Tag: earthquake

Powerful M6.8 earthquake kills one in Michoacan, Mexico just three days after a M7.6 shook the same area, killing two

Strange Sounds – September 22, 2022

A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 struck Mexico early Thursday, causing buildings to sway and leaving at least one person dead in the nation’s capital.

The earthquake struck shortly after 1 a.m., just three days after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake shook western and central Mexico, killing two.

The U.S. Geological Survey said Thursday’s earthquake, like Monday’s, was centered in the western state of Michoacan near the Pacific coast.

The epicenter was about 29 miles (46 kilometers) south-southwest of Aguililla, Michoacan, at a depth of about 15 miles (24.1 kilometers).

Michoacan’s state government said the quake was felt throughout the state.

It reported damage to a building in the city of Uruapan and some landslides on the highway that connects Michoacan and Guerrero with the coast.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said via Twitter that it was an aftershock from Monday’s quake and was also felt in the states of Colima, Jalisco and Guerrero.

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said via Twitter that one woman died in a central neighborhood when she fell down the stairs of her home.

The earthquake rattled an already jittery country.

Monday’s more powerful quake was the third major earthquake to strike on Sept. 19 — in 1985, 2017 and now 2022.

https://strangesounds.org

Massive quake in Philippines has killed 5 and injured dozens, destroyed homes and structures

ETH – July 27, 2022

A strong earthquake set off landslides and damaged buildings in the northern Philippines on Wednesday, killing at least five people and injuring dozens. In the capital, hospital patients were evacuated and terrified people rushed outdoors.

The 7-magnitude quake was centered in a mountainous area of Abra province, said Renato Solidum, the head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, who described the midmorning shaking as a major earthquake.

“The ground shook like I was on a swing and the lights suddenly went out. We rushed out of the office, and I heard screams and some of my companions were in tears,” said Michael Brillantes, a safety officer of the Abra town of Lagangilang, near the epicenter. “It was the most powerful quake I’ve felt and I thought the ground would open up,” Brillantes told The Associated Press by cellphone.

At least five people died — mostly in collapsed structures. One villager died when hit by falling cement slabs in his house in Abra, where dozens of others were injured. In Benguet province, a worker was pinned to death after a small building that was under construction collapsed in the strawberry-growing mountain town of La Trinidad.

Hundreds of houses and buildings had cracked walls, including some that collapsed in Abra, where President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who took office less than a month ago, planned to travel Thursday to meet victims and local officials.

Marcos Jr. told a news conference he was in his office at the riverside Malacanang presidential palace complex when the chandeliers began swaying and making clanking sounds. “It was very strong,” he said of the ground shaking.

In a chilling near-death experience, Filipino photojournalist Harley Palangchao and companions were traveling downhill in two vans in Mountain Province when they suddenly heard thunder-like thuds and saw an avalanche of boulders as big as cars raining down just ahead of them from a towering mountain.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

South Carolina rocked by two of the largest earthquakes in years, Quake swarm continues, residents on edge

ETH – June 29, 2022

South Carolina was rocked by several earthquakes Wednesday, including the two strongest yet in a “swarm” of earthquakes that have rattled the state this year according to USA Today. 

Two quakes that are unusually strong for the region struck central South Carolina on Wednesday — a magnitude 3.5 and a magnitude 3.6, according to data from the United States Geological Survey. Over the weekend, a magnitude 3.4 earthquake also shook the state.

The quakes are the most powerful to hit the state in years, and at least one of Wednesday’s tremblers could be felt near Charlotte, North Carolina, according to reports published by the United States Geological Survey.

In a video shared by the state’s Emergency Management Division, geologist Wendy Bohon said more than 30 quakes have hit the state this year, a part of an “earthquake swarm.” Such swarms are familiar occurrences in more earthquake-prone areas, but less common in the South.

The South Carolina swarm has been going on for over half a year and included seven quakes above a magnitude 3, according to seismologist Lucy Jones. “Swarms happen in all seismic regions and the earthquakes continue until they stop,” Jones tweeted.

“That may not seem helpful, but knowing this is normal can help.” The latest quakes occurred near Elgin, South Carolina, according to data from the United States Geological Survey. The town is located about 20 miles northeast of Columbia, the state’s capital.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

Aftershock in Afghanistan as Quake Toll Rises to 1,150 Dead

Ebrahim Nooroozi – June 24, 2022

GAYAN, Afghanistan (AP) — An aftershock took more lives Friday and threatened to pile even more misery on an area of eastern Afghanistan reeling from a powerful earthquake that state media said killed 1,150 people this week.

Wednesday’s magnitude 6 quake struck a remote, mountainous region already grappling with staggering poverty at a time when the country as a whole is spiraling deeper into economic crisis after many countries pulled back critical financing and development aid in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover.

That aid had been keeping the country afloat, and its withdrawal left millions unable to afford food and further strained already struggling medical facilities. Nearly half the population of 38 million cannot meet their basic food needs, while some civil servants, like doctors, nurses, and teachers, weren’t paid for months because the Taliban government is unable to access frozen foreign reserves. Salary delays continue throughout the public sector.

Afghanistan’s international isolation is also complicating relief efforts since fewer aid organizations have a presence in the country, and many governments are wary of putting money in the Taliban’s hands.

Aid groups lament that means they have to pay local staff with bags of cash delivered by hand.

Aid organizations like the local Red Crescent and U.N. agencies like the World Food Program have sent food, tents, sleeping mats, and other essentials to families in Paktika province, the epicenter of the earthquake, and neighboring Khost province.

Still, residents appeared to be largely on their own to deal with the aftermath as their new Taliban-led government and the international aid community struggled to bring in help. The shoddy mountain roads leading to the affected areas were made worse by damage and rain.

Thousands of stone and mud-brick homes crumbled in the quake, which struck at night, often trapping whole families in the rubble. Many of those who survived spent the first night outside in a cold rain. Since then, villagers have been burying their dead and digging through the rubble by hand in search of survivors.

The Taliban director of the state-run Bakhtar News Agency said Friday the death toll from the first quake had risen to 1,150 people. Abdul Wahid Rayan said at least 1,600 people were injured.

https://www1.cbn.com

A mega-tsunami in the Pacific north-west? It could be worse than predicted, new study says

Strange Sounds – June 9, 2022

Scientists have discovered the size of the ‘outer wedge’ of a faultline can magnify a rupture’s impact. That’s a worrying news for the people living along the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a fault running from Vancouver Island to northern California…

Scientists have long predicted a giant 9.0-magnitude earthquake that reverberates out from the Pacific north-west’s Cascadia fault and quickly triggers colossal waves barreling to shore.

But what if these predictions were missing an important piece of information – one that, in certain scenarios, could tell an even more extreme story?

A new study, published last month in the peer-reviewed journal Earth-Science Reviews, points toward such a missing piece. Researchers revealed a previously unknown relationship between the severity of a tsunami triggered by an earthquake and something known as “the outer wedge”, the area between the main earthquake fault and the seafloor.

Sylvain Barbot, a co-author of the study, described the outer wedge as the “garbage bag of subduction zones”, the place where two tectonic plates crash into each other and can produce an earthquake, because it’s where sediment piles up.

The researchers’ findings suggest that the wider it is, the larger the maximum size of the tsunami will be.

The connection adds a new element to consider when making tsunami predictions, one that the authors suggest could mean heightened worst-case scenario predictions for some faults, including Cascadia.

https://strangesounds.org

Huge 7.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near remote Australian island

Ricky Scaparo – May 19, 2022

A 7.3 magnitude earthquake has been recorded near a remote Australian island. The Bureau of Meteorology reported the quake near Macquarie Island in the southwest Pacific Ocean at 8.49 pm on Thursday.

According to the Daily Mail, The earthquake was at a depth of 29.3km. BOM and the Australian territory located south of New Zealand on was briefly on tsunami warning but this was lifted by 10pm.

The quake was also recorded by the US Geological Survey. Located 1,600km southeast of Tasmania, Macquarie Island is home is to the Australian Antarctic Division station, which is occupied all year round. It has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997 and is a refuge for large colonies of penguins and seals.

The island is particularly active in terms of seismic activity, sitting on the boundary between the Australian Plate and the Pacific plate. The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre initially put Australia on tsunami alert. According to the International Tsunami Information Centre, a “tsunami warning is issued when a tsunami with the potential to generate widespread inundation is imminent, expected, or occurring.

Warnings alert the public that dangerous coastal flooding accompanied by powerful currents is possible and may continue for several hours after initial arrival”. They later released an update confirming there was no risk of a tsunami.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

Strong and shallow M6.7 earthquake hits near the coast of Nicaragua

The Watchers – April 21, 2022

A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.7 hit near the coast of Panama at 07:24 UTC on April 21, 2022. The agency is reporting a depth of 25.3 km (15.7 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.7 at a depth of 40 km (24.8 miles).

The epicenter was located about 58.2 km (36.2 miles) WSW of Masachapa (population 5 000), 68.7 km (42.7 miles) WSW of San Rafael del Sur (population 29 836), and 88.8 km (55.2 miles) WSW El Crucero (population 16 469), Managua, Nicaragua.

There are 910 000 people living within 100 km (62 miles).

1 000 people are estimated to have felt strong shaking and 807 000 moderate.

Based on all available data, there is no tsunami threat from this earthquake, PTWC said.

The USGS issued a Green alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. There is a low likelihood of casualties and damage.

Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are highly vulnerable to earthquake shaking, though some resistant structures exist. The predominant vulnerable building types are mud wall and adobe block construction.

Recent earthquakes in this area have caused secondary hazards such as landslides that might have contributed to losses.

https://watchers.news

Earthquake rattles unusual location in Illinois, Precursor to New Madrid activity?

Ricky Scaparo – April 14, 2022

(OPINION) – Since we live near the New Madrid Fault, it’s normal to have earthquakes in our region. However, there was an earthquake that was felt by many that just happened in a weird part of Illinois.

According to the USGS, there was a 2.6 earthquake, but it wasn’t in the normal area near New Madrid. It was in the southeastern part of the state. This relatively tiny shaker occurred at 1:40 am early Wednesday morning, but was felt by 18 as of this writing.

Along with the non-typical location, it’s odd to me that a quake of only 2.6 magnitude would actually be felt in the middle of the night. A quake that small would be hard to detect even in the middle of the day if you were wide awake.

It’s close enough to what the USGS considers the New Madrid Fault Zone that it’s likely related to activity there. However, it’s just strange enough to pass along in case it’s the forerunner of something more major.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

Slow Slip Event on Cascadia Subduction Zone: Vancouver Island hit by more than 4,200 quakes since March 20 – Cascadia about to blow?

Strange Sounds – April 5, 2022

You can’t feel it, but the ground far beneath our feet on south-central Vancouver Island has been moving.

Seismologists have been recording thousands of “episodic tremor and slip events” occurring at a rapid rate since March 20 moving in a southeasterly direction down the Island.

More than 4,200 tiny tremors have been recorded so far between 25 and 40 kilometres below the surface, said John Cassidy, an earthquake seismologist with Natural Resources Canada and a professor at the University of Victoria.

“They’re not earthquakes. … On the instruments they look like series of a trains rolling by,” Cassidy said.

He said these bursts of small tremors and slips occur about every 15 months along faults that form the boundaries of tectonic plates — in our case, the Cascadia subduction zone from Brooks Peninsula on the Island to Northern California, where the Juan de Fuca plate system curves west beneath the North American plate.

The repeated episodes of slow fault slips — measuring about the size of five stacked dimes — usually occur over a period of several weeks, accompanied by tremors that appear on seismic records as prolonged, intermittent ground vibrations, Cassidy said.

The ETS activity has been going on for centuries, but has only recently been recorded using sophisticated GPS technology at more than 40 sites up and down the Island. They differ from earthquakes, which generate large, sharp shock waves that subside very quickly, but ETS can help in improving estimates on where and when the next earthquake might occur, Cassidy said.

By mapping out the areas on the subduction fault where stress is not accumulating over the long term, tremor events define the landward limit of the zone that could rupture during the next great earthquake.

That provides a more accurate estimate of how close the rupture could be to major West Coast cities such as Victoria, Vancouver and Seattle, and what shaking could occur, he said.

https://strangesounds.org

Back to back powerful earthquakes strike southeast of the Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia

Ricky Scaparo – March 31, 2022

A very strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M7.0 struck southeast of the Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia according to a report from the Watchers, at 05:44 UTC on March 31, 2022. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles).

EMSC is reporting the same magnitude and depth. The quake was preceded by M6.9 (USGS) / M6.7 (EMSC) at 20:56 UTC on March 30, and a series of moderate to strong aftershocks. The epicenter was located about 280 km (174 miles) ESE of Tadine, New Caledonia, and 368 km (229 miles) SSE of Isangel, Vanuatu.

There are no people living within 100 km (62 miles). Based on all available data, hazardous tsunami waves are forecast for some coasts, NWS PTWC said. Tsunami waves are forecast to be less than 0.3 m (0.98 feet) above tide level for the coasts of Fiji, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu.

Actual amplitudes at the coast may vary from forecast amplitudes due to uncertainties in the forecast and local features. In particular maximum tsunami amplitudes on atolls and at locations with fringing or barrier reefs will likely be much smaller than the forecast indicates.

https://endtimeheadlines.org