An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale has hit the northeastern region of Jazan. Its impact was felt by inhabitants in the Asir and Najran regions, according to postings on social networking sites. ani Zahran, director-general of the National Center for Earthquakes and Volcanoes, told Arab News: "The earthquake occurred at around 6 p.m. local time. It measured 5.1 on the Richter scale and was 10 km deep."

Citizens in both the Jazan and Asir provinces confirmed that they felt the earthquake's impact at 6 p.m.
Many said that their doors and windows rattled as a result of the tremor, according to local media sources. A security source said that the Civil Defense operations room in Jazan received dozens of calls from citizens when the earthquake struck across the Jazan province.

USGS data

Dozens of Azle residents are planning a trip to the state capitol to send a message to the Texas Railroad Commission.

Organizers have named the bus trip "Shake the Ground in Austin," and they expect at least 50 people to show up for the regularly scheduled Texas Railroad Commission meeting Tuesday morning.

Some Azle residents believe there is a link between local fracking injection wells and a series of recent earthquakes. In a one-month span, about 30 minor earthquakes hit the area.

The Texas Railroad Commission regulates oil and gas operations. Earlier this month, more than 800 Parker County residents attended a meeting hosted by TRC Commissioner David Porter at Azle High School and pressed him for answers about the earthquakes. However, some residents left the meeting more angry and frustrated than when it began.

"We need to get some relief for people who are having their homes damaged by these earthquakes," said Sharon Wilson, Texas organizer for Earthworks Oil & Gas Accountability Project.

A "severe'' magnitude 6.2 quake has damaged homes and closed roads in the lower North Island, toppling walls and chimneys and sending rockfalls across roads.

The quake, initially reported as a magnitude 6.3, struck 10km north of Castlepoint in Wairarapa, at a depth of 33km, at 3.52pm, GeoNet said.

Sara Page, GeoNet public information specialist at GNS Science, said GeoNet had received more than 6000 "felt" reports from the public by 4.30pm, with some reporting damage.

"As expected after a quake of this size, there have been multiple aftershocks, and these will continue for some time as the region settles," she said.

The Wairarapa is no stranger to large earthquakes, with two very damaging magnitude 7 quakes in 1942.

However, the region's last earthquake above magnitude 6 was in 1961.

Damage reports

Fifteen people will not be able to return home tonight after their building in the centre of Masterton was red-stickered as a result of today's earthquake.

Wairarapa area Civil Defence controller Kevin Tunnell said the three-storey Daniels Building on Queen St had sustained unspecified damage in the quake.

It was initially deemed unsafe by the Fire Service and then by Masterton District Council engineers.

Its 15 tenants would not be allowed home for at least tonight and engineers would carry out further inspections tomorrow.

Event Time
2014-01-20 02:52:44 UTC
2014-01-20 15:52:44 UTC+13:00 at epicenter

Location
40.650°S 175.864°E depth=27.4km (17.0mi)

Nearby Cities
38km (24mi) NNE of Masterton, New Zealand
39km (24mi) SSE of Palmerston North, New Zealand
49km (30mi) E of Levin, New Zealand
77km (48mi) ENE of Paraparaumu, New Zealand
115km (71mi) NE of Wellington, New Zealand

Technical Details

It was dark and cold, as if hell were freezing over.

Then came the booming sounds that shook the earth and sent area residents running to their windows.

The cracking sound, like an explosion, was heard about 6 p.m. Jan. 7 around Waupun, Fairwater, Brandon, Markesan, Oakfield and Campbellsport.

Dennis Olsen of Waupun thought perhaps his garage had blown up as he peered out into the winter night.

Nope. Everything was quiet.

Then he went to the basement to see if any of his walls had split open.

"Things looked fine. Strange, because it was so loud," he said.

But the next morning, Olsen's grandson was coming up the gravel driveway to visit and came upon a strange sight.

"First time I've ever seen something like this. It was a giant crack, maybe an inch wide and a good eight to 10 inches deep when I stuck a ruler down," Olsen said.

An earthquake of preliminary magnitude 4.4 struck southern California early today, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

The earthquake's epicenter was 3 miles (5 km) north of Fontana in San Bernardino County. It originated 3.2 miles (5.2 km) deep and struck at 1:35 a.m. local time (9:35 UTC).

Residents reported light to moderate shaking in the area, as far away as Long Beach and Los Angeles, according to the USGS, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

Earthquakes of this size tend to be felt by people in the area but typically do not cause significant damage, other than possibly broken windows and falling dishes or the toppling of unstable objects. But the damage caused by any single event depends on the quake's depth, proximity to populated areas, building standards in the region, as well as the type of earthquake. The USGS frequently updates the magnitude of an event after more data is analyzed.

An earthquake's magnitude is a measure of the energy released at the source. It is just one predictor of the shaking that may ensue, which is affected by local and regional geology. Scientists know in a general sense what causes earthquakes but are unable to predict specific quakes.

Four years ago Sunday, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, destroying its capital of Port-au-Prince and killing more than 200,000 people. Today, much of Port-au-Prince looks like it did before the quake. Most of the tent camps in the city itself are gone, and streets are loaded with overcrowded buses and women selling vegetables.

Most of those whose lives were upended by the quake are back in some kind of home. Most of the rubble has been cleared from the streets. The severely damaged presidential palace has finally been razed. And the government is rebuilding its ministries downtown.

But for nearly 150,000 people, life hasn't moved on. They still live in the temporary plastic and plywood structures erected after the disaster.

A strong quake of magnitude 6.5 struck north off Puerto Rico on Monday and could trigger a local tsunami, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.

It said the quake, initially reported as a magnitude 6.4, was very shallow, at a depth of 17.7 miles below the seabed. It struck at 12:01 a.m. (0401 GMT), 35 miles north of the town of Hatillo.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake could trigger a local tsunami.

"There is the small possibility of a local tsunami that could affect coasts located usually no more than a hundred kilometers (63 miles) from the earthquake epicenter," the tsunami center said in its advisory.

Event Time
2014-01-13 04:01:04 UTC
2014-01-13 00:01:04 UTC-04:00 at epicenter

Location
19.001°N 66.848°W depth=28.0km (17.4mi)

Nearby Cities
57km (35mi) N of Hatillo, Puerto Rico
58km (36mi) NNE of Isabela, Puerto Rico
60km (37mi) NNW of Arecibo, Puerto Rico
69km (43mi) NNW of Barceloneta, Puerto Rico
98km (61mi) NW of San Juan, Puerto Rico

Technical Details

A 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck in the Straits of Florida off Cuba on Thursday, startling office workers in medium-rise buildings set swaying in Havana. There was no word of any damage or injuries.

The temblor occurred just before 4 p.m. about 106 miles (172 kilometers) east of Havana, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The closest city to the epicenter was Corralillo, 17 miles (28 kilometers) to the southwest.

In Old Havana, the quake was felt clearly by workers in two 6-floor buildings that were temporarily evacuated. It appeared to last around 30 seconds.

Sandor Polo, a 31-year-old waiter, said he was delivering food to a third-floor office when boxes suddenly began to move and workers started yelling.

"I got dizzy," Polo said, adding that he's never felt anything like it in his life.

"Everything was moving," said Nuria Oquendo, a 44-year-old office assistant who was on the sixth floor of a neighboring building when it began to move back and forth. "You could really feel it, very clear, very defined."

Like Polo, she had never been in an earthquake before. She called the experience unsettling, but said she wasn't scared.

"Not frightened, but a sensation that something strange is going on," Oquendo said.

The USGS initially reported a magnitude of 5.0, and later upgraded it to 5.1. The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers).

The U.S. National Weather Service said there was no tsunami danger.

Locally, the NWS reported that the quake had been felt in the Davis Islands area. Others reported feeling it in the Carillon area.

Cuba is not as known for seismic activity as other parts of Latin America, especially countries along the Pacific Rim of Fire.

But a number of significant quakes have hit the island over the years, including one in 1932 that killed eight people and damaged 80 percent of the buildings in the eastern city of Santiago, according to U.S. National Geophysical Data Center records.

Source: AP