Posts for 'News' Category

Another earthquake has rattled an area of Northern California that is home to a number of geothermal power plants. The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude-3.9 quake hit at 4:54 p.m. Thursday about a mile north of The Geysers, or about 26 miles northwest of Santa Rosa. The quake follows a magnitude-4.0 earthquake that hit the same area at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

David Oppenheimer, a seismologist with the USGS, says the afternoon quake was an aftershock related to the quake earlier in the day. A dispatcher with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department says there were no reports of injuries or damage from either of the two quakes.

Haiti—July 12 marked the six-month anniversary of the devastating earthquake here in Haiti that killed as many as 300,000 people and left much of the country in ruins. Up to 1.8 million people are living in squalid tent cities, with inadequate sanitation, if any, no electricity and little security, or any respite from the intense heat and the worsening rains.

Rape, hunger and despair are constant threats to the people stranded in the camps. Six months ago, the world seemed united with commitments to help Haiti recover. Now, half a year later, the rubble remains in place, and misery blankets the camps, layered with heat, drenched by rain.

After landing in Haiti, we traveled to one of the more than 1,350 refugee camps, Camp Corail. It is right near Titanyen, which was used as a dumping ground for bodies during the first coup against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and which, after the earthquake, was used for makeshift mass graves.

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Authorities received no reports of casualties or damage after a magnitude-6.1 earthquake shook the northern Chilean regions of Tarapaca, Antofagasta and Atacama.

The powerful temblor that struck at 8:11 p.m. Sunday (0011 GMT Monday) spread alarm among the inhabitants, who flooded telephone lines in their anxiety to get in touch with their families, friends and associates.

The Seismology Institute at the University of Chile said the temblor’s epicenter was located in the Atacama Desert near the city of Calama and some 1,600 kilometers (994 miles) north of Santiago.

The quake’s hypocenter was at a depth of 125.3 kilometers (78 miles) underground, the University of Chile said, while the U.S. Geological Service rated the temblor at magnitude-6.2.

Some 500 people were killed Feb. 27 when a magnitude-8.8 quake struck south-central Chile.

5.4 Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Southers California Today July 7, 2010′ The United States Geological Survey downgraded the earthquake to 5.4.Originally the earthquake was 5.9 and 5.7. There was a lot of aftershocks according to the website of United States Geological Survey. The depth of the earthquake was 8.7 miles and 14 kilometers.The earthquake was felt as far away as Las Vegas.

The strongest earthquakes of the last twenty years to hit California date back to 1992 and 2005 -both with a magnitude 7.2. Borrego Springs California Earthquake 5.4 occured on July 7, 2010 at 4:53PM (PDT) 11:53 (GMT) according to Caltech and USGS. The epicenter was 15 miles northwest of Borrego Springs, California.In San Diego, California skyscrapers swayed.

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An earthquake measuring 5.0 degrees on the Richter scale hit on Tuesday Venezuela's Sucre state and there were no reports of casualties or material damage, the head of Venezuela's Foundation of Seismologic Investigations said. Francisco Garces told state-run Venezolana de Television that the earthquake occurred at 9:17 a.m. local time (1347 GMT), some 32 kilometers south of Guiria in Sucre, 400 kilometers east of Caracas.

Garces said that security institutions are on alert for the earthquake, which was followed minutes later by an aftershock of 2.8 degrees. Garces discarded the possibility of an eventual tsunami. Also on Tuesday, an earthquake measuring 5.4 degrees on the Richter scale hit the regions of Maule and Bio Bio in the center-south region of Chile, without causing casualties or material damage.

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A 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit northern Japan early today, but there was no tsunami warning and no immediate reports of damage, US and Japanese seismologists said. The underwater quake happened at 6:56am (2156 GMT Sunday) off Iwate prefecture, 500 kilometres north of Tokyo, according to the US Geological Survey.

Its depth was estimated at 24 kilometres, USGS said. No tsunami warning was issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency. Around 20 per cent of the world's most powerful earthquakes strike Japan, which has developed one of the most sophisticated tsunami warning systems. Residents routinely hold drills to prepare for major earthquakes.

A moderate earthquake measuring up to 5.2 on the Richter scale again hits the Andaman islands on Friday, Jul 2, Meteorologists said.The quake hit the islands in night around 11:53 pm. However as of now no damages to life, property and tsunami warning is reported.

The quake struck at the depth of 27 kilometres south of Port Blair at a place situated at 9.9° N Latitude and 91.8° E Longitude in the Andaman sea, the Meteorological department said. Indian Ocean islands usually witnesses frequent earthquake and tsunami, resulting a huge lose to life and property.

Research flights are launched over Southern California to try to determine how, or whether, the 7.2 Easter earthquake affected other fault lines.Three months after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake erupted on the U.S.- Mexico border, seismologists are on a quest to determine whether the massive rupture put more pressure on fault lines in Southern California, increasing the likelihood of more temblors.

The Easter Sunday quake was the largest to rock the region in nearly two decades, producing thousands of aftershocks and actually shifting the Earth's crust as much as 10 feet. Preliminary analysis shows that the Mexicali quake placed more pressure on at least two Southern California fault lines: the Elsinore and the San Jacinto. Both those faults run through the Inland Empire and are relatively close to the border fault that produced the big quake.

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 A strong earthquake measuring 6.5 degrees at the Richter scale shook southern Mexico on Wednesday morning. According to the U.S. Geological Service (USGS), the earthquake occurred at 2:22 a.m. local time, with a depth of 10 km in Oxaca state, some 480 km to the country's capital of Mexico City. The earthquake was strong felt in Mexico City. So far, there are not reports of damages or victims.

A strong earthquake hit southern Mexico's Oaxaca state early Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The magnitude 6.2 quake rattled the region at 2:22 a.m. local time and was centered about 220 miles south-southeast of Mexico City. The Oaxaca state Civil Protection Agency reported no damage or loss of life. The earthquake was also felt in Mexico City and Acapulco, about 150 miles from the epicenter.

"It was long ... slow waves ... the kind we sometimes feel here," according to a receptionist at the Crowne Plaza Acapulco Hotel. There was no damage at the hotel, she said, adding some people were woken up by the quake and called the front desk to find out what was happening.