Earthquakes
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Bizarro Earth

Canary Islands Government Monitors El Hierro Earthquake Swarm

The Canary Islands Government has said it is monitoring an earthquake swarm on the small island of El Hierro where in excess of 400 tremors of low magnitude have been recorded in the past four days.

On Friday, the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Government Security Canary convened the first ever meeting of the Steering Committee and Volcanic Monitoring, reflected in the Specific Plan Protection Civil and Emergency for Volcanic Risk, given what it described "the significant increase in seismic activity".

Image
© Google EarthLocation of tremors on El Hierro
A statement (translated from Spanish) issued following the meeting outlined: "This committee met this morning (Friday) at the headquarters of the Directorate General Security and Emergency Tenerife, established after the assessment of information gathered from seismic and volcanological last July 17 by the National Geographic Institute (IGN) and Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands, the situation is total normal for the green light for the information population, activating mechanisms for monitoring and oversight needed to coordinate the actions of self civil population and information contained in the Plan."

Sun

SOTT Focus: Connecting the Dots: Cosmic Changes, Planetary Instability and Extreme Weather

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© NASA / SDOThe Solar Dynamics Observatory's view of the coronal mass ejection of June 7, 2011.
With Earth Changes now clearly happening and time pressing, the editors of Sott.net are faced with the urgency of catching up with an avalanche of significant news items and trying to make sense of things! Recent weather events have been unprecedented: both spring and early summer have been bizarre across the globe, to say the least.

You name the weather or geological type of phenomenon; someone in the world had it: volcanoes, earthquakes, torrential rain, floods, sinkholes, tornadoes, droughts, wildfires ... even summertime snow! Let's review them all as best as we can, starting from the top: the cosmic factor.

Solar Activity
© Mike BormanImage Taken: Jun 4, 2011
Location: Evansville, Indiana, USA
Cosmic Changes Are Under Way

Changes on planet Earth comprise such a wide variety of phenomena, from extreme weather anomalies to volcanoes and earthquakes, so perhaps it's a good idea to zoom back and see if we can make sense of any changes in the cosmic climate that may be affecting us. Yes, we are aware that this approach goes against the sanctioned narrative claiming that these changes are caused by carbon-burning human beings living in an isolated bubble that can only grow warmer. But the pieces of the puzzle on the table point to a different, larger picture.

A huge central piece is our sun, which is not surprising, since this ongoing explosion in space is what brings order to our corner of the universe and to life to Earth. For the last couple of years the sun was expected to go into high activity in accordance with its usual 11-year sunspot cycle. But scientists were left scratching their heads as our local star remained quiet. Now it's giving off such a display of flares that it has NASA scientists going 'ooh and ahh'.

Radar

6.5-magnitude quake hits N Japan

Image
© USGS
An earthquake with the magnitude of 6.5 has struck northern Japan around the same area that was affected by the March 11 quake and tsunami, geologists say.

The tremor hit at 1:34 p.m. (0434 GMT) off the Pacific coast of Miyagi prefecture, but no tsunami warning has been issued, AFP reported on Friday.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was "no destructive widespread tsunami threat."

The earthquake happened at the depth of 40 kilometers (25 miles), Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

No damage or casualties have been reported yet.

The Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train service stopped operations due to the quake, but resumed shortly afterwards.

The epicenter of the quake was 125 kilometers (77 miles) northeast of Sendai city, Miyagi's capital, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Radar

Moderate unusual earthquake near Lake Kariba, Zambia: Is the man made lake to blame ?

Image
© unknown
Earthquake overview : Moderate shallow earthquake in a location with very few prior earthquakes. Earthquake-Report.com calls this earthquake moderately damaging as the houses are not prepared to resist earthquakes and as the epicenter location is surrounded by many villages.

22/07-08:17 UTC : Felt reports from the epicenter area. "It was very bad in itezhi tezhi, some buildings have developed cracks.Thanks heavens that no damage was done to humans so that we can VOTE (ER: there are soon elections in Zambia)." "The tremor was at 15:56 hours. Two of my office glass panes cracked."

22/07-08:06 UTC : In local media a fierce discussion is going on to find out why this earthquake happened. Some people blame the Itezhi Tezhi Dam project. Below are 2 people with a diffrent opinion on the origin of this earthquake.
Lemekani Phiri : "The tremor was located in Itezhi-Tezhi district. This is due to the man-made lake there. The weight of the new water body and lubrication of formerly idle faults by the water most likely caused it. And yes, Zambia has the ability to measure (so called Richter scale) and accurately locate the quake. Check with the Geological Survey Zambia. There have been such tremors infrequently since the completion of the lake construction."
"We've always have tremors in Zambia even before the Kariba was made. Its just that they are not as often as those in Asia and South Europe. In Zambia they are like a comet, a rare phenomenon. How do you explain the one that took place in Mocambique and Zim? I think it has something to do with the rift valley. The only advice I can give is for those building houses to put up strong ones. Let's take a leaf from Japan. Thank God no major damages nor serious injuries reported."

Bizarro Earth

Fiji Region - Earthquake Magnitude 6.0

Fiji Quake_220711
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Friday, July 22, 2011 at 06:56:40 UTC

Friday, July 22, 2011 at 06:56:40 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
20.229°S, 178.530°W

Depth:
600.6 km (373.2 miles)

Region
FIJI REGION

Distances:
43 km (26 miles) NNE of Ndoi Island, Fiji

359 km (223 miles) WNW of NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga

400 km (248 miles) SE of SUVA, Viti Levu, Fiji

1949 km (1211 miles) NNE of Auckland, New Zealand

Radar

New Zealand: 5.1 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Christchurch

Christchurch earthquake
© Celsias
An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale hit New Zealand's Christchurch city on Friday morning, Xinhua reported.

According to China's Xinhua news agency there were no reports of injuries or damage, following the earthquake that occurred at 5.39 am local time (17.39 GMT on Thursday).

The quake was centred 40 km west of the city, at a depth of 12 km, said New Zealand Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS).

"The earthquake was felt along the east coast of the South Island from North Canterbury to Dunedin" said the GNS duty seismologist Caroline Holden.

Holden further added that a few more magnitude four quakes are expected in the following days.

Target

Earthquake shakes Greek island

zakynthos
Quake-hit: The Greek island of Zakynthos suffered an earthquake of preliminary magnitude 5 - but no one was injured
An earthquake of preliminary magnitude 5 has struck off the Greek island of Zakynthos, but no injuries or damage have been reported, authorities said today.

The Athens Geodynamic Institute said the undersea quake struck at 10.13 a.m. (0713GMT), and had its epicentre about 100 kilometres off the island's south-western coast.

The epicentre was about 350 kilometres west of Athens.

Greece is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, and Zakynthos lies in an area of frequent seismic activity. But severe damage and injuries are rare.

Bizarro Earth

Solomon Islands: Earthquake Magnitude 6.0

Solomon Isles Quake_200711
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Wednesday, July 20, 2011 at 22:05:02 UTC

Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 09:05:02 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
10.340°S, 162.150°E

Depth:
54.5 km (33.9 miles)

Region
SOLOMON ISLANDS

Distances:
27 km (17 miles) ENE (63°) from Kira Kira, Solomon Islands

238 km (148 miles) SE (138°) from Auki, Solomon Islands

260 km (161 miles) ESE (112°) from HONIARA, Solomon Islands

1640 km (1019 miles) E (95°) from PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea

People

Casualties Confirmed After Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan Quake

Image
© Google MapEarthquake epicentre.
At least 13 people have been confirmed killed and more than 70 others injured after a strong earthquake struck the southwestern Kyrgyzstan and eastern Uzbekistan border area on early Wednesday morning, officials said.

The 6.2-magnitude earthquake at 1.35 a.m. local time (1935 GMT Tuesday) was centered about 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) east of Okhna, a village in the Batken Province of Kyrgyzstan near the border with Uzbekistan. It struck about 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the Kazakhstan National Data Center (KNDC).

The United States Geological Survey (USGS), which measured the strength of the earthquake at 6.1 on the Richter scale, estimated that some 50,000 people may have felt 'very strong' shaking, which could result in moderate to heavy damage. It estimated that some 7.6 million others may have felt moderate to strong shaking.

Ambulance

Thirteen Dead and 86 Injured in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan 6.1 Earthquake

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At least 13 people in Uzbekistan have been killed in a 6.1-magnitude earthquake centred in Kyrgyzstan near the two countries' border.

The Uzbek emergency ministry said the quake, in the Ferghana valley, also injured 86 people.

Kyrgyzstan has so far reported no casualties. The quake struck at 0135 on Wednesday (1935 GMT Tuesday).

It was centred 42km (26 miles) south-west of the city of Ferghana at a depth of 18km, the US Geological Survey said.