island of the Kuriles chain. A total of 798 aftershocks have been registered there since November 15, 2006 after a 7.8-point earthquake. The strong earthquake in Nevelsk was triggered by the earth crust movement in the Tatar Strait on the coast of which the town is located. The epicenter was located just four kilometers from Nevelsk. There was a tsunami wave up to two meters high here after the earthquake; it reached the Japanese Hokkaido Island. After the powerful earthquake in the Simushir Island area the tsunami wave was seven meters high and this wave, with reduced strength, reached Alaska, the Hawaii and even New Zealand. Earlier this week, regional legislators called for raising seismicity norms for a number of far eastern areas. The Kamchatka peninsula, if hit by a powerful earthquake, may lose up to 100,000 residents. More than 1,800 Kamchatka facilities need to boost their earthquake resistance. Kamchatka needs 33 billion roubles to boost the strength of all structures to withstand 7- to 9-magnitude earthquakes. Scientists predicted that such an earthquake is possible within the next five years.

8/24/07 -
PERU - Historic churches and colonial-era haciendas along Peru's southern coast suffered serious damage in last week's earthquake, which also halted boat trips to an offshore wildlife reserve. Launches that normally ferry sightseers to the rugged, guano-coated Ballestas Islands — home to sea lions and myriad bird species — sit idle at port after authorities closed the Paracas National Reserve. The Aug. 15 quake chipped rocks off coastal bluffs, and most of the arched rock formation known as "The Cathedral" came tumbling down. The luxury Paracas Hotel near the reserve was closed indefinitely, damaged by a 1.5-meter (5-foot feet) ocean surge that flooded the 114-room hotel. In the port city of Pisco — hit hardest by last week's quake that killed at least 540 people — the five-story Embassy Hotel accordioned onto its ground floor, killing 15. The Nazca lines, world-famous desert geoglyphs, suffered no damage. Nor did the Inca ruins of Tambo Colorado inland along the Pisco river, although a huge boulder partially blocked the highway leading to it.
The giant quake that wrecked the Pacific coastal town of Pisco last week has set off a wave of refugees, driving up to 40 percent of its people to quit their ruined homes and move away. Pisco formerly had a population of 130,000 people. The quake destroyed around 85 percent of Pisco, leaving residents camping amid the ruins as the threat of disease and the stench of bodies under the rubble grew. Most buildings were built with unreinforced adobe in Pisco.

8/21/07 -
TANZANIA - A strong earthquake hit Tanzania on Monday morning, sending tremors hundreds of kilometres away in Nairobi. Residential and high-rise buildings shook for several minutes in the capital, causing renewed panic. The earthquake was the second to hit the region in less than three days. Another quake hit the region on Saturday morning. The 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck northern Tanzania, 85 km northwest of Arusha at 5.56am on Monday. The Saturday quake also measured 5.2 on the Richter scale. Residents along the Kenya/Tanzania border said Mt Oldonyo Lengai, an active volcano near Lake Natron in northern Tanzania, has been spewing out lava since Thursday last week. The magma from the mountain has forced people living in surrounding areas to flee. The volcano erupted last month, causing a series of earthquakes in the region. The quakes saw workers evacuate high-rise buildings in Nairobi and geologists blamed the movements on stirring underneath the mountain. Kenya and Tanzania lie along the geologically active Great Rift Valley.
KENYA - The 5.2 quake that hit on Monday was just the latest in a swarm. Since early last month the region has been receiving earth tremors of a magnitude between 4 and 6 on the Richter scale. The first tremor to hit Nairobi last month was on July 15 and it is believed to have originated from Lake Natron to the North of Tanzania on the Eastern arm of the Rift Valley. The USGS attributed the string of earth tremors that have affected the East African region as a seismic swarm. Their report suggested that the series of tremors could not lead to a major earthquake.

CALIFORNIA - First they handed out EMPTY bottles of water that read: "Try living on this for three days." They parked mobile billboards in San Francisco that made it look as if a major earthquake had just rocked downtown. They even posted housing ads on craigslist for heavily damaged flats near the Presidio that exclaimed "Available immediately!" And now the American Red Cross - frustrated with its findings that a whopping 83% of Bay Area residents remain unprepared for the Big One - is unveiling its latest guerrilla marketing tactic: the Supercrack. It is a simulated 60-foot gash on Union Square's patterned pavement, revealing chunks of concrete, twisted wires and mangled cars in the parking garage below. "It looks like Union Square has been broken. It's pretty wild." Emergency preparedness officials hope shocked shoppers will wake up, stockpile some food and water, and while they're at it, take some courses in first aid and CPR. Since the Red Cross started its guerrilla advertising, 17% of Bay Area residents are now considered prepared for a major disaster, up from 6% just one year before. There is a 62% chance at least one quake of magnitude 6.7 or greater will strike the Bay Area by 2032.
Ideally, every family should: Make a plan. Establish where to evacuate to, or where to meet with family members if you're separated during a disaster. Determine an out-of-state contact you can call in case local phones are overwhelmed. Get a kit. Have enough food and water to last three days - about 12 gallons of water for a family of four. Stockpile flashlights, extra batteries and a battery-operated portable radio, as well as a first aid kit. Be informed. Learn CPR. Know first aid. Understand how and when to turn off the utilities at your home. If there is one thing that public health and safety officials say they have learned from Hurricane Katrina, it is that people need to be able to help themselves for at least three days after a disaster. Police and firefighters will be overwhelmed. So, anyone who thinks that stashing an old flashlight or two in the garage is sufficient could be in for a big wake-up call.

8/20/07 -
CHILE - Daily tremors shake a corner of Chile. The shaking has slowed for now, the sense of panic eased, the search for the missing ebbed. But six months of tremors, including one major earthquake, have left many in this remote corner of Patagonia unhinged. "The scariest prospect is a giant tsunami inundating the town while the mountains come tumbling down on top of us. Some people just can't get over that thought." The daily tremors began in late January and numbered more than 7,000 as of last week. The shakes culminated in a 6.2-magnitude earthquake April 21 beneath nearby Aisen Fjord that sent chunks of hillside plunging into the inland waterway, generating waves that swept away fishermen, salmon farm workers and others, killing at least three and perhaps as many as 10. The killer waves dissipated short of the town of Puerto Aisen, but the ground here trembled mightily, cracks opened in the earth, debris tumbled from mountains, and the town's signature suspension bridge swayed like a Slinky. As much as 15 percent of the population of 30,000 here and in the nearby port of Puerto Chacabuco had left by late last week. "This emergency is not over: We don't even know if the worst is over." The mystery about what exactly is going on has drawn experts from across the globe. Meanwhile, people here have gotten used to sleeping in their clothes, drawing the curtains and keeping their kids home from school. They report broken marriages, increased alcoholism and depression, and a sense of impending doom. "We noticed the children are more aggressive, fighting all the time." A government flier distributed before the April 21 quake assured residents of two comforting scenarios: The shuddering would "gradually" wane, or an underwater volcano would erupt "without consequence for people." From the mayor's standpoint, the fjord should have been declared off limits before April 21. Scientists had identified it as the epicenter of the earlier tremors. "The earthquake was inevitable, but the loss of life was not." People traveling in the fjord before the quake had reported strange phenomena: erratic tides, lightning emanating from the nearby Maca volcano, sulfurous gases belching from the waters. As the tremors mounted, apocryphal tales swirled of crabs and other shellfish emerging cooked from the cool Pacific. "No one should have been in the water that day."

8/19/07 -
PERU - Scientists said the 8/15 8.0 quake was a "megathrust", a type of earthquake similar to the catastrophic Indian Ocean temblor in 2004 that generated deadly tsunami waves. "Megathrusts produce the largest earthquakes on the planet." The temblor occurred in one of the most seismically active regions in the world at the boundary where the Nazca and South American tectonic plates meet. The plates are moving together at a rate of 3 inches a year. The last time a quake of magnitude 7.0 or larger struck Peru was in September 2005, when a 7.5-magnitude earthquake rocked the country's northern jungle, killing four people. In 2001, a 7.9-magnitude quake struck near the southern Andean city of Arequipa, killing 71. In 1970 an 8-magnitude quake left at least 60,000 dead, in one of the country’s worst tragedies.
Extreme winter temperatures are endangering the lives of thousands of children and their families whose homes have been destroyed by the Peru earthquake, warns children's charity Save the Children. 80-100% of housing in the worst affected areas around Pisco and Chincha Alta has been demolished by the quake. Up to one million people live in the area, and may have been affected. As temperatures drop to near zero at night, families are struggling to survive with no shelter and few blankets. Thousands are sleeping in the open air, forced to scavenge for firewood in an attempt to keep warm. Lack of food, clean water and medical supplies is posing a major threat. Severe damage to roads and to landline and mobile networks is still hampering rescue efforts, with little reliable information available from a large part of the affected region as to the extent of the devastation. In Pisco, continuing tremors are still traumatising children. In addition to having to sleep in the cold, many have also been separated from their families during the chaos, and are extremely vulnerable to abuse due to growing disorder in the city. In the rural areas around Ica, highly toxic chemicals such as cyanide, used by families working in small silver and limestone mines, may have contaminated water supplies. Save the Children is accepting donations for Peru via its website www.savethechildren.org.uk.

8/17/07 -
PERU - The powerful earthquake that shook Peru Wednesday night killed at least 437 people. Another 1,350 were injured. The earthquake, whose magnitude was variously estimated at 7.7 to 7.9, was centered off Peru’s Pacific shore near Ica. More than 16,500 people have been displaced or otherwise affected by the quake. The city of Ica was blacked out, as were smaller towns along the coast south of Lima, and many of the areas hit lost telephone service. Rescue workers reported difficulty getting to Ica and the coastal towns because of cracks in highways and downed power lines. Office workers in Lima fled tall buildings that shook in two waves that lasted around 20 seconds each and cut power lines. “We’re used to earthquakes,” said a woman who is from California. “But it just didn’t stop; it kept going and going, and it kept getting stronger and stronger.” Her belongings in the apartment went flying and the glass windows appeared to be bending in. “People really thought they were going to die.” She added that she counted about 70 aftershocks: “It’s just been nonstop.” The tremor brought heavy waves down on homes in the port of Callao, near the capital, Lima. (photos / slideshow)
The quake is now being called ONE OF THE COUNTRY'S WORST NATURAL DISASTERS IN THE LAST 100 YEARS.

UTAH - A seismic "bump" in a Utah mine blasted coal from the walls late Thursday, causing a new cave-in that killed two rescue workers trying to free a group of miners already trapped underground. At least seven other rescuers were hurt in the accident while trying to make their way toward six miners who became trapped 11 days ago by a previous mine collapse. It was not immediately clear how serious the injuries were, but at least three members of the rescue team were rushed to hospital. The bump, which commonly refers to pressure inside the mine that shoots coal from the walls with great force, reportedly occurred at about 8:30 p.m. ET at the Crandall Canyon mine. The same kind of bump caused the earlier cave-in. It was a shocking setback on the 11th day of the effort to find the six trapped miners. It's unknown whether the men are still alive, or whether they even survived the initial collapse. Rescuers have said they are disheartened by the pace of their efforts. Seismic activity in the mine, located on a mountain near Huntington, caused landslides and forced rescuers to stop their work Wednesday night because of fears for their safety. Seismic activity struck again Thursday morning, delaying plans to drill a fourth bore hole into the mine by at least several hours. If seismic activity lets up, rescuers might be able to dig the hole at a rate two or three times faster than what they've managed thus far.

CALIFORNIA - San Andreas Fault may be rare quake "superhighway" - Some faults can send earthquakes zooming along the ground faster than the speed of sound, scientists say — and California's San Andreas Fault may be one of them. Most earthquake faults "unzip" at around 2 miles (3 kilometers) a second. But evidence is growing that some faults can send quakes zooming much faster — up to 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) a second. "They are moving faster than the speed of sound, like a sonic boom." These hasty earthquakes cause much more damage on the ground and are more likely to topple buildings, crumple bridges, and buckle highways than regular upheavals. San Francisco is at risk, and further down the San Andreas Fault, another section of "freeway" exists underneath the Carrizo Plain. "As an earthquake moves along this section it is likely to send out shock waves in front, which may focus on cities like Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, some of the most highly populated parts of California."

8/16/07 -
PERU - A massive 7.9 earthquake hit Peru on Wednesday evening and officials said more than 330 people were dead in the rubble of collapsed homes and a church as rescuers searched for victims. 827 were injured. Emergency workers said the coastal province of Ica south of Lima was the hardest-hit region. Rescuers struggled to move south toward Ica as portions of the Pan-American Highway, a key coastal route, were impassable and thieves assaulted stranded travellers. Office workers ran onto the streets in fear as tall buildings in Lima shook in two waves that lasted about 20 seconds each and cut power lines. It was followed by nine aftershocks ranging in magnitude from six to the upper 4's.
The extremely powerful 7.9 earthquake lasted about two minutes when it shook Peru Wednesday night, destroying adobe houses, knocking out power and downing telephone lines. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a tsunami warning for Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia, but stressed there was no confirmation of a tsunami. The warning was later canceled. The quake was felt as far away as Colombia. It was Peru's LARGEST EARTHQUAKE IN MORE THAN THREE DECADES.

JAPAN - A series of moderate undersea earthquakes shook the Tokyo region early Thursday, including one with a preliminary magnitude of 5.3, causing delays to train services. The earthquake that struck at 4:15 a.m. registered 4 on the 7-point Japanese scale and 3 in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Ibaraki prefectures. It was estimated to be 5.3 on the open-ended Richter scale. A few other smaller aftershocks struck in the Kanto region later on Thursday morning. The quake swayed buildings in Tokyo for about 20 seconds.

HAWAII - At least one minor landslide was caused Monday night by a 5.4-magnitude earthquake that shook Big Island residents. The 7:38 p.m. quake, beneath the southern flank of Kilauea Volcano, was felt islandwide and set off the rockslide in the Laupahoehoe Gulch area. Residents in Hilo and Volcano reported feeling the shock. "It went on way longer than is comfortable." Several aftershocks, including one of magnitude 3.2, followed.

In 2004, the 9.2 Indonesia earthquake shifted southern Indian cities - The Andaman and Nicobar belt moved horizontally by 3 metres to 6 metres, Chennai by 2 cm, Bangalore by 1.5 cm and Hyderabad by 11 mm following the undersea Sumatra-Andaman earthquake in 2004. In the normal course such a tectonic shift would have taken hundreds of years to occur but it happened in less than 10 minutes during the earthquake. While a 3-m movement was found in the middle of Andamans, it was 6-m between Car Nicobar and Great Nicobar. The entire island also subsided by 1 m to 2 m vertically. Interestingly, it began to rise again but at a slow speed, and 30 per cent of the land has ‘re-emerged’. The uplift of the subsided land mass is occurring in a non-linear manner, and it might take up to a couple of hundred years for it to return to the pre-2004 position. Before the earthquake, the Indian and Burmese plates were moving together as they were locked and there was no relative movement between the two. After the earthquake, they got disengaged and the Burmese plate is moving in a southwest direction with respect to the Indian plate at a rate which is faster than the normal plate motion but less than the speed which occurred during the massive temblor.

8/14/07 -
HAWAII - As the Category 3 Hurricane Flossie closes in on the Big Island of Hawaii, a moderate earthquake has struck the Puna District Monday night at 7:38 PM HST. Centered 25 miles south of Hilo and 5.8 miles below the surface of the Earth, the 5.3 magnitude quake knocked items off shelves in at least one Hilo home and caused a flurry of activity briefly overloading cell phone lines. From a vantage point above Hilo, electricity appears to remain on throughout the town. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reports that no tsunami has been generated. The epicenter of the earthquake is located on the flanks of Kilauea, an active volcano erupting for over 20 years non-stop. No change in eruption activity is immediately visible from the Puu Oo vent, but it is obscured by dark rain clouds.

8/13/07 -
SPAIN - 5.1 earthquake felt by many across Spain - Spain was hit by the quake at 9:47am on Sunday morning. Centred on Ciudad Real, it saw as many as 15 after-shocks. Experts say that the centre of the tremor had been very near the surface, and for this reason the tremor was felt across nearly all of the country. For the same reason no reports of serious damage or personal injury have been noted.

8/12/07 -
CALIFORNIA - Massive quake 'overdue' in California's desert resort - California's next big earthquake could take place among the golf courses and weekend resort hotels of Palm Springs, a senior government seismologist has warned, raising the prospect of thousands of dead on Los Angeles's doorstep and long-term devastation akin to the crippling of the New Orleans region following Hurricane Katrina. The area is at least 150 years overdue for a major earthquake, based on historical patterns. It isn't unreasonable to expect a quake measuring close to eight on the Richter scale, strong enough to devastate homes, rip open and ignite oil pipelines, collapse freeways and expose even those who did survive to extreme desert temperatures without the benefit of heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer. The force of a 7.8 earthquake in Palm Springs was also likely to topple buildings and create other forms of chaos in Los Angeles, whose outer suburbs begin 30 miles to the west of Palm Springs. Palm Springs and the surrounding Coachella Valley sit between two major faults - the San Andreas, which runs the length of California, and the San Jacinto. Stresses have been building up under both, raising the prospect of a quake in which the ground moves at ten feet per second. In the last major quake to hit the Los Angeles area, the Northridge earthquake of 1994, the ground moved at about six feet per second - enough to destroy and damage hundreds of homes but stopping short of a catastrophe. Major earthquakes had historically hit the Coachella Valley every 150 years, but for reasons nobody could explain it had been spared for the past 300. The Palm Springs area is far from the only part of California threatened by natural disaster. The whole Los Angeles urban area sits on a patchwork of seismic faults that threaten to shake at any moment. San Francisco is, arguably, even more at risk, not least because a powerful quake would quickly reduce parts of the city built on landfill to rubble and knock out the bridge system that is that city's transportation lifeline.

JAPAN - In the 40 years that Japan has been building nuclear plants, seismic activity was relatively quiet. Not a single nuclear facility was struck by a big quake. The government, along with the power industry and the academic community, all developed the habit of underestimating the potential risks posed by major quakes. However, since around the time of the Great Hanshin Earthquake that devastated Kobe in 1995, almost the entire Japanese archipelago has entered a period of brisk seismic activity. In the past two years, major quakes took place in close proximity of three nuclear power plants: the Onagawa plant in Miyagi Prefecture (August 2005), the Shika plant in Ishikawa Prefecture (March 2007) and the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. In each case, the maximum ground motion caused by the quake was stronger than the seismic design criteria for the nuclear power plants. The latest temblor near Kashiwazaki generated a peak ground acceleration of 993 gal, compared with the design value of 450 gal. What happened there could have been much worse. If the focus of the quake had been a little farther southwest, toward the plant site, and the magnitude had been 7.5 - the size of a quake that hit Niigata Prefecture in 1964 - and if all seven reactors at the plant had been operating, a combination of an earthquake and a nuclear meltdown could have occurred. The period of high-level seismic activity will continue for another 40 years or more. Unless radical steps are taken now to reduce the vulnerability of nuclear power plants to earthquakes, Japan could experience a true nuclear catastrophe in the near future.

8/9/07 -
This morning a 4.5 quake hit near downtown Los Angeles, California, 45 km (28 miles) NW of the Los Angeles Civic Center, waking residents and knocking some items off shelves and walls.

INDONESIA, which has been hit by three destructive tsunamis since December 2004, escaped another one after a 7.5 earthquake Wednesday struck near the island of Java. The earthquake's epicenter was about l00 kilometers (60 miles) east of Jakarta and 33 kilometers north of the coastal town of Pamanukan, at a depth of 289 kilometers at 0:04 a.m. Jakarta time. The quake sparked panic in Jakarta and across Java, sending people into the streets. Residents said tall buildings and single story homes in Jakarta shook violently. IT WAS THE WORLD'S BIGGEST EARTHQUAKE SINCE AN 8.1 STRUCK OFF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS IN MAY, producing a tsunami that killed 54 people. "There are no reports of damage or casualties. Tremors were felt as far away as Bali island," nearly 900 kilometers to the east of the epicenter. This is the second magnitude 7.5 earthquake to hit Indonesia this year. The last was in January, also under the seabed, near the islands of Maluku in eastern Indonesia. Four people were killed.

CHILE - A moderate earthquake shook the Chilean capital Santiago in the midmorning on Wednesday, causing tall buildings in the city centre to sway. The magnitude 5.0 quake occurred at 10.14am (14H14 GMT) just off the Pacific coast of Chile, 75 kilometres from the port city of Valparaiso. There were no immediate reports of damages.

UTAH - Mine officials insisted Monday‘s accident was caused by a natural disaster. The company released a statement saying the depth of the earthquake occurred in a region that was 3,500 feet deeper than where the miners were. Scientists believe the seismic waves in the area of the Crandall Canyon mine were "the signature of the collapse and that the collapse was not caused by an earthquake." Although mining activities have been shown to produce quakes, the opposite is rare. Scientists say it‘s unusual for a temblor to damage a mine unless it is a big one. In 1976, a 7.8 magnitude quake in China wreaked havoc on coal mines beneath the city of Tangshan. The Crandall Canyon mine is built into a mountain in the rugged Manti-La Sal National Forest, 140 miles south of Salt Lake City, in a sparsely populated area. The region is crisscrossed with geologic faults, and in 1988, a 5.2 magnitude temblor struck 25 miles southeast of the mine.

8/8/07 -
UTAH - Seismic activity detected in Utah at the same time that a mine collapsed there, trapping six men deep underground, was probably caused by the cave-in itself and not an earthquake, U.S. geologists said on Tuesday. But a final conclusion is still several days away. The mine's owner has insisted that an earthquake was responsible for the collapse and lashed out at experts and members of the media who have said otherwise. The earthquake center detected a tremor with a 3.9 magnitude at 2:48 a.m. MDT (0848 GMT) Monday, centered about 1 mile below the surface, a shallow depth for an earthquake. The reasons to suspect that the Crandall Canyon Mine's cave-in was responsible for the seismic activity included the epicenter's proximity to the mine and shallow depth and the nature of the signal itself. "The character of the seismic signal is not really consistent with what we see in a naturally occurring event (like an earthquake)." The question of whether an earthquake triggered the collapse has become a key issue as rescuers race to reach the six men, who have not been heard from since the mine collapsed early on Monday morning.
News sites are reporting that the Crandall Canyon mine owner says "seismic activity" has "totally shut down" rescue efforts underground and erased the work done the past day to reach six trapped miners. "We are back to square one underground." He continues to insist that an earthquake caused the cave-in, and said during a news conference that he has the science to prove it. But University of Utah seismologists say the instruments indicate otherwise. They say the first motions indicated downward movement consistent with a collapse. Had it been a quake, they would have seen up and down movement on their seismograms.

MINNESOTA - The National Transportation Safety Board on Saturday formally ruled out seismic activity as a cause of the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge. NTSB officials hope to determine the most likely cause, or causes, of the collapse within a year, but the investigation could take longer. The 1,900-foot-long structure crashed into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis last Wednesday, killing at least five people and sending 98 to the hospital. Eight people are still missing. [Site note - I live 9 miles from this bridge. In college I lived 1 block away.]

8/7/07 -
UTAH - The collapse of a Utah coal mine that trapped six miners was so strong that seismologists initially thought it was an earthquake.

8/6/07 -
RUSSIA - A 4-magnitude quake has hit a city off Russia's coast, leaving a woman hospitalized with concussion and another woman with fractured vertebrae. The tremor which shook Nevelsk on Sakhalin Island located north of Japan off Russia's Pacific coast on Sunday was an aftershock from a pair of quakes which struck the city last week and left 1,000 people homeless. Over 150 aftershocks have jolted the region since the Thursday temblors that measured 6.7 and 6.1 on the Richter scale.

8/3/07 -
RUSSIA - over 600 families have remained without shelter as a result of a major 6.4 quake in Russia’s Sakhalin region. According to preliminary estimates, 15 houses, in which over 600 families used to live, are uninhabitable in the town of Nevelsk. People are staying at their relatives or acquaintances, as well as at points of temporary stationing set up at local schools. All residents of Nevelsk were evacuated from their homes for safety reasons. Two people were killed and 12 were injured in the quake There have been 11 aftershocks following the quake. “Jolts are subsiding, and according to seismologists, another major quake is unlikely.” There have been no destructions in Sakhalin region cities apart from Nevelsk.

MEXICO - A vast chunk of Earth sliding under Mexico has surprisingly reversed direction, puzzling geologists and leaving them wondering whether the ground might be poised to pummel Mexico City with a devastating earthquake. The offshore tectonic plate had been sliding toward Mexico City at a rate of 1 inch per year, as recorded by Global Positioning System measuring stations near Acapulco and Guerrero. That movement was normal, as predicted by theories of how Earth's crustal plates should move. At subduction zones, like this one, an oceanic plate typically slides beneath a continental plate, and now and then major temblors occur. Suddenly, in the latter half of 2006, the plate began moving the other way and quadrupled its speed.
A reversal of tectonic plate motion between Acapulco and Mexico City in the last half of 2006 probably didn’t ease seismic strain in the region or the specter of a major earthquake anticipated there in the coming decades. Instead of creeping toward Mexico City at about one inch per year – the expected speed from plate tectonic theory – the region near Acapulco moved in the opposite direction for six months and sped up by four times. The changes in motion were detected by analyzing data from GPS satellite receivers set up in Guerrero, Mexico. “The million-dollar question is whether the event makes a major earthquake in the region less likely or more likely. So far, it does not appear to be reducing the earthquake hazard.” The question of earthquake hazard is particularly important for Guerrero, since it is located 175 miles southwest of Mexico City. “A very large earthquake in Guerrero would produce seismic waves that would travel quickly to the Mexican capital, and since Mexico City is built on water-saturated lakebed deposits that amplify seismic energy, the results would be catastrophic.” In 1985, a magnitude 8.1 earthquake triggered by the Cocos Plate dipping under the North American Plate off the west coast of southern Mexico struck along the coast north of Guerrero and killed 10,000 people in Mexico City. Since the last major earthquake in northwest Guerrero was a 7.6 magnitude event in 1911, many scientists think the area is ripe for a much larger earthquake, likely in the range of 8.1 to 8.4. “Before GPS we thought the ground moved at a constant speed between earthquakes. The recognition of these transient events where the plate reverses direction is arguably the most important geophysical discovery that has stemmed from the introduction of GPS measurements.” The Guerrero slip events in 2006 are the LARGEST EVER REPORTED IN THE WORLD. Studies of the Guerrero Gap are helping scientists better understand other subduction zones around the world, including the Cascadia region off the coast of Washington and Oregon. Smaller but much faster backwards slip events have occurred there, as have very large earthquakes in previous centuries.

8/2/07 -
RUSSIA - Two earthquakes hit the island of Sakhalin in Russia’s far east this morning, killing at least two people and triggering small tsunami waves on Japan’s coast. Russian authorities declared a state of emergency in the western part of the island as aftershocks continued to shake the region, causing extensive damage to buildings. The worst-hit population centre in Sakhalin was Nevelsk, a town of 50,000 people in the western part of the island. Thousands of residents were evacuated and officials said 400 tents were to be sent to the town. “Residential homes and factories have been damaged, the power supply has been cut. The city’s cultural centre was partly destroyed. Dead and injured have been found in the ruins.” Shortly after the first earthquake struck, authorities in Japan issued a warning that a small tsunami could hit the coast of the northern island of Hokkaido, where the quake was felt. In Japan, officials on Hokkaido said they observed tsunami waves of about 20 centimetres (eight inches). Minutes after the meteorological agency lifted its warning, the second quake hit. It was not immediately clear whether the second quake caused seismic waves.

VANUATU - A powerful earthquake rattled Vanuatu in the South Pacific early Thursday, causing cracks in roads, buildings, a bridge and a wharf and prompting brief evacuations due to tsunami fears. The 7.2 quake struck at 4:08 a.m. and was centered 30 miles southeast of the town of Luganville. The quake did not trigger a tsunami but people living alongside a river were evacuated because officials feared one. The temblor caused cracks as long as 20 feet and six-inches wide in the main street of Luganville. Some buildings and a bridge over a river also sustained cracks. The quake also knocked out power in some parts of Luganville. "It was a severe shake, but short and sharp." Vanuatu has had a lot of rain recently and the earthquake could trigger many landslips. It was the first global earthquake with a magnitude of at least 7 in 122 days.

8/1/07 -
JAPAN - After the deadly earthquake struck northwestern Japan in mid-July, the nation was stunned by widespread damage to a nuclear power plant near the quake’s center, including minor radiation leaks, ruptured pipes, flooding and a fire that belched black smoke for more than an hour on live television. But perhaps the most startling discovery occurred in the days that followed, when scientists used data from the magnitude 6.8 earthquake on July 16 to conclude that the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, the world’s largest by electrical output, may have unknowingly been built directly on top of an active seismic fault. That could account for the force of the tremors, which Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of the plant, said were more than twice as strong as the plant’s design limits. Nuclear experts applaud the fact that all four of the Kashiwazaki plant’s seven reactors that were operating when the earthquake struck were safely shut down, despite the unexpected strength of the tremors. But Tokyo Electric’s failure to predict the size of the tremors that could strike the area, and to detect the fault line beneath the plant, left many here wondering whether regulators and plant operators could also have underestimated the potential for devastating earthquakes at Japan’s 48 other nuclear reactors. The earthquake also defied expectations by moving differently from previous quakes in the region, Tokyo Electric said. The Kashiwazaki plant was designed to withstand shorter, more intense tremors. But the recent quake struck with a broad, wrenching horizontal swaying that caused water to slosh out of storage pools. The company says the plant is still safe because the fault line appears to lie more than 12 miles beneath the plant, too deep to cause the sorts of big cracks and other surface movement that could damage the reactors’ thick concrete buildings. (photo)

7/29/07 -
JAPAN - The water distribution system was damaged in about 370 places across the city of Kashiwazaki by the recent earthquake. However, it is the damage to the three main pipes that has created the biggest stumbling block in efforts to fully restore water supplies to the city. The city's water is supplied by three reservoirs in the city, via three major pipes that are about 80 centimeters in diameter. Of the three, the one supplying the largest volume of water was the most badly damaged. The pipes were damaged because they had not been upgraded to prevent their joints from rupturing. No such problems were found in the quake-resistant pipes.

INDONESIA - A strong earthquake which hit North Maluku Province, on Thursday (July 26) has injured a number of people and damaged tens of houses. One of the injured residents was in a very critical condition. The earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, rocking North Maluku, did not trigger a subsequent tsunami, although its epicenter was located at a depth of 62 kilometers below sea-level in Morotai Isle waters. A series of powerful tectonic earthquakes rocked several parts of Indonesia in the provinces of Banten, Aceh, and North Maluku on Thursday.

TANZANIA, KENYA - Yet another tremor was experienced in Kenya on Thursday night despite reports that last week’s eruption of Oldonyo Lengai mountain in Tanzania had put an end to the earth movements. The quake experienced at 21:54:36 measured 5.0 on the Richter scale and had its source 125 Kilometers North West of Arusha in Tanzania. Residents described the tremor, which as was felt in various parts of the country, as ‘very powerful’. Last week, Oldonyo Lengai Mountain in Tanzania erupted, supposedly bringing an end to the numerous earth tremors that hit East Africa for a whole week. It is believed that the seismic waves responsible for the earth movements emanated from this point. Experts had said the volcanic eruption would reduce the underground activity that was responsible for the tremors.

7/27/07 -
Major quake likely in the Middle East - In A.D. 551, a massive earthquake devastated the coast of Phoenicia, now Lebanon. The disaster is well-documented, but scientists had struggled over the years to locate the earthquake fault. Now a new underwater survey has uncovered the fault and shown that it moves approximately every 1,500 years — which means a disaster is due any day now. "It is just a matter of time before a destructive tsunami hits this region again." Earthquakes are common in Lebanon, but many of the faults remain unidentified, hidden beneath the deep waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

7/25/07 -
JAPAN - Kashiwazaki's stockpiles of medicine to be used in the event of a disaster had expired well before last week's earthquake, according to municipal government sources. The government failed to check the medicine inventory between 2002 - including in the aftermath of the Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Earthquake in October 2004 - and summer 2006. Even though it discovered last year that the medicine had expired, it failed to replenish the stock. As a result, the city was unable to provide medicine when the temblor hit the area on July 16. 32 of the 33 kinds of stockpiled medical supplies were past their expiration dates - included were antiseptics, painkillers and cold medicine. The only type of medicine still usable was tranquilizers. Additionally, two of the eight kinds of medical apparatus reserved for disasters were outdated. Nevertheless, the city government did not purchase any new medicine to refill the stock, saying it could not afford them. When the Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake hit the city last week, shelters requested medical supplies from the city disaster management team. But the city was unable to meet the request, instructing the shelters to secure necessary medical items on their own. One shelter had to treat sick and injured evacuees with nothing more than a first-aid kit. "We were preoccupied with our food stockpile, so we weren't even thinking about pharmaceutical stockpiling. Besides, we never once used the stocks since 2002, when we refilled a few supplies."

CHINA - About 18,000 people have been left homeless after the earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale, which struck a remote county in northwest China last week. The quake, which struck Tekes county at 6:06 pm on Friday, destroyed 4,600 houses and damaged 7,800 others, affecting 27,000 people. No casualties have been reported, but more than 470 livestock sheds collapsed in the quake, killing about 400 livestock.

TANZANIA, KENYA - tremors began on July 12, so faint that they were barely noticed. A week later, a couple of good jolts sent people fleeing their offices in downtown Nairobi. Then the tremors were gone. Scientists are still unsure about what exactly caused this "earthquake swarm" — a cluster of relatively mild shakes spaced out over several days in Kenya and Tanzania. The quakes — one of which reached magnitude 5.9—caused little damage but spread fear that a big quake was imminent. Was it fault activity along the Rift Valley, where the African tectonic plate is stretching? Or was it Ol Doinyo Lengai, a Tanzanian volcano that sits near the swarm's epicenter? So far, government officials have pushed the theory that rumbling in Ol Doinyo Lengai was to blame for the tremors. Fears that a massive eruption was near triggered several hundred people to evacuate its slopes, and the Tanzanian government warned tourists to stay away. The volcano erupted Friday and officials said that the eruption had eased the pressure that caused the swarm of at least a dozen mini-quakes. But the mountain has a history of playing tricks on people. Tremors can loosen rocks that create dust as they tumble down the side, resembling lava flows leaving a trail of ash and steam down the mountain. Another possible cause of the tremors, scientists say, is that the earthquake swarm had nothing to do with the volcano at all, but was the result of tectonic activity in Africa's Great Rift Valley, which stretches approximately 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) in length. The African plate, which covers the entire continent, is in the middle of tectonic change. Scientists are having such a hard time telling what exactly happened last week in part because there are no monitoring stations on Ol Doinyo Lengai.

7/24/07 -
JAPAN - A week after the quake, an estimated 40 percent of households and local facilities are still without running water. The elderly have been particularly hard with many evacuees suffering chronic diseases, elevated blood pressure, insomnia and other disorders. Officials are concerned the problem will be exacerbated by the hot weather, which they believe could leave many suffering dehydration or food poisoning. Many shelters do not have air-conditioning or electric fans, something that worries local doctors. About 3,000 evacuees are still living in shelters following the Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake that struck on July 16, with many expected to be unable to return home for an extended period.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. may not be able to begin checkups of the reactor cores of its quake-hit nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture until September because it needs to clean up contamination inside one of the seven reactors and fix other safety problems.

TAJIKISTAN - An earthquake and an unrelated mudslide killed a total of 12 people in Tajikistan over the weekend. Nine people died in a mudslide in the north of the mountainous nation bordering Afghanistan late on Sunday. Separately, an earthquake measuring about five on the Richter scale killed three people and destroyed buildings and bridges in the far east of the Central Asian state.

7/22/07 -
CHINA - An earthquake in a remote region of northwest China brought down more than 2,100 houses and prompted the evacuation of 8,250 people. The 5.7-magnitude quake jolted a county in the north of the vast Xinjiang region, bordering Kazakhstan, on Friday.

7/20/07 -
KENYA, TANZANIA - A report by American geologists has explained the recent spate of tremors that have jolted Kenya and Tanzania. The report says the earthquakes represent a phenomenon known as a seismic "swarm". This "is an episode of high earthquake activity in which the largest earthquake does not occur at the beginning of the episode and in which the largest earthquake is not substantially larger than other earthquakes of the episode". This appears to suggest that the series of tremors that have hit the region may not necessarily culminate in a major earthquake disaster. The earthquake swarm was situated close to the Ol Donyo Lengai volcano in Tanzania. Volcanic eruptions are often preceded and accompanied by earthquake swarms, but most earthquake swarms are not associated with volcanic eruptions. The experts say the information recorded by the centre is not sufficient to determine if the current swarm might lead to a change in the eruptive behaviour of the Ol Donyo Lengai volcano.

JAPAN - Some experts believe the latest temblor is an indicator that southwestern Japan is entering a period of increased seismic activity. This area has had major quakes in the last decade or so, including the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, the 2000 quake in western Tottori Prefecture, the 2005 quake off the coast of Fukuoka Prefecture and the 2007 quake in the Noto Peninsula. "While these quakes do not directly tie in to a Tokai or Tonankai earthquake, it would not be surprising to find that quakes in these regions become more frequent in the period before a gigantic quake hits." The area around southwestern Japan is known for an increase in large inland quakes in the period between several decades before a gigantic quake, like the envisaged Tonankai or Nankai quakes, and up to about a decade after such a quake. Based on that theory, some experts point to the Great Hanshin Earthquake as the start of the period for more frequent inland quakes. "The latest quake could be part of the activity influenced by such trends." On the other hand, other experts see the latest quake as part of activity along the Sea of Japan in northeastern Japan rather than as an extension of inland quakes in southwestern Japan. The lack of long-term data makes it difficult to clearly state that southwestern Japan has actually entered a more seismically active period.
The earthquake-ravaged nuclear plant was shuttered indefinitely Wednesday, and may be closed for up to a year, amid revelations that damage was worse than initially announced and mounting international concern about Japanese nuclear stewardship. Adding to the urgency were new data from aftershocks of Monday's deadly 6.8-magnitude quake suggesting a fault line may run beneath the mammoth power plant. The president of plant operator Tokyo Electric Power visited the site Wednesday morning, declaring it "a mess." On Tuesday evening, his company released a long list of problems triggered by the quake. A tour later given revealed widespread damage across its sprawling compound, including large cracks in roads, toppled concrete fences and buckled sidewalks. "This is unforgivable. You say there's no leak before you really know. ... The delay in information was especially inexcusable."
Seventy-six evacuation shelters in areas heavily hit by Monday's earthquake have suffered shortages of alcohol sprays for disinfection and other sanitary items, leading to fears of infectious diseases and food poisoning. Items such as mouthwash and masks also have run short. Some shelters do not have running water, making it difficult to provide enough water for hand washing. Public health workers have been visiting shelters since Tuesday, telling evacuees how to use alcohol sprays and wet tissues to clean their hands. However, only about 200 500-milliliter bottles of alcohol spray had been secured for the shelters as of Tuesday. As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, 9,883 people had been evacuated. Kashiwazaki residents accounted for 9,024 of that number. Meanwhile, the prefectural government reportedly has decided to ask the central government to construct 1,100 temporary housing units, of which 1,000 units would be erected in Kashiwazaki and 100 in Kariwamura. The prefectural government hopes to start constructing 250 of the units Monday and complete the work by the middle of next month. Also Tuesday, an additional 11 households in Kashiwazaki were told to evacuate due to a fear they could be hit by landslides caused by aftershocks or rain.
Seven quake damage photos.

7/19/07 -
TANZANIA & KENYA, RWANDA - High-rise buildings emptied and frightened office workers hurried home early after earth tremors struck Nairobi for a fifth day on Tuesday. One tremor occurred on Thursday and one on Saturday, two each on Sunday and Monday and three on Tuesday. The Government urged citizens not to panic as geologists blamed the successive quakes on stirrings underneath God's Mountain, an active volcano 240km southwest of Nairobi in Tanzania. The tremors, which have been striking since Saturday, have ranged in intensity from 4.4 and 6.0 on the Richter scale. At least three sustained tremors struck the city of three million Tuesday. Many workers in Kenya's high-rise office buildings were allowed to go home early. The tremors this week have been felt as far away as Rwanda. Tanzanian authorities reported no damage. The last time a major earthquake struck east Africa was in December 2005. It registered 6.8 on the Richter scale and sent workers scrambling out of buildings. God's Mountain, or Ol Donyo Lengai in the language of Kenya's Maasai tribe, might erupt. Its last major eruption was in 1966 and lava flowed from it in 1988. Days of jokes about the tremors, which gently shook buildings and left people feeling dizzy, soon gave way to fear as the ground kept shaking overnight in Nairobi. By early in the morning, some residents in an upmarket Nairobi area scurried out of their homes in pyjamas after hearing a rumour that American citizens had been told to evacuate and a quake was predicted to strike within hours. The US embassy denied any evacuation order had been given. Nairobi would be in bad shape should the epicentre move to the capital, which has suffered a rash of building collapses owing to shoddy construction. “Most of the buildings are not built to withstand any earthquakes. They are not build to sway. If it was under us it would be disastrous."
Reports that the epicentre of the tremors, earlier traced to Lake Natron, Tanzania, some 240km away from Nairobi, could be moving closer to the city caused fear and concern. The earthquakes have also reportedly risen in strength from 4.4 on the Richter Scale last Thursday to 6.1 by 5.10pm on Tuesday. Tuesday's tremors hit in succession within a difference of five seconds. The first - which measured 6.0 on the Richter scale - was felt at 5.10.43pm, followed by a more powerful one at 5.10.50pm. The epicentre of the first tremor was in Tanzania near the Kenyan border, just 145km from Nairobi while the second was some 246km away. The third hit at 9.27.51pm and measured 5.0 on the Richter scale, with the epicentre traced to Tanzania some 185km South South West of Nairobi. In Nairobi, people dashed out of buildings fearing they could collapse, while in Mombasa, the tremors caused ocean turbulence and was experienced by people travelling by ferry. "I felt like my heart missed a beat as the ferry I was in was being rocked by fierce sea waves. There was turbulence in the waters and at one point, I thought we were going to sink." According to a geologist, the tremor shook buildings, power and telephone lines. "This thing is terrible and the members of the public should be careful. We have never witnessed earth tremors persisting for more than a week consecutively in the country." Reports say temporary structures in some areas of the town either caved in or cracked. Areas of Maasai Mara game reserve, Loita and most trading centres on the Kenya/Tanzania border experienced long durations of the tremors, spreading panic.
At least 10 major tremors were felt in Tanzania and Kenya between July 12 and 18. Investigations into the tremors, which a geologist described as "ABNORMAL AND STRANGE", will continue. "It is extremely interesting that the quakes are centred near Ol Doinyo Lengai [volcano] but this does not mean it will erupt. The quakes may just be tectonic, indicating movement in the Rift Valley, and do not necessarily mean lava is moving."

7/18/07 -
JAPAN - Officials at a Japanese nuclear power plant have reported 50 malfunctions caused by Monday's strong earthquake near the town of Kashiwazaki. In addition to a fire, there were leaks of radioactive water and gas and drums containing nuclear waste burst open. The company running the plant has said none of the leaks are harmful to people or the environment. But the industry's safety is being questioned and the problems were not reported soon enough. Large parts of Kashiwazaki remain without power and water and about 10,000 people are spending a second night in evacuation centres. Riken Corp, which makes car parts for companies such as Honda and Toyota, says it is unsure when it will be able to resume production at its factory in Kashiwazaki after the quake injured some of its employees and damaged equipment. Fuji Xerox has also had to halt production at its Kashiwazaki plant, which mainly assembles printers, because it is without power and there has been some damage to the building. ( Photos )

Scientists are intrigued by a cluster of earthquakes that circled the Pacific during the past two days, but seismologists don't believe most of them are related. From late Saturday night, the edges of the Pacific Ocean felt tremors of magnitude 5.0 or greater in the area of Japan and the Philippines to the west, the Aleutians to the north, the Galapagos to the east, and Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea to the south. Only the quake Sunday afternoon off Japan caused local damage. Most of the earthquakes were comparatively weak, but it is UNUSUAL to see so many in the 5 and 6 range clustered together. It is unlikely that quakes in, say, Japan and in the Aleutian chain thousands of miles away are related. "We think these are random clusters" and that it was just happenstance that a dozen of them occurred within two days. For some in the quake-watching community, what's more interesting is what hasn't been happening. It's been an UNUSUALLY long time - nearly four months - since there has been a big earthquake of magnitude 7 or more anywhere in the world. The last one was a 7.1 quake March 25 in Vanuatu. That doesn't necessarily mean a bigger one is coming, or that one isn't. There was a four-month lag last year, which ended with a 7.1 quake that killed two people in Taiwan on Dec. 26, 2006.

7/17/07 -
JAPAN - A 6.6-magnitude earthquake rocked Japan's northwest coast on Monday, killing at least five people and injuring more than 500. The area was plagued by a series of aftershocks. Some 2,000 people in Kashiwazaki were evacuated from their homes. Nearly 300 buildings in the city were destroyed. The force of the quake buckled seaside roads and bridges, and one-yard-wide fissures could been seen in the ground along the coastline. The Meteorological Agency warned that the aftershocks could continue for a week. A second 6.8 Japan earthquake struck the Sea of Japan, just hours after the first earthquake. (photo)
More than 10,000 people huddled in evacuation centres in northwest Japan on Tuesday after the earthquake flattened homes, killing nine people, injuring more than 900 and triggering a leak of contaminated water from a nuclear plant. As aftershocks continued, forecasts for two days of wet weather raised fears of mudslides that could add to the devastation. A small fire and a leak of contaminated water at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant - the world's largest - reignited fears about nuclear safety in a country that relies on atomic power for about one third of its electricity. The quake was stronger than those its reactors had been designed to withstand. About 100 drums containing low-level nuclear waste at the plant were knocked over by the quake and some lost their lids. The quake halted gas service to about 35,000 homes and disrupted the water supply to all of Kashiwazaki. It was unclear when production would re-start at some factories in the area. Houses, many wooden with traditional heavy tile roofs, collapsed and roads cracked in Monday's quake, centred in the same northwestern area as a tremor three years ago.
The extent of the damage caused to buildings in an earthquake depends on what materials they are constructed from and the type of tremor that strikes. For example, a high-rise building is susceptible to longer frequencies of seismic wave, while an ordinary house is more likely to shake as a result of shorter-frequency waves. The seismic waves in Monday's earthquake had a frequency cycle of one to two seconds, a range to which wooden houses are particularly vulnerable. Such a seismic wave, dubbed a killer pulse, caused catastrophic damage in the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995. This frequency also was observed in the Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Earthquake in 2004 and the Noto Peninsula Earthquake in March. The seismic wave of the latest quake also had a frequency cycle of two to three seconds. When low-rise buildings are affected by a killer pulse, which alters the structure slightly, the buildings then become more vulnerable to seismic waves with a longer frequency. "The seismic wave with a two to three second frequency cycle dealt a further blow to buildings that had already suffered damage." The sandstone and mudstone that forms the area around Kashiwazaki means the ground is soft, which can amplify the tremors. The soft ground is said to have contributed to the subsidence of the Hokuriku Expressway, which runs through the city.

7/16/07 -
This morning there has been a 6.7 quake NEAR THE WEST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN. The quake has killed two people and injured more than 150. The quake struck off the coast of Niigata, some 260km (160 miles) north-west of Tokyo. One of the worst-hit areas appears to be the city of Kashiwazaki - close to the quake's epicentre. A number of houses were damaged, and a fire started at the Kashiwazaki nuclear plant. But officials said there was no risk of a radiation leak. A tsunami warning was issued, but it was later lifted. Waves up to 50cm (20 inches) high were reported to have hit the coast. The tremor also swayed buildings in Tokyo. (photo / map)
In the hardest-hit areas of central Japan, northwest of Tokyo, houses were reduced to rubble and a bridge was nearly cracked in two by the force of the earthquake. Some media reports put the injury toll at more than 200. The quake also triggered mudslides in Kashiwazaki, where soil was already loose after the major typhoon over the weekend that left four people dead or missing.

TANZANIA - Earthquakes measuring up to 5.5 on the Richter scale have been rattling north-eastern Tanzania for four days, from Thursday to Sunday, and tremors were also felt in neighbouring Kenya. The tremors lasted about one minute. "More earthquakes will be felt in the area because it lies on East Africa's Great Rift Valley which runs along a geological fault line." There was no damage reported from the series of tremors that has sent panic across Nairobi. Experts played down fears that it could be a sign of volcanic activity from Mount Kilimanjaro, an inactive volcano in northeast Tanzania, near the border with Kenya.

NEW HAMPSHIRE has been the site of some of the largest earthquakes to hit New England, and this year the state already has received twice as many quakes as in all of 2006. Central New Hampshire is the traditional geographic epicenter of state seismic activity, but so far in 2007, that distinction has gone to the Seacoast, particularly the Exeter area. It has had five quakes, all in June, which measured between 1.0 and 1.9 on the Richter scale. The first quake of 2007 in the state came on March 13, a 1.5 near Franklin. Eight days later there was a 2.6 east of Plymouth, which was also the strongest quake since 2004. Two days after that, a .8 hit in Claremont. There was then a 1.8 in Concord on May 19, followed by the series of five quakes in Exeter from June 1 to 21. The most recent quake, a 1.9 in Keene on July 2, brought the total to date to 10. Scientists don't know why New Hampshire earthquakes occur in small clusters or why this year half of them have occurred on the Seacoast. Earthquakes on the East Coast are taking place deep in the earth's crust whereas on the West Coast they occur largely along fault lines. "The central region, the kind of middle of New Hampshire, is probably the most active area of New Hampshire, but not the most active area of New England. Probably one of the real hot spots is the upper Adirondack zone of New York into Quebec, and Maine has its share. Maine had a 4.2 in Acadia last year."

7/15/07 -
Many deep-ocean earthquakes may be smaller in magnitude than expected because of the fragmented structure of faults. Studies of gravity fields also suggest unrecognized volcanic activity may smooth rough edges of tectonic plates. Examining data from 19 locations in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, researchers found that "transform" faults are not developing or behaving as theories of plate tectonics say they should. The researchers said many of the transform fault lines on the ocean floor are not as continuous as they first appear from low-resolution maps. Instead, it appears the fault lines are fragmented into smaller pieces, giving earthquakes less distance to travel along the surface.

7/10/07 -
TAIWAN - Some Taiwan scientists have warned that a major earthquake might strike Taiwan soon because the number of small quakes has been UNUSUALLY low in the first half of 2007. In the first half of the year, Taiwan has recorded only 147 mild quakes, which is only a quarter of the tremors on a normal year. In the same period, there were only six earthquakes measuring between 5 to 6 on the Richter scale, down from 27 on a normal year. This has caused some scientists to worry that a major quake might be coming. "Lack of release of seismic energy could be an indicator of a major quake. Taiwan's cities and counties which stand on fault lines must take precautions." The lack of seismic activities is UNUSUAL, but "currently no country can predict when an earthquake will occur." "Although there have been less than normal seismic activities in the first half, that does not necessarily mean there will be a killer quake, because there is an active period and sedate period for seismic activities. Seismic activities under Taiwan could pick up in the later half this year." Taiwan lies on the circum-Pacific seismic belt which links the Aleutian Islands, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand, Chile and the US West Coast. About 68 per cent of the world's earthquakes strike this area. The most recent devastating earthquake in Taiwan occurred on September 21, 1999, when an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale hit central Taiwan counties of Taichung and Nantou, killing 2,400 people and injuring more than 10,000.

7/6/07 -
MEXICO - A strong earthquake shook parts of southern Mexico on Thursday night, sending thousands of residents fleeing into the streets. There were no immediate reports of injury or damage. The magnitude-6.1 earthquake struck at 8:09 p.m. and was centered near the Chiapas state capital of Tuxtla Gutierrez, 430 miles southeast of Mexico City. The earthquake was also felt in northwestern Guatemala while some buildings in Mexico City shook, causing residents to flee their homes.

IRAN - A 5.1 magnitude earthquake shook the central Iranian province of Yazd on Wednesday, causing the collapse of a few roofs but no casualties. The quake struck in the area of Behabad, a town of 10,000 people 160 km (100 miles) east of the city of Yazd. The area is not close to Iran's main oil producing areas. In an old neighbourhood of Behabad, the roofs of three houses collapsed and cracks appeared in the walls of dozens of buildings.

6/28/07 -
CHINA - On the morning of June 3, a violent earthquake struck the Pu'er region of southwestern China. The quake measured 6.4 on the Richter scale and over 90 percent of all homes and buildings in the region were badly damaged or destroyed in an instant. To date, 44,000 families have lost their homes and a further 58,000 will need to carry out major repairs before returning home. Amazingly with an earthquake of this magnitude, only three people were killed and a further 28 seriously injured. Since that first quake there have been over 30,000 recorded aftershocks, 30 of those scoring above 3 on the Richter scale. With so much seismic activity no one is taking any chances and most of the 190,000 local residents are choosing to sleep in tents despite heavy rainfall. The region is bracing for difficult times ahead. For a population whose annual average income is $80 dollars the economic loss will be devastating. Most of the buildings that "survived" the first quake look ominously unstable with huge cracks running through walls and windows smashed. The streets are strewn with rubble like a scene from a war zone and everyone is nervously waiting for the next strike. This is a place where insurance doesn't exist and many people are still coming to terms with the fact that years of hard work and investment were wiped out in a matter of seconds. Once the earth finally stops shaking, people will start rebuilding their homes. But where the bulk of the revenue for rebuilding will come from still isn't known and there is a long road ahead for the victims. (photos)

6/27/07 -
BRITAIN - an awesome David and Goliath battle was waged two thousand years ago that shook the Roman Empire. And now, the riddle of Queen Boudicca's victory over her mighty foe on East Anglian soil has taken a new tumble and twist that could rewrite the history books. A study by a leading archaeologist has revealed that a previously unknown earthquake shook the southeast of England at the time the Iceni tribe led their rebellion - bringing a sign of divine approval for Boudicca and a bad omen for her opponents. Up until now, a series of bizarre events that allegedly took place at the time have been played down as exaggeration and allegory rather than taken at face value. But a British classicist has re-examined the ancient texts and concluded that they are not simply classical literary devices, but descriptions of a serious earthquake that hit the heart of the religious and political capital of Roman Britain - Colchester. The texts recall how the “statue of the goddess Victory in Colchester partly rotated and toppled over, how strange sounds were heard and how the sea turned blood red”. These three events are likely to occur during a strong earthquake. “The noise, a deep, dull sound could conceivably have been described as a strange moan or prolonged groan - often accompanies earthquakes. The seawater change could result from seismic waves causing cliff collapses or destabilising sloping mud deposits which can muddy the water and transform the colouring of the sea."

6/25/07 -
CHINA - Thousands of villagers in southwest China were evacuated after a moderate earthquake struck neighboring Myanmar. No injuries were reported in China. The magnitude-5.8 temblor occurred Saturday afternoon and was felt in several villages bordering Myanmar in the Xishuangbanna region of China's Yunnan province. Some 16,000 residents were moved to safer grounds to prevent injuries from potential landslides.

6/22/07 -
CHILE - Photo of the mysteriously vanished lake, due to a quake??

6/21/07 -
CHILE - A lake in southern Chile has mysteriously disappeared, prompting speculation the ground has simply opened up and swallowed it whole. The lake was situated in the Magallanes region in Patagonia and was fed by water mostly from melting glaciers. It had a surface area of between 4 and 5 hectares, about the size of 10 soccer pitches. "In March we patrolled the area and everything was normal. We went again in May and to our surprise we found the lake had completely disappeared. The only things left were chunks of ice on the dry lake-bed and an enormous fissure." One theory is that the area was hit by an earth tremor that opened a crack in the ground which acted like a drain. Southern Chile has been shaken by thousands of minor earth tremors this year.

6/20/07 -
PHILIPPINES - since June 15, the Department of Health Eastern Visayas Regional Office has been sending teams to Hinunangan, Southern Leyte to look into the needs of the stress/anxiety-stricken residents who were affected by the frequent aftershocks which followed the intensity 6.5 earthquake which shook Southern Leyte and the nearby provinces on the evening of June 14. Many people are suffering from mental shock and many can't sleep.

6/15/07 -
GUATEMALA - The powerful 6.8 earthquake that shook Guatemala and parts of El Salvador on Wednesday, caused traffic chaos in Guatemala City, damaged some houses and generated landslides outside the capital. The quake lasted 49 seconds.

6/14/07 -
GUATEMALA - A powerful 6.8 earthquake rattled Guatemala and El Salvador on Wednesday, forcing terrified residents to flee shaking buildings, but there were no reports of casualties. The earthquake was centred in the Pacific Ocean some 46 miles (75 km) south of the Guatemalan town of Escuintla. The quake occurred at a depth of about 40 miles (65 km). Buildings in Guatemala City swayed for about 30 seconds and people ran into the streets. Parents formed long lines outside schools to look for their children, and authorities asked residents to stay out of high buildings.

6/4/07 -
NEW HAMPSHIRE - Emergency Management reports a 1.4 intensity earthquake hit at 10:30 p.m., and was centered about a mile and a half north of Exeter, in the state's Seacoast area. At the same time, and also a couple of hours earlier, police in Portsmouth received numerous calls from residents reporting they had heard explosions. "Some of the residents reported that the concussions almost knocked off pictures from their walls." No source for the explosions was found after either series of calls. Then, around 12:45 a.m., Portsmouth police reported finding UNUSUAL levels of methane gas escaping from the ground. Crews were digging holes to vent the underground gases. Police say they don't know for sure if the explosive sounds were from an earthquake or underground gas explosions or both. They also are looking into whether the possible explosions actually triggered the earthquake monitoring devices. Authorities were trying to figure out just what happened. There were no reports of injuries.
Officials said the local gas company and Portsmouth's Department of Public Works have insured that there are no underground fires. Authorities said methane gas can form underground over time from decaying peat bogs or from other natural phenomena. The gasses can build up over time and if something ignites them, such as lightning, explosions or fires can occur. Officials said they continue to investigate.
According to the New England Seismic Network of Boston College, there were two quakes in that area Saturday night, one that registered a 1.9 on the Richter Scale and another that registered 1.4. Three to four earthquakes a year are recorded in the state. A 1.8 quake occurred in the Concord area on May 19.

CHINA - Three people have now died and at least 300 injured, after a strong earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale struck southwest China's Yunnan Province on Sunday at 5:34 a.m.local time. Twenty seriously injured people were transferred to the city's hospitals. Around 186,000 people in 35,000 households have been affected by the quake and over 120,000 residents were evacuated.

6/3/07 -
CHINA - Two people are reported dead and 70 injured after an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 hit the south-western Chinese province on Yunnan. The epicentre was in the city of Pu'er, and thousands are now being evacuated from the region, which is near the border with Laos and Burma. Some buildings collapsed, and communications are difficult. The earthquake occurred at 0534 (2134 GMT Saturday), and was followed by three or four aftershocks. "We estimate 120,000 people will have to be evacuated." About 30,000 people live in the old city of Pu'er, and tremors were felt up to 200km (120 miles) away.

6/1/07 -
SOLOMON ISLANDS - One month has passed since the earthquake and tsunami hit the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific on April 2 and aftershocks are still being felt several times a day. Affected people continue to live in tents set up on mountains for fear of returning to their homes near the seaside and being hit by further tsunami. Though some hospitals and clinics have resumed service, schools remain closed and a return to their normal life seems unlikely any time soon.

5/30/07 -
INDONESIA - A powerful undersea earthquake and a series of aftershocks rattled eastern Indonesia yesterday, damaging buildings in one town and causing panicked residents to flee their homes. The tremor with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 struck in the Maluku Sea, 2,355km from the capital, Jakarta. The quake lasted around six seconds. It was followed by an aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The local meteorological and geological agency said a tsunami was not expected. Power supplies were cut for two hours in Labuha, the coastal town closest to the epicentre. Witnesses said several houses sustained cracks but there were no report of injuries. Labuha residents fled to the hills fearing a tsunami would hit, but returned a couple of hours later.

5/28/07 -
INDIA - Two persons were killed in a quake-triggered landslip in South Sikkim yesterday. As many as seven tremors, most of them between 3 and 5.5 on the Richter scale, were reported from several parts of the state. Two young men were buried alive when a pile of debris fell on them at a construction site on Ralong Road in Rabongla. They disappeared under almost 12 feet of loose soil after the 10 am quake. “Many of us did not feel most of the tremors during the day, but the last jolt around 5 pm was scary. It caused panic with people running helter-skelter.” In Ralong, four houses were destroyed and another house and an ICDS centre developed cracks at Kewzing. Sikkim has been witnessing a series of tremors since last Monday. There were three mild quakes that day followed by one that measured 5 on the Richter scale on the night of May 22. Monday’s earthquake caused damage to the Tashiding monastery, one of the oldest in Sikkim. Deep cracks have appeared on the walls while a roof with an iron cast has tilted. Many houses in areas surrounding Gyalshing, the West district headquarters, have also been affected.

5/25/07 -
HAWAII - A magnitude-4.7 earthquake centered beneath Kilauea volcano's east rift zone jolted the Big Island Thursday morning, and was followed by a smaller aftershock. The temblor was THE LARGEST IN THAT PARTICULAR AREA IN AT LEAST THE LAST 50 YEARS. Since 1998, only a few earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 4.0 have occurred at shallow depths beneath the upper-east rift zone. The first earthquake at 9:13 a.m. was located beneath the upper-east rift zone of Kilauea volcano near Puhimau crater, and was about a mile deep. A magnitude-4.1 aftershock followed at 9:33 a.m. That quake was about a mile farther downrift beneath Koko'olau crater. The earthquakes are the largest so far in a flurry of earthquakes in the upper-east and southwest rift zones that started on May 12. Earthquakes sometimes signal the beginning of an eruption or a change in the ongoing eruption, but the recent earthquake flurry has not been accompanied by any unusual swelling of the summit or other signs of unusual summit activity.

5/24/07 -
INDONESIA - A strong undersea earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia on Thursday, briefly triggering a tsunami alert. Indonesian scientists gave the quake a preliminary magnitude of 6.5. The United States Geological Survey said its initial estimate was a more modest 5.5. The agency initially said the quake had the potential to cause a tsunami and issued a warning to coastal towns close to the epicenter. It lifted the warning an hour later, saying no waves had hit shorelines.

5/20/07 -
CHILE - The Aysen region was declared a disaster area when a 6.2 degree earthquake shook the city three weeks ago. The 30-second quake caused giant waves between seven and 20 meters high and landslides in the region, and 11 people were swept away. At least a third of the inhabitants affected by the earthquake emigrated to nearby cities for more security. Overall, scientists measured more than 4,000 tremors in just the three months of late January to late April. A team of scientists dispatched to the area in late January concluded that the quakes are likely being caused by an underground magma flow, located below the floor of the nearby Aysén fjord and could be related to the birth of an undersea volcano. Now a Chilean Armada study has dismissed damages in the seabed of the Aysen southern region, despite the strong tremors in recent days. The study showed a lack of volcanic cone under the water.
Neither the press nor the government has paid proper attention to what may over time prove to be a devastating and long-term environmental effect of the April quake: escaped salmon. At the time of the earthquake, 14 salmon farms operated within the Aysén Fjord. Together the farms may have housed as many as 14 million fish. As a result of the quake, which caused serious physical damage to the farms, some of those 14 million salmon must certainly have escaped. “Even if just 10 percent of (the fish) escaped, we could be looking at the worst environmental disaster to have yet taken place in the fjords of Aysén. Because salmon is a carnivorous species, (the escape) could, among other associated problems, affect the area’s native fish stocks.”

NEPAL - A series of earthquakes on Wednesday created panic among the residents of Taplejung's eastern remote villages. Cracks appeared in most of the houses and people were forced to spend the night in the open. The earthquakes recurred at 1:00 pm, 3:00 pm and 4:30 pm. The Richter scale of the earthquakes could not be known due to a lack of Seismographs in the region. The land began to emit smoke after the earthquakes. The earthquakes also caused landslides in some areas. There was no report of human casualty, but some cattle died in the landslides.
UPDATE - Fear among locals of Taplejung's eastern region has not subsided, the area is witnessing a recurrence of earthquakes over the last three days - from Wednesday through Friday. Mudslides and stones coming loose continued in the area on Friday as well. Many houses have developed cracks and some of them have crumbled after the earthquake, while the local school was damaged and classes are disrupted. The rooftops of dozens of houses were destroyed after the earthquake and rooms were also damaged as the ground floor cracked. The area has received 15 jolts since Wednesday 10:00 am. The repeated jolts have sparked fears of a volcanic eruption. An eruption occurred at Mehele's Sadhukuti many years ago. The locals are alarmed at the repeated jolts. To add to their agony, the rescue operations have not been carried out in an effective manner. The 15,000 quake-affected people are spending nights under the open sky in spite of rain, because there were no tents. The rescue operation is facing challenges due to the remoteness and pre-monsoon rainfall.

MALAYSIA - "Although Malaysia is located on the stable Sunda plate, pressure on the continent is mounting because the Australian, Eurasian and Philippine plates around us are moving and pushing into us. To relieve this stress, cracks occur on the surface. As the pressure intensifies, cracks are more frequent and bigger." The major Aceh earthquake in 2004 disturbed the surrounding plates. The plates are moving closer towards the Sumatran fault line and a shift of a few centimetres towards the west was recorded after the incident. "We are now closer to the epicentre. In the event of an earthquake, the pressure will be greater." They are only 350km away from the closest active fault line in Sumatra. Strong earthquakes could cause severe damage in areas up to 400km away from its epicentre. Year after year, neighbouring tectonic plates inch towards theirs from all directions. Putrajaya and Klang are sitting on the kind of soil most susceptible to tremors. And on every other day, new fault lines are unearthed in Sabah. Sabah has experienced the most earthquakes — 78 in the last century. Sabah still has many active young faults and rock formations and its rocks are only 150 million years old, making them new kids on the block in geological terms. Compared with formations in the peninsula which are 500 million years old, these tertiary rocks are still unstable. Malaysia is also only 700km from another trouble zone, off Sumatra’s west coast, where the 2004 earthquake and tsunami originated. In Ipoh a few months after the Aceh earthquake, they discovered 50 sinkholes.

5/18/07 -
THAILAND - The National Disaster Warning Centre yesterday said people living near geological fault-lines should be prepared for more earthquakes, as many faults in Asia have apparently become more active following the huge quake that caused the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004. "Take part in evacuation drills and ensure that your houses are as strong as possible." The Information and Communications Technology Ministry is in the process of procuring 1,000 early-warning towers at a cost of Bt388 million. The Meteorological Department is planning to open 30 more earthquake-measuring stations by the end of the year. There are now only 15 such stations in the Kingdom. The Mae Chan fault in Thailand has been more active since the Boxing Day 2004 earthquake off of Sumatra. Movement on the Mae Chan fault caused the powerful 6.3 quake on the Lao-Burmese border on Wednesday afternoon.

INDONESIA - An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale jolted Banten province at 6:37 a.m. on Thursday, causing residents to go on alert for a possible tsunami. But there was no such extraordinary seawave following the tremor. [see Freak Waves page for 5/17/07 though]

5/17/07 -
THAILAND - A powerful earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre in northern Laos, jolted many parts of the country yesterday, shaking buildings in downtown Bangkok and toppling spires of ancient temples in Chiang Rai. No injuries were reported as a result of the quake which lasted about 30 seconds. Tremors were also felt in Hanoi in Vietnam, but there were no reports of any major damage or injuries there or in Laos around the epicentre of the quake. The most intense tremors were felt in Chiang Saen district, some 30km from the epicentre of the quake where cement and bricks fell from the 1,000 year-old Wat Prathat Chedi Luang. A one-foot golden spire on top of Wat Phra That Jomkitti snapped and fell while the lotus-shaped tip of Wat Pasak also broke off. "This COULD BE THE BIGGEST QUAKE EVER EXPERIENCED IN THE NORTH." Earthquakes are rarely felt to any great degree in the capital of Thailand, so yesterday's tremors caused concern among many residents. Tall buildings in Bangkok are at risk because soil in the capital is very soft, which worsens the effects of the vibrations.

5/14/07 -
BRITAIN - Scared residents in the coastal town hit by an earthquake measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale have been warned there could be another big quake on its way. Since the initial quake shook Folkestone on April 28, seven smaller tremors have been felt by residents, with the biggest measuring 1.8 on the scale according to seismologists. And experts at the British Geological Survey have warned the tremors could be leading up to an aftershock that could measure 3.3 on the Richter scale. “The general rule is that aftershocks may reach a magnitude of one less on the Richter scale than the initial earthquake. “The last aftershock was on May 5 which measured just under two on the scale and we are likely to see more around this magnitude. But I cannot rule out one of a magnitude three in the next few weeks.” More than 1,500 properties were affected by the tremor and more could be damaged by an aftershock. “Earthquakes are unusual in the UK so we need to study this one on detail. We are looking at why it happened and what it means for the future.”

5/13/07 -
Allstate Corp. will stop writing new homeowners policies in California beginning in July. An Allstate spokesman said the move was to help control its catastrophe exposure in the state, which is prone to wildfires and earthquakes. Though several large insurers cut prices in the state lately, Allstate in September asked for an average 12 percent increase. The request is still pending. Allstate has already tightened its standards for writing coverage in the state, one of its largest in terms of customers, and has already stopped offering earthquake insurance. Allstate has also trimmed coastal exposure in other states that are prone to natural catastrophes. Allstate has stopped writing new homeowners policies in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida and New Jersey as well as in eight coastal New York counties.

5/9/07 -
MONTANA - An earthquake damaged an apartment building and knocked bricks off the facades of buildings in south-western Montana. The 4.6 magnitude quake, reported at 9:46 am on Tuesday, was centred about 15 kilometres) northeast of Sheridan, Montana. It was felt in Helena and as far away as Idaho.

SPAIN - Work is underway in Spain to build the country's largest seismic network ever. The network will comprise a total of 80 stations built 50 kilometres apart, providing simultaneous readings of both superficial and deep current seismic movements in the Iberian Peninsula. Although the peninsula is only at moderate risk from earthquakes, every 200 years or so earthquakes as big as six on the Richter scale occur. This is because Iberia, once a plate of its own, is squashed between Africa and Eurasia, and is now fused to and part of the latter. In addition to the network, researchers are analysing the epicentres of earthquakes that occurred in the past in order to make seismic hazard maps to avoid future damage. Until now, the exact point where disasters occurred, such as the earthquakes of Alhama in 1884 and Malaga in 1680, were unknown. Researchers hope that the maps will provide insight into the seismic past of southern Spain, and also help them pinpoint the exact location of the areas that run a high hazard in the future so that great damage can be avoided.

5/7/07 -
FIJI - Two earthquakes with a magnitude of more than 6.0 struck off the coast of Fiji, but no tsunami warnings were issued and there were no early reports of damage. The first quake, with a magnitude of 6.4, was centred 265 kilometres southeast of the capital Suva and 165 kilometres northwest of the southern island of Ndoi. It struck at 9:11 am local time at a depth of 687.6 kilometres. Another 6.2 magnitude quake struck nearby less than an hour later.

NEW MADRID - Scientists have finally figured out what might have caused a series of devastating earthquakes that struck the Midwest nearly 200 years ago. The results suggest the region, still seismically active today, is going to keep shaking for a long time, and another big one will hit on the same 500-year cycle. The largest of three or four big seismic events that stretched from December 1811 to February 1812 is called the New Madrid Earthquake and had an estimated 8.0 magnitude, strong enough to cause the nearby Mississippi River to temporarily flow backward. Hundreds of aftershocks followed for several years. The U.S. Geological Survey says there is a 9-in-10 chance of a magnitude 6 or 7 temblor occurring in this area within the next 50 years. These mid-continent temblors have long fascinated seismologists because of the mysterious origin of earthquakes that occur not at the edges but in the center of tectonic plates. Researchers have discovered an ancient, giant slab of Earth called the Farallon slab that started its descent under the West Coast 70 million years ago and now is causing mayhem and deep mantle-flow 360 miles beneath the Mississippi Valley where it effectively pulls the crust down an entire kilometer (.62 miles). They propose that the descending slab and associated mantle-flow directly below the New Madrid seismic zone strains the overlying crust, causing seismic ruptures. The Farallon plate will continue to descend into the deep mantle and thus to cause mantle downwelling in the New Madrid region for a long time. Another set of faults far from the boundaries of the North American Plate are associated with the Keweenawan Rift, a 1240-mile-long rift in the area surrounding Lake Superior.

5/6/07 -
YELLOWSTONE - A “swarm” of 16 small earthquakes measuring up to 2.7 on the open-ended quake scale shook Yellowstone National Park’s Pitchstone Plateau from Monday through Wednesday. The temblors started a few minutes before midnight Tuesday. The largest occurred at 3:09 a.m. Tuesday and the series continued until Wednesday when it finally died down. The quakes all were centered in the middle of the plateau, a lava dome at the southern end of the park. Earthquakes are most commonly associated with a pattern that has a main shock and after shock. There also is a model in which fore shocks precede the main and aftershocks. Swarms of small earthquakes, like those that occurred beneath the Pitchstone Plateau, are found in volcanic regions, like Yellowstone. Between 1983 and 2006 there have been as many as 70 swarms of small earthquakes around the park. The quakes were likely caused by a fluid seeping into a fault and causing it to slip. The entire area around the quakes is “very fractured”. Research shows the Yellowstone caldera has been rising 6 cm a year over the last two years. Yet there have been no earthquakes associated with that rise. A host of information about Yellowstone and Jackson Hole quakes can be found at the university’s seismic Web site www.seis.utah.edu/.

HAWAII - The earthquakes that resulted in more than $200 million in damage in October were caused by continued settling of Mauna Loa, the world's largest volcano, seismologists have concluded. New studies confirmed that the magnitude-6.7 and -6 deep-sea earthquakes resulted from stress the growing volcano put on the crust of the Earth's upper mantle. "As long as the volcano continues to grow in size and depresses the land under it, more earthquakes are possible." The earthquakes will continue to happen randomly in the seabeds around Hawaii for as long as Mauna Loa continues to swell. That's what it has been doing for at least 400,000 years. The weight continues to cause the flexing of the sea floor. "The Big Island (Hawaii Island) is sinking faster than the rest of the state." Hawaii Island's other large volcano, Mauna Kea, stopped expanding more than 300,000 years ago and poses no earthquake hazard.

5/4/07 -
INDIA - The Chalbalpur locality near Raniganj was hit by a tremor this afternoon resulting in land subsidence. Six residential houses caved in and the village road developed large parallel cracks. Eastern Coalfields officials rushed to the spot to help rescue workers in the evening. Police have cordoned off the area.

5/2/07 -
BRITAIN experiences earth tremors similar in size to Saturday's 4.3 earthquake in Kent about every seven to eight years, although they are more common in offshore areas. It was the LARGEST EARTHQUAKE IN THE REGION SINCE 1950 when a 4.4 ML earthquake occurred. The total cost of damage from the Folkstone earthquake could run into millions of pounds. "This is by no means a complete surprise. There have been earthquakes in this location before and two of them have been some of the biggest earthquakes ever to affect Britain." Around 200 earth tremors are recorded in the British Isles each year, but on average only around three manage to get above 3.0 on the Richter scale.

5/1/07 -
[SITE NOTE - Minor quakes in the U.S. are still high - 831 in the last 7 days (double the usual amount); about 500 of these have been in California. Things should be fine as long as the tension keeps being released by these small quakes.
Worldwide moderate quakes are also about double the usual amount - there have been over 200 in the last 7 days. Compared with last year, a quick calculation by my records shows that last year, in April 2006, there were 16 quakes of magnitude 6.0 or higher; the largest 7.7 in Russia. This year, in April 2007, there were 24 quakes of magnitude 6.0 or higher; the largest 8.1 in the Solomon Islands.]

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4/30/07 -
SOLOMON ISLANDS - A strong 5.4 earthquake has rattled the northwest Solomon Islands - the same region devastated by a quake and ensuing tsunami earlier this month. The tremor struck 40km southeast of Gizo and caused little damage there, but there are reports of houses being toppled on the nearby island of Mono. Many people in Gizo are still too afraid to return to their seaside villages, where many houses lie smashed after the April 2 quake and tsunami.

ENGLAND - More than 70 families were unable to return to their homes yesterday after the strongest earthquake to hit Britain in five years left their properties unsafe. The 4.3-magnitude tremor - the epicentre of which was pinpointed to a spot 7.5 miles off Dover in the English Channel - was felt across the South-east at 8.19am on Saturday morning, and damaged 474 properties in Folkestone and Canterbury, Kent.

4/29/07 -
BRITAIN - Hundreds of people in Kent are assessing the damage done to homes and businesses by a 4.3 earthquake. Homes in Folkestone were evacuated and one woman suffered a neck injury when the tremor struck on Saturday morning. Events of this kind are RARE in the south east. Its epicentre was nine miles off the Dover coast but it was also felt across East Sussex, Essex and Suffolk. And 140 miles away in Hampshire, a 1,000-yard long and 6in wide crack opened up in a seaside clifftop. The Marine and Coastguard Agency evacuated beach huts at Barton-on-Sea for fear of a landslide. A spokesman said: We do not know if it is linked to the earthquake but it is too coincidental to ignore.' The first warning may have come from a dolphin nicknamed Dave, which is spotted regularly by divers and fishermen off the Kent coast. A man who was walking along the beach in Sandgate when he noticed the dolphin, said: "I saw Dave jumping in and out of the water and thought it was strange. Then there was a massive tremor. It was like Dave was trying to warn us." Police cordoned off the five worst-hit streets in Folkestone to stop passers-by being injured by dislodged bricks and tiles. There were unusual scenes as panicked residents filled the streets, many in their nightclothes. In nearby Lympne, 'wheelie bins were rolling down the hill one after another. It was surreal.' "It is a miracle that only one serious injury was sustained." The Dover Straits has tremors about every 200 years. One was recorded in 1382 and a quake in 1580 killed two people in London. There were smaller tremors in 1776 and 1950. The Kent incident is the largest recorded in Britain since a 5.0 earthquake in Dudley in 2002. (photo)
In pictures: Kent earthquake

The amount of monsoon rainfall the subcontinent receives in summer directly affects the frequency with which earthquakes take place in Nepal during the winter, a new study has revealed. Himalayan earthquakes are more common in winter because the weight of summer's heavy monsoon rains suppresses tremors. There were 40 percent fewer tremors in the summer than in the winter. Tremors were suppressed by the weight of water dumped on the south side of the Himalayan mountain chain during the summer monsoon. "These regions can receive up to six metres of rainfall per year - concentrated in the monsoon season - and the water accumulates in aquifers, or groundwater reservoirs. Moreover, the period when tremors were at their lowest each year corresponded to when rainfall was heaviest." "There is another explanation, which we cannot rule out. It could be that the water from the monsoon is trickling through the fissures in the rock - slowly reaching the region about 10 kilometres down where two segments of the Earth's crust overlap - and generating these tremors. If it takes six months for the water to penetrate to 10 km, which is possible, then the water could lubricate the segments." The second possibility does not seem likely because it would be "very fortuitous" if the trickling water always reached its destination deep in the crust exactly at the peak of the winter earthquake season.

4/26/07 -
INDIA - There is a possibility of a massive earthquake striking the Indo-Bhutan border in Assam in the near future, a scientist of the Geological Survey of India has said. Heavy plate movement in the Himalayan foothills, the reverse flow of hill water streams in Ultapani, and the creation of tectonic ponds at Toporjhana, Majbhandar and Magarbeel are significant indications of an earthquake. A team of GSI scientists have been conducting studies in the area since 2005, when there were the first indications of such a temblor. The GSI has alerted authorities in Kokrajhar district to stop the felling of trees and to ban constructions across the area as a precautionary measure. On Wednesday the scientist announced that a "quake with a magnitude of more than seven on the Richter scale could hit the area on the foothills of Bhutan in Assam's Kokrajhar district and it might extend north up to Kamrup disrict".

4/25/07 -
CALIFORNIA - A magnitude 4.0 earthuqake was recorded Tuesday afternoon in The Geysers area, a remote section of Lake County. The strongest quake the USGS ever recorded in The Geysers area was a magnitude 4.6 on May 29, 1987. The second-strongest quake was a magnitude 4.5 that registered on Oct. 20, 2006. "There are usually many shallow and low magnitude quakes at The Geysers, but there have been several more quakes in the 3-4 magnitude range in about the last five years." If it were not for efforts to generate electricity out of the geothermal field at The Geysers, the region would barely be seismically active at all. Power plants there generate electricity from the heat of steam by drilling into the ground and extracting hot water. This process creates seismic activity because when the water is removed it causes the rocks underground to constantly compress and contract. "In order to get big a earthquake, you need a big fault. Here all we see are small cracks."

4/23/07 -
CHILE - Search and rescue efforts continued Sunday, one day after a substantial earthquake and subsequent “mini tsunami” struck near the towns of Puerto Aysén and Puerto Chacabuco. So far authorities have located the bodies of three people who were swept away Saturday by massive waves in the Aysén Fjord. Seven others are still missing. The quake, which registered 6.2 on the Richter scale and lasted roughly 30 seconds, struck the region just before 2 p.m. Saturday, causing panic among the area’s already jumpy residents and producing major landslides around the Aysén Fjord. The landslides in turn produced a series of huge waves that leapt up along the shoreline of the Fjord, destroying piers and houses, and sweeping 10 people into the water. Though by far the most devastating in recent months, Saturday’s quake was just the latest in on ongoing wave of seismic activity that has rattled the area since late January. In the last week of January alone an astonishing 1,700 minor tremors shook the area. On Feb. 23 a quake registering 5.2 on the Richter Scale struck the area. Five weeks later, on April 1, yet another major tremor, 5.5 on the Richter Scale, hit. Overall, scientists have measured more than 4,000 tremors in just the past three months. A team of scientists dispatched to the area in late January concluded that the quakes are likely being caused by an underground magma flow, located below the floor of the nearby Aysén fjord. Residents in central Chile had their own scare early Sunday morning when a noticeable tremor rattled buildings and woke sleeping residents throughout the region.
Photo taken as the quake hit.

INDIA - A deadly earthquake can strike Mumbai anytime. The city in peninsular India, once considered less vulnerable to quakes, is now facing clear and present danger, according to a study published in February. It is said that the scale of casualties in Mumbai would be staggering because constructions in the city do not conform to standards that would enable them to absorb even mild to moderate tremors. The researchers have, through mathematical models, deduced that the erstwhile passive Koyna region in particular, along with the whole of the peninsula, has become much more earthquake-prone. Recent seismic history has recorded more than five damaging earthquakes with magnitudes greater than Mw 6.0 in this region.

4/22/07 -
CHILE - At least 10 people were missing on Saturday after a large earthquake in southern Chile caused power cuts, landslides and large waves off the nation's Pacific coast. The 6.2 magnitude quake had an epicenter 820 miles (1,320 km) south of the capital Santiago, near the city of Coyhaique. At first it was not thought to have caused material damages. The government disaster agency said later that the quake had caused chunks of land to fall into the ocean, causing large waves (but not a tsunami) in an area where there are salmon farms. Saturday's quake was the strongest of hundreds to have struck the region in recent months.
Scientists say the tremor could be related to the birth of an undersea volcano in a fjord. The area has been hit by hundreds in the last three months, all centered in the same fjord. The volcano will probably be a small submarine one, and therefore any eruption would not be strong.

HAWAII - A "slow earthquake" predicted for Kilauea volcano by geophysicists has failed to take place so far, but scientists are interpreting the no-show as additional information for understanding the mountain. A slow quake is one in which the earth moves as much as in a typical major quake, but over the space of several days instead of seconds. Slow quakes were found to have occurred in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2005 on the western side of Kilauea. The quakes were quite regular, happening on average every 774 days, give or take a week. That meant there should have been another around March 17. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory publicized the prediction on March 22, when time was already running out. An early theory was that the violent Oct. 15 quakes on the other side of the Big Island might have upset the slow-quake schedule. That idea has pretty much been abandoned. The new, tentative theory is that the 774-day schedule was upset by earth changes associated with spreading of land just southwest of Kilauea's summit. Starting last year, instruments showed a lot more magma rising from deep in the earth to within about two miles of the surface. Much of it remains below the surface, making the ground stretch. It is "difficult to tell" how that could affect the potential for slow earthquakes, which happen a couple of miles deeper. "There's so much that could be happening." They are confident that last month's slow quake was delayed but not canceled.

4/20/07 -
CALIFORNIA - No damage or injuries were reported after a series of earthquakes struck a remote area northeast of Ukiah early Tuesday. A magnitude 5.0 earthquake hit at 1:42 a.m. Tuesday about 22 miles northeast of Ukiah, or nine miles west of Lake Pillsbury. Eleven smaller quakes, with magnitudes between 1.6 to 2.4 were recorded within two hours after the first quake.

4/18/07 -
JAPAN - Researchers are about to drill down into an earthquake zone at the Nankai Trough off the coast of Japan. The project will cost hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 10 years. It seeks to understand the causes of deadly quakes and tsunami by pulling up cores for study and by putting down sensors to monitor changes in the rock. It is focused on a region of the sea floor that has been responsible for immense tremor events, including the 1944 Tonankai (Magnitude 8.1) and 1946 Nankaido (Magnitude 8.3) earthquakes. "The place we are going to has a history of disastrous earthquakes and tsunami every 100 or 200 years." The venture is a risky one. The instruments will have to be built to survive searing heat, crushing pressures and corrosive fluids. They could fail at anytime. As part of the project, a second series of holes will be drilled off Costa Rica in Central America.

4/16/07 -
SOLOMONS - The recent massive earthquake in Solomon Islands that has devastated Western and Choiseul Provinces, has also triggered a series of fatal landslides on Ranonga Island. At Mondo Village a landslide had claimed the lives of two villagers and destroyed two houses. About 95 percent of the landslides occurred inland. Landslides along the entire coastline of Ranongga suggests that the whole western coast is a fault zone.

4/15/07 -
KYRGYZSTAN - Quake likely by the end of April - When analyzing Centeral Asia seismicity, researchers noted that powerful earthquakes in the Hindu Kush, Altai and Northern Tien Shan are often grouped by three. Events in the first two regions can happen in any order but the Northern Tien Shan earthquake always accompanies them. Within the last century, five groups of such events have taken place. A group of three occurs as follows: first the Hindu Kush and the Altai earthquakes happen (in any succession but at an interval not exceeding six years), after which likelihood abruptly grows that a cataclysm will also take place in the region of the Northern Tien Shan within the next year-and-a-half. It may take from 1.8 to 6.9 years from the first through the third earthquake in the group of three, while the interval between the second and the third earthquake is 20 days to a year-and-a-half. One of likely locations for this earthquake is the region of the Kirghiz mountain ridge to the south-east of Bishkek. In 2004, two rather powerful deep events already took place there, which can be considered as forerunners of the impending cataclysm. “An earthquake already happened in the mentioned region on December 25 last year, its magnitude being 5.8, which is practically in line with our forecast. It caused major destruction in the Kochkor region of Kirghizia. Nevertheless, we expect that a more powerful event is to occur here.” The Hindu Kush earthquakes are deep-focus ones, they take place at depths of 100 to 230 kilometers, in contrast to the others which are more shallow ones in the crust.

MEXICO - The strong 6.0 earthquake swayed tall buildings from Acapulco to Mexico City early Friday, jolting people awake and sending many fleeing to spend the rest of the night outside. The country escaped the quake with no deaths or widespread destruction, but several apartment buildings in Mexico City were evacuated and inspected for possible structural damage. The quake knocked out power to 20 percent of the capital's center, provoking scattered water and gas leaks and sending fissures through building facades. One five-story residential building in Mexico City leaned precariously, and another apartment complex was riddled with fissures. Some two dozen families from the two buildings spent the night in the street or in their cars. One person was injured falling down stairs trying to get outside. There were at least nine aftershocks before dawn, including a magnitude-5.4 tremor felt throughout much of southern Mexico and Mexico City. At the quake's epicenter, about 40 miles northwest of the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, several adobe houses were seriously damaged, while one person fell inside a factory and suffered minor injuries. About 200 people in the town of Hacienda de Cabanas were forced to evacuate their homes after the quake broke open containers of chlorine at a nearby water purification plant. Another 100 people from one community near Acapulco were evacuated to a park after a nearby water treatment plant reported a chlorine leak. Power had been restored to most of Acapulco and Mexico City by Friday afternoon, and gas and water leaks were being repaired. The quake, which hit at 12:42 a.m. local time was felt strongly because it was centered inland and just 18 miles below the earth's surface. Many of Mexico's earthquakes are centered out in the Pacific. Mexico's Pacific coast is located along a major faultline where scientists have been warning for some time that a great deal of seismic energy was building, foreshadowing the possibility of a larger quake. Friday's quake was good because it released some of that energy, but it would take “several dozen more releases” of the same intensity to disperse it all. Mexico City was built on a sandy, former lake bed that shifts and shimmies, magnifying earthquakes. Mexico experiences several earthquakes every day, most of them relatively small.

4/13/07 -
RUSSIA - Three earth tremors were registered on the Kuril Islands within one hour. The first tremor occurred at 9.13 p.m. local time Wednesday, followed by another one seventeen minutes later. The second tremor was the most powerful and measured five points on the Richter scale. The third tremor twenty-seven minutes later had a lower magnitude. The epicenters of the three tremors were spotted in the area of the uninhabited island of Simushir. No earth tremors have been registered in populated areas of the Kuril Mountain Ridge. Almost 650 after-shocks have occurred in the area of Simushir since November 15, 2006 when a quake with a magnitude of 7.9 points was registered near the Kuril islands. A tsunami warning was made, but the waves proved rather low when they reached the Alaska coast and even New Zealand. Another quake with a magnitude of 8.0 points was registered near Simushir on January 13, 2007. A tsunami announced then caused no damages. Seismologists expect the after-shocks to continue for some dozen years yet.

4/12/07 -
INDONESIA - Scientists have reported what is thought to be one of the WORLD'S GREATEST MASS DEATH OF CORALS EVER RECORDED as a result of the earthquake in Aceh, Indonesia on March 28, 2005. The entire island of Simeulue, with a perimeter of approximately 300 km (186 miles), was raised up to 1.2 m (3.9 feet) following the quake, exposing most of the coral reefs which ringed the island. "This is a story of mass mortality on a scale rarely observed. In contrast to other threats like coral bleaching, none of the corals uplifted by the earthquake have survived". The news from Simeulue is not all bad. At many sites, the worst affected species are beginning to re-colonize the shallow reef areas. The reefs appear to be returning to what they looked like before the earthquake, although the process may take many years.

VIETNAM - A huge tremor lasting some seven hours in Gia Lai Province on Sunday forced panicked citizens in the district to flee their homes. A huge crack appeared after the tremor. {this is all the info at this link. See yesterday's quake article below for other info.}

4/11/07 -
The geological scar left by the devastating earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in December 2004 has healed more quickly than expected. Satellite measurements of Earth's gravitational field taken just after the quake show it left a depression 8 millimetres deep in the crust and shallow mantle. While this does not seem like much, the shifting mass jolted Earth's axis of rotation enough to move the poles by 10 centimetres. In under a year, however, the depression had nearly vanished – something that surprises geologists because, according to models of how rocks in the mantle move, it should have taken 20 years. "It's almost impossible for rocks to move that quickly." The key is that the mantle beneath the 1200-kilometre fault has more water than usual – about 1% of the rock by weight. As the water is under intense heat and pressure, it behaves like a gas and can move through kilometres of solid rock in a short time. In a model, water flows from rocks compressed by the quake into those that expanded as it released their stresses. The influx causes the de-stressed rocks to return to their original state faster. The model also suggests that the extent of permanent shifts in Earth's rotational axis due to strong quakes would be less than expected.

MYSTERY TREMORS - An 'earthquake-like phenomenon' in central Vietnam sent residents into a panic. Hundreds of people in a village in Vietnam’s central highlands fled their homes in panic early Monday when a suspected earthquake hit the area. No one was hurt and scientists and authorities are studying the area to see if it was indeed an earthquake or some other phenomenon. Residents of A Klai village in Gia Lai province’s in La Pet commune said they had felt strong vibrations beneath the ground, houses shook violently, cracks had appeared on the walls, and the ground had sunk. Fissures up to 4 meters deep had opened up. Incredibly, however, all these were confined to a tiny area of around 50 meters, with areas beyond that remaining unaffected.

SOLOMONS - A doctor who co-ordinated the medical response in Gizo, one of the towns worst hit by the Solomons Island earthquake, fears hundreds more will die following the natural disaster. The doctor could only call on a handful of medically trained staff and had to use tarpaulins to shelter the sick and injured. The only medical resources were those salvaged from the ruins of the hospital. The morning the quake hit, people ran screaming to the mountains, while others suffered horrific injuries when they were hit by collapsing buildings and debris. Treating the injured was made even more difficult by a large electrical storm and the constant fear of landslides and falling power poles. “These people have food problems, water problems, no shelter, no employment. It's not over. Malaria, dysentery, are going to be the next killers. Homelessness, social issues with the children having no homes – there are major, major issues ahead...and even when the drama of it is out of the news, there are going to be hundreds more dead. There are chronic problems that have developed from this acute situation.”
Some remote areas are still waiting for aid to reach them. Up to 7,000 people were left homeless by the disaster and many more living in low-lying areas are afraid to return home from hill camps because of fears of another tsunami. "The estimate was that 80 per cent of the communities have been contacted and have been receiving relief supplies, and the other 20 per cent they hope to get to over the next three days." The current death toll is at 40, with 24 others still missing. The area relies heavily on sea transport and many wharves and jetties have been destroyed or damaged, along with roads in more populated areas.
Islanders in the Western Province are living in fear following rumours and unsubstantiated reports of a new tsunami on the way. Continuing aftershocks and changes to the local geography also had an impact. "The island of Ranongga has literally been lifted 2 metres out of the water. Locals we met in the villages of Pienuna, Niami and Varvovo believed that rather than the land rising, the sea had retreated and would return soon - in the form of another tsunami. They are living in fear and cannot begin to repair the damage to their gardens and homes until they feel it is safe to return."

4/10/07 -
GREECE - Dozens of moderate earthquakes have rattled north-western Greece this morning, the largest with a magnitude of 5.4. No injuries or damage have been reported yet. The first quake, measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale, struck at 2:27 am (0027 GMT) today and had an epicenter 215 kilometers north-west of Athens in the region of Trihonida. A second, stronger quake of magnitude 5.4 followed at 6:17 am. There have been dozens of aftershocks that followed in the region.

4/8/07 -
CHILE - Chile’s Region XI, an area also known as Aysén, has been rocked by an ongoing wave of seismic activity (more than 4,200 tremors) that began in late January and shows no sign of letting up. Early Thursday morning (4/5), residents in Puerto Chacabuco and Puerto Aysén – the two towns most affected by the recent phenomenon – were startled by three back-to-back-to-back tremors that registered 3, 4 and 3 on the Mercalli scale respectively. Though quite minor, the tremors were nevertheless a reminder that the recent barrage of seismic activity – which began with a Jan. 23 quake that registered 5.2 on the Mercalli scale – is clearly not over yet. A much more significant tremor – the strongest to affect the area so far – struck late Sunday night (4/1), registering a formidable 5.5 on the Richter scale. The tremor was slightly stronger than a 5.2 quake that occurred on Feb. 23. “Obviously the people here feel uneasy. It’s something they’re not at all accustomed to. That’s basically the problem. It’s been so unpredictable, you don’t know when they’ll happen, and the waiting and waiting – obviously that creates some nervousness.” When the quakes first began, locals feared a pending volcanic eruption of nearby Hudson Volcano, which last erupted on August 8, 1991. That eruption, the second largest recorded in Chile, was preceded by a similar cluster of tremors and earthquakes. Authorities, however, have since come up with another theory to explain the tremors. A team of scientists dispatched to the area in late January concluded that the quakes are likely being caused by an underground magma flow, located below the floor of the nearby Aysén fjord. The magma, which is pressuring a subterranean tectonic plate, could eventually push its way to the surface and form a relatively small volcanic cone on the floor of the fjord. Concerned residents and environmentalists have pointed out that the site of a proposed US$600 million, 600 MW dam is dangerously close to the epicenter of the recent quakes.

SOLOMONS - The remote island of Ranongga in the western Solomon Islands used to have submerged coral reefs that attracted scuba divers from around the world. But since Monday's massive earthquake in the Solomon Islands, the reefs are now exposed above the water and are dying. The exposed reefs are bleaching in the sun, covered with dead fish, eels, clams and other marine life. The devastation has permanently altered the geography of the island, 32-kilometres (20-miles) long and 8-kilometres wide. Although Ranongga escaped the fury of the tsunami, the seismic upheaval from the quake pushed out the shoreline by up to 70 metres. It shows the incredible force of the earthquake to move a whole island. "Plenty big noise. Water go back and not come back again." The loss of the reefs was a huge blow for the fishing communities that are dotted along Ranongga's coast. "Who knows if the coral reefs will recover and the fish will come back? Villagers will have to travel further to find the same sort of food and nutrition they've relied on - the whole food chain has been disrupted." (photo)

4/5/07 -
Quakes in the U.S. are up to 702 this past week - the average has usually been about 2/3 of that. The Nevada/California border area has been unusually active, along with Alaska, and now Oregon. Worldwide large quakes have reached 259 for the past week - they had been averaging about 139.

SOLOMONS - Thousands of people left homeless by a powerful earthquake and tsunami in the Solomon Islands may not get help for another two days, the government warned. Some islands are still out of contact and dozens of villages unreachable by road after Monday's disaster in the South Pacific nation that killed at least 28 people. Up to 5400 people were left homeless and in need of food, water and shelter, but it could take until Friday to reach them. Aftershocks have continued since the magnitude eight quake.

VIRGINIA - The shaking from the devastating 8.1 magnitude earthquake that struck near the Solomon Islands on Sunday at 4:39 p.m. took just shy of 16 minutes to reach Virginia Tech's statewide seismic network 8,400 miles away. The shock waves lasted about two hours. An earthquake of such magnitude occurs worldwide about once every 18 to 24 months. The station at the University of Richmond showed the state shuddering about 2 millimeters, mostly in a north-south direction. The Virginia Tech Seismological Observatory installed seismological equipment on the university grounds a year ago to track the increased seismic activity in central Virginia over the past few years. Virginia has had more than 160 earthquakes in the past three decades, but only about one-sixth of them were felt. The state's biggest earthquake, a magnitude 5.8 temblor in Giles County, came in 1897 and was felt in 12 states. Since the 2004 Sumatran temblor and tsunami, U.S. researchers have worked to prepare coastal communities, including Virginia Beach, for the possibility of tsunami and storm-related flooding.

4/4/07 -
SOLOMONS - Thousands are homeless, food and water are in short supply and officials are struggling to reach inaccessible west coast villages. Survivors scavenged for food and drinking water in towns hammered by a tsunami on the Solomon Islands' west coast, while officials said the death toll was 28 and would rise as they struggled to reach remote communities. The first television footage of the devastated region taken by helicopter after Monday's double disaster - a huge undersea earthquake followed minutes later by a surging wall of water - showed building after tin-and-thatched-roof building collapsed along a muddy foreshore. Among the dead were a bishop and three worshippers killed when a wave hit a church during an ordination ceremony on the island of Simbo, the United Church said. Few of the homeless had even basic supplies, and their situation will quickly turn desperate.

4/3/07 -
SOLOMON ISLANDS - Officials said 900 homes were destroyed and 5,000 people affected after the 8-magnitude quake. Today will be a "telling day" on whether the death toll of 20 would rise, they said. Whole villages are said to have been wiped out around the main town of Gizo in the western Solomons. Unconfirmed reports suggest widespread damage in other islands. Huge waves, some 10 metres (30 feet) high, were reported and a tsunami alert was raised around the Pacific. The Red Cross said the tsunami had left 2,000 homeless in Gizo and that reports suggested similar or worse damage elsewhere. The quake was the BIGGEST TO HIT THE SOLOMONS SINCE 1900. The disaster could have been worse if it had happened only a few hours earlier in darkness, when more people would have been asleep. The initial tremor was followed around seven minutes later by a second one, centred further west, of magnitude 6.7.
Eyewitness account - "Our most urgent need is for water. We have no water at all. The water tanks have collapsed. Then we need food. For now we sit outside and wait for the danger to go away and for help to reach us. We are really scared. We don't know what's to come. We have seen these kind of things happening to other people on our TV screens. We thought we were safe but now it has happened to us, too. "
An Australian quake expert says the Solomon Islands should brace for another big earthquake in the next few weeks. "I have just gone through my records of earthquakes in the Solomon Islands region and although we have earthquakes of magnitude seven and above ... we've never had a magnitude of just over eight before. Any earthquake of that magnitude would have aftershocks for days and weeks." "One of the characteristics of this area is that you will often get days or weeks or even a couple of months later, another big earthquake. "There is absolutely no way of knowing for sure, but there is a significant chance of another big one.'' "One side of the fault ruptured on a fault break that was probably 100 kilometres long or more and 100 kilometres deep. One side moved about two or three metres relative to the other. It's a big earthquake by normal standards. But the Sumatra earthquake was gigantic. It was over 1,000 kilometres long by a couple of hundred kilometres deep."

RUSSIA - A probability of a strong earthquake on Kuriles and Sakhalin Islands in April remains, an official of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry’s information department said on Monday. The high seismic activity in the area of the Kurile Range is related to aftershocks events after a violent earthquake that occurred in the Pacific Ocean east of the Simushir Island. The magnitude of that quake was 8. Besides that, the activity of Shiveluch, Bezymyanny and Klyuchevskoy volcanoes remains high. Their ash discharges pose a danger for flights of local airlines. Because of an increase in the activity of Klyuchevskoy Volcano, lava effusion, mud and rock slides are possible. Two tremors of 4.9 were registered off the Iturup Island on Monday. Earthquakes off the Kurile Island have been almost incessant since last November. There have been over 630 quakes in this area since then, but none were destructive.

4/2/07 -
SOLOMON ISLANDS - More than 15 people were killed in the area of the Solomon Islands closest to the epicentre of the 8.0 earthquake when it triggered a tsunami. "Reports have come in that more than 15 people died, just around Gizo, but with the other islands I cannot tell you. "What we desperately need now is water, tents, and food because almost 3,000-4,000 people are now living on the hill at Gizo." Residents of Gizo were still fearful as aftershocks continue to rock the area.
The main town in the western Solomons, Gizo, was hit by waves several metres high that swamped buildings and washed people out to sea. "There wasn't any warning - the warning was the earth tremors. It shook us very, very strongly and we were frightened, and all of a sudden the sea was rising up." The water "moved toward the island and hit all the houses on the coastal area, and all of their property was washed away to the open sea." "A lot of houses have collapsed. The whole town is still shaking," several hours after the earthquake struck. "There was 10ft of water rushing through town". Local officials fear the numbers of dead could rise, with reports of outlying villages being completely destroyed. A tsunami warning for the Pacific from Australia to Alaska was issued but later cancelled. The quake struck 345km (215 miles) north-west of the Solomon Islands' capital Honiara, north-east of Australia at a depth of 10km (six miles) below the surface. Four people were also missing from Mono Island. The Solomon Islands has a population of about 500,000 people - some of them living on remote islands. "Those western islands are very scattered and it's very difficult for us to get there or communicate, but we are sending a team to investigate." Residents of the Papua New Guinea port city of Rabaul reported seeing the sea recede down the beach, followed by high waves, but no damage was reported.

ALASKA - 43 years ago on March 27, 1964, the entire village of Valdez, Alaska was swept out to sea by a tsunami that was 70m (about 210 feet) high, coming up the fjord. It was triggered by the second largest earthquake ever recorded (magnitude 9.2) that was centered 120 km outside of Anchorage. The Good Friday earthquake was the largest ever recorded in North America. The temblor and ensuing tsunami killed 115 people in Alaska. The tsunami waves triggered by the quake also killed 16 people in California.

4/1/07 -
MONTANA - A small earthquake that rattled southwestern Montana caused no damage but could be felt about 90 miles away. It was centered about 15 miles northeast of Dillon and could be felt as far as Helena. The magnitude-3.7 earthquake, which struck late Wednesday, was an aftershock of a 5.6-magnitude quake that hit the same area in July 2005. "It's the biggest (aftershock) we've seen in quite a while." About 5,000 aftershocks have been recorded from the 2005 quake, which cracked walls and damaged bridges. The region averages about five aftershocks a day, most too small to be felt.

3/28/07 -
Houses that heal themselves following earthquakes are being developed at Leeds University. A special substance that flows into cracks and hardens could limit the damage caused by natural disasters. The polymer particles form part of the wall structure. When put under pressure and squeezed, they turn to liquid, filling up gaps caused by earthquakes, then they harden.

3/27/07 -
JAPAN - Victims of a powerful weekend earthquake in central Japan that killed one person and destroyed hundreds of homes face an uncertain future, with few signs of when life would return to normal. About 1,900 people spent a second night in evacuation centres as hundreds of aftershocks continued to jolt the area following Sunday's 6.9 magnitude quake, which struck the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture, about 300 km (190 miles) west of Tokyo. The tremor demolished 57 houses and seriously damaged more than 700 others, many of them old wooden structures with heavy tile roofs. More than 200 people were hurt, although most injuries were minor. Electric power was fully restored but some 8,700 homes still lacked running water, and troops and aid workers were distributing emergency supplies. Rain was forecast for the region in the evening, prompting fears of landslides. (photos)

KANSAS - An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.1 is considered small anywhere and would be barely noted in quake-prone areas. But a temblor of that intensity felt in northeast Kansas early Friday was one of only a few recorded in the region in 150 years. Records show a small earthquake was felt in 1881 at the Leavenworth-Douglas County lines and a minor quake was recorded in 1902 south of Lawrence. The largest-ever earthquake recorded in Kansas was in 1867 between Wamego and Manhattan, and registered between 5.2 and 5.5.

GREECE - The archaeological museum of the Greek Ionian Sea island of Cephalonia was closed on Monday after a weekend of seismic activity damaged the building and smashed items. An undersea tremor measuring 5.9 points on the open-ended Richter scale on Sunday toppled a number of exhibits at Argostoli Museum, smashing three of them. The museum building itself sustained minor damage, with cracks appearing in its walls. The museum, which displays antiquities from Prehistoric to Roman times and includes a valuable Mycenaean collection, will remain closed until the seismic activity is over. A number of aftershocks up to 5.1 points Richter were recorded on Monday. The Argostoli Museum was entirely destroyed in a 1953 earthquake that devastated the island. There were reports on Sunday of minor damage to homes and limited rock slides on roads, but no injuries.

3/26/07 -
GREECE - A strong 5.9 earthquake jolted the western island of Kefallonia. Minor damages were reported but no injuries. A series of aftershocks were registered, with the most powerful measuring 4.6. The Ionian island of Kefallonia is located in one of the most earthquake prone areas in Greece.

JAPAN - The Meteorological Agency on Sunday predicted that the Hokuriku region will experience at least one week of aftershocks after the major 6.9 quake struck the Sea of Japan coast Sunday morning. The JMA advised residents in the region to stay away from damaged buildings and other infrastructures as the aftershocks might cause the collapse of these damaged buildings. As of Sunday evening, over 100 aftershocks have been recorded by the agency in areas affected by the powerful quake which rocked the area around the Ishikawa prefecture. The aftershocks could reach as high as intensity 5 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7.
Aftershocks jolting the west coast of central Japan are keeping residents on edge. A 5.3 magnitude tremor, one of more than 175 aftershocks, struck early Monday, and a 4.8 magnitude quake jolted the area in midafternoon. About 2,600 people spent the night in evacuation shelters and many other residents slept in their cars. The government's disaster agency put the total number of damaged houses at 564 and more than 10,000 households lack running water. An emergency relief team of firefighters that had been searching the rubble of collapsed houses confirmed that no one was trapped. The Meteorological Agency, using an early warning system that detects smaller tremors before a main quake hits, issued a tsunami alert on Sunday about 100 seconds after the quake, about two minutes faster than previously. The agency was also able to send an "emergency earthquake flash" to monitors about 50 km (30 miles) from the focus about five seconds before the strong quake rattled the region. But hard-hit Wajima failed to receive the warning before the tremor struck because it was too close to the focus. (photo)
The powerful earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula on Sunday was similar to the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake and the 2004 Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Earthquake where an earthquake fault moved across a very shallow part of the earth. The frequency of the quake's tremor was also similar to the Great Hanshin Earthquake, and was particularly damaging to houses. As the fault is located off the coast, its existence was until now unknown. However, many such undiscovered faults are believed to exist in the coastal regions of the country, suggesting areas that recorded low-intensity tremors in Sunday's earthquake should be prepared for stronger quakes in the future. The government's Geographical Survey Institute estimated the fault, about 21 kilometers long and 14 kilometers wide, shifted by about 1.4 meters based on analysis using the global positioning system. "According to an analysis of seismic waves, the earthquake was caused when one fault slipped over another. This is called a 'reverse fault type,' and we also observed a large horizontal sway." Despite the intensity of the quake reaching an upper 6 on the Japanese intensity scale of 7, the resulting tsunami was only about 20 centimeters high, partly because the force pushing up the seabed was comparatively small.
Simultaneous quakes Sunday - Three earthquakes - the two strong ones and one moderate - hit the Pacific region Sunday morning, with the biggest quake, measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, occurring near West Coast of Honshu Island, Japan. The second strong quake, registering 6.3 on the Richter scale, struck Loyalty Islands, an archipelago in the Pacific. The third quake, a moderate one, recording 5.6 on the Richter scale, hit Talaud Island in south Philippines, about 883km East of Lahad Datu, Sabah. The earthquake in Japan and the Philippines struck simultaneously at 8.46am.
Quake Photos

NEW ZEALAND - A swarm of earthquakes accompanied by alarming bangs is rocking Matata, raising fears a big one may be about to strike. Another quake hit the area at 5.58am this morning. Early yesterday another quake, measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale, shook homes. More than 150 tremors have been recorded in the Bay of Plenty town this month. GNS Science says the swarm is not necessarily a sign a giant quake is coming, but is warning residents not to be lax. The current swarm in Matata is the latest threat to the tiny coastal town, much of which was destroyed by floods and landslides in May 2005. Many of the quakes, including yesterday's, were accompanied by a loud bang. "You hear the bang first and then you feel the rumble and things start shaking." The bang or crack before the quakes was the "P wave", when sound in rock reaches the surface and becomes sound in the air. Matata has experienced earthquake swarms on and off since 2005 and the current quakes were small, measuring between 3 and 4 on the Richter scale. In 1987 (20 years ago this month) the magnitude 6.1 Edgecumbe earthquake hit the area and warped rail lines, levelled houses and destroyed a dairy factory. It also opened up a faultline several kilometres long. Violent shaking was felt in nearby Matata and swarms of quakes shook the area before it struck.

3/25/07 -
7.1 NEAR WEST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN - the quake jolted the west coast of central Japan, killing one person, injuring more than 150 and damaging hundreds of homes. Landslides were triggered, roads buckled and at least 25 houses collapsed completely when the quake struck at 9:42 a.m. (0042 GMT). The tremor, which was felt in Tokyo, seriously damaged some 200 houses. Some trains were halted, people were trapped in elevators and there were reports of power outages in some areas. Water was cut off to 4,500 homes. A tsunami warning for waves of up to 50 cm (20 inches) issued for Ishikawa prefecture was later lifted after small tsunamis hit hit in some areas. (photos)
Fear of aftershocks and more landslides caused by the loosening of soil waterlogged by overnight rains continue to plague the quake zone. A small tsunami measuring 6 inches hit shore about 40 minutes after the quake. Television footage of the quake showed buildings shaking violently for about 30 seconds. Other shots showed collapsed buildings and shops with shattered windows, streets cluttered with roof tiles and roads with cracked pavement. Many of the injured people suffered burns or were hurt by falling objects and broken glass. The affected region was not considered a quake-prone area. The last major quake that caused deaths there was in 1933 when three people died. Potentially damaging aftershocks are expected.

6.0 & 7.2 VANUATU - the 7.2 occurred two minutes before the quake in central Japan. Vanuatu's second quake, at magnitude 6.0, came about half an hour later. Police said they were checking remote islands where the quake was closer to land areas.

TAIWAN - Six mild earthquakes hit eastern Taiwan Saturday morning, with the strongest measured around 4.4 Richter scale. Among the six earthquakes, the epicenter of five were around the Taitung's Chenggong seismic station and all were measured above four Richter scale. Taiwan's meteorological authority promised to keep a close watch on subsequent development since the earthquakes were so frequent.

3/23/07 -
HAWAII - Scientists at the Hawai'i Volcanoes Observatory are geared up to record a "slow earthquake" expected under Kilauea Volcano within the next few days. For reasons scientists cannot yet explain, many slow earthquakes detected around the world seem to happen at regular intervals. At Kilauea, the pattern so far suggests slow earthquakes occur there about every 774 days, with the last one recorded over two days beginning on Jan. 26, 2005. The slow earthquake scientists are poised to record, therefore, was scheduled to occur last Saturday, March 17.

NEW MADRID - Deep-diving West Coast Plate may have triggered the massive Central U.S. quake - Scientists studying extraordinary earthquakes in the central U.S. in 1811-12 along the New Madrid seismic zone have revealed a possible new driving mechanism. Remnants of the ancient Farallon plate, a slab of crust swallowed beneath the western North American continental margin nearly 70 million years ago, continue to descend into the deep mantle under central North America. The descent induces mantle flow towards the Earth’s deep interior directly below the New Madrid seismic zone. That flow, in turn, may strain the overlying crust, causing seismic ruptures.

ALASKA - "One lesson we should take away from the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake is that every subduction zone is potentially locked, loaded, and dangerous." With an immense tectonic collision grinding away only 20 miles beneath the Alaska's southern rim, there is also a lesson for the Far North. Be ready, Alaskans. Be very ready. "We should not rule out completely another M9 (earthquake) in the not-so distant future. We don't know the repeat time and the variability in that time." The colossal collision between tectonic plates has shattered Alaska into a maze of over-riding cracks and strike-slipping faults. Each week, 150 to 200 quakes large and small are located in Alaska. The state remains one of the world hotspots for earthquakes, with as much as one-third of all the earthquake energy of the entire globe rumbling through local bedrock. Anchorage is five times more likely to have a major earthquake than San Francisco, and eight times more likely than Los Angeles. Alaska, in general, has five times more earthquakes than California. The last really large quake to hit Alaska came on Nov. 3, 2002: the magnitude 7.9 Denali Earthquake. It was the biggest slip-strike earthquake in North America in almost two centuries. The quake ruptured 210 miles across the Alaska Range, producing more change in the landscape in 100 seconds than would occur during 1,000 years of slow geologic slip. The rupture unzipped glaciers, opened deep chasms in ice, buried glaciers with millions of cubic yards of rock, creased mountain ranges with visible lines, twisted individual trees into shreds. The ground shifted up to 28 feet near the small village of Mentasta Lake in eastern Alaska and rose as much as 12 feet. But that quake, while causing more than $20 million in damage (but no serious injuries), was a baby compared to Alaska's Big One on March 27, 1964. (photos)

3/21/07 -
NEW ZEALAND - A small 3.6 earthquake has been recorded near Matata in the Bay of Plenty, in the same area as more than a dozen low low-magnitude quakes in the past three weeks.

3/16/07 -
INDONESIA - A moderate 5.4 earthquake struck the eastern Indonesian islands of North Maluku on Thursday, heavily damaging homes and buildings and injuring at least two people hit by falling debris. A strong, 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck West Sumatra province on March 6, killing around 70 people.

MOZAMBIQUE - Six schoolchildren were injured when two earth tremors shook central Mozambique on Tuesday. The pupils were injured when they rushed into a school in Catandica in Manica province when the shocks were felt. The tremors, which were two hours apart, registered 4.5 on the Richter scale. They were strongly felt in the mountainous zones of Manica and the provincial capital Chimoio about 2,500km north of Maputo.

3/15/07 -
OHIO - Monday's 3.6 earthquake in Portage County was the latest in Northeast Ohio. The epicenter was along the Akron Magnetic Lineament, the broad fault zone on which a 5.0-magnitude earthquake in southern Lake County occurred in 1986. That earthquake shattered glass and prompted the federal government to raise Ohio's earthquake risk from low to moderate. Earthquakes in this region, though mostly minor, are becoming more common. "This could be a fore-shock to a bigger one, but that's pretty unlikely." Fourteen earthquakes shook Northeast Ohio last year. The most severe was in June near Painesville and had a magnitude of 3.8. Many of the earthquakes occurred beneath Lake Erie, where there may be unconfirmed fault lines. "California's rocks are much younger. They're hotter rocks, and they're more structurally complex. They're twisted and folded around a lot. An earthquake in California occurs, and it causes damage in a certain area. But if we have that same size earthquake here in the East, it does damage in about a 10-times greater area because our rocks are flat-lying rocks. They're old, cold, brittle, and energy goes [through them] for a long distance."

Mysterious tremors deep in the Earth's crust could provide a way to predict future catastrophic earthquakes, according to scientists. Weak "non-volcanic tremors", first discovered five years ago near Shikoku in Japan, pose no dangers in themselves and have previously been dismissed as insignificant by many scientists. But a new study shows that they are related to low-frequency earthquakes (LFEs), slow-moving seismic activity deep underground which can potentially build up enough force over time to cause a major earthquake at the surface. Both non-volcanic tremor and LFEs are found mainly in subduction zones, where violent events happen once every 100 to 600 years. Scientists think that they are often preceded by LFEs which can last days, months or years without being felt at the surface. "Some people believe that LFEs and tremor are separate phenomena, but what we've shown in this paper is that they are actually the same thing. Tremor is simply a swarm of low-frequency earthquakes, but rather than happening quickly and impulsively like ordinary earthquakes, tremor shakes the Earth for hours, days or even weeks at a time." Non-volcanic tremors have been found in Japan, under California's San Andreas Fault, and in the Cascadia subduction zone, which stretches from northern California to British Columbia.

3/14/07 -
HAWAII - Quake-damaged Maui highway to take 2 years to fix - East Maui residents have been told a project to repair unstable cliffs and undermined roadways along Pi'ilani Highway could begin in late May and take about two years to complete. The highway is a two-lane roadway that runs from 'Ulupalakua through Kaupo and Kipahulu to Hana. It was closed in the wake of the magnitude-6.7 earthquake off the Big Island on Oct. 15, 2006. The temblor loosened rocks and cliff areas along the highway.

Earthquake faults are worn smooth over time by friction, like the brake pads of an old car, according to a new study. The finding suggests old and new faults might generate different types of earthquakes. Because old and new faults are so different, everything about the earthquakes they generate — their birth, strength and propagation — could be different as well, the researchers speculate. “We don’t know how the amount of shaking from the same size earthquake acts on different kinds of faults. It could be that the smoother, mature faults give you a less bumpy ride.”

3/13/07 -
NEW ZEALAND - A recent earthquake has brought traces of crude oil to the surface on Stewart Island, strengthening prospects of a significant oil discovery in the nearby Great South Basin offshore area. Several natural oil seepages have been detected behind the beach at Thule Bay. The ministry had been monitoring the area, where seepages had been detected years earlier, for some time but found no fresh activity until after the magnitude 4.8 quake last month. It believes the basin may hold more than 5 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas.

3/12/07 -
ARABIAN SEA - Saturday night's earthquake is an indication of a possibly bigger earthquake in the waiting, said a professor at the American University of Sharjah. The epicentre of the quake was the Arabian Sea, some 74km southwest of Qeshm island of Iran and about 160km from Sharjah and Dubai. The intensity of the quake was 4 on the Richter Scale and it was located 18km deep in the sea. "It was very close to the place where the earthquake measuring at magnitude 5.9 on Richter Scale struck on November 27, 2005. This is not a good sign. Repeated seismic activities at the same spot indicate a bigger earthquake in the waiting - as big as magnitude 7 on the Richter scale." There has been a noticeable increase in the magnitude and frequency of seismic events in the northern region of the UAE. "There are several earthquake events that took place in recent years and this is the result of increased seismic activity in Southern Zagros fault and Markan subduction zone." (MAP)
Residents of Masafi, where Saturday evening's earthquake was most strongly felt, have described how panic and fear forced many people to spend the night outside their homes. Many residents recalled the last time a major earthquake hit the area almost exactly 5 years ago on March 11, 2002.

KURIL ISLANDS - The sea floor below the Kuril Islands northeast of Japan continues to slip and slide, with another major earthquake on Saturday. The latest quake was assigned a preliminary magnitude of 6.1. Two stronger earthquakes in the same general area, one late last year and one earlier this year, triggered "mini-tsunamis" resulting in unusually strong tidal currents and other ocean phenomena throughout Hawai'i. There have been no reports of damage or injuries associated with the tremor.

3/8/07 -
INDONESIA - Several areas in West Sumatra have been rattled by some 350 after-shock tremors up to Wednesday, following the powerful earthquake on Tuesday, which killed at least 70 people. Local staff of the Geology and Geophysics Agency in the West Sumatra town of Padang Panjang said Wednesday that after-shock tremors would be felt in the next three days in West Sumatra and its surroundings, although they would not be as powerful as the intial quake. The fault that spawned the quake is known as the Great Sumatran. It last ruptured in 1945.

IRAN - An earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale jolted the city of Doroud and its surrounding areas in the western province of Lorestan early Wednesday, injuring some 35 residents. Panic-stricken residents of the city came out of their houses and stayed in the streets the whole night despite the cold weather. A number of people were injured as a result of the breaking of window panes. The same area was hit by several killer quakes, ranging between 4.7 to 6 degrees, on March 31, 2006, killing over 70 people.

AUSTRALIA - An earthquake shook beds, chairs and tables as it rumbled across Melbourne. Residents heard a sound like muffled thunder and felt a tremor that rattled doors and furniture for several seconds. The quake, measuring 3.5 on the richter scale, was the STRONGEST FOR SIX YEARS in Melbourne. Aftershocks were felt up to 50km from the epicentre. The city's last tremor was in October last year and registered 2.9 on the richter scale. (map)

3/6/07 -
The two strong earthquakes hit Indonesia's Sumatra island, killing at least 70 people and sending emergency operations into full swing to deal with dozens of injured. Some buildings collapsed and several homes and other buildings were badly damaged. The tremors were felt as far away as Malaysia and Singapore, where several buildings were evacuated.
There are fears the death toll may be higher as communications with remote regions have been cut. Many people were injured as hundreds of buildings were flattened, although many of these are likely to be small, wooden houses. Emergency officials are scrambling to co-ordinate rescue efforts, but are having problems accessing some areas due to damaged roads. Telephone and power lines have also been knocked down, cutting electricity to the capital of West Sumatra, Padang. There was no risk of a tsunami as the earthquake happened under land rather than under the sea.

Earthquake preventative vaccination invented - US scientists invented a bacterium capable of hardening soft, rotten ground like rock after an injection. The bacterium "Bacillus Pasteurii", which is available under the ground, can be used as a "concrete vaccination." The bacterium is stated to reduce the devastating impact of earthquakes to a great extent after application on soft grounds. The bacterium causes the melting down of calcium and carbohydrate under the ground and then the natural cement is hardened, and turns into concrete.

3/4/07 -
CALIFORNIA - The moderate quake that struck near Lafayette on Thursday night has geologists weighing in on the potential for bigger earthquakes in the area. The magnitude 4.2 earthquake could be a sign that larger quakes are possible in the area. Or it could indicate that smaller earthquakes are the norm in this area. The epicenter of the Lafayette quake was about 10 miles below the surface, so the nature of the fault is unclear. The location of Thursday's quake is near the trace of a relatively unknown fault called the Reliez Valley fault. The locations of about a dozen small aftershocks following Thursday's earthquake don't match up with the north-northwest trending Reliez Valley fault. "As aftershocks started to occur, they progressed in a west-southwest direction." Therefore, the fault that hosted Thursday's quake is likely a relatively harmless one in the block of earth between the larger Calaveras and Hayward faults that isn't capable of bigger shocks.
People close to the epicenter reported violent shaking; others farther away said they felt an ongoing rumble. Residents calling a local television station couldn't believe it was "only" a 4.2 earthquake — they said it felt worse. A few water pipes broke.

INDONESIA - A moderate quake measuring 5.3 on the Richter Scale hit eastern Indonesia on Saturday, damaging some buildings and a television tower. There were no reports of casualties or injuries.

3/2/07 -
Oceanographers are to survey a massive hole discovered in the Earth's crust under the Atlantic Ocean. The hole in the Earth's crust appears to be completely missing in an area thousands of kilometres across midway between the Cape Verde Islands and the Caribbean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The hole is not unique, but is recognised as one of the most significant. It is an "open wound on the surface of the Earth", where the oceanic crust, usually 6-7km thick (3.7-4.3 miles), is simply not there. "Usually the plates are pulled apart and to fill the gap the mantle underneath has to rise up. As it comes up it starts to melt. That forms the magma. That's the normal process. Here it has gone awry for some reason. The crust does not seem to be repairing itself." The research could lead to a "new way of understanding" the process of plate tectonics.
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2/28/07 -
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO - Two earthquakes have now been recorded in Trinidad and Tobago in the space of one week. The lastest earthquake struck on Tuesday morning around 9:26 and was felt in several parts of the country. It measured 4.3 magnitude. The previous earthquake was felt last Friday at approximately 10:48 am and again mainly in the north. Friday's earthquake measured 4.7. Seismologists describe the frequency of the earthquakes as UNUSUAL.
2/26/07 -
Shanghai seismologists use not only the most sensitive technology but also the most sensitive lions, tigers and bears in the zoo to help them predict earthquakes. It's well known that many animals with their keen senses pick up vibrations and changes in the atmosphere before earthquakes. The changes cause bizarre animal behavior. Carefully charting their normal patterns and abnormal, erratic behavior can assist in earthquake prediction. In Shanghai, 12 zoos form a network in which animals are closely observed every day and behavior logs are kept. Species from bears to snakes are observed. Abnormal behavior includes moving about restlessly, jumping, making noises (roaring, hissing, growing, etc) or rushing at fences for prolonged periods. The animal-watching project started in the early 1980s after the world's third-worst earthquake in 1976 that obliterated Tangshan in Hebei Province and killed more than 242,000. Strange geologic signs and animal behavior were reported before the temblor: Chickens refused to eat and acted wildly; dogs barked furiously; goldfish jumped out of their bowls. In 1996, they observed all the birds hanging upside down from the top of their cages, like bats. Several days later, a minor earthquake shook Changshu in neighboring Jiangsu Province. Before the devastating earthquake and tsunami in December of 2004, elephants in Thailand migrated from their resting places; tree frogs jumped into bungalow bathrooms; snakes slithered into visitors' shoes. In 1975 in Liaoning Province in the north, experts predicted a 7.5-magnitude quake based on seismic activity and pre-cursory observation - namely the activity of agitated animals. "That earthquake caused a huge amount of damage but the number of fatalities was minimal as all the citizens were advised to evacuate." There were many pre-cursory tremors and animals behaved strangely. "Chickens flew up into the trees. Mice dashed about and dogs barked and barked." Though experts say chances of a big quake in Shanghai are virtually nil, three great quakes, including the world's deadliest, have shaken other parts of China in the past 450 years.

2/22/07 -
NEW ZEALAND - Scientists assured nervous residents of Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city which sits on a field of about 50 dormant volcanoes, that there was no prospect of an eruption after three earthquakes rattled the area last evening. Although New Zealand is one of the world's most earthquake prone countries, with about 14,000 a year being recorded, they rarely occur in the Auckland region, with the last big quake nearly 30 years ago. The three quakes, measuring 3.7, 4.5 and 3.8 on the Richter scale, caused widespread alarm Wednesday evening. Seismologists said the quakes were shallow, which is why they were felt so sharply, as well as RARE, prompting near-panic. Wednesday's shakes resulted from movement on known geological fault lines and were not related to volcanic activity.
The 4.5 quake was their LARGEST QUAKE IN A CENTURY, since the 1890s. The 4.5 tremor struck at nine o'clock and was UNUSUALLY SHALLOW at 15kms deep. It was one of the larger earthquakes Auckland has had in its history.

INDONESIA - A second earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale was detected at North Maluku in Indonesia Wednesday morning without signs of a possible tsunami. The tremor, which occurred at 11.19 am local time, was a follow-up undersea earthquake to the first one at 6.6 on the Richter scale that happened Tuesday evening. Meanwhile in Kuala Lumpur, the Meteorological Department reported a moderate earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale near South of Sumba Island, 574 kilometres southeast of Denpasar, Indonesia and 1,762 kilometres southeast of Sibu. It said the earthquake occurred at 7.12 am.

TURKEY - A moderate quake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 shook southeastern Turkey on Wednesday, sending people into the streets in panic and damaging some buildings. No injuries were reported. The epicenter of the quake was the town of Sivrice in the province of Elazig. The quake caused great panic and partly collapsed a building in the village of Kayapinar while slightly damaging a primary school as well as a post office in the town of Sivrice. Soldiers and police were trying to reach remote mountain villages. The same area was struck by a magnitude 5.3 quake on Feb. 9.

2/18/07 -
KENYA - Residents of Moita and Ngararo villages in Transmara District fled their homes following a landslide and an earth tremor. Residents were then ordered to vacate the area until it was ascertained safe by the Government. At least 19 homes have been affected by the landslides. "The stones are hanging dangerously from exposed cliffs and these can easily pose danger to those who are grazing." Residents complained that temperatures had risen beyond normal levels in the area.

2/16 -
AUSTRALIA - The impact of an earthquake which shook Western Australia's central coast overnight felt like a truck slamming into a house, according to a woman living near the quake's epicentre. Geoscience Australia located the 5.2-magnitude earthquake to waters off Shark Bay, 800km north of Perth. The quake caused no structural damage but was THE BIGGEST RECORDED IN THE AREA IN 50 YEARS. "On average, Australia has an earthquake of this size or larger every two years and they can occur anywhere in Australia." In 1989, a 5.6- magnitude earthquake at Newcastle, on the New South Wales central coast, killed 13 people and injured 160. Australia's largest known onshore earthquake occcured in 1941. It was a 6.9 magnitude tremor at Meeberrie, 250km southeast of Shark Bay. No one was reported killed or injured by that quake and damage was minimal because of its isolated location, but its effect was felt throughout most of the state.

2/15 -
TAIWAN - Internet connections were restored to normal in Hong Kong Wednesday, 50 days after an undersea earthquake off Taiwan severely damaged undersea cables. Six out of seven submarine cables coming in and out of Hong Kong were snapped by the December 26 earthquake, causing severe disruption to e-mail and internet connections. Services were gradually improved but it took until Wednesday for Hong Kong's Telecommunications Authority to announce that the repairs to the cables were complete. Singapore, Thailand and other regional cities and countries were also badly affected by the quake but Hong Kong's reliance on the undersea cables made the impact on the city of 6.8 million worse.

2/14 -
BANGLADESH - A strong quake may jolt northwest Bangladesh - Experts foresee a powerful earthquake in the northwest of the country, including Sylhet, in the near future but there is no preparation in the region to face such a catastrophe. 95 percent of the buildings in Sylhet are vulnerable to earthquake. If a powerful quake strikes, the city will be reduced to debris. The probability of an earthquake in Sylhet has become stronger as Indian earthquake experts have noticed powerful tremors in the adjoining Indian State of Assam. A sudden change in temperature was recorded recently in the Lakimpur district of Assam and mild tremors jolted different areas of the state indicating that there might occur a major quake in future. Researchers in August 2001 examined the tectonic plates of the Indian subcontinent and reported that a severe earthquake might occur in the Indian subcontinent especially in India, Myanmar and Bangladesh in this decade. According to the experts, there is a chance of a major earthquake after each interval of 100 years in the earthquake-prone areas. In 1897, an earthquake known as the Great India Earthquake struck with a magnitude of 8.7 on the Richter Scale. Experts also expressed apprehensions that a major earthquake with the magnitude of 7-8 might occur in this region in the next few years. Tremors jolted the Sylhet region 300 times in nine years from 1995, which also indicates the probability of a major quake in this region. Bangladesh is part of the Bengal Basin, which is one of the most seismically active zones of the world.

2/13/07 -
SPAIN, PORTUGAL - The 6.0 earthquake struck parts of Portugal and Spain causing no injuries or damage but prompting hundreds of people to evacuate buildings in both countries. The quake was centred in the Atlantic some 160 kilometres (100 miles) southwest of the Cape Saint Vincent in Portugal's southernmost province of Algarve. It was felt in Lisbon and Madrid, where chairs moved in high office towers, as well as in Morocco's main cities including Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakesh.
If the epicentre had been on land, the tremor could have caused a disaster comparable to the 2004 earthquake which killed more than 600 people in Morocco. Southern Spain frequently has small earthquakes, but such a powerful tremor was UNUSUAL.

OKLAHOMA - An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 3.0 was felt in Midwest City early Monday afternoon. No injuries are reported. The quake comes after four small earthquakes were recorded Sunday morning just northwest of Moore. Those quakes measured between 1.5 and 1.9 in magnitude.

2/11/07 -
RUSSIA - A new earthquake, of 5.7 on the Richter scale, was registered near the Kurile Island of Simushir. The epicenter was 33 kilometers under the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and 515 kilometers from the city of Severo-Kurilsk on the Island of Pumashir and 415 kilometers from the city of Kurilsk on Iturup Island. Since the major earthquake of 7.9 was registered close to Simushir on November 15, 2006, a total of 538 aftershocks have been reported in the area. The tremors twice triggered tsunami – on November 13, 2006 and January 13, 2007 – however they were not catastrophic and caused no casualties or damage.

PAKISTAN - Locals fled their homes in panic in a number of towns in central Pakistan early Friday after mosques warned of an impending earthquake. People in several towns around the Punjab province capital Lahore sent warnings by telephone to friends and relatives during the night and causing further alarm. In was not clear who ordered the announcements that tremors would strike at 3 a.m. Scientists worldwide are working on early-warning systems but there is still no means of predicting exactly when earthquakes will strike. Pakistan is still recovering from the effects of an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale that killed more than 73,000 people in the north of the country on October 8, 2005.

2/9 -
TURKEY - At least 28 people were injured by a moderate earthquake that struck the eastern Turkish province of Elazig early today, causing panic among local residents. The tremor, measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale hit the town of Sivrice at 4.22 am local time. No serious damages have been reported so far apart from minor cracks in the walls of several houses and the partial collapse of a primary school roof. 28 people were admitted to hospitals with slight injuries after they jumped off their their balconies and out of windows. There have been numerous small aftershocks.
JAPAN - Flowers with incredible abilities, including earthquake prediction, electromagnetic wave distortion and mosquito repellence are Japan's latest hit gardening products. The "Jishin Yochi Kusa", or Earthquake Plant is said to have mysterious properties, and there is supposedly scientific data that supports the Earthquake Plant's ability to predict seismic activity - a wildly welcome ability in the world's most earthquake-prone country. The Earthquake Plant is part of the Mimosa family. It is said to fold its leaves shut hours before a detectible earthquake. The plant shuts its leaves at night anyway, so if its abilities are actually as accurate as they're supposed to be, it'd have to be daylight to check it out.
2/7 -
CALIFORNIA - Scientists have long known a big earthquake on the Hayward Fault — which runs through some of the most densely populated parts of the San Francisco Bay Area - could kill hundreds, destroy tens of thousands of homes and close more than a thousand roads. But recent research suggests that may be an underestimate. After looking at records of a huge quake that occurred on the fault more than 135 years ago, a Bay Area scientist has concluded that it was bigger than the one the region has been preparing for. While it may not sound like a huge difference — a magnitude 7.0 quake vs. a magnitude 6.7 — it is. With the way quakes are measured, each increase by a full number, 6.0 to 7.0 for instance, the power of the quake is increased by a factor of 10, which translates into much more damage. Scientists estimate there is a 27 percent chance a quake of magnitude 6.7 or greater will occur on the Hayward Fault by 2032. "There's an annual survey done to ask Californians what are their top issues in the state. I don't think earthquake preparedness has made the top 20. It's not been a terribly popular topic. One of the things that happens between big earthquakes is people forget, or they don't want to think about them."
GUAM - Residents can expect to encounter disruptions in water service, a Guam Waterworks Authority official said, because of the damage sustained from the recent earthquake. The 5.2-magnitude quake early Sunday morning was centered around 40 miles east-northeast of Hagåtña at a depth of 61 miles. Parts of Santa Rita were without water, as is the entire village of Agat and parts of Chalan Pago and Mangilao. "There will be more breaks in the coming days, maybe weeks, because of the strong earthquake."
2/6 -
KYRGYZSTAN - Concerns have been raised over Kyrgyzstan's ability to deal with the aftermath of an earthquake following four quakes in the Central Asian state in the space of a month. While the government and relief agencies have a plan to contain natural disasters, this UNUSUAL level of seismological activity has put the spotlight on Kyrgyzstan's ability to respond to emergencies, and bigger quakes are expected to follow. The reason for such concern was a strong earthquake in Kemin a century ago. "Seismologists say that such tremors are highly likely to reoccur every 100 years." There have been no serious casualties from any of the earthquakes in the past month, but several thousand buildings - including houses, schools and medical facilities - have been damaged, and some totally destroyed. The series of earthquakes began on December 26, measuring up to 5.9 on the Richter scale. Tens of thousands of people were affected by the earthquakes, with thousands of them losing their homes.
2/5 -
CANADA - Vancouver Island - Canada's earthquake tracking page said Sunday that the Episodic Tremor and Slip event appeared to have ended, as there were 24 hours without additional recorded "significant tremors." According to Canada's site, the subsidence of tremors likely means the danger of a big quake has passed, for now. A tsunami struck Japan in 1700 as a result of an estimated magnitude 9.0 quake off of Vancouver Island, in what's known as the Cascadia subduction zone. The zone encompasses a major fault line that stretches from Vancouver southward along the coasts of Washington and Oregon. Huge quakes strike the area about every 500 years. A major quake along the Cascadia subduction zone could inundate the coast of Oregon in as little as thirty minutes. The episodic tremor and slip events differ slightly from a normal quake, in that they occur at depths where solid rock isn't so solid. The Episodic Tremor and Slip activity, recorded at depths between 25 and 40km (approximately 15-25 miles) occur in areas where heat and pressure creates a degree of elasticity in the rock. That value changes the nature of shaking so it's not considered a true quake. The latest episode of subterranean tremors has ended earlier than expected, seismologists at the Pacific Geoscience Centre in Sidney said Saturday. "Things have quietened down very quickly. We don't know why." Seismographs show the tremors have stopped, but data from other instruments does not yet show whether Vancouver Island is still being pulled towards Japan or if it is again moving in its usual direction towards Ottawa. The episodes occur about every 14 months and the next expected episode of tremor and slip will be about April 2008.
2/4 -
CANADA - Expected tremors have arrived in South Vancouver Island - Local earthquake scientists are paying close attention to an unusual travelling tremor deep inside the earth’s crust. Called a slow-slip event by some researchers, the tremor began two weeks ago in the Puget Sound area and has since travelled northward along the Juan de Fuca plate at a rate of about 10 kilometres a day. The wandering tremor is the result of subtle, slow slippage of the Juan de Fuca plate as it pushes against the North American plate in an area known as the Cascadia subduction zone. Since the slow-slip tremors were identified, only five years ago, scientists have determined that they occur at surprisingly regular intervals. “They happen every 14 to 15 months, plus or minus 45 days.” But rather than releasing pent-up seismic energy, the slow slips actually increase tension, albeit in tiny increments. The tremors aren’t an indication that a major quake is on the way soon, but the chances of a major quake happening increase during one of these tremor episodes. “We know it adds to the stress, but we don’t know what the breaking point is. The tension is creeping up in discreet steps and eventually one these discreet steps will trigger a major quake. We just don’t know when.” A sudden slippage of the two plates would trigger an earthquake similar in magnitude to the one off the coast of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004.
2/1/07 -
MARIANAS ISLANDS - The 6.9 earthquake which struck Wednesday in the vicinity of Marianas Islands, east of the Philippines, prompted the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to issue an alert saying a local tsunami was possible. The earthquake struck at 7:37 a.m. local time at a depth of 49.8 kilometers (31 miles), 840 kilometers north of Hagatna in Guam. There was no threat of a large Pacific-wide tsunami. There were no immediate reports of damage or of a tsunami. The Marianas lie in a zone where the Pacific and the Philippine Plates meet.
NEW YORK - For the third time in a month, a “micro quake” rumbled beneath the earth in the North Country. The latest event occurred Monday just after Midnight. According to the U.S. geological Survey, the 2.2 magnitude quake was centered 7 miles south-southeast of Potsdam. The two other micro quakes were a 2.3 centered near Carthage earlier this month, and a 2.3 centered three miles north of Sackets Harbor. The last earthquake to cause damage in the North Country hit the Ausable Forks area in 2002. That 5.1 quake caused over $16 million in damage.
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1/31 -
CHILE - The weeks’ long tremors that have residents of Chilean Patagonia fearsome of a major earthquake can be traced to a submarine fissure and not the tectonic plates, according to a group of scientists working in the area. The epicenter has been located in the Aysen fiord, 20 kilometers to the northeast of Puerto Chacabuco, next to Mentirosa Island at a depth of ten kilometers. Working on this data authorities and experts reached two hypotheses: first that the seismic activity will diminish until disappearing, as usually happens with similar phenomena, although the situation could persist for months with intensity ranging between 5 and 6 degrees in the Mercalli scale. The second hypothesis is a small liberation of energy accompanied by a leak of fluid magma helping to create a relatively small volcanic cone on the ocean bed in the Aysen fiord area. However, the submarine eruption could take years to materialize. If something does occur it will be “superficial, low intensity and a fume column that could reach a couple of kilometers high”.
MACQUARIE ISLAND - A local tsunami warning was issued after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck in the vicinity of Macquarie Island, which lies about halfway between Australia and Antarctica. The earthquake struck 810 kilometers (502 miles) west of Macquarie Island and 1,338 kilometers south of Hobart in Australia at 2:54 p.m. local time. Macquarie sits in a zone where the Pacific Plate, the Indo- Australian Plate and the Antarctic Plate meet. There was no threat of a large Pacific-wide tsunami. There were no immediate reports of damage or a tsunami.
1/30 -
CHILE - Hundreds of earthquakes and tremors have shaken Chile’s remote Aysen region for a week, causing anxiety among locals. Quakes have registered between 2 and 5.4 on the Richter scale. The earthquakes are being caused by tectonic movement along the seismic fault that runs from the 9th to the 11th regions. Residents worried that volcanic activity was producing the tremors, a sign of imminent eruption. The phenomenon has brought back memories of the 1991 disaster caused by the Hudson Volcano, which erupted for over five months, covering the area with ash and killing tens of thousands of farm animals. The eruption of Hudson was preceded by a similar spate of tremors and earthquakes. Many in the Aysen region have experienced stress, anxiety and even panic attacks because of the shaking. Anti-anxiety medication and eye-masks have been on high demand to combat widespread insomnia. In addition to the stress caused by the threat of an eruption, residents worry about the state’s capacity to deal with a disaster. Residents have been warned to take precautionary measures, such as disconnecting gas lines and unplugging electronic devices at night. They are also stocking up on emergency supplies like bottled water, canned goods, batteries and candles.
1/26 -
INDONESIA - Indian scientist warns of a possible major natural disaster in South East Asia - Increased seismic activities have been recorded in the past one month in the Java-Sumatra-Andaman region of South East Asia, indicating the possibility of a major disaster in the near future. More than 52 earthquakes with varying magnitude have been recorded in the last month. These include two major earthquakes: 7.1 magnitude in Taiwan on December 26 and 7.5 in the Molucca sea. Also 4.9 and 6.1 magnitude earthquakes were recorded in the Nicobar Islands. This appears to be a natural cyclic process but there is a possibility of it triggering a major disaster.
1/23 -
KOREA - the 4.8 earthquake that jolted the eastern province of Kangwon on Saturday evening was the eighth-largest earthquake in Korean history. Most seismologists have said that the Korean Peninsula, which is located on the Eurasia plate, was considered safe from the danger of earthquakes. However, other experts say that since earthquakes that occur on the Korean Peninsula are closely related to those that take place in nearby countries, South Korea is no more a safety area. Clashes between Pacific and Philippines plates, India and Eurasia plates cause earthquakes in Japan and China, and forces that are left from the clashes cause earthquakes in the Korean Peninsula. "Whenever large-scale earthquakes take place in nearby countries such as China and Japan, earthquakes occur on inland Korea within the next one to five years.Since a large scale earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 occurred in Fukuoka, Japan, in 2005, there is a high possibility that an earthquake measuring 5.0 or even more could hit the inland of our country within the next five years." There have been three earthquakes measuring 5.0 or stronger on the Korean Peninsula since 1978.
1/22 -
INDONESIA - A magnitude 7.3 earthquake in northeastern Indonesia left one person dead and four injured when it rattled buildings, causing panicked residents to flee homes, churches and shopping malls. The Indonesian seismological institute also issued a tsunami alert via television and radio, but the feared wave never came. The alert however sent hundreds racing inland to higher ground causing massive traffic jams.
INDONESIA - A major 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck this morning in the Molucca Sea about 100 miles east of Sulawesi Island in northeastern Indonesia. The quake was large enough to cause a tsunami, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a statement, but no tsunami warning was immediately issued. A basin-wide tsunami - one that travels a great distance or across an ocean - isn't expected, though a tsunami near the earthquake's site is "always possible."
TURKEY - an earthquake measuring 5.0 on the open-ended Richter scale jolted the eastern Turkish province of Agri today. Authorities said the quake had demolished homes in at least two villages and they were checking for casualties. The epicentre of the tremor, which hit at 9.38am (6.38pm AEDT), was at the town of Tutak, near the borders with Armenia and Iran. Panicked residents rushed to the streets.
1/19 -
WYOMING - A minor earthquake last week in Thermopolis appears to have briefly affected the flow of a popular hot spring, and served as a reminder that much of the land around Yellowstone National Park is quake country. The Big Spring, the park's primary hot spring, pumps a constant flow of mineral-rich water at a temperature of about 130 degrees. The magnitude 3.5 earthquake on Jan. 9 was followed by a dip in flow from the spring. "Our monitoring equipment showed a minor drop in flow for about two hours." "Black Sulphur Spring lost its water back in the 1950s when an earthquake hit near Yellowstone. It hasn't had water since, but we checked it after this quake, just in case. But still, no water." The park has hundreds, sometimes thousands, of quakes each year. Most are too small to be felt "and very few of those affect thermal features."

1/18 -
SRI LANKA - The recent landslides in Sri Lanka are a delayed manifestation of the impact of the giant earthquake in Sumatra which set off the devastating tsunami in December 2004, a scientist of the National Building Research Organization said yesterday. He explained that the giant earthquake in Sumatra on December 2004, caused a change in gravity across the earth. According to data collected, the gravity in some areas increased, while in other areas it reduced. Gravity in Sri Lanka is reported to have lessened. The soil, especially in the hill country, has become porous, reducing the density of the hills, resulting in landslides. According to him, landslides have occurred in the least expected areas such as Kandana, Kapala Kanda in Ja-Ela and Maggona. He warned that Sri Lanka should be vigilant, as most of the reservoirs in the country are situated in the hill country. He stressed the need for more tactical and high-tech research on the situation to avert future disasters.

TAIWAN - An undersea earthquake struck off the coast of Taiwan on Wednesday, complicating efforts to repair six submerged cables that were severed by a stronger quake nearly four weeks ago. The most recent temblor measured 5.0 on the Richter scale. Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau reported no immediate damage or casualties. This after a magnitude-6.7 earthquake killed two people and crippled the region's network traffic on December 26. The events are likely to have a long-term impact as telecommunications firms gradually come to grips with the damage. "We're heading towards the fourth week after the earthquake and not a single cable has been repaired. It's a tough situation - deep water, rough seas, and not many boats available." The rerouting of traffic remains "very volatile", even as Asian firms have been imaginative in finding alternative ways to move their communications traffic.

1/17 -
Four weeks after the Taiwan quake, China's internet is still crippled. It's now been nearly a month since a Boxing Day earthquake near Taiwan damaged some of the Internet cables that connect China to the rest of the world. China is essentially cut off from the global Internet. Technically, the rest of the world is still reachable, but service remains so spotty and inconsistent that it is far more frustrating than useful. International Web sites are still accessible from China, much in the same way that a magazine at the other end of a football field is technically readable if you have binoculars. You can do it with some patience, but it's a drag turning the page. Every Chinese repair update says more or less the same thing: Another two weeks.

SCOTLAND - Seismologists have revealed that the Boxing Day earthquake in Dumfries was the strongest to have its epicentre in the region in more than 200 years. The effects were felt as far away as Glasgow and Paisley. The quake struck at 1040 GMT and was initially measured at 3.6 on the Richter scale. It was the BIGGEST QUAKE IN DUMFRIESSHIRE SINCE RECORDS BEGAN IN 1775. There was some damage to properties - the worst being a wall which was split in two by the force of the quake. The largest previous event locally was recorded in Lockerbie in 1888 and measured 3.4 on the Richter scale. Across the border, the Carlisle area has been at the epicentre of two quakes with a magnitude of 4.7 - the last on Boxing Day 1979.

JAPAN - A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Japan Tuesday, rocking buildings in the capital city but causing no tsunami. No injuries or damage were immediately reported. The quake struck at 3:18 am and was centred 170 kilometres underground in Shizuoka prefecture, about 150 kilometres west of Tokyo.

Earthquakes killed 6,604 people worldwide in 2006, down significantly from the previous two years. Some 5,749 of the fatalities for 2006 were the result of a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in Java, Indonesia on May 26. The death toll in other recent years:
2005: 89,354
2004: About 284,000
2003: 33,819
2002: 1,711
Nearly 70 earthquakes are recorded every day around the world by the USGS. On average, there are 17 major earthquakes (magnitude 7.0 to 7.9) and one great earthquake (8.0 or higher) each year worldwide. Each year since 2000 has seen one great temblor except for 2002, when there was none, and 2004 when there were two. The USGS continually states that there are not more earthquakes lately, and the agency's data clearly shows no increase over time in temblors that are large enough to be potentially dangerous. More very small quakes are recorded now compared to decades past because seismographs are more prevalent.

1/16 -
TAWIAN - Last month's earthquake off Taiwan that killed two people and injured 42 has revived a debate on earthquake prediction as several residents of the island claimed they had predicted it because they heard strange sounds or had chest pains. Li Chen-chi says that several days before the Dec. 26 quake struck off Hengchun in southern Taiwan, he heard sounds like a ship's horn and radio jamming and he e-mailed his predictions to friends and a geologist at National Taiwan University. About 200 quakes of at least magnitude 4 jolt Taiwan each year, with a dozen of them above magnitude 5.The Seismological Observation Center, fed up with predictions made by scores of people, banned unofficial earthquake prediction in 2005. Violators of the ban face a US$30,000 fine.
"A month and a half before the 9-21-99 earthquake hit Taiwan, Chinese space scientists had predicted it, but they did not notify Taiwan until after the quake due to strained Beijing-Taipei ties." The Chinese scientists had noticed - through satellite thermal imaging - a two-to-six-degree-Centigrade rise in temperature on the ocean surface around Taiwan.

1/14 -
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Internet traffic in the UAE was disrupted Saturday, reportedly due to the 8.2 earthquake in the northern Pacific in the early hours of Saturday morning. Some websites were down, while others experienced slower connection speeds and reduced functions.

1/12 -
An 8.2 quake has struck EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS at approximately 10:45pm CST.
JAPAN issued a tsunami warning along the coast of northern Hokkaido region and the Pacific coast on the main island of Honshu following what they reported as an 8.3-magnitude earthquake. The earthquake occurred in the north-western Pacific at 1.24am local time (3.24pm AEDT). Waves as high as one metre are expected to reach Hokkaido around 2pm (4pm AEDT).
JAPAN - A wave about 10 centimeters high was observed at Nemuro at 3:04 p.m. local time. Some local governments of cities in eastern of Hokkaido, including Nemuro and Kushiro, issued evacuation recommendations. The U.S. Joint Tsunami Warning Center said there was a tsunami warning in effect for coastal areas of Russia, Japan and the westernmost Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska. A warning means there is an imminent threat of a tsunami from an undersea quake or that a tsunami is under way. A watch is issued to provide an alert before a tsunami is confirmed. A tsunami watch, indicating a lower likelihood of danger, was in effect for Hawaii, Taiwan, the Philippines, the Northern Marianas and other islands in the western Pacific. The epicenter of the quake was near that of a magnitude-8.1 earthquake on Nov. 15, 2006 - a tsunami warning was issued for the same area after that quake struck the Kurile islands, but in the end only small waves hit Japan - the highest was 40 cm.
As the appointed time for expected tsunami waves passed, most areas said there had been no visible changes to the sea level. Noda Port in Iwate state in Hokkaido, however, reported a decline of about 8ins in the water surface and seismologists warned of the need for caution as high waves could still hit, hours after a tsunami warning. Citing the declining sea levels being observed in some locations, one said “we should assume it’s coming”.
Japan's Meteorological Agency has downgraded its tsunami warnings to advisories for the highest risk areas, prompting some municipalities to lift evacuation orders. Warnings for Alaska's western Aleutian islands and a tsunami watch for Hawaii were both canceled. The largest wave reported was a 16-inch tidal swell that twice hit the shores of Chichi-jima, a Pacific island 620 miles south of Tokyo, more than three hours after the quake. Earlier, a tidal swell of about 4 inches was recorded in the northeastern coastal town of Nemuro about an hour after the quake, and small swells in the tide also were observed in other coastal towns, including Kushiro, Abashiri and Otaru. "The tidal change so far seems rather small, but a bigger one may come hours later. So we have to stay vigilant into the night in case a second or a third ones come in bigger waves."
1/11 -
CHINA - Thousands of buildings were damaged in an earthquake measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale in northwest China's Gansu province on Tuesday night. The earthquake struck at 10:49 p.m., with its epicenter in Jingtai County. Tremors were strongly felt in the surrounding counties and cities including Lanzhou, the provincial capital. Several buildings collapsed but local officials believe none of them were residential buildings. Nearly 4,000 houses have reportedly been damaged. Over 500 school and office buildings were also damaged. There have been no reports of any deaths or injuries.

TAJIKISTAN - A strong earthquake measuring five points on the Richter scale, which occurred near the Tajik-Kyrgyz border (180 kilometers northeast of Dushanbe) in the evening on January 8, inflicted significant damages to residents of the Isfara region of Tajikistan. Fifty-six countryside houses and one school were damaged in Vorukh.

CANADA - A moderate earthquake has shaken the northwestern tip of British Columbia, along the Alaska and Yukon borders on Tuesday. The U.S. Geological Survey says the shaker at 7:49 a.m. (Pacific Time) had a magnitude of 5.6 and was centred in a sparsely populated region of B.C., about 100 km southwest of Whitehorse. The quake, at a depth of about 4.7 km, triggered a flood of phone calls to media outlets by residents reporting a distinct rolling sensation. People described the tremor as "THE STRONGEST IN RECENT MEMORY," although no damage is reported. "it was a long, continuous shake with a quick vibration (lasting) about 20 seconds or so."

CALIFORNIA - A major earthquake on the southern end of the San Andreas fault is inevitable and likely will be catastrophic for much of Southern California, experts said on Tuesday. Tuesday also marked the 150th anniversary of the last major earthquake along the San Andreas fault, which registered a magnitude 7.9. If that quake happened now, as many as 5,000 people would be killed and economic losses would be around 150 billion U.S. dollars. New computer simulations show that a large southern San Andreas earthquake could cause shaking that is stronger and longer than previously anticipated. A major quake on the southern reaches of the fault could last for more than two minutes. The average time between major earthquakes along the San Andreas is 150 years, but the southern segment of the fault, which runs from the Salton Sea through the Coachella Valley to San Bernardino, has not slipped significantly in more than 300 years. "The more we know, the greater our concern."

1/10 -
KYRGYZSTAN - An earthquake with a magnitude of 6 hit southern Kyrgyzstan on Monday night, causing cracks in houses but no casualties, the second quake to shake the Central Asian nation in two weeks. The quake struck settlements in Batken region around midnight, centered in an area 90 kilometers (56 miles) southwest of the regional center near the border with Tajikistan. Authorities in neighboring Uzbekistan said that tremors measuring 5 on the Richter scale were registered in the capital Tashkent on Monday night. Two weeks ago, an earthquake of a magnitude of 5.5 struck northern Kyrgyzstan causing cracks in thousands of houses but no casualties.

1/9 -
SOUTH OF SCOTLAND - A strong earthquake has been clearly felt on the Shetland island of Unst. The earthquake in the Norwegian sea, measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale, was felt at about 0150 GMT on Sunday. The epicentre of the early morning earthquake was said to be about 200km north east of Shetland. A spokesman for the British Geological Survey (BGS) said it was the LARGEST EARTHQUAKE OF ITS KIND IN THE AREA FOR 10 YEARS. An earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale shook parts of Dumfries and Galloway on December 26th.

1/7 -
HAWAII - Water woes brought a group of state lawmakers and government officials to Hawaii Island this weekend. It's another chapter in a continuing saga that began when the October 15, 2006 earthquake damaged major water sources. Cloverleaf Dairy Farms produces a third of all the milk sold on the Big Island. It is one of about 50 agricultural customers who relied on the private, 22.5-mile Kohala Ditch for water. The Kohala Ditch used to carry up to 15 million gallons of water a day. The farm took a massive hit when the ditch, which is still not running, dried up. "The earthquake caused avalanches that have covered the intake system and destroyed trails, covered flumes." If the problem continues past this rainy season, farmers, ranchers, and nurseries will suffer. "They're at significant - if not severe - risk because of lack of water sources."

SWITZERLAND - Basel has been rocked by another earth tremor centred on the site of a planned geothermal power plant, this time measuring 3.1 on the Richter scale. This time buildings stood up to the force unlike the minor damage inflicted by a small earthquake in December that clocked a reading of 3.4. Nobody was hurt in either of the two incidents. The latest tremor took place at 08.19 on Saturday, prompting around 40 residents to call the emergency services. Work on the Deep Heat Mining project stopped last month following a series of tremors and will not resume until at least the end of January when experts are expected to conclude their analysis. The project plans to recover heat to generate electricity by pumping water deep into the Earth's crust. The injection of water into rocks five kilometres below the surface began at the start of December 2006, but only lasted a few days. Since the process started more than 100 small tremors have been recorded.

1/5 -
CHINA - Nearly 10,000 Chinese website operators have lost the use of their .com Internet addresses due to telecom problems caused by last month's earthquake near Taiwan. The quake, which severed major international telecommunications lines, caused thousands of .com domain names held by Chinese users to vanish from world registries. Lingering disruptions to overseas Web connections also have prevented them from accessing the overseas registries to re-register the names. "So far, a large number of domain names held by businesses have been snatched by overseas investors, causing businesses to suffer losses." Though underlying websites are unaffected, more than 9,000 domain-holders had lost use of their .com addresses, and the number was expected to grow while the Internet disruptions last. The undersea quake damaged cables that carry most of the region's telecom traffic, sparking widespread communications disruptions affecting Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and elsewhere. Knock-on problems occurred as far away as Australia. Telecommunications firms have sent repair ships to the waters off southern Taiwan, where the 7.1 quake hit on December 26, to repair the damage but have said connections might not be fully restored for weeks. Access in China to overseas websites was cut off for several days following the quake. Though largely restored, the connections remain slower than normal.

1/2 -
JAPAN - Earthquakes continued to rattle Izu Islands in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo Monday after a fairly strong quake jolted one of the islands on Sunday. At 4:18 a.m. on Monday, an earthquake measuring 2 on the 7-point Japanese intensity scale hit Shikine and Kozu islands. The focus of the temblor, estimated at 3.1 on the open-ended Richter scale, was located about 10 kilometers underground. Another earthquake measuring 2 on the Japanese scale shook Shikine Island at 5:16 a.m. The quakes followed one that measured 4 on the Japanese scale on Shikine Island Sunday. [a 5.1 quake hit the BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION this morning.]

1/1/07 -
EL SALVADOR - An earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale occurred in El Salvador. [the USGS site shows a 5.0 off the coast of Guatemala on 12/30]. The epicenter of the quake, which occurred at 11:42 a.m. local time, damaged many buildings, but caused no causalities. El Salvador has been shaken with 980 tremors since Dec. 17, 160 of which were strong, destroying 2,242 houses and leaving 5,520 people homeless.

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2006 Quake Activity -
12/29 -
CHINA has come up with an earthquake prediction system which relies on the behaviour of snakes. Experts monitor snakes at local snake farms via video cameras linked to a broadband Internet connection. “Of all the creatures on Earth, snakes are perhaps the most sensitive to earthquakes and could sense an earthquake from 120km away, three to five days before it happens. They respond by behaving strangely. When an earthquake is about to occur, snakes will move out of their nests, even in the cold of winter. If the earthquake is a big one, the snakes will even smash into walls while trying to escape.”

12/28 -
TAIWAN - Telecommunications across Asia have been severely disrupted because of damage to undersea cables caused by Tuesday's earthquake near Taiwan. Banks and businesses in Taiwan, South Korea, China and Japan reported telephone and internet problems. Two people were killed and at least 42 injured in the 7.1 temblor, which shook buildings across the island. Repairs could take three weeks.

KYRGYZSTAN - At least 6,000 buildings in Kyrgyzstan were damaged by an earthquake in the northern regions of the country. Rescue officials said no injuries have been reported from the quake, which measured 6.6 on the Richter scale Wednesday. Rescuers said 10 buildings were destroyed by the tremor, 518 were somewhat damaged and the remaining buildings were only slightly damaged.

NEVADA - The biggest fault beneath Lake Tahoe could be due to rupture any time, according to an evaluation being prepared by researchers who probed Tahoe and nearby Fallen Leaf Lake earlier this year. Potentially tsunami-spawning faults lurk beneath the lake. A magnitude 7 or greater earthquake could trigger an underwater landslide that quickly displaces huge amounts of water, potentially sending giant waves surging into parks, campgrounds, homes and marinas along the lake's shore, and possibly overtopping a dam that regulates flow into the Truckee River. In addition, it appears from sediment layers that the last big earthquake on the West Tahoe fault was 4,000 to 6,000 years ago. That's significant, because the fault seems to produce a major quake every 5,000 to 7,000 years, or perhaps a little more often. "There are active faults near the lake, under the lake and to the east in Nevada at the base of the hills. We still don't know very much about all those faults." But they have the potential to spawn waves that could surge up to 30 feet and slosh from shore to shore for hours.

12/27 -
TAIWAN - A strong undersea earthquake of magnitude 7.1 has struck off Taiwan, followed by a powerful 6.4 aftershock 10 minutes later. No damage or injuries were immediately reported, but correspondents say the quake could be felt across the island. The quake swayed buildings and knocked objects off the shelves in Taipei. The tremors come on the second anniversary of the Asian tsunami, which claimed almost 250,000 lives. And it comes on the third anniversary of the Bam, Iran quake which killed over 26,000.
One person was killed and 24 others wounded in Hengchun in what is known as the LARGEST QUAKE IN A CENTURY. At least a dozen houses in Hengchun collapsed in the first hit. Half a dozen fires broke out in Hengchun and telephone communication was cut, while scores of people were reported trapped in hotel and department store elevators in nearby Kaohsiung and Pingtung. Seismologists in Taipei located the epicenter of the first quake some 21.9 kilometers off Hengchun.
The first aftershock shook Taiwan eight minutes after the earthquake and measured 7.0 on the Richter scale. Four minutes later came the third shock - at 5.2 on the Richter scale - and three hours later came the fourth aftershock, which was measured at a 5.5. The original earthquake and the first aftershock each lasted more than 1 minute.

PHILIPPINES - A magnitude 6.0 earthquake shook Batanes province Tuesday night as the world commemorated the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia. The earthquake took place between 8:28 p.m. and 8:34 p.m. Its epicenter was located 104 kilometers south of Basco.

SCOTLAND - Residents in a Scottish town reported their houses shaking violently and windows rattling yesterday after the MOST POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE IN BRITAIN THIS YEAR was recorded in Dumfries. The 3.5-magnitude tremor struck the town just before 10.45am and lasted for about ten seconds. A seismologist said that while it was a “significant earthquake”, the survey would expect one or two of the same magnitude every year. Britain is struck by about 200 tremors every year, although most are not big enough to be felt by the public. The worst recorded earthquake was in June 1931. It measured 6.1 with an epicentre 60 miles offshore in the North Sea.

12/26 -
JAPAN - A major earthquake striking the Tokyo metropolitan area could result in major congestion on roads, with some areas blocked for as long as six hours as people make their way home on foot, calculations by a research institute have shown. On the day the earthquake struck, if people went to the toilet twice and took food and water once, about 6 million meals and 6 million liters of water would be required, along with toilets that would be used 15 million times. However, among the places that could provide services for people, convenience stores would only be able to provide toilets for use about 1.95 million times.

CALIFORNIA - A third small earthquake in four days rattled the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday, but there were no reports of injury or damage. The latest earthquake was similar in magnitude (3.5) and location to those that struck Wednesday and Friday. They erupted along the Hayward Fault, which geologists believe is due for a quake in the potentially lethal 6.7 to 7.0 range. But the minor earthquakes should not be interpreted as omens of a more destructive one to come. "It could mean there's something coming, it could mean there's nothing coming. It just means the area is active, more active than it's been." Also Saturday, a small 4.1 earthquake rattled the desert in Southern California.
The series of minor earthquakes last week along the East Bay's Hayward Fault, though UNUSUAL, are not necessarily a precursor to a larger quake in the area. After last week's earthquakes, there is a slight increase in the probability of a larger quake on the way. Earthquake records going back to the 1970s show that there is usually about one magnitude 3 or 4 quake every year in this vicinity. Since 1970, within a 6-mile radius of these earthquakes, there have been 37 magnitude-3 seismic events, "none of which have been foreshocks to the magnitude 7 we've been worried about." Scientists think that a phenomenon called 'creep', a slow, continuous movement of one side of the fault with respect to the other that has been observed on the surface of the Hayward fault, may also be occurring deeper within the earth.
The fourth small earthquake (2.6) in six days rattled the San Francisco Bay area on Monday, but there were no reports of injuries or damage. Experts have said there is a 27 percent chance of a potentially lethal earthquake of a magnitude 6.7 or greater on the Hayward Fault by 2031.

12/21 -
PAKISTAN - structures in the northern parts of Pakistan are raising seismic potential to a higher level that could trigger quakes of high intensity, close to the range of the October 8 catastrophe, in the future, says a new geological research. The profile of the October 8, 2005 7.5-magnitude quake has surpassed the 'seismic jigging' from others. The first jolt on October 8 was followed by 46 5-magnitude aftershocks and two massive ones of magnitude 6 and 6.4. These most critical shocks occurred within 48 hours of the main jolt and the subsequent aftershocks continued for the next two months till the end of December 2005. “This scenario is more than sufficient to adjudge the Oct 8, 2005 tragedy as a massive seismic episode which with 46 aftershocks, each equivalent to a major earthquake, struck successively in Hazara-Kashmir, resulting in devastation of an immeasurable scale. The high risk-borne seismic factors which will confront this terrain in the future evolve around the tectonic behaviour of the earthquake-prone surficial and deep crustal mega shears." In the current sismotectonic scenario of the earthquake-prone structures of northern Pakistan, the Hazara-Kashmir belt appears to be under stress, while the six surficial and the three deep crustal seismically active mega structures in this terrain raise its seismic potential to a higher level. The Main Mantle Thrust has a very turbulent tectonic history in the Himalayan region, the earthquakes generated in this region are shallow and the events emanated from this depth are hazardous with vast seismic coverage. The Oct 8, 2005 earthquake is the product of this thrust zone. The Triple Seismic Junction, according to the research, located in the vicinity of Balakot in an area of about 500 sq km, is continually being energised by the three active converging faults. After the main shock of October 8, 2005, the epicentres had started moving towards the north-west and a major part of the epicentres' over 1,800 aftershocks were concentrated in the Triple Junction, indicating an enhancement in its storage capacity.
12/20 -
MAINE - Another quake reported on Mount Desert Island - The rumblings that began in September are continuing in Bar Harbor. The latest tremor Monday had a magnitude of 2.3. There were no reports of damage or injury. The quakes began in September and continued for weeks afterward. The biggest was a 4.2 magnitude quake on October 3. It was powerful enough to send boulders tumbling onto the Park Loop Road at Acadia National Park.
12/19 -
INDONESIAN relief workers struggled today to reach parts of a remote area in Sumatra island after earthquakes destroyed 680 homes and killed at least four people. A road connecting two villages in the Muarasipongi area remained impassable after yesterday's quakes triggered landslides. 230 families had fled their homes amid heavy rain and continuing aftershocks. People from 11 villages affected by the quake had sought shelter on soccer fields, or in local government offices and police buildings. The quakes, which struck early yesterday and were up to a magnitude of 5.8, were felt in Singapore, just across the Strait of Malacca on the other side of Sumatra island.
The moderate 5.5 earthquake that hit just before dawn may have killed seven people and it injured 100 early Monday, spreading panic across a large swath of the Indonesian island worst hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami.
12/18 -
INDONESIA - Three moderate earthquakes struck Indonesia's Sumatra island, with four people reported killed in one area and causing a string of aftershocks. The first earthquake struck at 4.10am (0810 AEDT) with a magnitude of 5.8. Its epicentre was 128km under the sea southwest of the city of Banda Aceh. The second quake, which had a magnitude of 5.7, came about 30 minutes later on land at depth of 53km in an area northwest of the city of Padang in Sumatra. A third quake, of 5.5 magnitude, hit at 8.24am (12:24 AEDT) in North Sumatra.
12/17 -
Hawaiian earthquake had surprising trigger - A new fault formed off the northwest coast of Hawaii on Oct. 15 of this year, and now scientists are figuring out what caused the crack and the ensuing 6.7 magnitude earthquake. The crack extends about 9 miles in length in the oceanic plate that supports the island. It formed about 35 miles below the sea-surface level, much deeper than quakes typically originate in that region. The temblor set off a chain of events, including a shallower earthquake of magnitude 6.0 and more than 80 aftershocks within a 24-hour period. For an island chain comprised of volcanoes, any shaking and waves of energy triggered by an earthquake can interact with chambers of magma that turn into erupting lava. The October quake, however, actually reduced the activity of most volcanoes on the island with the exception of one confined area on Mauna Loa where activity increased. The recent earthquake was caused not by volcanic activity but from the heft of the volcanoes, which continue to gain weight as more lava flows onto the surface.
12/15 -
PENNSYLVANIA - Many people say their pets felt Wednesday's 2.4 earthquake coming.
A local official says the minor earthquake that struck the Reading area Wednesday may have caused a significant water main break in Denver Borough. The 2.5-magnitude quake struck shortly after 2 p.m. about seven miles west-southwest of Reading. "There is a question with the timing of the (water main) break, if it is tied at all to the earthquake. The line essentially shifted about an inch. Something forced it to move, and we're not sure what it was." A rock against the pipe is often found to be the cause of a crack or break. The borough's public works crew found no such rocks this time. "Instead of a crack and break, it was a small offset." Borough workers noticed a drop in the local reservoir's water level, saw the water use meter jump and got reports of reduced water pressure from residents from about 2 to 3:30 p.m. The Geological Survey lists the time of the earthquake as 2:08 p.m. The quake shook at least one building near Reading on Wednesday and prompted startled residents to inundate Berks County's 911 center with phone calls. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. "It was sizable compared to the ones we've seen in the past."
INDONESIA - The data recorded by a global positioning system through June 2006 showed the two huge earthquakes that devastated Aceh province and Nias Island in 2004 and 2005 were not the end of the earthquake cycle on Sumatra island and were reflections of underground forces pushing the island in different directions. "This movement will accumulate the energy from a huge earthquake source under the Mentawai Islands, whose power could reach up to a 9 magnitude (quake) or even higher." While it is impossible to predict when the earthquake would hit, it would likely affect the Mentawai Islands and Sumatra's west coast - from West Sumatra province to Bengkulu. An extremely large earthquake hits Sumatra every 100 to 300 years. Recorded earthquakes followed by tsunamis occurred in the 1300s, 1600s, 1797, 1833 and 2004. The last earthquake centered under Mentawai measured 8.2 on the Richter scale in 1797 and caused 10-meter high waves. The historical and coral records show the earth crust's compression has reached the last phase of the tension release phase, which indicates another big earthquake is due.
12/14 -
THAILAND - Residents in three northern provinces were alarmed by an earthquake centred in Chiang Mai yesterday. It measured 5.1 on the Richter scale, and was followed by 69 aftershocks that slightly damaged some buildings. Four buildings in Mae Jo University in San Sai district sustained slight damage. Cracks appeared on the buildings' walls and parts of the ceiling in two dormitory rooms fell down. There were no reports of any casualties. The quake was THE STRONGEST VIBRATION EVER TO OCCUR IN CHIANG MAI. There are nine faultlines in Thailand that are still moving. Most of the faultlines run from the north to the western region of Thailand. Yesterday's earthquake was technically moderate and occurred at about 30km under the ground. Vibrations on certain faultlines in the west could also affect Bangkok.
12/13 -
CALIFORNIA - A group of California researchers predicts a major earthquake is coming within the next two years. UC Davis Professor John Rundle says studying seismic patterns has led to a formula for predicting the risk of a large quake – magnitude 6.0 or higher. "Now that doesn’t absolutely mean that there’s going to be an earthquake in either northern or southern California, but the probability of it happening is rather high in northern California based on our research."
12/12 -
NEW MADRID FAULT - Earthquake, insurance and building code experts from across the country Monday warned state insurance regulators of the catastrophic consequences when middle America experiences a replay of the 1811 and 1812 New Madrid series of earthquakes, and recommended that the regulators support a comprehensive solution that includes financial protections, public education, stronger building codes and strengthening first responders to better prepare for such an event. Scientists predict that the probability for an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 or greater in the Midsouth and Midwest is significant in the near future.
12/11 -
SWITZERLAND - Swiss engineers halted an experiment to extract geothermal heat from deep below ground after it set off a small earthquake in the nearby city of Basel. The tremor late on Saturday local time measured 3.4 on the Richter scale and caused widespread fear, prompting about 1000 calls to emergency services, but caused no injuries or serious damage. Managers apologised for any fears aroused by the mishap, which occurred after water was injected at high pressure into a 5km-deep borehole. But the managers said the experiment posed no danger. The Basel public prosecutor launched an investigation into the government-subsidised project after the quake. The $85 million experiment is known as "deep heat mining". It is designed to extract enough super-heated water to drive a power plant providing electricity for 10,000 homes and heat for 2700 others.
12/7 -
WASHINGTON - Scientists say a 'silent earthquake' is overdue - Seismology experts and geology researchers are literally waiting for the earth under the Pacific Northwest to move at any moment. The earthquake will be strong but it's certainly not going to knock plates off the wall or homes off their foundations. Experts say it will last about two weeks. Scientists have found that every 14 months or so, the North American tectonic plate moves in a northeast direction, about 8 millimeters a year. We don't even notice its movement. But the plate seems to reverse course, sliding backwards for between 6 and 15 days. It happened in July 1998, August 1999, December 2000, February 2002 and September 2005. It's now due. In November, monitors began picking up movements in the Vancouver Island area but they stopped after a just a few days.
12/6 -
TRINIDAD - The recent spate of earthquakes which have rattled the country continued on Sunday night when the Seismic Research Unit in St Augustine recorded a mild earthquake centered in the western part of Trinidad. The earthquake, which occured at about 10.52 pm, measured 3.8 in magnitude on the Richter Scale. Sunday’s earthquake continued the trend which started about four months ago. On September 29, at about 9.08 am, an earthquake measuring 6.0 magnitude on the Richter Scale occurred on land near Churapa Bay on the north-coast of Trinidad. Following this quake, there were at least 46 aftershocks, the strongest being at 2.23 pm on that day, measuring 5.3 on the Richter Scale. On November 15, at about 4.26 pm, an earthquake measuring 4.8 magnitude on the Richter Scale occurred. Two days later, a quake measuring 4.5 on the Richter Scale was recorded.
12/3 -
RUSSIA - Scientists forecasting another major earthquake in the Kuril Islands region - Another powerful earthquake may occur in the Kurile Islands region in the next two-three months, scientists at the Sakhalin Sea Geology and Geophysics Institute say, referring to analysis of the earthquakes in the Kuriles for the past 50 years. The magnitude of the second earthquake may exceed 7.5 on the Richter scale, and its epicenter is supposed to be closer to Onekotan Island or the southern Kamchatka extremity. After a disastrous 9.0-magnitude quake hit Paramushir Island in 1952, a second powerful tremor was recorded 26 days later. On Nov 15, this year, a quake measuring 7.9 occurred near Simushir Island. According to scientists, the powerful underground tremor was caused by seven-metre movement of a Pacific layer under the mainland. The energy for the movement had accumulated for 100 years. The seismic activity near Simushir Island has not subsided. Ten quakes were recorded there over 24 hours on December 1st. The magnitude of the tremours exceeded 4.0 on the Richter scale. More than 20 skilled rescuers of the Emergencies Ministry remain on duty on the islands of Kunashir, Iturup and Paramushir.
INDONESIA - An earthquake off Indonesia's eastern island of Sumbawa late Friday killed one person, damaged many houses and buildings, and caused panic among residents. The quake, which measured 6.3 on the Richter scale, had its epicentre 48 kilometres beneath the ground and struck 25 kilometres north of the island, some 1,350 kilometres east of Jakarta. The quake was the latest of a series of quakes in the past year to rattle Indonesia.
The quake injured 14 people. "Several buildings collapsed such as the chamber of commerce building and around 20 houses in Bima."
MALAYSIA - Several areas in Kuala Lumpur and Penang experienced tremors following the magnitude 6.3 earthquake in the northern part of Sumatra at 11:58 am Friday. Tremors were felt for about five minutes at several high-rise buildings.
CALIFORNIA - Predicting the Timing of Major Earthquakes - major earthquakes in California having a magnitude greater than 6 cluster in time. The timing of large earthquakes is associated with periods when "bursts" of small earthquakes, with magnitudes of 3 or less, tend to be suppressed. Northern California is currently in a period of suppressed smaller earthquakes. The opposite is true in southern California, where bursts of smaller earthquakes are relatively larger. These findings indicate that northern California is currently at higher risk than southern California for a major earthquake. Forecasting when a major earthquake will erupt - within a window of two to three years - could be possible, based on mathematical studies by researchers. The group has previously forecast the likely locations of major earthquakes over a 10-year period. From Jan. 1, 2000, to the present, 17 of the 19 significant California earthquakes having magnitudes greater than 5 have been located on "hotspots" identified on a geographic forecast map of the state. The new approach narrows the time window, but over a broader geographical area. Major earthquakes are still most likely to occur on the geographic hotspots identified previously.
12/1 -
Japanese researchers have discovered a new and sluggish kind of seismic activity that helps reveal the inner workings of faults capable of producing massive earthquakes like the one that generated the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The so-called "very low frequency" earthquakes join two other types of slow quakes previously detected in the deep portion of subduction zones, where one section of the Earth's crust dives under another. The newfound activity, along with the two other phenomena — non-volcanic deep tremors and slow slip — may contribute to the build up of stress in what are known as megathrust quake rupture zones. The new kind of seismic activity coincides in time and location with the two previously described kinds of slow quakes. Taken together, they should allow researchers to better track the increase of stress that can make big quakes more likely.
11/30 -
INDIA - A school-girl died as a mild earthquake hit a district in India's north-western state of Rajasthan on Wednesday. No further casualties or damage to property were reported due to the quake measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale which jolted the Alwar district. The 10-year old girl "died of shock" after seeing children run out of their classes in panic. India has experienced at least four major earthquakes in the last decade, including a deadly temblor that claimed over 30,000 lives in the western Gujarat state in 2001.
INDONESIA - A strong earthquake destroyed houses and other buildings in northern Indonesia Wednesday. There were no reports of deaths or injuries. The 6.1-magnitude temblor struck at 10:32 a.m. north of the Maluku islands. Around 10 houses, a mosque and a school building were destroyed in Hapo village on Morotai island.
11/27 -
HAWAII - Another small earthquake (4.3) swayed the Big Island early Saturday morning, two days after the Thanksgiving temblor. "The slightly ODD thing about the one (Saturday morning) is that it is not in the same area as last month's quake. Strictly speaking, this one was not an aftershock. It's a completely new earthquake." Both the Oct. 15 6.7-magnitude quake and the 5.0-magnitude quake on Thanksgiving occurred northeast of the Big Island, off the Kohala coastline. All this moving and grooving means the layer of earth the Big Island sits on, called a lithosphere, has been sagging underneath the weight of the island. The sagging has been occurring over the last half-million years.
11/23 -
VIRGINIA - the area's seismic activity has increased over the past few years. Monitoring equipment installed in March has been damaged by Tropical Storm Ernesto (September) which left the seismometer waterlogged in its underground vault. Traditionally, Virginia microquakes increase in number at the end of the year for unknown reasons. Although none has been reported so far this fall, a handful have struck the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, area. [Virginia got a 3.8 quake on 11/24]
11/22 -
NEW ZEALAND - South Islanders could be shaken by more earthquakes over the next week or two, but geologists say they are unlikely to be major. Four tremors in three days have rocked the top half of the South Island, two in the outer Marlborough Sounds and two in North Canterbury. "It's FAIRLY UNUSUAL to have three felt in Christchurch in as many days, but I wouldn't get too alarmed about it."
11/16 -
8.3 QUAKE - Two docks were damaged and several boats were tossed onto dry land after surging tides caused by the Kuril earthquake crashed into a northern California coastal town. In Crescent City, around 560km north of San Francisco, waves up to 1m high struck the town for about 20 minutes. "It was a tidal surge, about two or three feet of water, it kept coming and going for 20 minutes, it was very violent. We have a tremendous amount of damage, boats sitting on docks, two docks severely damaged." Weather authorities today warned communities along the north California coast to expect waves until the early evening, urging members of the public to stay away from the beach and avoid harbours and bays. In Hawaii a swimmer was slightly injured and a harbour was temporarily flooded because of big waves. The waves hit about six hours after the quake.
Crescent City residents are particularly sensitive to tsunami threats. The town was struck by a 21-foot-high tsunami in 1964 that killed 11 people and destroyed most of the town center. Officials received a notification from the National Weather Service Wednesday morning that a 3- to 5-foot surge resulting from an 8.1 magnitude quake in Japan would hit the Crescent City region at about 11:40 a.m. "We did have a very small surge at that time, and then everybody went back to business as usual." Then at around 2:30, residents noticed an ominous sign - water started running out of the town's harbor, a classic indication of an approaching tsunami. "You don't like to see that. It looked like a very fast river." But instead of a large wave, the tsunami was manifested as another large surge flowing back into the harbor. "It went on like that until about 5 p.m., maybe later. Just like a big river surging back and forth. It really hammered our docks. Pieces had to be tied off, whole sections disappeared." A tsunami warning system for the Pacific Coast has been put in place, but residents say it failed to alert them to Wednesday's surges.
In Japan, three small fishing boats were overturned in Miyagi on Japan's main island of Honshu.
11/12 -
Possible Mega-Quake - A University of Colorado professor said in a published report Friday that the world may be on the brink of a massive earthquake. Geology professor Roger Bilham said an earthquake of the magnitude he thinks is coming occurs only once in a thousand years. A quake registering 8.0 or above would dwarf the temblor that killed thousands last year in the Pakistani region of Kashmir. Bilham said there remains pent-up energy in the earth's surface that must be released through a mega-quake. It's the kind of quake that can completely erase entire cities. Geophysics professor Roland Burgmann studies earthquake cycles. He said Bilham is onto something and conditions are probably ripe for a massive quake.
11/9 -
TIME BOMBS - Using a laser mounted on an aircraft, scientists say they’ve found earthquake-prone fault lines previously hidden by forest, “time bombs” whose danger can only now be recognized and studied. Many regions of the world have undiscovered seismically active faults hidden by dense forests, including Indonesia, India, northwestern North America, all Andean nations and Europe’s alpine countries.
11/8 -
OREGON - The third small earthquake beneath Southeast Portland in the past 17 months has scientists intrigued - and stumped. A magnitude 2.6 quake at 9:34 p.m. Sunday gave thousands of Portland-area residents a brief jolt that also was felt in Forest Grove, Gresham and Ridgefield, Washington - far beyond what is expected from such a weak earthquake. The tremor follows similar small quakes in the same area: a magnitude 3.1 quake on Jan. 28 and a magnitude 2.7 in June 2005. All three epicenters were about 10 miles beneath the surface on a previously unknown fault. "We have absolutely no clue as to what's going on down there. It worries me a little that we have a fault down there that's capable of producing such strong shaking for such small magnitudes." Scientists are especially puzzled as to why the relatively weak earthquakes produced shaking 30 miles away. The unnamed fault that triggered the three quakes appears to run perpendicular to two major faults.
11/6 -
CHINA - About 1,300 people have been evacuated from 445 homes left uninhabitable by a moderate 4.2 earthquake in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Friday. About 12,000 people were affected by the quake, which damaged 5,586 homes, including 1,343 with serious damage.
11/1 -
TURKEY - Time is running out for Istanbul. There is the possibility that a large earthquake soon faces Istanbul. A full 240 years have passed since the 1766 earthquake which caused enormous damage in Istanbul, a sign that the North Marmara fault lines are ready to spring back into action. If the same level earthquake were to hit today, an estimated 10 thousand buildings would collapse, while an estimated 40-50 thousand people could die. Economic losses due to loss of life and buildings would be around 20 billion dollars.
An earthquake struck northwest Turkey on Tuesday, the second in less than a week to shake parts of Istanbul. Officials said there were no immediate reports of serious injuries or damage. The U.S. Geological Survey put the quake’s magnitude at 5.0. Two people were lightly injured in Gemlik when they jumped from their houses in panic during the quake. At least three other people fainted. Two devastating earthquakes hit northwestern Turkey in 1999, killing some 18,000 people. Geologists have been warning that Istanbul, a city with an estimated population of more than 11 million people, would be woefully unprepared for a large earthquake, an event which many feel is probable in the near future.
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10/31 -
CHINA - earthquakes jolted central China's Hubei Province over the weekend, affecting more than 50,000 local residents and causing more than 9.8 million yuan (US $1.23 million) loss. An earthquake measuring 4.7 magnitude on the Richter scale hit the province's Suizhou City on Friday evening. More than 50 aftershocks have been detected, and the strongest was 4.2 magnitude. The tremors destroyed 13,981 rooms and forced 5,860 people to evacuate.
10/27 -
U.S. seismologists have found earthquake swarms are not just clustered around volcanoes or geothermal regions but can occur in any seismically active area. An earthquake swarm consists of several moderate, related seismic events occurring over hours or days. "Swarminess" in volcanic and geothermal zones might be driven by hot water or magma pushing fault seams apart or acting to reduce friction and enhancing the seismic activity in those areas. But away from volcanic and thermal regions, it is unclear what triggers swarms that don't include main shocks and aftershocks. It is possible swarms are driven by tectonic movements so gradual that they take many minutes to weeks to unfold, but are still more rapid than normal plate tectonic motions.
A full moon might have triggered the December 26 Indian Ocean undersea earthquake. Researchers monitored tremors and collected tidal data along the Java/Sumatra trench, between October 2004 and August 2005. They found that major quakes were 86 per cent more likely around new and full moons, when tides are at their greatest. “At new and full moons the biggest mass of water is being loaded and unloaded at the plate boundary. That might be the final push that initiates a quake.” The study carries significance as another study recently found that rain can also trigger quakes.
10/25 -
WYOMING - A swarm of more than 70 small earthquakes shook the ground near Old Faithful geyser earlier this month. The largest was a magnitude 2.4, barely enough to be felt. The swarm of 74 quakes lasted several hours Oct. 14. The tight cluster of earthquakes was moderate compared with others in Yellowstone's past, including one in April 2004 in which more than 400 earthquakes were recorded over three days. "It piques our curiosity, but it's not out of the range of normal behavior." The earthquakes were more likely caused by the underground movement of hot water and gas, rather than the migration of magma.

A spate of rain is all it takes to set off some earthquakes. That's what a team of German geologists has discovered after monitoring swarms of tiny tremors in the mountains of Bavaria. The rise in water pressure within porous rocks as rain soaks into the ground can start quakes on hair-trigger faults. "Tiny changes can have big effects." "In most places, the shallow, brittle crust is close to failure. The effect of rain could be just enough to send it over the edge." But for deeper earthquakes, the water could take many years to penetrate, making it hard to be sure about cause and effect.
10/24 -
HAWAII - One week after Hawaii's biggest earthquake in 23 years, damage estimates are soaring, and a review is underway of how state, emergency and utility officials responded. Initial estimates after the magnitude-6.7 and 6.0 quakes Oct. 15, were less than $10 million, but the figure surpassed $100 million by the end of the week as damage to hotels, roads, a harbor and homes was discovered. More than 100 aftershocks followed the back-to-back earthquakes, including one that measured 3.4 Saturday. Workers began draining two 50-million-gallon reservoirs Friday after inspectors found water leaking from holes caused by the quakes. "We will never know how close we came to a major disaster." Meanwhile, debate continued over initial responses to the earthquakes. An Emergency Broadcast System alert from Honolulu County Civil Defense was sent one hour after the first quake, which struck at 7:07 a.m., but it was not broadcast because stations did not activate a switch for the message to come through. Two hours after the first quake, the state Civil Defense got the first message to residents. By then, several radio stations were broadcasting reports from listeners and other sources. "There was a major failure somewhere. By 8 a.m., everyone knew what had happened, but no one officially was telling us."
PHILIPPINES - The Philippines Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said on Monday it has recorded 700 aftershocks after a 5.2 magnitude earthquake shook central Philippines Friday. More aftershocks could be felt in Marinduque, Mindoro and southern Batangas in coming days, although the tremors are decreasing. About 10 quakes hit the Philippines every day in average, however, most of the quakes are so small in magnitude that they are rarely felt. Over the past 30 years, only three major, destructive quakes took place in the Philippines.
10/23 -
AUSTRALIA - Geoscience Australia says earthquakes in New South Wales, Victoria and off the Western Australian coast over the past few days are unrelated. Australia experiences earthquakes "continuously". "I don't yet regard this as too far outside the norm...It is true we have had two magnitude fours, but I really don't think it is anything unusual." An earthquake measuring 2.5 on the Richter scale shook parts of Melbourne. Residents of Melbourne's south-east reported a loud noise and shaking floors as a small earthquake hit the city late last night. A tremor measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale was recorded 2,300 kilometres off the Western Australian coast around 7:00pm AWST. Authorities say two dams in central western New South Wales are free of any structural damage after Saturday night's earthquake, which measured four on the Richter scale.
Calls were received from people in St Kilda, Brighton, Caulfield, Elsternwick, South Yarra and Clayton reporting sounds of explosions and rattling windows over three minutes from about 10.40pm. The Country Fire Authority received calls from people in Dandenong North and Narre Warren North, also reporting a deep thud and the sound of explosions. A spokesman for the authority at Dandenong said officers "heard the rumble" and likened it to the sensation of "driving over a level crossing".
A quake Friday struck shortly before 8pm (AEST) at Wyangala. There have been no reports of damage, although people from as far as 100 kilometres away have reported feeling the tremor. "It sounds like people have felt it from a couple of hundred kilometres away, which is a little UNUSUAL for a magnitude four." Some said the quake caused more noise than shaking. "I've been in earthquakes before, and your clothes hangers all shake in the cupboard and all that sort of thing, but it didn't do that. It was the noise, it was more like a thunderstorm, like a rolling thunderstorm." The sound lasted about 20 seconds. "It wasn't long but it was STRANGE."
TURKEY - Locals in Manyas said they saw a `ball of fire’ during the earthquake that struck Turkey’s Marmara region Saturday. The fireball was seen on Manyas Lake, the epicentre of the quake. The quake measured 5.2 on the Richter scale. The governor’s office of Balikesir decided to seek answers about the strange phenomenon after a panicked reaction from locals. “Locals have claimed to have seen a ball of fire appear above the lake during the earthquake. We have, as a result, asked members of the MTA to look into the matter.”
The medium-strength 5.2 earthquake rattled the northwestern Turkish city of Balikesir, causing panic among nearby residents, especially those in Istanbul. The earthquake happened at 9:18 p.m. Friday at a depth of 12.9 km near Lake Manyas, a nature reserve in Balikesir.
PHILIPPINES - fifth earthquake felt since Friday's 5.2 magnitude - Another earthquake rocked parts of Metro Manila and southern Luzon early Sunday. Four earthquakes and three minor aftershocks hit Metro Manila and southern Luzon on Friday and early Saturday. PHIVOLCS recorded a 3.7 magnitude earthquake at 2:23 a.m., with the epicenter located 31 kilometers southeast of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro. The tremor was felt strongest at intensity 3 in Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro, and the cities of Makati and Taguig in Metro Manila. An intensity 2 quake also jolted Quezon City. PHIVOLCS said there were no reports of damage and casualties. The institute said that the possible source of the earthquake was the movement along the eastern segment of the Lubang Fault.
PERU - A strong earthquake, measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, hit near the coast of central Peru in the pacific early on Friday. There was no immediate information on casualties except for some light damage to houses. The quake came at 5:48 a.m. local time (1048 GMT) with an epicenter 90 km northwest of Pisco city in the central Peruvian department of Ica, at a depth of 43 km. This is the strongest tremor Peru has suffered since the start of the year. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre cautioned that people along coasts within 100km of the epicentre should be aware of the threat of a local tsunami, although there was no threat of a Pacific-wide tsunami. Quakes are common in the South American country, and 78 quakes have taken place this year up to October.
CALIFORNIA - A 4.5-magnitude earthquake centered near The Geysers rocked Lake County Friday morning. A series of aftershocks followed throughout the day, with the largest - 3.9 in magnitude - hitting at 4:31 p.m. The 4.5 earthquake, which occurred at eight seconds after 10 a.m., had an epicenter 13 miles east of Cloverdale and five miles northeast of The Geysers. The U.S. Geological Survey said Friday the quake was the SECOND-STRONGEST MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE RECORDED in The Geysers. Numerous aftershocks ranging in magnitude from less than 1 up to 3.9 occurred Friday. Between the hours of midnight and 7 p.m. Friday there were approximately 56 earthquakes recorded in Lake County. Most took place around The Geysers, Cobb and Anderson Springs. However, a 1.4-magnitude micro earthquake hit the Clearlake Oaks area at approximately 11:44 a.m. Seismic activity in the Cobb Mountain area is created when power plants inject water into the ground to produce steam to generate energy. When the water is pumped out of the ground and reinjected elsewhere the stress fields are caused to change and the earthquakes result. A Cobb resident for 18 years said he has never before experienced his books falling off the shelves and pictures coming down from his walls like he did Friday.
WASHINGTON - A 3.2 magnitude earthquake caused a rockfall at Mount St. Helens Sunday. Scientists at the Johnson Ridge Observatory say a chunk of the current lava spine fell off, and now the spine has a v-shaped notch in the tip. Ash shot about 4000ft in the air and because of heavy winds on the mountain, visitors were able to see a bit of a show.
10/20 -
HAWAII - Sunday's earthquake damaged 1173 homes on the Big Island. Twenty-nine are considered uninhabitable. Preliminary damage estimates from the quake have hit 73 million dollars. President Bush has declared a major disaster. One of the reasons the island didn't suffer more damage is the strict building codes that have evolved over decades of natural disasters. Buildings on the Big Island must meet the strictest level of any of the Hawaiian Islands. There are no buildings taller than 100 feet. There are also no highway overpasses.
Hawaii's two big quakes may have been two independent events, rather than a quake and an aftershock. The 6.7-magnitude quake struck 12.5 miles (20 kilometers) northeast of the Big Island's Kona airport at a depth of 24 miles (39 kilometers) at 7:07 a.m. local time Sunday. "This was not a small earthquake. This was a big one." Seven minutes later, the 6.0-magnitude quake struck 27 miles (43 kilometers) north of the airport at a depth of about 12.5 miles (20 kilometers). The difference in depths establishes that the two are "independent." But other seismologists said it is too early to categorize the magnitude-6.0 event. Scientists still need to analyze the pattern of aftershocks in the coming months before determining whether the smaller event was an aftershock or a triggered earthquake. "A major earthquake may trigger or activate a neighboring fault and start another good-sized earthquake." "Some of these earthquakes get worked on for years. Different techniques come up. People have different points of view." Aftershocks are a series of smaller earthquakes that occur after the main shock and in the same geographic area. Aftershocks can rock a region for months or years. Generally, the bigger the main shock, the more intense the aftershocks will be. Dozens of aftershocks have been recorded since the initial quake. By Wednesday evening, there had been 116 aftershocks. That number of aftershocks "is extremely low." "It is not a very energetic aftershock sequence. I would expect most of the aftershocks to die out in a month, at this rate." Since 1960, the Big Island has been hit with 31 earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 4.0. But Sunday's first earthquake was the largest recorded since a 6.7 occurred under the east flank of Mauna Loa Volcano on November 16, 1983. The island also experienced a 7.2-magnitude quake on November 29, 1975, and an estimated 7.9 temblor on April 2, 1868. The vast island — spread across more than 4,000-square miles of lava fields, rain forests and pasture lands — was formed by several volcanoes. Kilauea is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, spewing lava and expanding the island's surface.
10/18 -
PAPUA NEW GUINEA - The strong 6.5 undersea earthquake off the Papua New Guinea island of New Britain sparked a warning of a possible local tsunami, but emergency officials said there had been no reports of damage or casualties. Papua New Guinea emergency authorities said they were still checking with villages along the coast. In July 1998, two undersea quakes measuring 7.0 created three tsunamis that killed at least 2,100 people along the northern coast.

HAWAII - Sunday's 6.7 magnitude Hawaiian earthquake, the most powerful in the Pacific archipelago in two decades, caused more than $US 40 million in damages. Hawaiian officials said they expected the figure to rise. Repeated aftershocks have jolted Hawaiians as they struggle to return to normal. The biggest, a 4.0 magnitude temblor, hit the islanders early on Tuesday.
More than 200 aftershocks have occurred off the Big Island since early Sunday morning and they may continue for weeks. Typically, after large earthquakes, the seismicity slowly decreases, with fewer and weaker aftershocks. The big question now is to determine the mechanism of the earthquake. “If it was on the south flank of Kilauea or associated with the volcano, it would be a much more straightforward answer. But these are STRANGE DEPTHS AND LOCATIONS.” Seismologists are poring over the data to see if they can piece together what might have happened. They’re conducting surveys to see if there was any deformation. Crews are setting up global positioning system instruments on the west side of the island and remeasuring survey markers along the coast to see how far they moved. The observatory also has requested radar satellite data from foreign space agencies. “I expect we’ll see some interesting signals with radar deformation maps. This was an UNUSUAL kind of event and it happened in a place where we have lots and lots of instrumentation running.”
Fish jumped out of a lagoon at a resort in Hawaii just minutes before Sunday's 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck as if they knew it was coming, a witness says. "The windows on all of the rooms started to buckle back and swaying and to wobble and making a loud noises and the rumbling was just intense."
10/17 -
HAWAII - Sunday's 6.7-magnitude earthquake generated a 4-inch tsunami that was measured by Kawaihae Harbor's tide gauge at 7:17 am.
Hawaii suffered major road and port damage in the most powerful quake in the Pacific archipelago in two decades, but reported no deaths or serious injuries on Monday much to islanders' amazement.
Hawaii quake blamed on volcanic stress - Hawaii's Big Island is rattled by thousands of minor earthquakes a year, mainly from volcanic eruptions. But the strongest and most destructive types - like Sunday's magnitude-6.7 that caused blackouts and landslides - are RARE and are not caused by eruptions, but by the buildup of stress deep in the crust as volcanoes grow and spread, experts say. Volcanic earthquakes - those triggered by eruptions - are usually detected by the hundreds of swarms of temblors that occur several hours or days before an eruption. The type of quake seen on Sunday, a tectonic earthquake, does not occur in any regular pattern and is harder to predict.
10/16 -
HAWAII - A magnitude 6.6 earthquake shook Hawaii early Sunday, it knocked out power and forced the Governor to declare a statewide disaster. On Hawaii Island a landslide blocked a major highway while boulders fell on roads, rock walls collapsed and televisions were knocked off stands.
This is what everyone has worried about: A sizeable earthquake hitting a populated area, with no way to predict it, and no way to anticipate the amount of damage done. Hawaii does not fit the mold of most major earthquake zones. It is considered a "hot spot," prone to earthquake activity, because of the rugged volcanoes that formed the island chain. But it is not on the juncture of two of the major tectonic plates that form the earth's crust, the seams where most earthquakes occur. The big island of Hawaii is made of five volcanoes, two of which — Mauna Loa and Kiluaea — remain active today. The strongest of Sunday's quakes was reported by the USGS to have been centered 24.2 miles below sea level, six miles southwest of Puako, Hawaii. The Hawaiian earthquake of Sunday morning is currently estimated to have been a 6.6, revised upward from a 6.3. In the three hours following, there were at least 45 aftershocks of magnitude 1.9 or greater.
Longtime residents of Hawaii say the earthquake that jolted them out of bed just after 7 a.m. local time was perhaps the biggest they've ever felt. "It went on for about a minute; it kept going and going and going and going. It was rolling and rolling. But it was the duration that was so dynamic about this earthquake. It just didn't seem to stop." The quake struck as heavy rain fell in parts of the state. This is the largest event in the Hawaiian Islands since 1983. "It was felt everywhere from the big island to Kauai and did significant damage on the big island. Fortunately, it generated only a very small tsunami." "Now when we look out at our beautiful coast, the water is a murky brown from many dirt cliff sides crumbling into the sea."
10/15 -
Did the nuclear test by North Korea on October 9 trigger earthquakes in the region? Apparently yes. The earthquake pattern between October 9 and 13 in East Asia, geologists say, was due to a disturbance in natural stress conditions of the subduction zone extending from Kuril island in the north to Phillipines islands in the south. They said it was apparent that the nuclear explosion did create stress along the trench. In the last two months, such earthquake "clusters" were not observed in the zone. Between October 9 and 11, the Phillippines islands experienced nearly 10 quakes with magnitudes varying from 4.2 to 6.3 on the Richter scale. Taiwan recorded a 5.6-magnitude quake, while Japan recorded a 5.8-magnitude temblor on October 10. Similarly, Kuril islands experienced a 6-magnitude quake. A plot of the epicentres on the tectonic map of East Asia clearly demonstrates the nuclear test released stress along the subduction zone, geologists pointed out. A 5.8-magnitude quake shook northern Japan on Tuesday evening, sparking fears that it was a second nuclear test by North Korea but this was proved wrong later. Instead, seismologists detected a series of earthquakes near Japan.
10/5 -
NEW ZEALAND - A cluster of earthquakes 30km northwest of Mt Cook this week has seismologists looking at what may be causing the activity. The biggest quake was on Monday, reaching 4.7 on the Richter scale, with successive earthquakes being smaller but closer to the surface. The government's scientific institute says they are not concerned about the quakes, but will be looking at data because it is UNUSUAL to have so much seismic activity around Mt Cook.

MAINE - Monday's earthquake lowered the water level by 3 1/2 feet at one location in a national park, an UNUSUAL event, but one that wasn't expected to hurt the water supply, officials said. By Wednesday, the water level was still falling but beginning to level off. The earthquake Monday evening registered a magnitude of 3.9 and followed quakes with magnitudes of 3.5 and 2.5 on Sept. 22 and 26. The latest earthquake caused rocks to fall onto Acadia National Park's Park Loop Road and burst some water pipes, but no injuries were reported. The Geological Survey said the drop in water level was more of an oddity than something for residents to worry about. "We're not trying to create some kind of public scare. It's more of a public interest thing. It's a pretty dramatic change." What struck the scientists is the fact that there's little reference in scientific literature to drops in water levels after earthquakes. The Mount Desert region's fractured bedrock makes it difficult to predict whether or not other wells will be affected.
10/4 -
MAINE - Acadia National Park rangers were scouring Mount Desert Island on Tuesday, checking for any safety problems following the area’s third earthquake in 11 days. Rangers removed rocks from the Park Loop Road, on the eastern side of Champlain Mountain. Many of the rocks were small, but a few were the size of small cars. The quake struck at 8:07 p.m. Monday and was centered on the eastern side of Mount Desert Island near the village of Otter Creek. The quake was first reported as being magnitude 3.4, but by Tuesday morning it had been revised to magnitude 3.9. (photo)
10/1 -
TRINIDAD - The strong 6.1 earthquake rocked Venezuela and Trinidad on Friday, knocking out power across much of the Caribbean island and sending thousands of people into the streets. One person is dead, three injured, several buildings structurally damaged and water and power disrupted in Trinidad and Tobago. The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management reported "serious structural damage" to at least seven schools as well as minor damage to a highway overpass. In the capital, Port-of-Spain, which shook for about 15 to 20 seconds, thousands of screaming people poured out of offices and other buildings, construction workers scampered down scaffolding, and traffic came to a standstill. Hours after the quake, a 5.4 magnitude aftershock rattled Venezuela and Trinidad, sending residents back into the streets. The quake was also felt in parts of Guyana.
MAINE - Nearly a week after many local residents were awakened by a RARE earthquake on the eastern side of Mount Desert Island, they experienced two relatively powerful aftershocks Thursday morning. "It sounded like loud thunder." The registered magnitudes for Thursday’s aftershocks were 1.8 and 2.5. Having six confirmed foreshocks and aftershocks stemming from the 3.4-magnitude earthquake on Sept. 22 is RARE. The 15 other unconfirmed related tremors that have been reported over the past week and the magnitude of Thursday’s larger aftershock also is UNCOMMON. "The number of events is UNUSUAL. That’s pretty big for an aftershock a week later." Thirty-five earthquakes have been reported in Maine since 1997.
CALIFORNIA - Tuesday's 3.7 earthquake broke a main water transmission line in Brooktrails. The 12-inch pipe carrying water from the Lake Emily reservoir to the Lake Ada Rose reservoir on the way to the treatment plant, cracked when the earth shifted.
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9/29 -
The strong 6.9 earthquake under the ocean floor near the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific early Thursday triggered a small tsunami that authorities said could have caused major damage had it been nearer to land.
9/27 -
MAINE - On Friday monitors recorded five hours of earthquake activity with the biggest being a Magnitude 3.5 quake at 6:39 a.m. about one mile southwest of the middle of Bar Harbor. There were roughly nine additional temblors starting at 5:21 a.m. before the main quake and continuing through 10:20 a.m. The biggest quake was of a magnitude that could be felt miles away. There were no reports of injuries or property damage. New England averages about one or two earthquakes that are above 3.5 Magnitude each year. Maine already recorded a 3.8-Magnitude earthquake in the northern part of the state on July 14.
9/22 -
GUAM - An earthquake that struck the island last month is to blame for many Guam Waterworks Authority problems, including several line breaks across the island, according to the water agency. Because of the earthquake, GWA has continued to repair water line breaks and is responding to a variety of leaks in many villages. The water agency anticipates more line breaks and leaks due to seismic activity and customers should be aware of the possibility of disrupted service.
9/13 -
NEVADA - Las Vegas could be due for an earthquake. Underneath is a network of faults that experts say could trigger an earthquake at any time. And as this city grows, a major quake could kill hundreds and cause billions of dollars of damage. Those who moved here to escape the threat of an earthquake actually moved to the third most active state. There hasn't been a major earthquake in the valley for centuries leading some to wonder if they're overdue.
9/11 -
GULF OF MEXICO - A magnitude 6.0 earthquake that originated in the Gulf of Mexico at 10:56 a.m. Sunday rattled windows of Florida residents, and tremors were felt as far north as Georgia and Alabama. The epicenter of the quake was in 260 miles west-southwest of Clearwater, Florida and about 6.2 miles below the surface. Florida is located on the trailing (or passive) margin of the North American Plate while California is located on its active margin. Florida's unique geology makes it difficult to define faults. "The natural process that causes limestone to dissolve may obscure what was originally a faulted surface." (map)
The strong earthquake in the Gulf of Mexico that sent shocks through Florida on Sunday was RARE in various ways, scientists said. The intensity of the earthquake - magnitude 6 - was UNUSUAL. "This is quite a big earthquake for that area." Earthquakes in the Gulf are UNUSUAL because the sea is not near the edge of a tectonic plate, the massive pieces of the Earth's surface layer that are in constant movement. Consequently, there have been only about a dozen earthquakes registered in the Gulf in the past 30 years. By comparison, areas such as Indonesia can register twice that many in a day. The location of the quake puzzles scientists. Because the Gulf is not near the edges of the North American plate upon which it sits, the seismic movement had to occur in the interior of the plate itself. Such midplate earthquakes are RARE. "Most earthquakes - 99 percent of them, I'd say - occur alongside the edges. This earthquake is what we call a midplater, a quake that occurs in the middle of the plates. They are very infrequent." Scientists are still trying to understand how such midplate quakes come to be, but they think the tension generated at the edges of the plates sometimes travels inward, into the middle of the plate, where it is then released. Underwater earthquakes occur more frequently than the public is aware of, but usually near the plate edges. This quake, being far from any plate edge, is a fact that, when combined with it's relative strength, makes it noteworthy but not worrisome.
9/8 -
INDIA - utter panic and chaos gripped Assam following predictions by a geologist from the University of Madras that a high magnitude earthquake was likely to hit the region today. People across the state were making bulk purchases of essentials and medicines. People could be seen queuing up outside ATMs to withdraw cash preparing for the disaster.
The Assam government is likely to ask New Delhi to form a core group of experts to verify any future predictions or warnings on disaster made by individuals before it is made public, to avoid unnecessary panic. Locals in Assam, though relieved that there was no quake, are now angry after the predictions proved wrong. As the appointed time for the quake passed, people embraced each other and cheered with a sense of jubilation.
9/7 -
INDIA - There is a 70 percent chance of a 7 - 8 magnitude earthquake hitting Assam on Friday, a geologist from the University of Madras has predicted on the basis of planetary positions. But seismologists debunk his theory. A statement issued by N. Venkatanathan of the Department of Applied Geology says the alignment of the Sun, Moon and Mercury that day is exactly similar to the one that existed on Aug 15, 1950, when an earthquake of a magnitude of 8.5 on the Richter scale killed thousands in Assam. Based on the analysis, he said the earthquake could occur around 8:21 am with its epicentre about 15 km southwest of Dibrugarh. "The Sun and Mercury will be aligned on one side of the Earth and the Moon at the opposite side along the same line." He said that though similar planetary alignments had taken place several times between 1950 and now, the "force changes were not conducive for triggering an earthquake every time... This, plus the fact that the region has experienced several small shocks in the last three weeks, and recent observation by seismologist Arun Bapat of [an] abrupt drop in atmospheric temperature in that region alerted me [to] give this prediction for Assam."
9/6 -
INDIA - A sudden drop in atmospheric temperature and smaller earthquakes have convinced seismologists of the need to alert the Asom government of a major earthquake likely to strike in the near future. The Asom government, after receiving the urgent alert notice from world famous seismologist Dr Arun Bapat, are not taking chances and have formally asked all district magistrates to be on alert for any eventuality. In the area, the temperature was below the normal temperature by 3-4 degrees and the occurrence was sudden. The Lakhimpur area itself is in a highly active seismic zone and Dr Bapat cited that a similar abrupt fall in atmospheric temperature was noticed in Pakistan's Rawalpindi last year before a major earthquake rocked the city and its suburbs. Meanwhile, the Geological Survey of India said that such changes in temperature could take place and there was no need to jump to conclusions. Two mild-intensity earthquakes which were recorded in the past 24 hours in the northeastern region have further complicated the picture as there has been growing panic in the state.
HAWAII - A 3.3-magnitude earthquake shook the ocean floor off Waikoloa Monday evening, the fourth temblor of 3.0 or more to strike the state in a week's time. Hawai'i is among the top states when it comes to seismic activity, ranking behind Alaska and California. Many of the quakes are linked to Hawai'i's volcanic activity.
8/30 -
CHINA - A moderate earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter Scale jolted Yanjin and Daguan in southwest China's Yunnan Province, injuring at least 16 people and destroying thousands of houses. The quake, which lasted for 5 seconds, took place at 9 a.m. and was followed by other tremors which have destroyed some buildings in an elementary school in Yanjin County.
8/27 -
CHINA - The moderate 5.1 earthquake in southwest China jolted Yunnan on Friday noon, shaking buildings in Yanjin, Daguan, Yiliang and Suijiang counties. "Many houses collapsed, and water, electricity, communication, and transport facilities have been damaged." It killed one person and injured 31. The quake toppled 1,541 houses in Yunnan province. By 8 a.m. Saturday morning, 45,520 people had been relocated. Of the 31 people injured, 10 are in a serious condition.
8/25 -
NEW ZEALAND - Rotorua, Taupo and Whakatane are set to be wiped out in a massive overdue earthquake, say geologists. The shocking prediction has been made at a Natural Hazards Management Conference in Christchurch. Geology experts have predicted that an alpine fault earthquake is overdue, and would result in the East Cape ripping away from New Zealand, destroying the plateau that Rotorua is based on and taking Taupo and Whakatane with it. They say the earthquake will strike "out of the blue" and cause widespread death, shut down power generators, create tsunamis within New Zealand and overwhelm emergency services.
8/17 -
PAKISTAN - A magnitude 4.4 quake rattled parts of southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, injuring four people and damaging several homes.
OKLAHOMA - For the fifth time in the past two weeks a small earthquake (2.6) struck in southern Oklahoma.
8/16 -
OHIO - A small earthquake shook the northwest Ohio city of Lima for the second time in about three months, awakening residents but causing no damage early Tuesday. The 2:09 a.m. quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 2.5, was NOT related to the series of tremors that have struck in northeast Ohio's Lake County and under Lake Erie this year. The quake occurred close to this city about 70 miles southwest of Toledo, although authorities were still trying to determine the exact location of the epicenter. "It was very close to the one we had May 11." Residents who called law enforcement authorities reported waking up to a loud boom and then feeling the earth shake. That sequence is typical for an earthquake this size.
JAPAN - The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is set to launch a five-year research program into the detailed mechanism of a powerful earthquake that is highly likely to hit Tokyo and surrounding areas within the next 30 years. There is a 70 percent chance of an earthquake striking just below the Kanto region and measuring magnitude 7 within 30 years and a 90 percent chance within 50 years. The Kanto region has been jolted by a quake measuring about M7 a few times in the last century, with the latest ones being a quake whose focus was located off Chiba in 1987 (M6.7) and one near the Uraga Channel in 1922 (M6.8). The mechanism of a powerful earthquake beneath the Tokyo metropolitan area has never been studied before because of its complicated geographical structure.
CALIFORNIA - Geologists say a big earthquake is inevitable in Southern California and so is widespread damage, despite the construction of buildings designed to withstand it and built to the latest codes. A computerized simulation of a 7.9 quake showed buildings throughout the region would collapse. The last 7.9 quake in Southern California hit in 1857. Experts say such large temblors happen every 200 to 300 years.
8/14 -
Allstate drops Alaska earthquake coverage - Nearly 7,000 Alaskans will lose their earthquake insurance as their policies come up for renewal in the coming months. Allstate Insurance Co. is cutting its optional earthquake coverage nationwide and stopped writing earthquake policies on March 6 throughout the country. "We're trying to manage our exposure to mega-catastrophes."
8/13 -
MEXICO - A 5.9 earthquake has rocked central Mexico, prompting the evacuation of a number of buildings in the capital. Hundreds of people are said to have run onto the streets of Mexico City as skyscrapers swayed. No injuries have been reported.
OREGON - Quakes rattle experts' attention - Scientists don't know why there's been a wave of activity in the Northwest lately, but they urge people to be prepared. Numerous small earthquakes have rattled the Northwest in recent weeks, including swarms beneath Mount Hood and east-central Washington and, on Aug. 3, a magnitude 3.8 quake just north of Vancouver that shook the entire metro area. Scientists are cautious about signaling concern, much less doom. But they do say: Be prepared. The ground is very much alive, and far bigger quakes have hit here before. Subterranean rumblings are everyday events in the Northwest, with some quake periods busier than others. But the current spate of activity has earned the full attention of scientists who wonder whether there's more to know or a pattern yet undeciphered. In the past six weeks, the network's 250 instruments have detected at least four dozen quakes -- nearly all unfelt -- on shallow faults in the North American Plate beneath Oregon and Washington. The list does not include the numerous earthquakes at Mount St. Helens triggered by its ongoing eruption.
8/9 -
NETHERLANDS - An earthquake shook the north of the Netherlands early on Tuesday morning. Measuring 3.5 on the Richter Scale, it was equal in strength to the STRONGEST EARTHQUAKE ON RECORD IN THE NORTHERN NETHERLANDS, which had occurred five years ago. It was centred on the town of Middelstum which lies in the middle of the gas fields in the province. The earthquake was the LARGEST EVER MEASURED IN GRONINGEN and was felt across the entire province. There have been 10 quakes roughly equivalent to this magnitude since the first earthquake caused by the gas drilling took place in 1986. There have been several dozen smaller shooks during this period too. The earthquakes result from tension in the earth's crust caused by the extraction of gas. The tension increases in correlation to the amount of gas extraction. The first earthquake took place 27 years after drilling began in Groningen in 1959. The last big quake in Groningen occurred in 2003 when the province experienced three within a month.
8/7 -
ARGENTINA - A strong 5.7 earthquake hit Argentina early Saturday, causing damage to buildings but no casualties. The quake shattered some windows and left cracks on buildings, causing panic among local residents. Some people were evacuated to shelters offered by the government.
CHINA - A growing number of ultra-high skyscrapers in China could be at risk from earthquakes. Many of the buildings use designs untested in earthquakes. Land is at a premium in China, so despite its concerns, the government is unlikely to impose limits. A number of Chinese cities are racing to build the mainland's tallest skyscraper. Earthquakes are common in China. One of the worst quakes in the last century took place in Tangshan in the north of the country, killing almost 250,000 people.
8/6 -
INDONESIA - The earthquake which struck south-east Asia on Boxing Day, 2004, changed the Earth's surface and its gravity, according to a new study. Satellites reveal that the 9.1 magnitude quake raised the seafloor in the region by several metres for thousands of square miles. "The earthquake changed the gravity in that part of the world in two ways that we were able to detect." Firstly, the raising of the seafloor changed the geometry of the area and altered previous global positioning satellite (GPS) measurements from the areas. Secondly, the density of the rock beneath the seafloor was changed, and an increase or decrease in density produces a notable gravity change.
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7/30 -
AFGHANISTAN - A 5.2 earthquake hit northern Afghanistan early Saturday, killing one woman and injuring 12 other people.
TAIWAN - A 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan Friday, rocking buildings in the capital Taipei for almost a minute, but no damage or casualties were reported. It was the second biggestquake in Taiwan this year.
CHINA - media reports have accused the Yunnan government of failing to alert the public about seismic warnings ahead of last week's 5.1 earthquake on July 22 that claimed at least 22 lives. The Yunnan Earthquake Bureau reportedly had predicted early this month that a quake would hit the area. City authorities were said to be wary about the accuracy of the prediction and might have kept the information to themselves to avoid causing public anxiety. Another report said the Zhaotong earthquake bureau in May had predicted an earthquake measuring more than magnitude 5. A city government office employee said the government received a notice about an imminent earthquake on July 20, and informed county governments the next day about an emergency meeting to be held on July 23. "Unfortunately the quake happened before we could even hold the meeting."
7/26 -
INDONESIA - Repeated seismic tremors in Indonesia have made the people completely paranoid: the syndrome has hit especially those employees who work in Jakarta’s skyscrapers. Nowadays, they prefer to stay outdoors chatting with colleagues rather than sitting at their desks inside. A chain of cell phone and email messages raising the alarm about possible tremors is generating a climate of paranoia and fear. But the panic is not limited to Jakarta alone. On the 24th, thousands of people in Banteng, Bulukumba and Jeneponto – South Sulawesi province – left their homes on the coast en masse to take refuge in higher land after a false tsunami alert. After slight tremors in the area, the surface of the ocean lowered, giving rise to fears of the onset of a freak wave.
There is no let-up in tremors in Indonesia, where people are living in fear and tourists have started to cancel their bookings, leaving hotels and beaches empty amid persistent tsunami alerts. Works are underway to boost alarm systems against freak waves in the country’s highest-risk areas.
TONGA - Not too many people are aware of the gigantic volcanic ridge that separates the Kingdom of Tonga and the Fijian Islands. The volcanic activities in this ridge are so proactive that the bottom of the earth keeps rumbling and moving everyday. It may even be the most active volcanic ridge in the world. During the 11 years 1995 – 2005, there have been a total of almost 8,100 earthquakes in this area. In the last five years, the number of earthquakes in the geographic grid where the kingdom of Tonga is has increased by 32%. The year 2004 had a total of 1,216 earthquakes, being the HIGHEST IN THE LAST 25 YEARS. Last year there were 880 quakes. For the first six months of 2006, there have been a total of 807 earthquakes, with May registering a RECORD NUMBER of 252 earthquakes during the month.
7/24 -
INDONESIA - Scientists have warned residents of the country's southern coasts to be alert to the danger of earthquakes and ensuing tsunamis due to seismic activity from ocean faults and plates. "We believe that faults along the line are 'queuing' to release their seismic power. We must anticipate the phenomenon." They identified Padang in West Sumatra, Bengkulu, the Sunda Strait between Lampung and Banten, the southern part of West Nusa Tenggara, Banda Island in Maluku, Sorong in Papua, Palu and Manado in Sulawesi as prone to quakes. "However, we, as well as not even one scientist around the globe, cannot predict where and when it would happen." Java, as well as part of Sumatra, have been rocked by a series of earthquakes following Monday's deadly tsunami that devastated the southern coast. The most recent earthquake hit Wednesday evening, with its epicenter in the Sunda Strait between Lampung on Sumatra's southern tip and Banten in western Java. The 6.2-magnitude quake was felt in Jakarta. In the case of the Sunda Strait, people should continue to be alert because although Wednesday's quake did not cause any damage or tsunamis, the areas were near the Sunda subduction zones, site of a convergence between a sinking plate and an overriding plate. Tectonic movements might follow a 30-year cycle, occurring in almost the same place as years previously. Because of the 2004 quake in Aceh and 2005 temblor in Nias, North Sumatra, they would likely experience similar activity in the next three decades. Major quakes as powerful as 9 on the Richter scale had occurred in 1833 and 1861 near Aceh and Nias, with epicenters near the one in 2004 and 2005.
7/23 -
CHINA - A moderate 5.1 earthquake in China's southwestern Yunnan province Saturday toppled scores of houses and killed at least 18 people. The quake, which struck a mountainous area close to the border with Sichuan province, injured 60 people.
INDONESIA - There is no let-up in alerts about possible further natural disasters in Indonesia, after a tsunami struck the areas of Cilacap and Pangandaran on Java island on July 17, and a strong tremor was recorded only two days later in Sunda Strait, west of the capital. Experts have warned residents of areas like Banten, Tangerang and Jakarta to be on “maximum alert” and on the lookout for potential danger. Sunda Strait near Jakarta, just shaken by a strong tremor, is at the centre of attention, but so far it has been spared by freak waves. In Sunda Strait, “there is a seismic threat on two fronts: on the one hand, there are tectonic movements in the ocean, and on the other, there is growing activity of the dangerous volcano of Krakatau mountain between Java and Sumatra.”
7/21 -
INDONESIA - Powerful aftershocks continued to rattle survivors of the Java coast earthquake and tsunami on Thursday, as rescue workers dug through the ruins and tended to the injured in a devastated Indonesian beach town. The tsunami death toll as of Thursday stood at 531.
7/20 -
Embarassed US scientists are revising earthquake analysis procedures after an inexperienced overnight team failed to quickly review the major earthquake that caused the tsunami which killed more than 550 in Indonesia. The United States Geological Survey typically provides very quick, accurate data on earthquakes worldwide, but on Monday took six hours before they gave the accurate 7.7 magnitude for the quake that hit 345km south of Jakarta. A scientist is supposed to review the automated findings manually within 10 minutes, but in the early morning hours between Sunday and Monday in Colorado that did not take place for an hour. It was six hours later when others started arriving during regular business hours that geologists calculated the Indonesia quake was actually a 7.7 - or three times larger in ground motion than a 7.2 and more than five times larger in terms of the amount of energy released.
7/19 -
The death toll in the Indonesian tsunami rose to at least 340 yesterday, with more than 600 people injured, as rescue workers recovered bodies from coconut trees and the rubble of flattened homes. Many residents did not even feel the quake this time. As the sea receded, some escaped to higher ground. But others did not notice the warning sign, because the tide was already low. Alerts were issued by two regional monitoring centres but were not sent on to threatened communities, because the authorities did not want to cause unnecessary alarm. Indonesia has experienced a string of disasters since the 2004 tsunami, including an earthquake in May that claimed nearly 6,000 lives. Indonesians are calling their country "the disaster supermarket".
INDONESIA has installed a tsunami warning system across much of Sumatra island but not on Java where the 6-foot-high tsunami struck. There were regional bulletins about the 7.7-magnitude undersea earthquake, but they did not reach the nation's main island. A witness saw the ocean withdraw 500 yards from the beach a half-hour before the giant wave smashed to shore. "I could see fish jumping around on the ocean floor. Later I saw a wave like a black wall." Roads were blocked and power cut to much of the area. Damage and casualties were reported at several spots along the 110 miles of beach affected.
7/18 -
INDONESIA - The death toll from a tsunami that struck the Indonesian island of Java has risen to at least 245. About 450 people have been injured and 52,700 people have been displaced. Another 140 people are reported missing in the worst-hit area of Pangandaran. The tsunami was triggered by a 7.7 magnitude undersea earthquake that struck off Pangandaran on Monday afternoon, causing a 2m-high wave. At first light, rescuers were confronted with the sight of bodies in the branches of trees, and in the debris of smashed hotels and houses. One resident said high waves had destroyed hotels in Pangandaran and thrown boats onto the beach. Tremors from the earthquake were felt in the capital, Jakarta, for more than a minute, but there were no reports of damage or casualties there. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii had issued tsunami warnings for parts of Indonesia and Australia, and the Japan Meteorological Agency also warned of localised tsunamis. Police in Australia's Christmas Island reported a 60cm surge but no damage, while India authorities issued a tsunami warning for the Andaman and Nicobar islands, which are located west of Indonesia. But the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said on its website that based on historical and current data, "a more widespread tsunami threat probably does not exist".
Witnesses said "very many" flimsy homes along the coast for at least 20 miles in each direction had been destroyed as two waves, about seven metres (23ft) and two metres high, surged ashore. The water was reportedly waist-deep more than half a mile inland. Much damage was inflicted by hundreds of wooden fishing boats becoming battering rams as they ploughed through shacks and fields. Power failed and fixed phone lines were cut. Rescue teams said the toll was likely to rise significantly because they were still searching through rubble, many roads were impassable, many houses had been washed away and in pitch darkness it was difficult to see corpses.
"We all felt the quake, but the first we knew of the tsunami was a roar. When we looked up, we saw fishing boats sort of jumping in the air out in the bay...Boats were going down the street. There were about six waves. The second was the biggest and the locals said it was as high as the point, I guess about four or five metres."
Tsunami photos.
7/14 -
OHIO - Without damage or injury and sometimes unnoticed, a corner of suburban Cleveland has become the earthquake capital of Ohio, shaking on average every two weeks since New Year's Day and making people wonder: What's next? 12 quakes, measuring from magnitude 2.0 to 3.8, were recorded in Lake County and under adjacent Lake Erie from Jan. 1 to July 1 this year. Earthquake experts don't know why the repetitive quakes have come at this time. A top concern is the Perry Nuclear Power Plant, constructed to withstand a building-shaking 6.0 earthquake and opened in 1987 just one year after a 5.0 quake in Lake County. Fourteen of the 20 earthquakes recorded in the state in the past two years have occurred in Lake County. Lake County's quakes result from a fault, or crack, that is under pressure, one of a number of faults in Ohio, most of them under the sedimentary bedrock. The fault is under pressure from the East Coast, pushing westward.
ALASKA - Dozens of earthquakes have struck the western Aleutian Islands in the past several weeks in what earthquake experts have said is not an uncommon event. The quakes have most been confined to uninhabited areas of the island chain in southwestern Alaska. Saturday's earthquake had a magnitude of 6.7. Most of the others have registered in the 5 magnitude range, including numerous aftershocks. Earthquakes occur in the Aleutians because the chain of islands sits along the Aleutian-Alaska megathrust, the boundary between the North American tectonic plate and the Pacific Ocean plate. Two of the eight largest earthquakes in the past century have occurred in the Aleutians.
7/9 -
'Silent' earthquakes, slow moving earthquakes which could last for days, could be a harbinger of a killer quake. "Each time you have a silent event it's like you are tweaking the system a little, pushing on it a little harder." Silent earthquakes are slow changes on the surface of the Earth since they do not cause much damage or shock waves. These earthquakes tend to build up pressure in seismic fault lines thereby contributing to an explosion sometime in the future.
7/3 -
CALIFORNIA - Heightened seismic activity continued along the North Coast last week, with 10 earthquakes — three of them magnitude 3.0 or larger — reported through Thursday. The largest earthquakes occurred between 44 and 73 miles off the coast, two west of Petrolia and another west of Ferndale. Temblors of 3.0 and 3.2 magnitude shook the Mendocino fault zone Wednesday and Thursday, with a 3.2 magnitude earthquake between the Mendocino fault zone and the seaward edge of the Cascadia subduction zone reported Sunday. In all, 10 earthquakes have been recorded locally in seven days, and more than 300 have been reported statewide.
6/25 -
OHIO - experts now say the small earthquake felt in northeast Ohio earlier this week was stronger than first thought. Preliminary data had put the magnitude of Monday's shaker at 3.4, but the Ohio Seismic Network now says it was a 3.8. That means the quake was ten times more powerful, given the way the seismic scale works. It was much larger than other similar quakes that have rumbled in the area in recent years. The quake was centered about three miles into Lake Erie near North Perry, about 40 miles east of Cleveland, and was felt along the lake shore.
6/23 -
CAPE VERDE - A helicopter and ship were made available by NATO's Response Force to support Cape Verdean authorities in transporting an evaluation team to the island of Brava to survey the damage caused by the tremors felt last weekend on Cape Verde's most isolated island. The visit is intended to survey the damage caused by the seismic activity that occurred on the island on June 17 and 18. The magnitude of the tremor that struck the island has not been determined, as the seismic equipment on the island is in need of repair. No one was reported injured.
6/22 -
CHINA - Three people were injured in a 5.0 earthquake in Gansu yesterday. Five houses were toppled in Linjiang and Liping townships, the two worst hit areas. Details of damage and direct economic losses were still being investigated.
CALIFORNIA - A section of the San Andreas fault near Los Angeles that hasn't moved in 250 years is in danger of causing a major earthquake, a new study concludes. Geologists are trying to determine how much longer the southern end of the fault can withstand the seismic pressure. It was a sudden 6.4-metre movement in the northern section of the fault that was responsible for the earthquake in 1906 that destroyed San Francisco. No one can predict when a Big One will strike, but it's reasonable to conclude the southern end of the fault is near the end of its dormancy period, or "interseismic phase." The 160-kilometre southern section of the fault cuts through San Bernardino, east of Los Angeles, to near the Mexican border.
6/19 -
NEW MADRID FAULT - An earthquake expert with the U.S. Geological Survey says many residents and officials in northeast Arkansas are setting themselves and their neighbors up for a worse disaster by underestimating the results of a quake in the region. "This is a different kind of earthquake. This is not a California earthquake. There are some basic differences here that drive the hazard level up." Unlike faults in California, the New Madrid Seismic Zone contains three to five major fault segments lying over the top of each other in a relatively small area. The zone stretches from northeast Arkansas and northwest Tennessee up into southeast Missouri, far western Kentucky and southern Illinois. A 6.5-magnitude quake has the potential of doing an enormous amount of damage. "It won't take a catastrophic earthquake to do catastrophic damage." 11 million people live in the New Madrid Seismic Zone.
6/18 -
CALIFORNIA - The Bay Area's biggest earthquake in four years rolled by San Martin at 5:24 Thursday morning at magnitude 4.7. But the quake, which was felt as far away as Riverside, piqued the interest of experts because it occurred on an unnamed fault that HAS NEVER BEEN KNOWN TO POP OFF BEFORE. The fault is considered third-string, living in the shadows of Northern California's "Big Four" - the San Andreas, Hayward, Calaveras and Rodgers Creek faults. You can't even see a trace of it on the surface of the ground. Seismologists believe Thursday's quake was probably neither a harbinger of bigger quakes, nor a sign that sufficient stress has been released to reduce the risk of a "Big One." Although a number of aftershocks have been reported, if something larger was to strike the same fault in coming days, "most likely it would just be a 4.8."
Luke Holmquist forecasts earthquakes in Indonesia, Japan and California — by monitoring the behavior of animals. Northern California's dogs, cats, birds and the like were behaving odd enough on Wednesday for Holmquist to forecast a 47% risk of a light quake there on Thursday morning. The 4.7 earthquake struck the area of San Martin that morning. Holmquist for years researched unusual animal behavior associated with quakes. Animals can sense waves beneath the earth before a seismometer picks up its first signals. So he monitors Web sites like pet lost and founds, and forums where pet owners chat about their animals, to "see how much pressure is going on ... in the animal kingdom." Then, each night at 10:30, he updates his own site, www.quakeprediction.com. He receives e-mailed prediction requests and plans on adding Italy, India, China, Iran and Chile to his forecast chart in the coming weeks.
6/16 -
ALASKA - On June 14 a strong earthquake occurred in the Rat Islands region of the Aleutian Islands. The mainshock (M6.4) was situated 87 kilometers (54 miles) southeast of Buldir Island. This earthquake is the largest to occur in this region since the magnitude 6.8 event on June 14, 2005. Over a hundred aftershocks occurred within the first two days of the sequence. The largest aftershock of magnitude 5.9 occurred 30 minutes after the main shock. A ftershocks are still continuing. In the western Aleutians, the crust is partitioned into rotating blocks, such as Buldir Block to the east and Near block to the west of the June 14 event location. The crustal blocks move in a clockwise rotation.
6/14 -
INDONESIA - The earthquake that hit Indonesia at the end of May has caused more damage than the tsunami of 2004. The impact of the Java earthquake was much worse than first thought and could be considered as ONE OF THE WORST NATURAL DISASTERS OF THE PAST 10 YEARS.
6/13 -
JAPAN - the strong 6.2 earthquake that struck south-western Japan on Sunday, shaking major cities including Hiroshima, injured at least five people. Its epicentre was in Oita prefecture, about 800km (500 miles) south-west of Tokyo. The quake halted local rail services. The tremor was nearly the same magnitude as last month's earthquake in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, which had a magnitude of 6.3. But Japan has developed much of its infrastructure to withstand tremors. The Japan Meteorological Agency said it did not expect any major aftershocks.
6/8 -
AFTERSHOCKS from earthquakes may strike much farther than previously thought. A new analysis of earthquake data indicates that aftershocks are triggered by the shaking associated with the mainshock, rather than by the added stress on nearby faults resulting from rearrangement of the Earth's crust. The triggering of aftershocks by shaking may seem obvious, but is in fact a surprising result. "The problem is that it's not clear how shaking can trigger an aftershock that doesn't happen right away, but happens a day or two after the earthquake. That's why most seismologists have thought that aftershocks are triggered by static stress resulting from the movement of the crust." Analysis of Californian aftershocks showed that their seismic signature took an unexpectedly long time to fade, a telltale "decay" that is the hallmark of a shake rather than a push. This dynamic stress can radiate for long distances. An aftershock can on occasions be larger than the main one. Homes that are located far beyond an immediate earthquake zone may still be vulnerable to a long-range aftershock.
6/7 -
PHILIPPINES - An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter Scale is overdue and could hit the country soon and affect at least 38 percent of all residential buildings in Metro Manila, the government said yesterday. “The last strong quake to hit us was in 1994. With time, the possibility of being hit by a strong earthquake is increasing.” 90 strong quakes had been recorded here over the last 400 years, or a statistical average of one major quake every four to five years. But no strong quake has been recorded for a decade after the 1994 quake in Mindoro that killed at least 78 people. Scientists say that an earthquake similar to the one that struck Indonesia last month and killed 3,000 people could also strike here.
6/6 -
INDONESIA - says there are still problems reaching earthquake victims with many roads into the worst-hit areas gridlocked with convoys of trucks carrying volunteer relief workers and supplies. The United Nations has warned that tens of thousands of Indonesian quake survivors are still desperately in need of shelter, and that building materials are urgently needed.
6/4 -
IRAN - A strong 5.2 earthquake jolted southern Iran on Saturday, killing a young girl and injuring two others.
Allstate Insurance Co. says it is dropping earthquake insurance to most of its 407,000 quake customers nationwide in the U.S. as a part of a larger move to reduce exposure to catastrophic losses. The states dropped are Kentucky, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Florida. The company will continue to renew earthquake coverage in New Hampshire, New York and Pennsylvania. California coverage is not affected by the Allstate decision. It is covered by the California Earthquake Authority. The company has also declined storm renewals in some parts of Florida and New York and has taken a hard look at coastal coverage from Texas to Florida.
6/2 -
CANADA - Residents of western New Brunswick woke up to the ground shaking Thursday morning as the region was hit by a "moderate" 3.6 earthquake. It originated 25 kilometres southeast of the village of Perth-Andover, near the Maine border. There were no immediate reports of damage. "We heard a rumbling from a distance, almost as though a train or a jet was low. And then, maybe a second or two, there was a rattling underneath our feet and the house shook and the dishes shook, and the windowpanes shook." Thursday's event was the largest earthquake to hit the area in three years.
INDONESIA - Rescue workers are still finding bodies in the wreckage of villages in Indonesia's earthquake disaster zone. The quake killed at least 6,234 people, according to government figures, which also estimate that 130,000 homes had been destroyed or damaged.
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5/31 -
INDONESIA - Survivors of the devastating quake on Java say rumours of an incoming tsunami touched off panic in cities and villages that left many injured, and it also hindered rescue efforts. Reports filtered in of victims trapped for hours in collapsed houses as residents fled to higher ground and didn't feel secure enough to return home until hours later. In Bantul, the hardest hit region where most homes were flattened, the roads leading to elevated areas like Gadunonlateu and Slarong were filled with refugees after the earthquake. The Yogyakarta area lies on broad flat coastal plain more than 16 kilometres from the ocean. Indonesian authorities and scientists have dismissed the possibility that a tsunami could sweep so far inland. Yet the message has not been broadly accepted by the public. "If only people did not run away because of tsunami rumours, people hit by the ruins of their homes could have been saved." "People reported that there would be a tsunami and radio stations repeated this without checking the truth."
5/30 -
INDONESIA - the latest in a series of strong temblors to jolt Indonesia in the past four days occurred this morning. A 6.0-magnitude earthquake rocked the easternmost Indonesian province of Papua, but there were no reports of injuries or damage. The earthquake's epicentre was on land about 147-kilometres southwest of Papua's capital of Jayapura, and took place at about 33 kilometres under the earth. The quake triggered panic among residents in Wamena and Jayapura.
PAKISTAN - Seven months after the October 8 quake which killed at least 80,000, the stench of death has finally wafted away from Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. However, something almost as bad has come in its place. The city of 700,000 people has been turned into a massive rubbish dump. An estimated 25 million cu metres of rubble lies scattered across it, and just over 2 million cu metres has been removed so far. Atop the debris, deposits of filth lie dumped – and in the scorching heat of May, with temperatures climbing above 30 degrees Celsius – it creates a terrible odour that never quite seems to leave some parts of the city. Some residents still live in canvas tents, which provide almost no protection from the intensity of the sun. Rain, forecast by the end of June, can only add to the squalor. "Look at how we live. Like animals, among this rubbish. And now we are being told it contains poison that could kill our children." Local health officials and environmentalists fear that the mountain of waste and rubble contains dangerous heavy metals, including lead. People are continuing to live in tents mainly because their "lands have been washed away or the area where they live faces a risk of further earthquakes." According to estimates, at least 100,000 people will have to continue to live in tents until next winter.
Some researchers believe that radio crackling, surges in heat and other phenomena may be signs of a coming earthquake, and monitoring these planetary stress symptoms could someday help people prepare. One area of research that appears promising comes in examining the behavior of rocks immediately before a quake. When subject to pressure, normally inert rocks produce positive charges. The positive charges, which increase as pressure does, in turn generate an electric field, which generates a magnetic field. "A rock, when you squeeze it, becomes a battery." The positive charges emitted by the pressured rock could also explain other so-called earthquake precursors. When the earth becomes positively charged, the positively charged particles of the ionosphere, a layer of the atmosphere that sits about 90 kilometers (56 miles) above the earth's surface, will get pushed away and get replaced by negatively charged particles. The sudden rush of negatively charged electrons in that portion of the ionosphere in turn should interfere with radio waves and reception. Rock stress may additionally explain surges of infrared energy, which manifests itself as luminescence, observed before some quakes. There is a current generated when you start to crack a rock before it crumbles and there is infrared energy that comes out of the rock when the charged particles drop their energy. Strange animal behavior, conceivably, might be the reactions to these environmental changes.
5/29 -
INDONESIA - The number of the people killed in Saturday's powerful earthquake that hit Indonesia's island of Java jumped to nearly 5,000 as rescuers continue to dig for survivors. About 450 aftershocks have shaken the region as of midday on Sunday, with the strongest measuring magnitude 5.2. There were "literally" fault lines in the roads caused by the earthquake. However, while many buildings were destroyed, or partially destroyed, some were still standing. "It really was a whim of the earthquake."
Heavy rain late on Sunday made conditions worse for the 200,000 people left homeless by the quake.
Two powerful earthquakes struck near the South Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Tonga on Sunday. No casualties have been reported. A magnitude 6.2 quake struck near Papua New Guinea's New Britain region. Some 20 minutes later, a 5.9 magnitude quake struck near the island of Tonga. The quakes follow Saturday's 6.3 magnitude tremor in central Indonesia, but experts say they are probably not related. All three occurred along the seismically-active Asia-Pacific rim, where movement by the massive Pacific tectonic plate creates regular earthquakes and volcanic activity.
5/28 -
INDONESIA - A dawn 6.2 earthquake killed more than 3,000 people around the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta Friday, burying many under the rubble of their homes in a scene survivors said was like the end of the world. "Buildings shook like pendulums, I thought it was Armageddon." The wards and corridors of Sarjito hospital in Yogyakarta city were crammed with injured survivors. It was the third major tremor to hit Indonesia in 18 months, the worst being the quake on Dec. 26, 2004 and its resulting tsunami. As the scale of the devastation became clear, focus turned to the effect the violent tremors may have had on Mount Merapi, the volcano 24km from Yogyakarta that is on high alert for a major eruption. Vulcanologists monitoring the situation noticed an immediate increase in activity in the aftermath of the earthquake. Hot, dense gas clouds were reported stretching 4km down Merapi's mountainside, just short of their length before the volcano's last major eruption.
5/26 -
SWEDEN - A small 2.0 earthquake caused panic in Stockholm on Wednesday night when inhabitants mistook a loud bang for an explosion. Hundreds of Stockholm residents alerted police and abandoned their homes when they heard the noise, fearing a bomb had gone off. For three hours, police cars and helicopters trawled the Swedish capital in vain in search of the explosion until they were informed by seismologists that there was an earthquake.
INDONESIA - A tectonic earthquake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale jolted Indonesia's Papua provincial capital of Jayapura and Sarmi Wednesday evening, causing one man to die of a heart attack and hundreds of people to flee to upland areas in fear of a tsunami.
5/24 -
RUSSIA - a powerful 7.0 earthquake shook a remote province in Russia’s Far East on Tuesday, disrupting water and electricity supplies. No one was injured. The quake hit the village of Tilichki in the Koryak region some 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles) east of Moscow, forcing dozens of residents to be evacuated from their homes. In late April, the village suffered a series of strong quakes that led to the evacuation of hundreds of residents and disrupted utilities in the district. Seismologists are saying the region could be hit by more earthquakes in the near future, but they are expected to be less powerful.
The return of 1200 residents evacuated from Koryak settlements after the powerful 7.9 earthquake April 21st was suspended on Tuesday because of the series of new major tremors that rocked the same area of Kamchatka overnight. The decision was made to suspend the return for at least a week. The return had begun on Monday, however five earthquakes of force 5.1 to 7 hit the area overnight.
5/23 -
ARKANSAS - Federal and state emergency officials are encouraging Arkansas residents to prepare now for a possible earthquake. The United States Geological Survey considers Arkansas among the states with a "high earthquake risk" because of activity in the New Madrid fault zone. "It could be tomorrow. It could be 60 years. We don't know." The fault runs from Marked Tree to near Cairo, Illinois.
5/18 -
INDONESIA - The strong 6.4 earthquake that shook Indonesia's island of Nias in the late hours of Tuesday caused visible cracks in the land. The epicentre of the quake was in the Indian Ocean. No one was hurt during the jolts. Despite the cracked land, there are no reports of damaged buildings.
5/14 -
CALIFORNIA - A magnitude 4.4 quake rumbled through an area around in the Geysers in Sonoma County early Friday and was followed by more than 20 aftershocks ranging from 2.3 to 1.4 in size. There were no reports of damage or injury.
5/12 -
BULGARIA was shaken by a new earthquake late on Wednesday, the sixth in twenty-four hours. The epicentre of the 3.0 quake, registered at 11 pm, was 230 kilometers east of Sofia. The first two earthquakes hit western regions Wednesday morning, and the three rattles that followed were felt in the eastern parts of the country. Around 10 a.m., the most powerful tremor (4.3 on the Richter scale) shook Gotse Delchev, but the epicenter was outside Bulgaria. Within half an hour another quake hit the area of the Kalotina border checkpoint, 55 kilometers west of Sofia. Its magnitude was 3.7. Eastern Kermen felt three earthquakes in the afternoon - a 3.3-magnitude shortly after noontime, and two lighter tremors (2.7 and 3 on the Richter scale) in 2:26 and 2:27 p.m..
5/10 -
This morning there has been a 6 .3 quake in the Fox Islands, Alaska, followed by a series of aftershocks, 16 so far.
PHILIPPINES - A relatively mild 3.7 earthquake toppled a transmission tower and left several million people in the central Philippines without electricity today. Three power plants on the island of Leyte were shut down as a protective measure. The outage blacked out Leyte and also affected large areas of Cebu island including Cebu city, the country's number-two metropolis, as well as the island of Panay. Residents of the island of Negros said the area was also without power. The four islands have a total population of 8.3 million. It was caused by a movement of a geological abnormality called the Philippine fault that is straddled by the island. The same fault was blamed for the huge landslide on February 17 that buried the Leyte village of Guinsaugon, killing about a thousand people.
ITALY - There has been yet another tremor from an earthquake in the Aeolian Islands, this time near Filicudi. It is the fourth earthquake in 4 days in the archipelago, where two tremors were felt in Stromboli and one in the channel between Salina and Lipari. The latter was the strongest and, as a consequence, the precautionary measure was taken to close the three churches which were slightly damaged.
CHINA - Shenzhen Wildlife Park has recently joined efforts with the municipal seismic bureau to establish five seismological observation stations in the park. Every day the park's staff and animal keepers observe and record unusual actions of animals and report to the seismic bureau for analysis. Meanwhile, the seismic bureau occasionally sends experts to the park to train and teach the animal keepers how to observe and record the behaviour of tigers, lions, wolves, snakes, crocodiles, swans, cranes, turkeys, fishes and zebras in the park. Animals are said to behave irregularly before seismic activities take place, and some believe observing the creatures can help predict earthquakes.
A team of U.S. and Indian scientists says it has found a link between concentrations of chlorophyll in coastal waters and the occurrence of earthquakes. The increases in chlorophyll are the result of blooms of plankton, which use chlorophyll to convert solar energy into chemical energy via photosynthesis. The scientists analyzed satellite data from coastal areas near the epicenters of four recent earthquakes and determined chlorophyll blooms might provide early warning concerning an impending earthquake. The researchers theorize the movement of plate tectonics creates conditions in which plankton thrive in proximity to an impending earthquake.
5/8 -
IRAN - At least 80 people were hurt and many homes damaged Sunday when a strong earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale jolted the town of Zarand in southern Iran's Kerman province. The province has a number of copper, iron and coal mines and there were fears than miners in the area could be trapped underground. "The walls of many houses have been seriously damaged and it is anticipated that more than 60 per cent of Zarand homes will no longer be inhabitable." In late March, a powerful earthquake hit western Iran, killing at least 70 people and leaving thousands homeless.
5/7 -
TONGA - Following the STRONGEST QUAKE EVER RECORDED IN TONGA, and the STRONGEST QUAKE IN THE WORLD IN MORE THAN A YEAR, major structural damage to the Queen Salote Wharf no. 2 and 3, in Nuku'alofa, and to the Niu'ui Hospital and other structures in Ha'apai is being assessed by Tonga's Ministry of Lands. In the Ha'apai group, which was close to the epicentre of the violent earthquakes on May 4, many buildings were cracked and long running cracks have appeared in the roads and concrete paving. (photos)
Strong aftershocks rattled Tonga on Friday, the day after the massive earthquake damaged buildings and triggered tsunami warnings from Hawaii to New Zealand. No damage or injuries were reported from the latest quakes - with magnitudes of 6.0, 5.7 and 5.4 - to hit the South Pacific nation and no tsunami warning was issued. But they came as authorities from outlying islands began reporting damage from the 7.8 magnitude tremor that struck in the early hours of Thursday. Thursday's major quake prompted a regional warning center in Hawaii to issue a tsunami alert, but Tonga was inadvertently left off the list - along with three other Pacific nations - of countries to warn about the possibility of a killer wave bearing down on them. A second bulletin, issued 49 minutes after the first alert, correctly included Tonga, Niue, American Samoa, Samoa, and Wallis-Futuna as countries also under the tsunami warning. By then, it would have been too late if a destructive tsunami materialized - it would have already hit Tonga, Niue and American Samoa.
5/5 -
Pacific quake rippled a Virginia well - A hungry mouse sent state workers to repair a groundwater well in Christiansburg in time to watch it slosh in response to the earthquake in the South Pacific. The 7.9-magnitude quake struck near Tonga, 34 miles below the Earth's surface at 11:26 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, sending out seismic waves traveling about 7,400 mph. In less than an hour, they clocked in 7,200 miles away at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality monitoring well. Geologists say that seismic waves compress and expand fractures in the 450-foot-deep well, drawing water in and expelling it. Wednesday's oscillations of not quite 6 inches began shortly after 12:20 p.m. and lasted for about an hour. Quakes around the world of at least magnitude 6 seem to set off the well, which appears to ignore weaker quakes closer to home. Wednesday's readings weren't as dramatic as those after the Sumatran quake in 2004. That temblor sent the water level in Christiansburg rising to within 4 inches below ground level, plummeting 3 feet, and then oscillating for approximately five hours before returning to normal.
5/4 -
TONGA - the powerful 8.1 earthquake which struck the South Pacific islands of Tonga early yesterday, generated a tsunami, but there were no reports of damage. "Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated. It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicentre," said the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre. Tongan officials said they were checking outer islands in the group, particularly the low-lying Hapai Islands, which were near the epicentre. The Tonga islands are an archipelago east of Australia, southeast of Fiji and northeast of New Zealand. The earthquake temporarily cut power in Tonga's capital Nuku'alofa and tipped objects from shelves but caused no major damage or injuries. It was the LARGEST TREMOR THERE FOR OVER 20 YEARS. A resident in Tonga said he felt tremors lasting more than 30 seconds.
TONGANS were shaken awake early in the morning as a Magnitude 8.1 earthquake, possibly Tonga's largest on record, shook the capital, where one terrified hotel guest was hospitalised after jumping off his second floor hotel balcony during the quake. The magnitude 8.1 event lasted for 5 seconds and was immediately followed by a 7.9 magnitude event, which shook buildings for over a minute, causing stock to fall from supermarket shelves, glass to break and bookshelves to tumble. Electrical flashes from power poles were seen before the electrical power grid shut down in the middle of the quake leaving frightened residents in the dark. There was another Magnitude 5.4 aftershock at 6:56 am, and another of Magnitude 5.1 at 8:28 am. (photos)
5/2 -
RUSSIA - The next session of the Russian government is expected to consider measures to "liquidate the aftermath of the major quake in Russia’s Koryak Autonomous Area on the Kamchatka peninsula." "Residents of the settlements hit by the devastating quake have received pecuniary aid, while people whose houses were destroyed will shortly get certificates for new apartments.” Four of five schools in the zone of destructions are beyond repair. All kindergartens were also destroyed and are beyond repair. Out-patient clinics and hospitals, as well as energy supply facilities were also seriously damaged. Water supply has been restored to all houses. Repair work is underway to restore in full electricity and heat supply. Specialists from different ministries and agencies are checking the condition of all buildings. Nevertheless, “the situation remains very difficult.” “Earth tremors persist, people have no confidence in tomorrow and their mood is grave.”
5/1 -
RUSSIA - Sunday morning's earthquake damaged diesel power stations as well as concrete buildings in the towns of Korf and Tilichiki in Koryakia, the Russian Far East. The cracks caused by the first earthquake on April 21 intensified in concrete buildings. "Wooden houses remained undamaged, no local resident died." Another powerful earthquake was registered at 8:58 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday on Olyutor Bay, off the coast of Kamchatka. Its epicenter was at a depth of 40 kilometers, and its magnitude reached 7 points on the Richter scale.
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4/26 -
SPAIN - There has been an earthquake off the coast of Galicia. Registering 5 on the Richter scale, the quake on Sunday morning was 61 kilometres off A Coruña, and was felt in Ferrol, Cedeira, Boiro, Santiago de Compostela and in Galicia. It was preceded by two smaller earthquakes of 3.3 and 3.1. Locals said the earthquake was very short but very intense. One man in Camariñas said that ‘it was like thunder. It moved the table and the bed.’ The earthquake, which is THE BIGGEST TO EVER HIT THE AREA, caused no injuries or material damage.
4/25 -
IRAN - A 3.9 tremor hit the city of Doroud in the western province of Lorestan in the wee hours of Monday. A relatively strong earthquake measuring 5 degrees on the Richter scale had earlier rocked Boroujerd on March 31. A quake measuring 4.7 also jolted the city of Doroud in the same province on March 30. Several aftershocks measuring 4.7 to 6 on the Richter scale have since rattled the two cities leaving 63 people dead and 1,418 others injured. The quakes and their aftershocks have also left some 15,000 families homeless and damaged 330 villages in varying degrees.
4/23 -
RUSSIA - the powerful earthquake that hit the Koryakia autonomous district in Russia's Far East on Friday has completely destroyed the villages of Khailino, Apuka and Vyvenka, local witnesses said. Residents of the villages, who are only able to communicate with the outside world using satellite telephones, said that the villages had been ruined completely, and even brick stoves in the houses had crumbled. About 1,500 people lived in the three villages, and no assistance has reached them yet. Seismologists believe there is 80% probability that several more strong aftershocks might occur in the northeastern part of Koryakia in the near future. "Following the 7.8 magnitude quake in northeastern Koryakia on Friday, five or six quakes with a magnitude of over 6 are likely to occur near its epicenter within a week. Three of them could measure up to 6.4, one up to 6.9, and there is also 80% probability of a devastating earthquake with a magnitude of 7 to 7.4 and 50% probability of an earthquake with a magnitude of up to 7.9."
RUSSIA - More than 500 people have been evacuated from two towns seriously affected by the series of powerful earthquakes in the north of the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's Far East. The initial 7.8-magnitude quake, the strongest since 1900 in the Koryak area, which is eight time zones from Moscow, injured 31 people and damaged several buildings and facilities in Tilichiki, including a school, a kindergarten, a local airport's runway, and cut power and water supplies in several villages. Earthquake aftershocks of Richter magnitudes of up to five continue, and seismologists have warned of stronger quakes still to come.
[SITE NOTE - This is the area where Russia was expecting a large quake by December of last year. They had flown in supplies in anticipation, but had decided that the danger was past.
Posted here 2/8/06 (link no longer works) - RUSSIA - An earthquake measuring 5.7 points on the open-ended Richter scale occurred on Monday morning in the Kamchatka Strait off the Kamchatka Peninsula’s eastern shores. Despite the quake, the regional administration has lifted high-alert regulations introduced last August on apprehensions that a major earthquake might be forthcoming. Emergency services have returned into a normal mode of operations now, since experts no longer expect quakes with a magnitude of 7.5 or more points on the Richter scale.
Posted here 9/8/05 - RUSSIA - A major exercise conducted by Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry to practice dealing with a simulated 8.8 earthquake was under way on the far-eastern Kamchatka Peninsula. According to research conducted by the International Institute of Earthquake Prediction Theory and Mathematical Geophysics, there is at least a 30% probability of an earthquake with a 7.2-magnitude or higher in the area of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands before mid-December.]
4/21 -
RUSSIA - The 7.7. earthquake that struck Russia's far-eastern Kamchatka peninisula was followed by nine aftershocks in the region with magnitudes ranging between 4.5 and 5.4. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. Some 2,000 people would have been exposed to "intensive shaking," a spokeswoman said. It was LARGEST SEISMIC EVENT IN THE AREA SINCE 1900.
TIBET - A strong earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale destroyed several houses in Tibet yesterday, but caused no loss of life. The quake affected eight of the 10 towns in Baingoin County, of which Jiaqun town suffered the most serious damage.
CALIFORNIA - Much of the East Bay shoreline could turn to quicksand in the next big quake, causing extensive damage to the Oakland Airport and Port of Oakland, homes, businesses and roads. Most of the man-made, filled land that makes up the shore was put in place after the 1906 earthquake and has yet to be really strongly shaken. Liquefaction causes wet ground to momentarily loses strength and flow like liquid. Roads, buildings and other structures can sink, tip, or be pulled apart. About 22 square miles of real estate along the Bay in Berkeley, and Oakland and most of Alameda is made up of the worst possible kind of artificial fill - loose, sandy soil primarily dredged from the Bay.
4/20 -
GREECE - A strong earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale rattled Greece's western Ionian islands Wednesday, but there were no immediate reports of injury. The island of Zakynthoshas been the scene of nine strong earthquakes since April 11, ranging from 5.0 to 5.9 on the Richter scale. Reports said residents on the island were upset over the latest earthquake, with many running out of their homes in panic.
4/18 -
INDONESIA - A strong tectonic earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale has hit the Mount Karangetang area in the north of Indonesia. The quake was centered 200 kilometers under the seabed of Siau island in the country's northernmost region and there have been no immediate reports of damage or casualties. It comes as Indonesia prepares for the possible evacuation of nearly 30-thousand people living on the slopes of Java's simmering volcano Mount Merapi.
4/17 -
IRAN - One person was killed in a strong 6.0 earthquake that hit a rural area in Iran's southern province of Hormuzgan on Saturday. The quake and a series of aftershocks struck the rural region of Fin in Hormuzgan, causing minor damage to houses. The earthquake had blocked mountain roadways and disrupted electricity in areas hit by the quake.
CALIFORNIA - seismologists warn that the golden state's love of cars could turn into a fatal attraction in the quake-prone state. Elevated freeways, highway overpasses, and garages built under homes are vulnerable to crashing down when the earth shudders. "The automobile culture is really a knife in the heart of earthquake preparedness. We are only as strong as our weakest overpass." While brick buildings and other risky structures in San Francisco have been bolstered, emergency officials concede much of the city would likely crumble in a temblor on par with the 7.8-magnitude earthquake of 1906. "I don't think we quite have it nailed down, but it would appear the recurrence time for the 1906 event is 200 years. So, it looks like we are safe for a while from a recurrence." While the chances of another 1906-type quake along the San Andreas Fault in the next 30 years is one in twenty, there are a plethora of other faultlines overdue for trouble. "It's horrifying to think that along faultlines where there used to be farmland you now have Silicon Valley filled with towns."
4/13 -
CALIFORNIA - Tremors within the Earth are usually - but not always - related to the activity of a volcano. Now, such vibrations have been recorded nowhere near a volcano, but at a geologic observatory at the San Andreas Fault. Scientists believe the fault tremors may be related to activity at a subduction zone - a place where one of Earth's constantly moving tectonic plates slips beneath another. Located near Parkfield, the rumblings are the first recordings of non-volcanic tremors in a deep borehole, providing scientists with data to better understand such mysterious underground movements. Scientists are installing instruments to measure the tremors' activity, to determine whether the San Andreas Fault is moving with the tremors. "Unlike the sharp jolt of an earthquake, tremors within Earth's crust emerge slowly, rumbling for longer periods of time. Although not in this case, tremors are usually produced by magma moving in cracks or other conduits beneath a volcano."
[SITE NOTE - so now the subduction zone in the NW Pacific is changing to be more like the San Andreas and is sliding past its neighboring plate instead of under it (see yesterday's item) and the San Andreas is changing to be more like the Pacific subduction zone and is subducting under its neighboring plate rather than sliding past it? Topsy-turvy. And both of these areas are getting quakes more common to volcanic activity.]
GREECE - Four earthquakes measuring up to 5.9 on the Richter scale shook the Ionian island of Zakynthos on Tuesday causing some damage - there were no immediate reports of injuries. The largest tremor, which reached 5.9 Richter, hit the island at about 8.30 p.m. and had its epicenter in an undersea area south of Zakynthos. The tremor was felt as far away as Athens and Kalamata. The three previous tremors struck the island between 12.10 a.m. and 3.02 a.m. and ranged in strength from 4.4 to 5.7 Richter. One house suffered major damage, while eight more homes and the port were also damaged, though not as severely. Schools were closed so authorities could conduct safety checks on buildings. Last week, two tremors measuring 5.7 and 4.8 Richter shook Zakynthos — one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the country.
The Ionian Sea area had 18 moderate quakes yesterday. More continue today.
4/12 -
U.S. WEST COAST - scientists have discovered that the seafloor off the Pacific Northwest is a jumping kind of place, with thousands of small, swarming earthquakes and tectonic plates that are slowly rearranging themselves. The findings could mean that a "Big One" earthquake may not be as severe as previously thought. The evidence is that multiple tectonic plates off the Pacific Northwest appear to be rearranging themselves. The plates have been slowly jamming into each other. One boundary among them appears to be turning into a fault that's more like the San Andreas Fault to the south in California. Instead of ramming together, the plates are rubbing past each other. The consequence could be a shortening of the fault along the Pacific Northwest, so a major earthquake wouldn't be so extensive or severe. The rearrangement could limit the potential for a magnitude 9 earthquake. The project has also turned up evidence of intense clusters of quakes that previously had gone undetected and are associated with underwater volcanic activity and are like the swarms of earthquakes that can precede volcanic eruptions such as that at Mount St. Helens. The quakes were small, on the order of magnitudes 2-4, but numerous, with as many as a thousand of them in a three-week period.
[ SITE OPINION - At these magnitudes it seems odd that thousands of these were 'undetected'. ]
4/5 -
PAKISTAN - At least 24 people were injured, three seriously, as an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale shook northern Pakistan Tuesday. The quake was felt in the capital Islamabad and the cities of Peshawar, Mansehra, Batagram, Kohistan and Balakot. Another mild aftershock measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale also jolted these cities four minutes after the first tremor. Roofs and walls of some shanty houses, damaged during last year's earthquake, crumbled in the area. The chief of the meteorological office recently said aftershocks of the October quake would continue until May. According to him more than 1,600 aftershocks have hit the quake-ravaged region since the October 8 tremor.
4/4 -
CHINA - The Chinese space agency has ambitious plans, including robotic Moon missions starting next year. The agency envisions a "constellation" of eight satellites to monitor global disasters, and another satellite that would watch the Earth's magnetic fields as a possible predictor of earthquakes.
4/2 -
IRAN - Strong tremors on Thursday night helped keep the death toll down because they drove many to leave their homes and take to the streets well before the big 6.0 quake hit. 330 villages were severely damaged, 70 people were killed, and more than 1,200 people were injured in an area around the cities of Doroud and Boroujerd in the province of Lorestan. In the worst hit areas, brick buildings collapsed into piles of masonry and mud homes were reduced to mounds of dust.
Different parts of western Lorestan province have been rattled by some 43 aftershocks since Thursday evening when the quake hit. The strongest aftershock, which lasted for one minute on Friday, shook the cities of Dorud, Borujerd and Khorramabad, followed by 42 minor ones causing panic among residents. The quakes and aftershocks which hit Borujerd and Dorud have rendered about 15,000 families homeless. According to provincial officials, the quakes damaged 330 villages by 40-100 percent.
TAIWAN - A strong earthquake rocked Taiwan on Saturday, shaking office buildings but causing only minor damage. Forty-two people were slightly injured. Most of the people were hurt by falling ceilings or goods in the houses, while some others were wounded as they ran about in shock. The epicentre of the 6.4 magnitude quake was east of Taitung on the eastern coast, at a depth of 10 km (6 miles). Television footage showed a collapsed wall outside a military base in the southern county of Kaohsiung, but nobody was hurt. Some phone lines were cut off in the eastern part of the island. Initial reports said Taitung City had a strong jolting, electricity was initially cut off, a fire broke out, and gas pipes were leaking. Two buildings in Taitung County were reportedly cracked up.
CHINA - Some houses and warehouses suffered damages but no casualties were reported in the tremblor that hit villages of northeast China's Jilin province Friday. The epicentre was at Laoyingtai village located across Qian'an and Qian Gorlos counties in Songyuan City, about 200 kilometres north of the provincial capital Changchun. Cracks were visible on the walls of a number of houses in the village and some warehouses have also collapsed. Rescuers have set up a few tents in anticipation of more tremors.
NEW ZEALAND - An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale rocked New Zealand's volatile Raoul Island Saturday - one of many to hit the area. The tremor hit Raoul Island with its epicenter 100 kilometers east of Raoul in the remote Kermadec Islands. The Kermadecs are New Zealand's northernmost territory, about 1,000 kilometers from the mainland. Following the March 17 volcanic eruption on the island, which killed one scientist, up to 30 earthquakes a day have been recorded in the area.
LOUISIANA - New Orleans is at the top end of what looks like a gigantic, slow-moving landslide, according to geologists who have been carefully studying the ground movements in the area. "Not only is southern Louisiana sinking, it's sliding." The pumping of groundwater, levee building, and oil and gas extraction have carried the blame so far for the area's gradual sinking below sea level, but what's being called "tectonic" subsidence appears to account for 73 percent of all sinking from 1969 to 1971 and 50 percent from 1971 to 1977. Like a landslide on the side of a hill, the huge Southern Louisiana landslide has a "headwall" where the slide is breaking away and a "toe" out in the Gulf where the debris from the slide is piling up. The only difference from a traditional landslide is that this one is far, far larger and it's buried under lots of wet sediments. There are faults along which the motion is taking place. One such fault, the Michoud Fault, runs right through New Orleans and is essentially the place where the sliding section of earth is breaking away.
ALASKA - Although California gets most of the attention when it comes to earthquakes, especially with the 100th anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake on April 18, 1906, Alaska is America's true seismic hotspot. Seven of the 10 largest earthquakes in the U.S. have occurred in Alaska, and it vibrates with 11 percent of the world's temblors each year. About 60 each day occur there, roughly 22,000 a year. Alaska's most devastating quake, on March 27, 1964, was a magnitude 9.2 and was focused in Prince William Sound. It was the second-largest in the world, behind a magnitude 9.5 that struck Chile in 1960. The Indian Ocean earthquake in December 2004, whose ensuing tsunami killed tens of thousands of people, ranks third.
PAKISTAN has decided to move a quake-devastated city to a new location after experts declared any new construction dangerous. Balakot, a town about 120 miles north of the capital Islamabad which had a population of 300,000, was destroyed last October when the 7.6-magnitude quake hit the country.
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3/31 -
IRAN - Two strong earthquakes flattened villages in western Iran early today, killing at least 38 and injuring hundreds. At least 10 tremors rocked the mountainous region throughout the night - the first one had a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 and struck around 1 a.m. local time. The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 5.7 magnitude quake shortly before 5 a.m. local time, followed by a 4.7 magnitude aftershock about 15 minutes later.
INDONESIA - U.S. researchers have warned that the fault that caused the devastating earthquake in Indonesia in December 2004 could still cause some big ruptures. Analysis of the damage of a quake that followed in the same area three months later shows potential for large movements south of the 2004 and 2005 ruptures. "This southern part is very likely about ready to go again. It could devastate the coastal communities of southwestern Sumatra, including the cities of Padang and Bengkulu, with a combined population of well over a million people. It could happen tomorrow, or it could happen 30 years from now, but I'd be surprised if it were delayed much beyond that." The 2004 quake caused dramatic warping and uplift among the islands and coral atolls in the Sumatran archipelago.
JAPAN - As a result of this year's survey of active faults, the government learned that the Uemachi Fault stretches 58 kilometers between Toyonaka to Kishiwada, not just the 32 kilometers between Toyonaka and Sakai cities as recorded in the previous survey. The revised forecast paints a much grimmer picture than the 1996 forecast of quake damage on four active faults in the prefecture. About 710,000 houses and buildings located on the Uemachi Fault in Osaka Prefecture would be destroyed or damaged if a major shallow-focus earthquake of maximum intensity on the Japanese scale of 7 were to occur.
CALIFORNIA - Seven in 10 Californians believe a big earthquake will strike the state and affect them, but only 22 percent consider themselves well prepared. The lowest rates of preparation were in the Bay Area and the Central Valley. "In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it's surprising to find that nearly half of Californians believe that state, local and federal government are prepared for a major disaster. Let's hope they're right." The Red Cross is trying to train 1 million people this year in disaster response, and they urge people living in earthquake zones to keep five days' of supplies such as food, water and prescriptions on hand.
3/30 -
CALIFORNIA - At approximately 5:36 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, an earthquake shook up residents throughout the Mojave Desert area. With an epicenter located about five miles east of Ridgecrest and 13 miles from Inyokern, the temblor registered at a 4.1 magnitude at a depth of about 6.4 miles. Described as a “short, rocking jolt”, the rumbler did some slight damage and was felt as far north as Panamint Springs in Death Valley National Park and as far east as Barstow. At least one Ridgecrest business had reports of damage, consisting mainly of cracks in walls.
3/28 -
Battered over the past 15 months by seven of the 10 most-expensive catastrophes in the company's history, Allstate Insurance Co. is taking steps to reduce its exposure to disasters by discontinuing writing residential and commercial earthquake coverage in most of the U.S. The company also is planning to shed some of the 407,000 earthquake policies it already has in force nationwide. Earthquake coverage costs a homeowner 20 cents to 40 cents per $1,000 of a residence's value. Allstate's main concern in the Midwest is the New Madrid seismic zone near the intersecting borders of TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY and MISSOURI. The Geological Survey agency predicts a greater than 90 percent chance of a magnitude 6 or 7 earthquake in the New Madrid area during the next 50 years. Allstate has been among the most aggressive insurers in reducing disaster exposure. The company recently said it was cutting back on homeowners policies in NEW YORK, on adjacent LONG ISLAND and in parts of TEXAS. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. in September stopped writing property insurance policies in FLORIDA, and this month will begin dropping 35,000 homeowners policies that come up for renewal in the hurricane-prone states. "The current insurance model is not well-suited for handling losses from low-frequency, high-severity, mega-catastrophic events."
3/27 -
IRAN - One person was killed in the powerful 6.0 earthquake that hit a mountainous area of southern Iran on Saturday, damaging some rural houses and blocking mountain roadways to villages.
Reports released on Sunday said that the city of Fin has been jolted 23 times over the past 24 hours.
3/26 -
IRAN - An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 (5.7) on the Richter scale and a series of aftershocks struck the southern Iranian province of Hormuzgan on Saturday. The quakes caused minor damage. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The earthquake was centered near the rural area of Fin in Hormuzgan province. Fin has a population of about 15,000, lies some 70 km north of the southern port city of Bandar Abbas on the Gulf, and is home to one of the Islamic Republic's key refineries.
CALIFORNIA - Several faults lurk beneath the Bay area, including the San Andreas Fault on the west side, but geologists say the parallel Hayward on the Bay's east side is the most likely to snap next. "It is locked and loaded and ready to fire at any time." The Hayward Fault runs through one of the country's most densely populated areas. It slices the earth's crust along a 50-mile swath of suburbia east of San Francisco. The ground on each side of the fault could shift 3 feet, meaning two objects on opposite sides could be abruptly carried a total of 6 feet apart. The fault is obvious, marked by a crack that snakes through a parking lot in Hayward's business district, fractures in the pavement outside houses, misaligned street curbs, warped concrete gutters, new cracks that appear in ceilings every few weeks, strange bulges in the street.
TURKEY - Residents in a small quake-prone central Turkish town have set up tents in streets and gardens in fear of a possible earthquake following the March 29 solar eclipse. Northwestern Turkey was struck by a devastating earthquake in August 1999 that killed some 17,000 people just six days after another solar eclipse, and some believe the temblor was triggered by the phenomenon. Although scientists have appeared on television to reassure the public that there is no evidence of any link between an eclipse and earthquakes, many still fear that next week's eclipse could cause a new disaster. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon crosses between the Earth and sun. On March 29, the eclipse will be visible across a track stretching from Brazil, crossing through much of Africa, into Turkey and ending in Mongolia.
3/24 -
NEW ZEALAND - Tauranga residents were rudely woken early today by an earthquake centred 20km southwest of the city. It struck at 4.16am and while measuring only a modest 3.5 on the Richter scale, was at a depth of just 1km. It was the third quake in this country in a period of less than four hours. The earlier quakes were a magnitude 4.1 shake northwest of Porirua at 2.37am with a depth of 60km, and another at 12.17am measuring 4.3 centred north of Gisborne at a depth of 25km.
CALIFORNIA - Earthquake swarms with temblors measuring 3.7 magnitude near Moraga and 2.9 near Anderson Springs occurred Tuesday, jiggling nerves in both the East and North Bay but causing no reports of damage or injuries. As a precaution the BART system slowed its trains to half speed until the rail lines in the area near quake were checked. The 3.7 temblor hit at 1:42 p.m. about 4 miles southeast of Moraga and was followed over the next 40 minutes by seven smaller quakes. At Anderson Springs, near Santa Rosa, four quakes measuring from 2.9 to 2.1 hit starting at 2:05 p.m. A similar swarm struck near the Hayward Fault on March 1. Typically an earthquake with a magnitude as large as a 3.7 will be followed by a swarm of smaller quakes. "I guess the UNUSUAL thing is that other than the 3.7 and the 3.2 in February we haven't seen any earthquakes as large as (magnitude) 2 in this area." Tuesday's East Bay quakes were located between the Hayward and northern Calaveras faults, rather than on one of the major Bay Area faults. They were felt by thousands of people. The last large quake to occur on the Hayward Fault - estimated to have been about magnitude 7 - took place in 1868.
JAPAN - A court has ordered Japan's newest nuclear reactor to be shut down over fears about its safety in the event of an earthquake. This is the most modern nuclear facility in Japan and the ruling raises questions about the 54 other reactors in operation.
GREENLAND - Scientists have recorded a significant and unexpected increase in the number of "glacial earthquakes" caused by the sudden movement of Manhattan-sized blocks of ice in Greenland. The rise in the number of glacial earthquakes over the past four years lends further weight to the idea that Greenland's glaciers and its ice sheet are beginning to move and melt on a scale not seen for perhaps thousands of years. The annual number of glacial earthquakes recorded in Greenland between 1993 and 2002 was between six and 15. In 2003 seismologists recorded 20 glacial earthquakes. In 2004 they monitored 24 and for the first 10 months of 2005 they recorded 32. In a single area of north-western Greenland scientists recorded just one quake between 1993 and 1999. But they monitored more than two dozen quakes there between 2000 and 2005. Average temperatures in the Arctic have risen far faster than in other parts of the world over the past few decades, resulting in the rapid acceleration in polar melting. Of the 136 glacial quakes analysed by the scientists, more than a third occurred during July and August.
3/23 -
SERBIA - A central Serbia region, already suffering from more than 100 landslides, was hit Wednesday by a moderate 4.5 earthquake which caused additional damage to an area where dozens of homes have been destroyed amid heavy rains and melting snow. The quake caused cracks in several old buildings and triggered a brief panic at its epicenter. The same region was hit by stronger, 5.4- and 5.7-magnitude quakes in 1998 and 1999 respectively. "The situation is getting worse by the hour," said the chief municipal official in Trstenik. "The ground is splitting, walls are cracking, roofs falling." A state of emergency was also declared in the Kraljevo district, where an entire village moved by a dozen meters (yards) as the slope on which it is located shifted downhill due to recent heavy rains. Twenty-nine houses were destroyed and about 100 badly damaged by the landslides in the southwestern municipality of Cacak. Eighteen roads were damaged near the southern city of Krusevac, threatening to cut off several villages.
3/22 -
MOZAMBIQUE - Aftershocks continue, weeks after the February quake. Three minor earth tremors were recorded on Sunday in the central Mozambican province of Manica, affecting the same areas hit by the earthquake of February 23. Since the post-quake readjustment of the plates could take months, more aftershocks are likely to happen. But as time passes they will diminish in intensity. Authorities claim that about 1,000 people were "affected" by the earthquake. There were five known fatalities, while 28 people were injured and 300 traditional homes and other structures built with flimsy materials were destroyed.
3/21 -
ALGERIA - An earthquake measuring 5.0 has killed at least four people and injured 36 others in Algeria, reports say. However, one eyewitness said that seven people had been killed. Some 30 houses are said to have collapsed in the town of Laalam in the province of Bejaia, about 300km (190 miles) east of the capital, Algiers. Algeria has suffered a number of deadly earthquakes in recent years.
PAKISTAN - Some unknown persons Monday started a false rumour that an earthquake would be coming soon creating panic amongst the students of Noor Model School who started rushing out of the school resulting in a stampede. As a result four students sustained severe injuries.
3/17 -
INDONESIA - The March 15th 6.4 earthquake, and 5 metre tidal wave that occurred in the aftermath of the earthquake, has caused two fatalities, and seriously injured one person. One person has been reported as missing. The quake also caused heavy damage to houses in Pela Village (116), Batu Jungku Village (54), Waimorot Village (30), Wailawa Village (25), and Waimoly Village (16). It has not been specified whether these damaged houses are easily repaired or still habitable. Some 1,200 persons from Batu Jungku and Pelang Village of Bata Bual Sub-District fled from their homes to higher/mountainous areas.
3/16 -
MOZAMBIQUE has been hit by another earthquake, the second in less than a month. The 5.6 quake was felt between Beira in the north and Maputo. A quake on February 23, which registered 7.5 on the Richter scale, caused the death of five people. No reports of injuries or serious damage to property have been received yet. The tremor was severe in Chipinge where panic-striken residents were seen running in fear. In Zimbabwe the tremor shook tall buildings. A large aftershock of 5.3 followed the quake.
"The moon is seismically active." Shallow moonquakes occur only 20 or 30 kilometers below the surface. Between 1972 and 1977, the Apollo seismic network saw twenty-eight of them; a few registered up to 5.5 on the Richter scale. Furthermore, shallow moonquakes lasted a remarkably long time. Once they got going, all continued more than 10 minutes. "The moon was ringing like a bell." On Earth, vibrations from quakes usually die away in only half a minute. What causes the shallow moonquakes? And where do they occur? "We're not sure." Scientists are developing a proposal to deploy a network of 10 to 12 seismometers around the entire moon, to gather data for at least three to five years. This kind of work is necessary to find the safest spots for permanent lunar bases. And that's just the beginning. Other planets may be shaking, too.
3/15 -
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - A geology professor warned that the country must be prepared in the short term for a strong earthquake, which could even generate a tidal wave in the country’s North or South zones. There are serious indications, “which have occurred in nature leading us to forecast a possible earthquake with fatal consequences.” He was making reference to the latest tremors which have taken place in the country’s North region, which in his opinion could be the prelude to something stronger.
BULGARIA - The region of Kurdzhali to the south of Bulgaria was shaken yet again by four light-to-moderate quakes on Tuesday. With a magnitude of 3.4 on the Richter scale, the first tremor was felt on the higher floors of apartment buildings. Its epicenter was right in the village of Murgovo. Twenty minutes later the region was hit by a new wave of a moderate strength of 2.8 on the Richter, followed by yet another at 10:30 a.m. The third quake shook at 3.3 on the Richter scale, and the fourth one - about two hours later - was felt at 2.5 on the Richter scale. There have been no reports of injuries or damages. Over the past few weeks the Kurdzhali region was shaken by an alarming number of moderate and light quakes. Experts fear that these could be the warning signals of a devastating 8.0-magnitude earthquake in the works.
3/12 -
PAKISTAN - a 5.2-magnitude earthquake has jolted northern Pakistan, killing one person and injuring 22. The quake was an aftershock of the huge October 8 South Asian temblor that killed more than 73,000 people in Pakistan. A second aftershock, measuring 4.0, rocked Mirpur about two hours later. Many buildings and structures were left unstable and susceptible to the more than 1750 aftershocks that have shaken Pakistan since October's 7.6-magnitude earthquake. Occasional aftershocks are expected to continue for another few weeks.
INDIA - Nobody died in the temblor that hit Gujarat earlier this week but the 50 million people of this earthquake-prone state continue to be haunted by the devastating earthquake that wrought havoc five years ago. Back then 12,000 men, women and children died, 1.2 million were rendered homeless and property loss totalled a whopping Rs200 billion. This time, the moment the tremors were felt around midnight, many panic-stricken residents living in skyscrapers jumped out of their balcony in the blink of an eye only to land in the hospital, like what the panicky residents did in the 2001 disaster when even children were thrown out as their buildings began swaying after a 6.9-strong quake. Since the deadly upheaval in 2001, Gujarat has witnessed 1204 tremors, including 11 that measured more than 5.1 on the Richter scale. And geology experts are predicting more 'moving experiences' in the days to come, so fears of yet another cataclysm will continue.
NEW ZEALAND - A series of four quakes ranging from 3.8 to 4.5 rocked Wanganui on the west coast of the North Island over an eight hour period. A large quake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale struck 40 kilometres west of remote Te Anau on the west coast of the South Island.
OHIO - A small 3.0 earthquake shook northeast Ohio for a few seconds Saturday, the fourth and largest quake to hit the area this year. The quake was centered about three miles off of Mentor beneath Lake Erie. The other three earthquakes this year had magnitudes of 2.0 to 2.6. It is UNUSUAL to get this many earthquakes in a short period of time in Ohio.
3/10 -
INDIA - Six persons were injured in Rapar taluka of Kutch district of Gujarat in earthquake which jolted many parts of the state late Tuesday night. The earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale also damaged houses in many places of the district. Most of the injured have suffered fractures in the leg and the arms after portions of their houses collapsed during the quake. Rapar was one of the talukas which was one of the worst affected during January 26, 2001 earthquake in Gujarat.
LOUISIANA - A 3.1 earthquake Tuesday at 9:12 pm near Mount St. Helens in Washington state caused brown water to flow from some faucets in rural West Feliciana Parish on Wednesday. “People don’t want to believe me when I say an earthquake caused their brown water, but it’s true.” Strong seismic activity on the West Coast and in Central America and Mexico affects two wells at Laurel Hill, causing them to briefly pump water discolored by manganese when seismic waves pass through the area. “It’s only these two wells. They are about 500 feet from each other, and there’s some instability underground for some reason.” Water district employees can prevent the wells from pumping the discolored water if they learn about an earthquake hundreds or thousands of miles away in time to temporarily shut down the wells. They look at Geological Survey seismograph readings, via the Internet, at two sites in Arkansas and one at Pickwick Lake, Ala., to verify their suspicions. “If they had movement at Pickwick, we get brown water.”
** VIRGINIA - Prompted by the area's increased seismic activity over the past few years - minor earthquakes west of Richmond and the microquakes that rattled the city in 2004 - scientists hope to catch central Virginia in motion with a new network of seismic equipment. Two quakes in 2003, including one of magnitude 4.5, a lesser temblor in 2004 and the "booms" that shook Richmond's North Side that fall convinced the Virginia Tech Seismological Observatory's director that he needs to know more about underground activity in central Virginia. Equipment was placed in Richmond because of the mysterious "booms" that rocked the Ginter Park neighborhood. At the time of the shaking, in the fall of 2004, little was known about these microquakes, but there had been a few recent reports in eastern Henrico County and earlier in the area in the winter of 1986-87. Now it appears that the microquakes occur in episodes that can last a few days or even weeks. The epicenter for these swarms seems to be underneath Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill's statue and grave at the center of the intersection of Laburnum Avenue and Hermitage Road, "as best I can tell." Although some of the booms were blamed on two teens, later convicted, who set off homemade explosive devices, he believes that some were microquakes so minor that they wouldn't register on monitors far away. He thinks the granite and other hard rock underneath the city is strained by some unknown factor, possibly groundwater fluctuations, triggering the shaking. He hopes the new monitors will shed some light on the cause. "It's a curious phenomenon." Virginia has had more than 160 earthquakes in the past three decades, but only about a sixth of them were felt.
3/9 -
PAKISTAN - A predicted "second massive wave of death" among the three million people left homeless by an earthquake in Kashmir in October has failed to materialize. The United Nations credits a relatively mild winter and a co-ordinated helicopter airlift of relief supplies into the mountainous region adjacent to northern Pakistan and neighbouring India. The region still faces peril as reconstruction efforts pick up steam starting in April. For example, the danger of mudslides will be high when monsoon season begins in July.
3/8 -
BULGARIA - Nearly 100 earth tremors have been detected over the last two weeks in Bulgaria, particularly in the area around the town of Kurdzhali. Tuesday Sofia felt mild by-shakes after an earthquake of 2.6 on the Richter scale rocked once again the southern part of the country. The quake was registered at 4:25 p.m., with an epicentre located about 200 km south-east of Sofia.
3/7 -
**CALIFORNIA - Nearly 550 bridges, many in Northern California, could collapse in a major earthquake because the state has stopped contributing to a program paid largely by the federal government to reinforce them. More than 1,200 bridges around the state were targeted for strengthening after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, but state budget woes have prevented nearly half from being fixed. Caltrans quit investing in the program in 2002 even though for every $11.50 the state contributes, it receives $88.50 in federal matching funds. Many cash-strapped cities and counties say they are unable to generate enough funds to trigger the federal match.
**Californians are unmotivated to prepare for the next disaster - they believe that their state is prone to disasters, but see little motivation to prepare for nature's crushing blows, a new poll has found. The poll found that only 22 percent of Californians consider themselves to be prepared or very prepared for a disaster in their area. Nearly half singled out "common sense" as the reason to prepare for disaster, but noted few incentives that would motivate them to be ready for future earthquakes, floods or fires. "They recognize risk, but they often assume it will happen to someone else. They acknowledge that they aren't prepared, but they can't find the motivation to strap their water heaters, clear dry brush or prepare a home inventory." Since 1990, California has experienced 32 natural catastrophes or disasters in which insured losses totaled more than $25 million, with losses totaling $19.4 billion. Even if a disaster struck their neighborhood, 31 percent of respondents said they would rebuild in their current community.
3/3 -
AUSTRALIA - residents have been shaken by a 3.5 earthquake centred about 60km from the nation's capital. It was centred 8km southwest of the earthquake-prone town of Gunning. A tremor was felt in Canberra, but Gunning residents described a loud bang, and said the shaking lasted about six seconds. The Australian Seismological Centre chief said the earthquake-prone area might be "waking up" after 20 years of seismic inactivity. "This is actually the second earthquake the area has had in two weeks." This one was much bigger tha the first one. "We're not sure what's triggering the tremors, whether its changes in the ground water levels or just general tectonic tremors, but hopefully they don't keep growing in magnitude." Gunning was partially damaged in 1934 by an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale.
HAWAII - An earthquake of magnitude 4.0, the largest in the area of the Kilauea volcano since 2001, shook the southern region of the Big Island on Wednesday. No damage was reported. The earthquake occurred just before 9 a.m. and was followed by four aftershocks by 9:30. "These persistent earthquakes, located within the Ka'oiki fault zone of Mauna Loa, are possibly an adjustment to the continuing expansion of the Kilauea summit."
3/2 -
** Regions of the Earth previously thought to be immune to giant earthquakes might actually be at high risk of experiencing them, according to a Caltech study released Wednesday. The Sumatra-Andaman earthquake had a magnitude of 9.15, making it the third-largest earthquake in the past 100 years. "This earthquake didn't just break all the records, it also broke some of the rules." The oceanic crust at the site of the 2004 earthquake is old and dense, and the relative motion between the plates is slow. "For all these reasons, received wisdom said that the giant 2004 earthquake should not have occurred." Other subduction zones that were not previously considered to be a risk, but may need to be reassessed, include the Ryukyu Islands between Taiwan and Japan and the Caribbean from Trinidad to Barbados and Puerto Rico.
3/1 -
IRAN - More than 1,000 homes in an isolated region of southern Iran were seriously damaged on Tuesday when a powerful earthquake registering 5.6 on the Richter scale hit the area. The quake hit an area around the town of Arzuieh in Kerman province, 750km southeast of the capital Tehran.
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2/27 -
CANADA - the magnitude 4.5 earthquake shook up many people on Friday. The quake's epicentre was located 7 km north of Thurso, Quebec, or 37 km from Gatineau. It was felt throughout the capital region and as far east as Montreal. "What was UNUSUAL, from our impression, was that it lasted a little longer," an earthquake expert said about the roughly 30-second quake. Other significant earthquakes in the region occurred in 2002 with a magnitude of 5.5, 1990 with a magnitude of 5.0, 1983 with a magnitude of 5.1, 1958 with a magnitude of 5.0 and 1944 with a magnitude of 5.6.
2/24 -
MOZAMBIQUE - The rare 7.5 quake left at least two dead. It frightened residents who felt tremors as far away as Zimbabwe and South Africa. "For the moment we have at least two dead and 13 injured in Machaze but I believe that the situation is evolving." The quake was the SECOND-LARGEST TO HIT THE REGION SINCE 1900. "This earthquake occurred on the southernmost part of the east Africa rift system. The rift system extends from Eritrea, Ethiopia all the way down across Malawi into Mozambique. This is a system which splits Africa into two. There is the Africa plate on left, the Somalia plate on the right, and they are moving apart, it's opening up and it causes stress."
2/23 -
MOZAMBIQUE - Guests at the Tivoli Hotel in the port city of Beira, Mozambique were too scared to return to their rooms after a major 7.5 earthquake hit the country early on Thursday morning. A second 1.7 earthquake, presumably an aftershock, hit the area around 3am. "No-one is sleeping. The electricity is out, everything is in darkness, we are very scared." "It felt like being in a boat on heavy seas." Shortly after the earthquake, it started raining.
The quake comes on the heels of flooding in December that killed at least 21 people while tens of thousands of people were left homeless in the central Sofala province. The former Portuguese colony has also been hit by a lengthy drought that has left nearly one million people in need of food aid.
Major earthquakes are UNUSUAL in southern Africa. "It's a significant and unexpected earthquake in this region. We'll expect aftershocks from an earthquake this large." [5.3 and 5.4 this morning] Emergency services in the South African city of Durban, nearly 1,000km from the epicentre, received calls from frightened people in hotels and flats on the beachfront. Tremors were also felt in Johannesburg.
2/22 -
BULGARIA - Two people ended up with broken legs due to panic after Monday evening's strong 4.2 earthquake that rocked Bulgaria. Many other people sought out medical assistance after complaining of high blood pressure after the tremor. The villages of Most and Chereshitsa in Kardzhali region were in the epicenter of the quake. In Kardzhali a house chimney and a massive block from a building in the center of the town collapsed. Several buildings have suffered material damages in the villages of Most, Zvinitsa, Chereshitsa and Miladinovo. Minutes after the first tremor another two lighter tremors were registered. The dams in the area have been checked and they have suffered no damages.
2/21 -
** NEW MADRID - A Stanford University geophysicist has started to unravel a tectonic mystery - the cause of several powerful earthquakes in New Madrid, Mississippi, almost a century ago that could strike the region again. The New Madrid quake appears to have been caused by the after-effects of a massive glacier that reached down to what is now the middle of Illinois. As the climate warmed and the ice melted, the ground was freed of the pressure of the heavy glacier. This constant release of pressure caused the New Madrid quakes a century ago. Earthquakes could continue to hit the area, including large cities such as Memphis and St. Louis, for the next few thousand years. "It's one thing to know it was part of your past. It's another to be prepared for it to be part of your future."
CHINA - Over the past three months, aftershocks close to the November 26th earthquake’s epicentre have continued to affect Jiangxi. The 2005 quake affecting Jiangxi, Hubei and Anhui provinces left at least 16 people dead and more than 8,000 people injured. In Jiangxi, some 600,000 residents were evacuated because of the quake, which destroyed 150,000 houses. The earthquake came as an especially harsh blow for the residents who were also affected by severe floods and landslides in May and a destructive typhoon in September 2005. Some 13,000 people still remain housed in tents today.
JAPAN'S ancient 5-storey pagodas may hold the secret to higher earthquake resistance. "Some of them have collapsed due to fires or after they were hit by typhoons or lightning. But there is no record of one ever collapsing due to an earthquake."
2/15 -
INDIA - An earthquake-triggered landslide claimed two lives and at least 500 buildings, including private houses and government and commercial establishments, were damaged by tremors that rocked Sikkim, parts of north Bengal and Assam shortly after dawn yesterday. Two soldiers were killed when their vehicle was crushed by falling boulders. The 5.7 quake also partially affected water supply and telecommunication networks throughout Sikkim.
2/14 -
INDIA - A moderate 5.7 earthquake centred in the Indian mountain state of Sikkim today sent people running from their homes in the region, witnesses said, and cracks were reported in some buildings. The earthquake's epicentre was 1,120 km (700 miles) north of the eastern city of Kolkata and occurred at 6:25 a.m (0055 GMT). In the state capital, Gangtok, big boulders had rolled down from the top of hills and blocked roads. "There are reports of two or three buildings having been damaged and cracks found in a number of buildings...The jerk was strong and sudden."
OHIO - Another small earthquake has been detected beneath Lake Erie, the third so far this year. According to initial data from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the earthquake hit Friday morning about three miles northwest of Mentor-on-the-Lake in Lake County and measured 2.6 magnitude. No damage was reported. Ohio has recorded more than 185 earthquakes since 1776, but only 15 of them have caused damage. The most seismically active regions are along Lake Erie.
2/12 -
UZBEKISTAN - Rumors of an impending powerful earthquake (8.0 on the Richter scale) with an epicenter in the capital of Uzbekistan spread in Tashkent on Tuesday afternoon. References to different sources were made: alleged warnings from seismic stations, calls from relatives or acquaintances from "competent bodies", and "classified cables" the "top brass" were allegedly sending to municipal power structures. The rumors became even more specific by 4:30 p.m. and they scheduled the earthquake for 3 a.m. the following night. Calls to the Institute of Seismology were to no avail. Thousands of calls were coming in, and all lines were overloaded. Unusual weather phenomena are sometimes observed before earthquakes - sudden cold in summer or warmth in winter and on February 8, temperatures set a record for the last 40 years and reached +24 Celsius. Still remembering the devastating earthquakes of 1966 and 1980, in Tashkent residents of blocks of apartments both in the center and in the outskirts spent between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. that evening outdoors - with children and pets. Some took their most valuable items with them (TV sets). Tension abated after 8 p.m. when TV news programs ran an interview with the Director of the Institute of Seismology. Once he denounced the rumors and said that nothing indicated a forthcoming earthquake as far as seismologists were concerned, residents of Tashkent returned to their homes wondering who had let the rumors loose in the first place.
2/8 -
GEORGIA - A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7 hit a mountainous region of western Georgia Monday morning. The quake struck at 8:08 in the morning and its epicenter was in mountains dividing the regions of Racha and Imereti, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the capital. No serious injuries or deaths have been reported but tremors were felt throughout a wide swath of the country. Government seismologists report there were five main tremors over the span of a minute. Residents in the two largest cities in the immediate vicinity of the quake felt the tremors in 2-3 second bursts. Approximately 15 aftershocks followed. The seismology center cannot predict if further tremors are on their way or not. The quake's epicenter was approximately on the same spot as the 9.0 April 29, 1992 quake that damaged thousands of homes in western Georgia and left around 200 dead. The last major earthquake in Georgia struck Tbilisi on April 25, 2002 and had an intensity of around 6. That quake damaged over 5,000 buildings in Tbilisi and is estimated to have caused $187 million in damages.
RUSSIA - An earthquake measuring 5.7 points on the open-ended Richter scale occurred on Monday morning in the Kamchatka Strait off the Kamchatka Peninsula’s eastern shores. Despite the quake, the regional administration has lifted high-alert regulations introduced last August on apprehensions that a major earthquake might be forthcoming. Emergency services have returned into a normal mode of operations now, since experts no longer expect quakes with a magnitude of 7.5 or more points on the Richter scale.
2/7 -
SOUTH AFRICA - Two miners were killed and six injured when a 1.8 tremor caused a rock fall at one of AngloGold Ashanti's South African mines where three people died last month in a similar accident.
** AUSTRALIA - Swiss Reinsurance Co. has launched Australia's first ever natural catastrophe bond as a way of insuring against major disasters. Sydney is the Australian capital city most at risk of an earthquake, while Brisbane and Townsville are the most likely to be hit by a cyclone, according to the global insurance company. Most of Australia's capital cities are at risk of an earthquake, some of them more than others."They are very remote occurrences, we expect maybe - in terms of frequency - that this 'cat' bond would not be exposed to loss more than twice in 100 years. They are very large events when they occur and they are very infrequent." The bond, titled Australis Ltd, has a three-year life span. If the event covered by the linked securities does not occur, investors receive their capital back with interest. If it does, investors may lose some of their interest and/or their principal in the investment.
2/6 -
MONTANA - A minor 4.6 earthquake rattled parts of southwestern Montana Saturday evening. It was felt by residents around southwest Montana, as well as in Idaho and Wyoming. The quake was reported in an area that has been rumbling since a magnitude 5.6 earthquake was reported 13 miles northwest of Dillon on July 25 in 2005.
2/5 -
** OREGON - Some scientists say there is a one in 10 chance that Oregon will be hit with a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in the next 50 years. If that happens, they say a massive landslide could follow, one that could dam the Columbia River. The most recent giant landslide happened 550 years ago, filling a section of the Columbia River with earth. The resulting dam, a wall of earth, created a lake that stretched 88 miles. If an earthquake hit, scientists say basalt rocks from the top of the Gorge cliffs would be shaken loose for three minutes or more. That would dislodge giant rocks, which would fall into the river channel, completely plugging it. "You’re going to have to evacuate a lot of people in the Portland area." That would create the possibility for another disaster. The Army Corps of Engineers would have to figure out a way to breach the slide without sending torrents of water gushing toward Portland.
2/3 -
OREGON - Scientists say the energy released by the earthquake that jarred the Portland area Saturday was roughly three times higher than initial estimates. The quake's magnitude was raised from a 2.8 to a 3.1 after analyzing data from instruments. The higher magnitude gives only a partial explanation why the small quake was felt across such a wide area. "This produced much stronger ground motion than similar quakes centered at Swan Island or Kelley Point in North Portland."
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1/26 -
** ARKANSAS - Stresses in the New Madrid Seismic Zone may or may not be building. Recent research showing a build-up of strain in the New Madrid Seismic Zone is inconclusive because the tension can't be seen well enough to determine any earthquake hazard. "There may be some deformation going on in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, but if there is, it's close to or below the level of detectability." Earthquakes in the New Madrid Zone occur differently than those along other fault lines. "This whole thing is a big enigma. As far as we know, the reason we get earthquakes is because of applied stress related to the motion of plates." But that reason doesn't apply along the New Madrid Fault. No theory has fully explained why large earthquakes may have occurred there, either. Additionally, the Mississippi River basin complicates earthquake study because shifting sand and mud make it difficult to isolate movements.
1/23 -
** TENNESSEE - Today is the 194th anniversary of a disaster so large in scope that, if repeated, could make the effects of Hurricane Katrina pale in comparison. It was Jan. 23, 1812, when the second of three gigantic earthquakes changed the face of the Mississippi River Valley. Nearly 200 years later, with thousands more people and buildings in the region, a similar quake would send casualty numbers soaring and leave thousands homeless. "Based on history, we better be paying attention, because there is pressure on the plates now. Look at all the events that are happening around the world. Sooner or later, it's going to come our time."
1/20 -
HAWAII - A magnitude 4.7 earthquake originating near Loihi seamount off the southern coast of the Big Island shook East Hawaii Wednesday at around 4 p.m. but caused no damage. The quake originated 15 miles northwest of Loihi at a depth of 25 miles. Loihi is an active volcano, but such a depth would rule out any connection to an eruption. Loihi was the site of about 100 quakes Dec. 6-7 in 2005. In July 1996, instruments recorded more than a thousand quakes in a two-day period. A submersible later determined that the swarm was caused by the collapse of Loihi's summit and an eruption.
PAKISTAN - Quake survivors have been given food that expired 20 yrs ago. The Iranian Red Crescent Society has distributed tin food that expired twenty years ago among the earthquake survivors of Balakot, the use of which is causing itching and skin allergies and stomach problems to those who consume it. The tins, containing tuna fish and baked beans, were produced in the year 1983 and were to be used within two years. Earlier, a quarter-million doses of flu vaccine donated to the quake victims, bought by the U.S. from the UK, were found to have expired in 2004. The US Food and Drug Administration had barred the vaccine’s import to Illinois, saying it could not guarantee its safety.
** NEW ZEALAND - The Manawatu and Wanganui regions are sinking. At the plate boundary far below the earth's surface, the region is about 350mm lower than it was two years ago. The slip at surface level is between 10mm and 30mm. The land around Ashhurst, Wanganui and Dannevirke slipped very gradually between January 2004 and June 2005 as a result of "silent quakes". It would require an earthquake of magnitude 7 to cause the slip in a few seconds.
1/19 -
INDIA - NEW DELHI: A two-story building in east Delhi that had developed cracks in the recent tremors collapsed on Tuesday morning, burying an elderly woman and seriously injuring three others.
1/17 -
** CANADA - VICTORIA, British Columbia - An earthquake described as "a miniature version" of the Nisqually quake that rocked Seattle nearly five years ago was a wakeup call in more ways than one, a scientist said. Many residents in and around the British Columbia provincial capital and the Gulf Islands and a few on the mainland were jolted awake by the 3.9 magnitude quake at 4:29 a.m. PST Sunday. "It's been fairly quiet in terms of felt earthquakes for a couple of years here in Victoria, and that's a bit UNUSUAL. We generally have one or two small earthquakes a year that are felt on southern Vancouver Island."
** NEPAL - a devastating earthquake might hit Nepal anytime. A major earthquake similar to that of 1934 hits the country every 80 years, but there have not been adequate preparations to cope with such challenges. A major earthquake measuring 8.4 on the Richter scale shook the country on January 15th in 1934, leaving over 5,000 people dead, some 25,000 injured and around 60,000 houses destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of other houses were partially damaged. In the case of a quake measuring 6.5 or over on the Richter scale in the country, Kathmandu Valley would suffer the most. More than half the bridges would be heavily damaged and six in 10 buildings would cave in. The situation could turn worse if the entire water, sewage, telephone and electric power systems come to a halt. As many as 1,000 earthquakes, ranging from 2 to 5-magnitude on the Richter scale are recorded in Nepal each year.
1/16 -
U.S.G.S. Staff is now on-site night and day to locate and report worldwide quakes. On January 12th, the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Center in Golden, Colorado announced the implementation of a new 24/7 operation center and seismic event processing system, HYDRA. When combined, the round-the-clock on-site personnel and new technology are expected to cut in half the amount of time required to report information about earthquakes around the globe. The state-of-the-art system is working in a provisional mode and will become fully operational in March, 2006. One of the enhancements, Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response or PAGER, is designed to predict damage from major earthquakes worldwide based on estimates of people and property exposed to potentially damaging levels of ground motion. The USGS will also debut a new website and notification service for earthquake information at the end of January. The URL will remain: http://earthquake.usgs.gov .
1/15 -
CHINA - At least one person has been injured and 20,000 people evacuated following Thursday's 4.7-magnitude earthquake in southwest China's Yunnan province. The quake affected nearly 100,000 people and caused an economic loss of about $6.9 million. A number of buildings in nine villages and townships collapsed or sustained damage in the quake. Eight minor aftershocks occurred in the 24 hours following the quake, and China's seismological bureau predicted more were likely
There were fewer deaths worldwide in 2005 due to earthquakes, but almost 90,000 casualties were reported. Nearly all of the fatalities - 87,351 - occurred when the magnitude 7.6 earthquake hit Pakistan Oct. 8. The magnitude 8.7 earthquake which struck Sumatra on March 28, 2005, killed 1,313 people and was the strongest temblor for 2005. In 2004 - the third-deadliest earthquake year on record - more than 283,000 people perished in the Dec. 26 magnitude 9.0 Sumatra quake, and related tsunami.
1/11-
SOUTH AFRICA - A rock fall caused by a tremor killed three people and injured four at one of AngloGold Ashanti's South African mines on Tuesday. A tremor of 2.4 on the Richter scale caused the fall some 3 km underground at the TauTona mine near Carletonville, southwest of Johannesburg, the world's second biggest gold mine.
1/10 -
GREECE - A powerful 6.9 earthquake shook Greece on Sunday and was felt as far away as the Middle East and Italy. Minor damage was reported in southern Greece, and authorities on the island of Crete said three people were slightly injured. The quake was beneath the seabed about 125 miles south of Athens. "It was a very powerful quake which shook all of Greece. There have been dozens of aftershocks. The quake occurred deep undersea and that's what saved us."
The epicenter of the earthquake was detected as being Kythira Island where major destruction was witnessed. The airport and about 50 buildings were damaged. "Roads were damaged, churches were damaged and even newly constructed buildings were damaged." The Kythira centered earthquake was also felt in Egypt, Israel, Turkey, and Jordan. Scientists project that as many as 6 million people may have felt the earthquake. Severe aftershocks are not expected to take place.
CANADA / NEW YORK AREA - An earthquake shook homes south of Montreal on Monday morning with enough force to make one man think a truck had slammed into his house. The quake, which hit at about 10:30 a.m. EST, measured magnitude 4.2. Small earthquakes commonly occur in a corridor running from south of Montreal to the Ottawa Valley. "This region is what we think of as an 'old risk region.' This is where two continental plates were interacting millions and millions of years ago. It is not an active interplate region currently, but it is more a zone of weakness."
1/6 -
** KASHMIR - One of the world's leading seismologists has warned of the possibility of more earthquakes in the Kashmir region over the next 50 years. Kashmir could experience quakes more severe than the one which killed more than 73,000 people in October. Research, using data stretching back 500 years, has shown that huge amounts of energy had been stored in the faultline but it was unevenly distributed. "This meant that when (the tectonic plates) do go, they are very likely to go with a very large earthquake. Our study basically showed that there were four places that could have a magnitude 8.2 earthquake or more." The 8 October earthquake occurred at the very end of the Himalayan tectonics. It ruptured a 100km length of the Kashmir region, diagonally from the north-west to the south-east. Also, it ruptured from very close to the surface down to a depth of 30-40km. The Himalayas slipped about three to four metres within about 15 seconds. The mountains behind Muzaffarabad, around the epicentre, actually rose by about a metre, releasing an energy equivalent of a 30 megaton nuclear explosion. The last major series of earthquakes recorded in Kashmir started in 1501, culminating in a major jolt in 1555. "From what we know of Kashmir's history, there may well be a sequence of earthquakes spread over the next 50 years." Another serious issue is the nature of the aftershocks experienced in October. The north-west tip of the rupture which extends to "the mountains behind Muzaffarabad" has recorded the expected number of aftershocks. But the south-eastern tip of the rupture, which extends to the plains below the Himalayas, has shown "a surprising and worrying calm". "This means that pressure is building up around the south-eastern tip." In other words, it means that should the faultline slip in the south-east, the shockwave is very likely to travel towards the plains of Punjab - possibly extending down to the historic city of Lahore.
1/3 -
A strong 7.3 earthquake struck Monday off the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, but there were no reports of injuries or a tsunami. "This particular area is not known to have tsunamis." Still, news of the quake prompted thousands of residents along the coast of Sri Lanka - thousands of miles away - to flee inland.
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QUAKE ACTIVITY 2005 -
12/23 -
FRANCE - A small earthquake registering 3.3 on the Richter scale caused a shudder in France’s Alps region overnight but caused no damage nor casualties. The epicentre was around 40km north of the French Riviera city of Nice. Minor quakes are relatively common in southeast France, with around two per year recorded at or above the 3.3 magnitude.
12/22 -
INDONESIA - An undersea earthquake of magnitude 6.3 rocked parts of eastern Indonesia on Wednesday.
PANAMA - A 6.0 magnitude earthquake occured south of Panama on Wednesday.

** ARKANSAS - scientists are not really sure why earthquakes have occurred in the region. This area consists of several layers of soil over very old crystalline rocks — such rocks would have created a fault boundary, but they didn’t separate completely. This has left a weak spot below the surface. The New Madrid fault seems to press together from the west to the east to create earthquakes. There are approximately 200-230 earthquakes in this area each year; however, most are of such a low magnitude that residents do not notice them. The average time period between large quakes on the fault line is about 500 years. The probability of another series of quakes like those that hit in 1811 and 1812, which were estimated to be a magnitude 7.5 to 8.0, occurring in the next 50 years is seven to 10 percent. The probability of a magnitude 6.0 or greater quake in the same time period is about 25 to 40 percent.
12/21 -
** INDIA The increase in the number of killer earthquakes in the past decade or so catapulted the seismologists to look for more clues from the records/remnants of past earthquakes. Evidence forthcoming from the Himalayas show that some of the earthquake events that took place in the 10th and 16th centuries may have been much larger than recent events. The stress generated by them is still capable of playing havoc in the Himalayas, foot-hills and important cities of India.
12/19 -
** SINGAPORE AND MALAYSIA - As the world takes time out to remember the 290,000 victims of the Dec 26 tsunami that hit the region last year, some experts are already issuing a serious warning: Look ahead at what could happen next. In recent interviews, a Thai scientist has warned that the epicentre of the next earthquake would be further north than last year's temblors, which brings the Straits of Malacca and Singapore and Malaysia into range. In 1998, this was the scientist who predicted that Thailand's Phuket island and the surrounding Andaman region was at risk. At that time he was called a "rumour-monger" and a "madman", out to ruin the country's tourism industry. "We can only say, by historical data, that every 50, 80 or 100 years a big earthquake and tsunami will occur. The latest data shows that the epicentre is moving north towards the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and if an earthquake takes place in this area, this would cause greater effects in the Straits of Malacca than what happened last year. If the epicentre continues to move north and a tsunami occurs, the wave will move towards the Straits of Malacca, which is narrow and shallow. This can cause great damage if early preparations are not taken." "There have been 12 tsunamis in the last two centuries and the last big one before Dec 26 last year occurred in the Indian Ocean, created by the explosion of the Krakatoa volcano 122 years ago." Recent studies and data have shown that there is stress building up in the Nicobar Islands area. "I've suggested to the Indonesian government that it should not allow any human habitation on the northern coast of Sumatra as these areas are prone to be hit."
12/18 -
JAPAN - There appear to be few injuries from a strong earthquake that shook northern Japan early Saturday. So far there are reports of only two people being hurt in the 6.2 magnitude quake. Scientists say the quake was centered deep below the ocean off the coast and was felt in dozens of towns and cities.
CALIFORNIA - A sharp 3.4 magnitude earthquake rattled East Bay residents Friday morning at 10:21 a.m, leaving many closest to its center wondering whether there had been an explosion. A 2.2 aftershock followed at 5:44 p.m. Residents reported hearing a loud booming sound in areas closest to the quake. All reported that they felt a strong shaking sensation; some said their homes shook violently.
PAKISTAN - The October 8 earthquake that flattened much of northern Pakistan has taught a lesson to mountain villagers that conservationists had long failed to instil: the importance of their forests. Despite the harsh lesson, conservationists and government officials are worried that necessity will drive survivors to hack down trees to save themselves from the winter. Landslides were particularly severe on slopes that had been stripped of their cover of pines and Himalayan hardwood trees, while many forested slopes remained intact. “The trees are nails which have griped the mountains and kept them stable.”
12/16 -
** Experts disagree about the New Madrid earthquake risk - Three independent analyses of the New Madrid seismic zone centered in Missouri show that the fault line indicates little or no movement. The results contradict a study by scientists at the University of Memphis that made headlines in June when it stated two GPS stations on opposite sides of the Reelfoot fault had moved closer to each other at a rate that rivaled faults in California. One critic of that study said the results were likely a statistical anomaly possibly stemming from an instrumental error.
12/15 -
AFGHANISTAN - Police and government officials are struggling to assess the level of damage from the powerful 6.7 earthquake that rocked the northern fringe of Afghanistan, but said initial reports indicated it was relatively light. Police said five children died when the roofs of their homes collapsed. At least 19 others were reported injured. 100 - 200 homes have been reported to be damaged and 250 to 300 cattle died.
INDIA - Earthquake felt in New Delhi, the second in two days. A 5.2 magnitude earthquake shook northern India on Wednesday, a day after residents of New Delhi and other areas in the north were shaken by the 6.7 quake centered in the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan.
** IRELAND - An earth tremor measuring 2.8 on the Richter Scale, which occurred in the Irish Sea off Bray Head, was felt in parts of Wickow and Wexford early yesterday morning. The tremor took place 30km off shore at a depth of 9km. The tremor happened in the exact same location where other tremors were recorded in 1951 and 1984. Significant structural damage was recorded in the 1984 tremor, which measured 5.4 on the Richter Scale, and the School of Cosmic Physics says there is now a need for a National Seismic Network to monitor tremors off the Irish coast. There now appears to be a seismic event of some significance here every 50 years, and the Government should be taking action and providing resources before something more serious happens.
12/14 -
AFGHANISTAN - The strong earthquake measuring 6.7 on Richter scale that jolted Afghanistan Tuesday morning, left at least 11 injured.
ROMANIA - An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.3 on the Richter scale shook southeastern Romania Tuesday afternoon, around 2:15 p.m. The earthquake, whose epicenter was 145 kilometers deep in the earth's crust, lasted for about three minutes, experts said. The quake was forecasted on Monday when experts noticed stronger seismic activity in the Vrancea region. The quake was not related to the strong earthquake that shook Pakistan and Afghanistan yesterday.
FIJI - A powerful undersea earthquake struck near Fiji on Tuesday and officials issued a tsunami alert for the local area.
NEW ZEALAND - A magnitude five earthquake rocked Wellington early Tuesday. The quake, whose epicentre on North Island was about 140 kilometres north-east of Wellington, was felt in the capital as a slow, rocking motion just before 3am (1pm AEDT).
** CALIFORNIA - the Southern California Earthquake Center estimates that there is an 80 to 90 percent chance that an earthquake registering 8.0 or greater on the Richter scale will occur before 2024. Arizona would be the most logical place for the first wave of evacuees to be sent. A big quake in California might cause electrical power problems there and elsewhere. The pipelines that supply gas could be damaged. Food delivery difficulties could lead to shortages. "We should not be at all surprised if something similar to Hurricane Katrina mirrors itself in California. There have been lots of articles written about the failure of levees in the (Sacramento-San Joaquin) Delta, the loss of drinking water in California. This is just the tip of the iceberg." The governor of Arizona has participated in 4 drills over the last 19 months for these types of scenarios.
** A fissure has been discovered that could soon develop into a new ocean basin in the northeast of Ethiopia. The fissure is 37 miles long and 13 feet wide. It reportedly split open in September 2005, three weeks after an earthquake struck the barren region of Boina, 621 miles northeast of Addis Ababa. The scientists believe it could take up to a million years for the fissure to transform into an ocean. The Afar fissure will eventually tear eastern Ethiopia from the rest of the African continent, creating an ocean in the gap. Each year, the fissure would widen by 0.8 inches. The crust beneath the Afar region is similar to that under the Red Sea. Once formed, the ocean will attract water from the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. "This is UNPRECEDENTED in scientific history because we usually see the split after it has happened. But here we are watching the phenomenon.''
12/13 -
AFGHANISTAN - A major earthquake, measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan was felt in India and Pakistan. Several roads which were cleared after extreme efforts the last two months since the Pakistani Kashmir quake were again blocked due to massive landsliding. Early reports said there were no casualties or damage in Afghanistan from the quake.
There have been more than 1,000 aftershocks here in the past two months but this was the strongest so far.
12/12 -
PAPUA NEW GUINEA - An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 jolted an area off the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific, prompting a warning of local tsunamis.
** CALIFORNIA - a team of government scientists has completed the first computerized maps of the upper 20 miles of the Earth beneath the Bay Area, showing in a glance why earthquakes devastate some areas, while leaving others essentially unharmed. Beneath the surface, west of the San Andreas fault is a very big body of igneous rock — very hard rocks like granite — formed by volcanic action. In their 1989 quake, the formation bent the Loma Prieta's shock waves out to the ocean, away from populated areas. But on the other side of the Loma Prieta rock formations are quite different. They transmitted seismic shocks much more easily, so the seismic waves raced up the East Bay. Other quake research shows that shock waves radiated upward toward Oakland.
12/11 -
NEW JERSEY - Seismologists confirmed Friday that a small 2.1 earthquake hit parts of Morris County Thursday night, triggering a rash of calls to local police. The area experiences around one or two small quakes a year.
** GEORGIA - Geologist say a now closed road in Forsyth County is destined to become a major landslide. A week ago Ronald Reagan Blvd. began to crack. That crack is growing and homes and a million gallon water tank are in its path. Some parts of the growing crack are up to six feet wide. Some have blamed a nearby quarry for the damage. Geologists say the land is shifting and will cause a landslide sucking everything in its path to the massive hole in the quarry. The road opened in May at a cost of $6.8 million.
12/9 -
HAWAII - Loihi seamount, the small underwater volcano off the southeastern coast of the Big Island, experienced a swarm of 45 small earthquakes in 12 hours Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The most likely explanation is "structural adjustment" of the earth's crust in response to the weight of the small mountain (rocks breaking under stress). The largest quake was a 4.7, similar in size to the 4.5 quake that originated near where lava is flowing into the sea and which gave the island a short, sharp jolt on Nov. 29. Loihi has not been erupting, and there is nothing to indicate that the swarm represents an eruption. The underwater volcano has had swarms almost every year since 1980. A huge swarm of quakes in 1996 lasted from mid-July to mid-August. Scientists counted 4,377 quakes during that time, of which more than 100 were larger than magnitude 4.
PREDICTING QUAKES - A geophysicist has identified possible seismic precursors to two recent California earthquakes, including the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that wreaked havoc throughout the Bay Area. After sifting through seismic data from the two quakes, Valeri Korneev found a spike in the number of micro-earthquakes followed by a period of relative calm in the crust surrounding the quakes' epicenters - months before the quakes occurred. Although more work needs to be conducted to determine whether other large quakes are foreshadowed by a similar rise and subsequent decline in small-magnitude tremors, Korneev's analysis suggests that these peaks may be indicative of the total set of geological stresses that affect the timing and location of large earthquakes.
12/8 -
[SITE NOTE - JELLYFISH COULD BE DECEMBER QUAKE PREDICTORS - THIS IS PURELY A PERSONAL OBSERVATION, THE SIMILARITIES TO 1999 EVENTS MAY BE ONLY AN INTERESTING COINCIDENCE.
On December 10, 1999 thousands of jellyfish were accidentally sucked into the water intakes of major power plants north of Manila in the Philippines. They caused hours of power outages. Crews filled at least 50 dump trucks with jellyfish pulled from the seawater cooling pumps. Authorities were unsure of what might have caused the masses of jellyfish to swarm near the cooling plants. Rumors abounded that the migration of the jellyfish into the intake facilites was an omen of an i