Wednesday, January 18, 2012

011812.6--Message for Today: Earthquakes, financial crisis

There will be more earthquakes on the way or, perhaps, financial disaster, big time.  Regardless, this would hit anywhere in the world.  I picked up USA, but it is not very strong, so we'll just have to be aware of this.

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

01/19/12 01:08 PM ET

Iran Earthquake Injures 100 People, Reports Say

TEHRAN, Iran -- An earthquake of moderate strength caused damage and injured 100 people in the city of Neyshabour in the northeast part of Iran Thursday afternoon, Iran's state TV reported.
The TV report said 17 of the injured were hospitalized and the others were treated for minor injuries and released.
As the quake rumbled through the area, many residents of the city fled their homes into the streets. Rescue teams were still at work in the area late Thursday.
The magnitude 5.5 quake shattered windows and affected communications for a short time.
It also destroyed walls of homes in some rural areas, the report said.
Residents of several cities and towns 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the epicenter reported feeling the quake.
The quake jolted the city of 220,000 in about 550 miles (900 kilometers) northeast of the capital Tehran at 16:05 local time (13:35 GMT).
Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes, experiencing at least one slight quake a day on average.
In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.6 quake that flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam.

Anonymous said...

01/21/12 : 01:17 PM PST

6.2 quake hits off coast of southern Mexico

Associated Press – 45 mins ago
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A magnitude-6.2 earthquake that hit off the coast of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas on Saturday shook as far away as El Salvador but brought no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The quake at 12:47 p.m. local time (1:47 p.m. EST; 18:47 GMT) broke windows in the Chiapas state capital of Tuxtla Gutierrez and sent frightened residents into the streets in numerous cities. It was felt from the Mexican state of Veracruz, through Pacific regions of Guatemala and into El Salvador.
"It was quite long and felt with a lot of force," said Carlos Lopez Mendoza, spokesman with the Red Cross in El Salvador.

The temblor, which some said felt like waves, also shook the Mexican cities of Comitan and Tapachula, said Jose Manuel Aragon, spokesman for the Chiapas Civil Protection agency.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter was in the Pacific Ocean about 35 miles (57 kilometers) southwest of the city of

Mapastepec, on the coast near the border with Guatemala. It had a depth of 41 miles (66 kilometers.)
"People here wanted to run," said Juan Carlos Hernandez, a restaurant owner in Mapastepec. "Luckily it was nothing bigger than a scare."

Anonymous said...

Big Island, Hawaii Earthquake Strikes Near Kilauea Volcano

Posted: 01/23/2012 3:23 am

HILO, Hawaii (AP) — A magnitude-4.7 earthquake and several small aftershocks shook Hawaii's Big Island on Sunday, but there were no reports of injury or damage.

The quake struck beneath the south flank of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park at 4:36 p.m. (6:36 p.m. PST) at a depth of five miles, according to a report from the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter was about 25 miles south of Hilo and 220 miles southeast of Honolulu.

The National Weather Service said there was no tsunami threat.
About 20 small aftershocks came in the hours that followed, the largest a magnitude-3.1 about 10 minutes after the original quake.
The temblor was widely felt in Hilo and throughout the island, with about 600 people reporting that they felt light-to-moderate shaking, according to the USGS website.

The quake was initially measured at magnitude-5.0, but it was adjusted to magnitude-4.7 after a seismologist's review.

Joe Lopez, 70, said he felt a "pretty good jolt" at his home in Hilo.

Lopez told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser the quake sent books and other items tumbling to the floor.
There have been no reports of injury or damage, said Michael Yoshimura of Hawaii State Civil Defense.

Yoshimura said the agency opened its Hilo Emergency Operating Center immediately after the quake, but closed it down when no calls came in after 45 minutes.

The quake struck near the so-called Holei Pali area of Kilauea's south flank has had 16 earthquakes of magnitude-4.5 or greater in the past 50 years — eight of them since 1983, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory spokeswoman Janet Babb said in a statement Sunday night.

The observatory has not detected any significant changes in activity at the summits or rift zones of the Kilauea or Mauna Loa volcanoes, Babb said.

Anonymous said...

01/23/12 09:17 PM

Magnitude 6.2 quake strikes off central Chile

Reuters – 11 hrs ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck off the central Chilean town of Concepcion on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

It said the quake struck 31 miles north of Concepcion at 1:04 p.m.(1604 GMT) at a shallow depth of 12.2 miles below the seabed in the Pacific Ocean.

The USGS earlier reported it as a magnitude of 5.8.

Writing by Sandra Maler; Editing by Jackie Frank)

Anonymous said...

01/24/12 12:28 AM PT
Magnitude-6.3 quake hits Pacific; no tsunami alert

Associated Press – 6 hrs ago

SUVA, Fiji (AP) — A magnitude-6.3 earthquake has shaken the Pacific region south of the Fiji islands.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue any alerts or warnings after the quake.

The United States Geological Survey reported the earthquake struck Tuesday afternoon 472 miles (759 kilometers) south of Fiji, at a depth of 362 miles (583 kilometers).

Anonymous said...

5.7 quake hits near Canada's Vancouver Island
AFP – 3 hrs ago

A 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck near Vancouver Island off Canada's west coast on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued.
The quake struck at a shallow depth of 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) with the epicenter located 204 kilometers south of the town of Port Hardy on the island, and about 350 kilometers west of the city of Vancouver, the USGS said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in a preliminary bulletin said the quake, which occurred at 2005 GMT, was not of sufficient magnitude to generate a tsunami warning.

Anonymous said...

Vanuatu Earthquakes Continue to Shake South Pacific

By Tammy Lee Morris | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Fri, Feb 3, 2012

The South Pacific Ocean has continued to shake and rattle with earthquakes near the island chain of Vanuatu. The United States Geological Survey has registered several earthquakes of varying magnitude in the past two days with the largest being a 7.1 magnitude that struck at 12:34 a.m. local time on Friday, February 3. These earthquakes have epicenters offshore, about 77 miles west of Port-Vila on the island of Efate in Vanuatu.

Anonymous said...

6.8 quake in Philippines kills 5, buries homes
By JIM GOMEZ | Associated Press – 1 hr 27 mins ago

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A strong earthquake in the central Philippines killed at least five people Monday as it destroyed buildings and triggered landslides that buried dozens of houses, trapping residents. At least 29 people were missing.
The 6.8-magnitude quake, in a narrow strait just off Negros Island, caused a landslide in Guihulngan, a city of about 180,000 people in Negros Oriental province. As many as 30 houses were buried and at least 29 people were missing, Mayor Ernesto Reyes said.

Anonymous said...

5.8 quake shakes Costa Rican coast
Associated Press – 6 hrs ago

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook the central and Pacific coastal regions of Costa Rica early Monday morning. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The geological survey says the quake, which hit at about 5 a.m. local time (6 a.m. EST), was felt moderately in central and western parts of the Central American country.
The epicenter was 46 miles (75 kilometers) south of the capital of San Jose at a depth of 17 miles (28 kilometers.)

Anonymous said...

Magnitude-5.5 quake strikes Northern California

Associated Press – 11 hrs ago

TRINIDAD, Calif. (AP) — A moderate earthquake has struck the Northern California coast.
The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude-5.5 quake struck at 1:07 p.m. about 18 miles east of Trinidad in an unincorporated part of Humboldt County.
The epicenter is a rural area near the small community of Weitchpec, about 220 miles northwest of Sacramento.
A dispatcher at the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department says the temblor was widely felt and the shaking lasted 30 to 45 seconds.
Hundreds of people reported feeling the quake on the USGS website. Some are as far away as southern Oregon.
The sheriff's dispatcher says there are no immediate reports of injury or damage, but deputies are going out to check on residents.

Anonymous said...

02/15/12

6.0 quake recorded in Pacific off Ore.; no damage
Associated Press – 3 hrs ago

BANDON, Ore. (AP) — The National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., says an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 off the Oregon coast caused no reported damage and only a smattering of reports from people who felt it as a weak jolt.
The shallow quake was recorded at 7:31 p.m. PST Tuesday more than 150 miles west of southern Oregon. It did not generate a tsunami.
Within about an hour, the information center's website recorded 39 reports of people who reported feeling the quake. Most were in northern California and southern Oregon and characterized it was "weak" or "barely felt."
U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Dale Grant told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the quake occurred in a seismically active area and was "not uncommon at all."
In his words, "These are the ones we like — nobody gets hurt and there's no damage."

Anonymous said...

M3.0 Quake Rattles Palm Springs Area; No Damage Reported
February 20, 2012 1:47 PM

PALM SPRINGS (CBS) — A magnitude 3.0 earthquake that was felt from Hemet to Indio rattled the mountains south of Palm Springs on Monday.

The shaker struck at 6:10 a.m. and was centered 11 miles southeast of Anza, about 26 miles south of Palm Springs.

A handful of people signed on to a USGS web site to report feeling a gentle shake.

No damage reports were made.
(©2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

Anonymous said...

Magnitude 6.8 earthquake shakes southwest Siberia

By The Associated Press | Associated Press – 2 hrs 1 min ago

NEW YORK, N.Y. - A magnitude-6.8 earthquake shook southwestern Siberia on Sunday afternoon, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from the temblor that rattled the region at 1:17 p.m. local time (0616 GMT), the agency said.
The quake was centred some 11.7 kilometres (7.3 miles) below the surface, the USGS said.
The USGS said the quake hit 100 kilometres (62 miles) eat of Kyzyl, Russia and about 892 kilometres (554 miles) northwest of Ulaanbator, Mongolia.

Anonymous said...

Powerful quake rocks Taiwan

AFP – 1 hr 56 mins ago

A shallow 5.9-magnitude earthquake sent people fleeing onto the streets in Taiwan's second-largest city Kaohsiung and rail services were temporarily suspended, but no casualties were reported.
The quake struck 57 kilometres (35 miles) east of the southern city at 10:34 am (0234 GMT) on Sunday at a depth of just four kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.
The Hong Kong Observatory measured the quake at magnitude 6.0, while Taiwan's Seismology Centre put the magnitude at 6.1.
The National Fire Agency said there were no casualties or major material damage.
"A few Kaohsiung residents sought safety in the streets for a short while, but it wasn't many," a Kaohsiung police officer told AFP.
Chen Jung-yu, a spokesman for the Seismology Centre, said it was relatively rare for an earthquake of such magnitude to hit in the Kaohsiung area.
"While the quake was strong, it didn't last long. Even in some towns near the epicentre, buildings swayed for no more than seven seconds. That explained why it did not inflict damages," he told AFP.
A high-speed railway linking Kaohsiung with Taiwan's capital Taipei in the north resumed about 90 minutes after the quake prompted services to be suspended.
The greater metropolitan area of Kaohsiung has a population of nearly three million people.
Taiwan is regularly hit by earthquakes as the island lies near the junction of two tectonic plates.
In September 1999, a 7.6-magnitude tremor killed around 2,400 people in the deadliest natural disaster in the island's recent history.

Anonymous said...

Magnitude-4.0 quake shakes San Francisco Bay area

Associated Press – 2 hrs 48 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Two small, back-to-back earthquakes shook San Francisco Bay area residents awake Monday morning but appeared to leave no serious damage or injury.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported that a magnitude-3.5 quake struck at 5:33 a.m. about eight miles northeast of San Francisco in the city of El Cerrito. It was followed eight seconds later by a magnitude-4.0 temblor, said geophysicist Paul Caruso. The USGS originally reported that the first quake had a magnitude of 2.9.

The shaking was felt within a 60-mile radius, from Santa Rosa in the north to Santa Cruz in the south.
The California Highway Patrol, San Francisco police and El Cerrito police said they didn't receive any immediate reports of injury or damage.

Bay Area commuter trains were briefly delayed after the quake to inspect the tracks.

Seismologists said the quake appeared to occur on the Hayward Fault, a seismically active fault that runs along the eastern San Francisco Bay. A 2003 USGS report said the Hayward Fault had the highest chance — 27 percent — of producing a large earthquake of magnitude-6.7 or higher in the Bay Area within 30 years.

"We know that the Hayward Fault is the really important fault in the Bay Area," USGS seismologist David Schwartz told KGO-TV on Monday. "These earthquakes, these 4's, are just an indication of ongoing activity, ongoing stress on the fault. They do nothing to relieve the likelihood of something larger happening."

Overall, there was a 62 percent probability that the Bay Area would see a large quake by 2032, according to the report.

Anonymous said...

6.4 quake strikes Papua New Guinea: US seismologists

AFP – 8 hrs ago

A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck Papua New Guinea Thursday, the US Geological Survey reported, but a tsunami warning was not issued and seismologists said "no major human impact is expected".

The quake hit the New Britain region at 7:13 am (2113 GMT Wednesday) at a depth of 48 kilometres (30 miles), 204 kilometres southwest of the main city in the area Rabaul and 598 kilometres from national capital Port Moresby.

Geoscience Australia, which put the depth at 103 kilometres, said the quake may have been felt as far away as Port Moresby but "no major human impact is expected".

"It seems to be in a relatively isolated area with small villages to the south," seismologist Emma Mathews told AFP.

"It definitely would have been felt but earthquakes regularly hit these areas and people living there are used to these types of events."

Quakes of such magnitude are common in the New Britain region of impoverished PNG, which sits on the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire", a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates.
A giant tsunami in 1998, caused by an undersea earthquake or a landslide, killed more than 2,000 people near Aitape, on the country's northwest coast.

Anonymous said...

5.9 magnitude quake sparks stampede in Philippines

Associated Press – 21 hrs ago

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck the southern Philippines on Friday, causing minor damage and a mall stampede that left at least 23 people injured, officials said.
Most of the injured were sent home after being treated for minor cuts. Two people who were crushed remained in hospital for observation, said George Tremedal, a hospital doctor.

The quake was centered 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) off Dinagat Island near southeastern Surigao del Norte province, said Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology chief Renato Solidum. No tsunami alert was raised.

"It was very strong. You could really feel it. You could see the vehicles moving. I could not control my body as it was moving," said Albert Lancin, a city health official.

Surigao del Norte Gov. Sol Matugas said 20 people had been hurt in a stampede at a mall packed with shoppers in the provincial capital, Surigao City.

Glass doors shattered and panicked shoppers surged out of the mall, which had only opened Friday.

A teacher and two students suffered minor injuries when they were hit by a cable that broke in a public gymnasium, Matugas said.

The Office of Civil Defense said minor cracks were observed in the mall and gymnasium.

Matugas said town mayors had been asked to alert village disaster brigades for possible aftershocks.
The Philippines is located in the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common.

Anonymous said...

20 March 2012 Last updated at 17:32 ET

Mexico hit by strong earthquake near Acapulco

A large earthquake has struck near Acapulco on Mexico's Pacific coast.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake had a magnitude of 7.4 and put the epicentre at 15 miles (25km) east of Ometepec, in Guerrero state.
Witnesses in the capital, Mexico City, said the tremor sent office workers rushing out onto the streets.

Some 500 houses were damaged in Guerrero state, according to the state's governor, local TV reported.

Angel Aguirre told Milenio television that so far there were no casualties in Guerrero state or neaby Oaxaca state, adding that authorities were checking schools and public buildings near Ometepec.
The director of the country's seismological service, Carlos Valdes Gonzalez, said that there had already been some six aftershocks and further ones could be expected in the next 24 hours.
He said one of the aftershocks had already registered a magnitude of 5.3.

The BBC's Will Grant, in Mexico City, says buildings swayed for at least a minute in the capital.
A pedestrian bridge reportedly collapsed and crushed a microbus in Mexico City, but there were still no reports of deaths.

Office workers and residents were sent running into the streets in wealthy districts and poor neighbourhoods alike, he reports.

Thundering walls
Samantha Rodriguez, a 37-year old environmental consultant, was evacuated from the 11th floor of an office block.

"I thought it was going to pass rapidly but the walls began to thunder and we decided to get out," she said.

Sirens could be heard across the city, and police helicopters are crisscrossing the skies.

"I swear I never felt one so strong, I thought the building was going to collapse," said Sebastian Herrera, 42, a businessman from a neighbourhood hit hard in Mexico's devastating 1985 earthquake, which killed thousands.

Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard's Twitter account said the water system and other "strategic services" were not experiencing problems and no damage was reported in the central or northern areas of the city.

Mobile phone networks have been affected, our correspondent says, and people have had trouble contacting their loved ones.
Gabino Cue, the governor of Oaxaca state, next to Guerrero state, said via Twitter that the quake had caused cracks in school buildings and damaged roofs in one part of the state.

The USGS said the epicentre was 11 miles (18km) underground.

The US president's daughter, 13-year-old Malia Obama, was on a school trip in Oaxaca, south-western Mexico. A White House official said she was safe and had never been in danger.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17452834

Anonymous said...

03/22/12 02:42 AM

Better prepared: Mexico's 7.4 quake causes damage, but no deaths
Mexico's worst earthquake in nearly 30 years was met by stricter building codes and a city prepared by evacuation drills and early warning systems.

By Sara Miller Llana, Lauren Villagran | Christian Science Monitor – 12 hrs ago

By the time the powerful 7.4 earthquake rumbled in Mexico City Tuesday, the 56 students ages 6 months to 6 years attending the Montessori Kid's Place in Mexico City were already evacuated, gathered in the front lobby of the school, a location city engineers had earlier indicated as the safest spot.

“For a few seconds, nothing happened, and we thought it might be a false alarm,” says Claudia Yañez, the school director. She had purchased two alarms last year, each the size of a book, which warns them of seismic activity in Guerrero state. If an earthquake over the magnitude of 5 strikes, an alarm sounds and a voice warns “earthquake,” as it did Tuesday, giving them a minute of time to implement the drills they practice monthly. The minute represents the time between the triggering of the radio alert at the remote sensor and the arrival of the seismic shocks to Mexico City. “This minute is very valuable,” Ms. Yañez says.
Tuesday's earthquake was one of the strongest that residents have felt in the capital since the 1985 quake that killed some 10,000, and still haunts many. Nearly 30 years later, yesterday's quake caused damage but killed no one, according to public authorities.

http://news.yahoo.com/better-prepared-mexicos-7-4-quake-causes-damage-210800843.html

Anonymous said...

Major quake rattles Chile but no serious damage

By Alexandra Ulmer | Reuters – 22 mins ago

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - A major quake hit central Chile on Sunday, rattling buildings in the capital and triggering a coastal evacuation, but there was no serious damage and big mines in the world's No. 1 copper producer were operating normally.

Residents in Santiago fled their homes as the tremor rattled television sets, kitchen cabinets and tables, and a mayor in the town of Parral in south-central Chile told local radio a 74-year-old woman died of a heart attack due to the quake. There were no other immediate reports of serious casualties.

The 7.1 magnitude quake struck 16 miles north northwest of the town of Talca at a depth of 22 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said, revising down an initial magnitude of 7.2.

It was one of the strongest quakes to hit Chile since a massive 8.8 temblor devastated the south-central region in early 2010, which triggered ensuing tsunamis, killed about 500 people and hammered roads and infrastructure.

"So far there are no fatalities reported. There is evidence some people were injured, but not badly," Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter said, adding that electricity supply had been restored after disruptions in some areas.

"This event did not produce nor will it produce a tsunami on our country's coast," Hinzpeter added.
However, a government official later said there were signs the sea had retreated a bit, and the emergency office reordered a coastal evacuation in the Maule central region as a preventive measure.

The government emergency agency, ONEMI, said two people were injured after the fake ceiling of a church in Santiago collapsed and one person suffered injuries from a transit accident in the Biobio region.

With the memory of the 2010 quake still seared into their memories, many Chileans were visibly shaken up.

"I was watching television and all of a sudden the sofa started to move, and lamps started to swing from one side to the other," said Guilda Carrasco. "It just kept moving and didn't stop. It was very strong."

Chilean state copper giant Codelco said after the quake that operations were normal at its Andina mine and its El Teniente deposit, which is located nearer the epicenter. Together, the two mines produce about 635,000 metric tonnes (699,968 tons) of copper annually.

Global miner Anglo American said its Los Bronces copper mine in central Chile was operating normally, and the country's top oil refinery, Bio Bio, also said operations were normal after the tremor.

The central area is home to some important copper mines, but the bulk of output in the world's top copper exporting nation is concentrated in the far north.
Quakes of magnitude 7.0 or above are capable of causing major damage. The 2010 quake caused roughly $8 billion in insured losses and economic losses of at least twice that.

In the last two years earthquakes have been a scourge of the insurance industry. In addition to Chile, 2011 quakes in Japan and New Zealand caused record-breaking losses in the tens of billions of dollars.

More recently, a major earthquake in Mexico caused limited losses, disaster modeling agencies said, given that it happened well away from major population centers.

Additional reporting by Alonso Soto in Brasilia, Antonio de la Jara, Fabian Cambero, Anthony Esposito and Moises Avila in Santiago. Writing by Dave Graham and Simon Gardner; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Anonymous said...

Strong quake hits northern Japan, no tsunami risk

Associated Press – 6 hrs ago

03/27/12 11:26

TOKYO (AP) — A strong earthquake shook northern Japan on Tuesday, but no damage was reported and there was no risk of a tsunami.

The Japan Meteorological Agency recorded a 6.4 preliminary magnitude. The agency said there may be a small change in sea levels but did not issue tsunami warnings.

The epicenter was off the coast of Iwate and was about 10 kilometers (6 miles) below the sea surface.

Iwate is in the region heavily damaged by last year's earthquake and tsunami. The massive magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, left some 19,000 people dead or missing, wreaked widespread damage along the northeastern coast and triggered the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Rebuilding has yet to fully begin in many coastal communities.

No damage or injury was reported from Tuesday's tremor.

There were no abnormalities reported at nuclear power plants in the region, including the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant that had been crippled by last year's disasters, operators said. All but one of Japan's 54 nuclear plants are offline, most of them for safety inspections.

Anonymous said...

Powerful 8.6-Magnitude Earthquake Triggers Tsunami, But Little Damage

By AKIKO FUJITA (@akikofujita)
April 11, 2012
A massive 8.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia early today, triggering an Indian Ocean tsunami that alarmed people throughout the region, but caused little damage.
The quake was centered 20 miles beneath the ocean floor about 270 miles from Aceh's provincial capital.
The tremor was felt in Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh, India and Malaysia, where tall office buildings shook for more than a minute, according to the Associated Press.
An 8.2-magnitude aftershock was reported off the coast of northern Sumatra with an epicenter 382 miles from Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, around 6:43 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
"A significant tsunami was generated by this earthquake," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said today. At its highest, waves tsunami waves rose 3.5 feet.
The tsunami alert was terrifying for people who still have fresh memories of the 2004 tsunami that devastated Indonesia's islands.
Workers at the Hermes Palace Hotel in Banda Aceh described a scene of panic, near the coast, as people fled to higher ground. Employee Cut Arlista said the shaking was so strong that water from the hotel pool spilled out, although the 70 guests at the hotel were not evacuated."People were crying, and everybody was running inland as fast as they can," Arlista told ABC News.
But there was little damage reported by the wave and the tsunami warnings were lifted a short time later.
The nature of the quake made it less likely a tsunami was generated because the earth moved horizontally, rather than vertically, and therefore had not displaced large volumes of water, Bruce Presgrave of the USGS told the BBC.
"We can't rule out the possibility, but horizontal motion is less likely to produce a destructive tsunami," he said.
Still, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a tsunami watch was in effect for Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Maldives and other Indian Ocean islands, Malaysia, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Iran, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Singapore, according to the AP.
The tsunami warning was extended until 9 a.m. E.T.
The latest quake struck off the west coast of Sumatra, the same region devastated by a magnitude-9.1 earthquake in December 2004. That tremor triggered a catastrophic tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people.
"I think a lot of people learned from the past," Arlista said. "Everybody knew to run as soon as the earthquake hit."
Gary Peart, an Australian worker at the Lumba Lumba Diving Center on the beach in Banda Aceh in the province of Aceh, Indonesia, said the quake lasted quite a while.
"It was long for an earthquake," he said. "Maybe a minute and a half, and then it got slowly, slowly stronger, and then it faded away."

Anonymous said...

Strong quake shakes Mexico, no major damage

By Cyntia Barrera | Reuters – 4 hrs ago

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A strong earthquake hit western Mexicoon Wednesday, shaking buildings as far away as the capital and sending people rushing out of offices onto the streets, though there were no reports of major damage.

Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said on his Twitter account there were no initial signs of serious damage and that key services in the capital, including its subway system and the international airport, were operating normally.
"There was a nasty crunching sound in my bathroom and everything moved," said Adela Arceo, who was looking after two young children in the central Roma neighbourhood of Mexico City.

There were no initial reports of casualties.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.5 magnitude quake struck in the western state of Michoacan at a depth of 12.4 miles (20 km). The epicentre was 238 miles (384 km) west-southwest of Mexico City. The USGS earlier estimated the strength of the quake at 7.0 magnitude and said it was deeper.

Emergency services in Michoacan and in the neighbouring state of Guerrero, which has been hit by a series of recent quakes, reported no major problems on Wednesday.
"You could feel it, but there's no major damage. There are no reports, no emergency calls," said Agustin Lule, a spokesman for fire services in Uruapan, a town in Michoacan near the epicentre of the quake.
Reuters reporters in coastal areas of Guerrero and neighbouring Oaxaca state said there was no damage.

The Honolulu-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said it had not issued a tsunami warning, but staff oceanographer David Walsh noted the quake was close to water, big enough and potentially deep enough to cause one.

It was the third big earthquake to hit Mexico in less than a month. A 7.4 magnitude quake struck on March 20, damaging hundreds of buildings in the southwest. That was followed by dozens of aftershocks.

Earlier on Wednesday, an 8.7 magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia, raising fears of a huge tsunami like the one that battered the Indian Ocean rim in 2004, but authorities said there were no reports suggesting a major threat.

(Additional reporting by Mica Rosenberg, Simon Gardner, Krista Hughes and Ana Isabel Martinez; writing by Dave Graham; editing by Kieran Murray and Mohammad Zargham)

Anonymous said...

Magnitude 6.5 earthquake shakes Pacific island nation of Vanuatu

By The Associated Press |

Associated Press – 3 hrs ago

NEW YORK, N.Y. - A magnitude-6.5 earthquake rattled the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu on Sunday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The quake struck at 9:05 a.m. Sunday local time (2205 GMT Saturday), some 8.7 kilometres (5.4 miles) below the surface, the USGS said.

The USGS said the quake hit some 148 kilometres (91 miles) southeast Port-Vila, Vanuatu and about 1,864 kilometres (1,158 miles) northeast Brisbane, Australia.

Anonymous said...

USGS reports 5.9 magnitude quake off western Java

Reuters – Sat, Apr 14, 2012

(Reuters) - A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 struck offshore western Java in Indonesia's Sunda Strait at a depth of 30.5 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Saturday.

The USGS initially reported the quake as measuring 5.8 and a depth of 27.3 miles. It revised the location to 97 miles south of T.Telukbetung in Sumatra, after first reporting it at 111 miles west of Sukabumi in Java.

There were no immediate reports or damage or a tsunami warning from the quake, which was 109 miles west-southwest of the capital Jakarta on Java.

(Writing by Eric Walsh)

Anonymous said...

Powerful quake hits waters off eastern Indonesia; no immediate reports of injuries or damage

By The Associated Press | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago

JAYAPURA, Indonesia - A powerful earthquake has hit waters off eastern Indonesia, causing panic in the streets. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 and hit 83 kilometres (50 miles) off Papua province on Saturday morning.

It was centred just 30 kilometres (18 miles) beneath the ocean floor.
Residents in the sparsely populated region said street lamps were shaking and items were knocked from shelves. There were no immediate signs of severe damage, however.

Anonymous said...

Mexico shaken by several quakes
Reuters – 2 hrs 27 mins ago
05/01/12 08:07 PM

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Several earthquakes rattled Mexico on Tuesday, but there were no reports of injuries or damage as the country celebrated a national holiday.
The first quake shook near the northwest, off the coast of Baja California, just before 9 a.m. local time and there were no reports of damage.
That quake registered a 5.0 magnitude at a depth of 6 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The second tremor, in the central state of Michoacan, struck before noon and shook Mexico City, although the epicenter was more than 100 miles away.
Traffic and street life in the capital continued as normal just moments after the tremor, witnesses said.
"I've lived through plenty of earthquakes. But I didn't feel that one," said Elias Munoz, 70, who runs a kiosk in Mexico City's central Roma neighborhood.
The USGS said the quake that hit Michoacan had a magnitude of 5.7 and was recorded at a depth of 56 miles. The magnitude was revised from 5.5
The epicenter was 128 miles southwest of the Mexican capital. Fausto Vallejo, governor ofMichoacan, said on his Twitter account there were no reports of damage in the state.
Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard tweeted there were no reports of damage there.
The third quake, a magnitude 6.3, struck off the coast of southwest Mexico near the Guatemalan border, said the USGS.
The quake hit 51 miles west-southwest of Suchiate, Chiapas, at a depth of 27 miles, the USGS said.
An official with the Chiapas public safety office said there were no reports of injuries or damage after the tremor.
Mexico has felt several strong earthquakes in recent weeks, including a 7.4 magnitude tremor in late March, none causing serious damage.
(Reporting By Patrick Rucker and Veronica Gomez Sparrowe; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Anonymous said...

Strong quake hits North Italy, at least three dead
By Stephen Jewkes | Reuters – 12 mins ago
BOLOGNA, Italy (Reuters) - A strong earthquake rocked a large swathe of northern Italy early on Sunday morning, causing at least three deaths and collapsing rural factories and ancient bell towers in towns.
The epicenter of the quake, which struck at 4:04 a.m. (0204 GMT) and had a magnitude of 5.9, was in the plains near Modena. But it was felt in nearby regions.
One person working a night shift died in the collapse of a factory and two others were killed in the collapse of another building. Rescue officials were checking reports that other people were buried under rubble.
First television pictures taken after dawn showed serious damage to historic buildings and rural structures. Parts of a historic fortress in one town collapsed.
Thousands of people in the area rushed into the streets after the quake, felt in the major towns of Bologna, Modena, Ferrara, Rovigo, Verona and Mantua.
A series of strong aftershocks hit the area and local mayors ordered residents to stay out of their homes.
The quake was centered 22 miles north-northwest of Bologna at a relatively shallow depth of 6.3 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The last major earthquake to hit Italy was a 6.3 magnitude quake in the central Italian city of L'Aquila in 2009, killing nearly 300 people.
(Reporting by Steve Scherer in Rome and Doina Chiacu, writing by Philip Pullella; Editing by Peter Cooney and Ron Popeski)

Anonymous said...

5.9 quake hits Indonesia's Sumatra: USGS

AFP – 15 hrs ago

A 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit the north of Indonesia's Sumatra island on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no reports of damage or casualties.
The quake struck at 11:34 am (0434 GMT), 66 kilometres (41 miles) west-southwest of Kabanjahe at a depth of 97 kilometres, the USGS said.
Indonesia's Meteorological and Geophysics Agency put the magnitude at 6.6.
"The quake's epicentre was on land. There are no reports of damage so far," Indonesian agency official Dedi Sugianto told AFP, adding the quake was felt moderately in a number of areas.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

Anonymous said...

China Earthquake: Moderate Temblor Kills 4, Injures At Least 100 (VIDEO)

AP | Posted: 06/24/2012 11:47 pm

Updated: 06/25/2012 2:57 am

BEIJING (AP) — A moderate earthquake toppled houses in a mountainous part of southwestern China, killing four people and injuring at least 100, state media said.

Sunday's magnitude-5.7 quake was centered near the border of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces where many of the Yi ethnic minority live, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Monday. It said the casualties occurred in Yunnan's Ninglang county and Sichuan's Yanyuan county, where many houses collapsed.

Rescue officials were sending tents, quilts and clothes to the affected area, it said.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude 5.5.

A magnitude-5.8 quake in Yunnan in March last year killed 25 people and damaged thousands of homes. The area is about 2,340 kilometers (1,450 miles) southwest of Beijing.
China's worst earthquake in recent years struck Sichuan province in May 2008 and registered magnitude 7.9. It left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing.

Anonymous said...

6.1 quake rocks Philippines

AFP News – Sun, Jun 17, 2012

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of the main Philippine island of Luzon on Sunday, US seismologists said, but there were no reports of casualties and no tsunami alert was issued.
The US Geological Survey said the quake hit at a depth of 35 kilometres (22 miles) at 6:18 am (2218 GMT Saturday), 182 km northwest of the capital Manila.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology measured the quake at 6.0 magnitude.

The quake was felt in some areas, including Manila, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, said civil defence chief Benito Ramos.

The Philippines sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire -- a belt around the Pacific Ocean dotted by active volcanoes and unstable ocean trenches.

One fault line runs directly under Manila, a metropolis of more than 12 million people, and government seismologists have warned the city is unprepared for a major quake.
In February, a 6.7-magnitude earthquake in the central Philippines triggered landslides that left more than 100 people dead or missing.

Anonymous said...

6.4 quake hits off east coast of Japan: USGS

AFP News – Mon, Jun 18, 2012

A 6.4-magnitude undersea earthquake on Monday jolted the sea area off the east coast of Honshu, the main island of Japan, US seismologists said, but no tsunami alert was issued.

The US Geological Survey said the quake had a depth of 31 kilometres (20 miles) and hit at 5:32am (2032 GMT Sunday) some 140 kilometres east of the city of Sendai.

In March last year a 9.0-magnitude undersea earthquake off Japan's northeast coast triggered a monster tsunami, leaving about 19,000 people dead or missing and crippling the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Anonymous said...

Powerful 6.0 quake strikes southern Peru

AFP News – Fri, Jun 8, 2012

A powerful magnitude 6.0 quake shook southern Peru on Thursday, US seismologists said, with Peru authorities indicating no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
The US Geological Survey said the temblor had a depth of 99.7 kilometers (62 miles). It struck at 11:03 am (1603 GMT) some 117 kilometers (73 miles) west-northwest of the city of Arequipa.
Many people rushed out of homes and businesses and onto the street in search of safety from the quake, which was also felt in the neighboring Ica and Moquegua regions. Telephone lines were cut temporarily.

"At the moment, there are no reports" of victims from the temblor, said Geophysical Institute of Peru chief Hernan Tavera, who told AFP that the damage was limited to minor landslides of dirt and stones.

The National Civil Defense Institute said it was reviewing the condition of homes in the region, particularly in areas on the periphery of the quake, where many houses are built of adobe and other less-than-sturdy materials.

So far this year there have been more than 80 medium-intensity earthquakes in Peru, which is on what geologists call the Pacific Ring of Fire -- an area with intense seismic activity that produces around 85 percent of the world's quakes.

The latest quake came just a week after Peru carried out a nationwide safety drill to see how authorities would respond if the capital region were struck by a cataclysmic magnitude-eight earthquake and resulting tsunami.

Anonymous said...

Strong 6.0 magnitude quake strikes off Taiwan

AFP News – Sun, Jun 10, 2012

A strong 6.0-magnitude quake struck off Taiwan early on Sunday, US seismologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued.

The US Geological Survey said the quake had a depth of 70 kilometres (40 miles) and hit around 5 am (2100 GMT Saturday), some 50 kilometres east of Su-ao in the northeastern Yilan county.

Taiwan's Seismology Centre recorded the quake, which was felt in Taipei and islandwide, at 6.5 on the Richter scale. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue a warning.

The National Fire Agency said there were no reports of damages or injuries.

Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly hit by earthquakes.

In September 1999, a 7.6-magnitude tremor killed around 2,400 people in the deadliest natural disaster in Taiwan's recent history.

Anonymous said...

5.7-magnitude quake jolts Taiwan: USGS

AFP News – Wed, Jun 6, 2012

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 struck at sea off southeastern Taiwan Wednesday, US seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
The tremor struck at 9:08 am (0108 GMT) 49 kilometres (30 miles) southeast of Taitung at a depth of five kilometres (three miles), the US Geological Survey said.

The epicentre was about 135 kilometres (84 miles) southeast of Taiwan's capital Taipei.

The island of Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly hit by earthquakes.

In September 1999, a 7.6-magnitude tremor killed around 2,400 people in the deadliest natural disaster in Taiwan's recent history.

Anonymous said...

Magnitude 6.1 quake strikes far eastern Russia

Reuters – Sun, Jun 24, 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of far eastern Russia on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The quake was centered 166 miles (267 km) south-southwest of

Il'pyrskiy, Russia, in the northern Pacific Ocean, the USGS said. There was no immediate tsunami alert issued, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

(Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Paul Simao)

Anonymous said...

Strong quake hits remote western China: USGS

Reuters – 5 hrs ago

BEIJING (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.3 quake struck a remote region of western China, close to the Kazakhstan border early on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said, injuring around 10 people.

The quake, initially reported as a magnitude 6.5, struck at 5:07 a.m. local time on Saturday (2107 GMT on Friday), and was centered 87 miles southwest of the town of Shihezi in Xinjiang, home to the mainly Muslim Uighur people.

The official Xinhua news agency said there was strong shaking felt in the regional capital Urumqi which lasted for about 10 seconds, causing some people to rush out of their houses and into the street.
In the county nearest the epicenter, the quake threw people from their beds and cut the power, but it would take time to fully assess casualties and damage due to the remote location, Xinhua added.
Initial reports said about 10 people were injured in the quake, one seriously, and that most of them were tourists, Xinhua said. Some houses had also collapsed in a village close to the epicenter.

"It's a very quiet, remote, mountainous area that is sparsely populated. A the moment we have no report of any casualty or damage but we are watching closely," USGS Geophysicist Chen Shengzao told Reuters by telephone from Golden, Colorado.

The USGS said the quake was very shallow, only 11.2 miles below the Earth's surface. Chen said that because of its magnitude and very shallow depth, the quake would have been widely felt.

A 6.3 quake is capable of causing severe damage.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Sandra Maler in Washington; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)

Anonymous said...

08/11/12 03:34 PM


Iran earthquakes kill 180, injure 1,300
By Zahra Hosseinian | Reuters – 1 hr 32 mins ago

DUBAI (Reuters) - Two strong earthquakes killed 180 people and injured another 1,300 in northwest Iran where rescuers frantically combed through the rubble of dozens of villages on Sunday.
Thousands fled their homes and remained outdoors after Saturday's quakes, as at least 20 aftershocks hit the area.
Casualty numbers could well rise, Iranian officials feared, as some of the injured were in critical condition, others were still trapped under the rubble and rescuers had yet to reach some of the affected villages. Some 60 villages had sustained more than 50 percent damage, Iranian media said.
Iran is straddled by major fault lines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 which turned the southeastern historic city of Bam into dust and killed more than 25,000 people.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured Saturday's first quake at 6.4 magnitude and said it struck 60 km (37 miles) northeast of the city of Tabriz at a depth of 9.9 km (6.2 miles). A second quake measuring 6.3 struck 49 km (30 miles) northeast of Tabriz 11 minutes later at a similar depth.
Provincial official Khalil Sa'ie said 180 people had been killed and some 1,300 injured, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
The second quake struck near the town of Varzaghan. "The quake was so intense that people poured into the streets through fear," Fars news agency said of the town.
About 210 people in Varzaghan and Ahar were rescued from under the rubble of collapsed buildings, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"Since some people are in a critical condition and rescue workers are still trying to rescue people from under the rubble, unfortunately it is possible for the number of casualties to rise," IRNA quoted Bahram Samadirad, a provincial official from the coroner's office, as saying.
NEED FOR EMERGENCY SHELTER
Photographs posted by Iranian news websites showed about a dozen bodies lying on the floor in the corner of a white-tiled morgue in Ahar, and medical staff, surrounded by anxious residents, working on the injured in the open air as dusk fell.
"I was just on the phone talking to my mother when she said 'there's just been an earthquake', then the line was cut," one woman from Tabriz, who lives outside Iran, wrote on Facebook after telephoning her mother in the city.
"God, what has happened? After that I couldn't get through. God has also given me a slap, and it was very hard."
Tabriz is a major city and trading hub far from Iran's oil producing areas and known nuclear facilities. Buildings in the city are substantially built, and the Iranian Students' News Agency said nobody in the city itself had been killed or hurt.
Homes and businesses in Iranian villages, however, are often made of concrete blocks or mud brick that can crumble and collapse in a strong quake.
Red Crescent official Mahmoud Mozafar was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying about 16,000 people in the quake-hit area had been given emergency shelter.
Fars quoted lawmaker Abbas Falahi as saying he believed rescue workers had not yet been able to reach between 10 and 20 villages.
A local provincial official urged people in the region to stay outdoors during the night for fear of aftershocks, according to IRNA. Falahi said people in the region were in need of bread, tents and drinking water.
The Turkish Red Crescent said it was sending a truck full of emergency supplies to the border, an official said. Turkey's Foreign Ministry said it had informed Iran it was ready to help.
(Writing by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Anonymous said...

08/12/12

Strong quake jolts western China
AFP – 16 hrs ago

A shallow 6.3-magnitude earthquake shook a remote area ofChina's western region of Xinjiang, near the border with Tibet, on Sunday, the US Geological Survey said.
It was not immediately clear if there was any damage or casualties and rescue teams had been rushed to the mountainous quake zone to assess the situation, a local official told AFP.

The quake's epicentre, at a depth of nine kilometres (5.6 miles), was about 280 kilometres east of Hotan town, USGS said. It struck at 6:45 pm (1045 GMT).

The China Earthquake Networks Centre measured it at 6.2-magnitude and put it at a deeper 30 kilometres, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

"A rescue team and other officials are now on the way to the earthquake zone, which is in a mountainous area," an official with the emergency office of Yutian county -- also known as Keriya -- told AFP.

"As of now, we haven't received any news."

The county is on the southern edge of China's vast Taklimakan desert.
On Saturday, a quake measuring 5.3 hit Xinjiang, about 188 km from the town of Shache, according to the USGS.

Xinjiang is a vast region with a population of around 20 million, of whom some nine million are Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking, mainly Muslim ethnic minority.

Anonymous said...

08/13/12
Moderate 5.4 quake hits Pakistan
AFP – 5 hrs ago

A moderate 5.4-magnitude earthquake struck the far northern region of Pakistan early Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The quake's epicentre, at a depth of 35 kilometres (21.7 miles), was recorded some 119 kilometres from Mingaora in the northern Swat District and 130 kilometres from Gilgit in Kashmir.

The quake struck near the border between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and India's Jammu and Kashmir state around 1:30 am local time (2030 GMT on Monday).

Pakistan was hit by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake on October 8, 2005 that killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless, mainly in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Anonymous said...

08/13/12 09:06 pm

Deep magnitude 7.5 quake off

Russia, north of Japan
Reuters – 45 mins ago

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 struck off the eastern Russian coast to the north of Japan, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Tuesday, but no tsunami warning was issued by Japanese authorities.

Anonymous said...

08/18/12 02:23 PT

6.3-magnitude quake hits Indonesia's Sulawesi

AFP – 6 hrs ago

A powerful 6.3-magnitude quake shook Indonesia's central Sulawesi province on Saturday, damaging buildings and injuring at least three people.

Panicked residents in two mountainous districts near the epicentreran from their homes into the streets as the quake rocked their villages for around 15 seconds.

An AFP reporter in the provincial capital Palu also felt violent shaking.

"There are three villages near the epicentre where 23 homes have been damaged to some extent, and those villages are experiencing a blackout," head of Sigi districtDisaster Mitigation Agency Rezmin Laze told AFP.

"At least three people have been injured by falling debris and rescuers are having difficulty evacuating them to Palu."

The quake hit around 56 kilometres (35 miles) southeast of Palu, according to the US Geological Service (USGS), at around 5:40 pm (0940 GMT) at a depth of 20 kilometres (12 miles).

Parigi Moutong and Sigi districts were the hardest-hit, according to Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency.
Herlina, a receptionist at the Tunas Harapan Hotel in the town of Parigi, told AFP the shaking sent guests running into the street.
"Everyone was scared... but everything's fine now. There was no damage to the hotel and I haven't seen any damage on the street," said Herlina, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

USGS initially reported the quake's magnitude at 6.6, while Indonesia's geophysics agency measured it at 6.2.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

Anonymous said...

Magnitude 5.6 quake hits off coast of Washington state: USGS

Reuters – 10 hrs ago

08/19/12 05:11 PM PT

(Reuters) - A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck off the coast of the West Coast state of Washington on Sunday, the United States Geological Survey said.

The depth was reported at 6.3 miles and the quake was located 190miles west of Neah Bay, the USGS said. There was no immediate statement from the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center based in Hawaii on the quake.

(Reporting by Ed Lane; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Anonymous said...

08/19/12 11:07 PM PT

Magnitude 6.2 earthquake hits Papua New Guinea: USGS

Reuters – 6 hrs ago

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck in north-eastern Papua New Guinea on Monday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The strong quake was centered 115 km north-northeast of Mount Hagen, at a depth of 77 kilometers, the USGS said.

Papua New Guinea is on the geologically active Pacific Ring of Fire.

(Reporting By Jane Wardell; Editing by John Mair)