Earthquakes
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Bizarro Earth

Some houses destroyed but no casualties reported after yesterday's Ethiopian Magnitude 5.3 earthquake

Armand Vervaeck
Earthquake-Report.com
Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:13 UTC
Image
With thanks to a number Ethiopian readers of Earthquake-Report.com we are able to develop a view on what happened exactly during yesterdays earthquake in Ethiopia. We truly thank our readers for their involvement.

The Ethiopian Addis Abeba university published a report that the earthquake occurred in and around Hossana and had a Magnitude of 5.3. It happened at 3:15 local time.

Following ENA (Ethiopian News Agency) the earthquake lasted 19 seconds and was felt very well in the greater Hossana area.

Some traditional old earthen houses were demolished as a result of the earthquake
Some houses erected with modern materials were left with cracks in the walls.
No people were killed and it is uncertain if people have been injured.

Here are a few of the reports from our readers (they can also be read below our main article published shortly after the earthquake)
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Bizarro Earth

Very heavy earthquake in Southern Iran

Armand Vervaeck
Earthquake-Report.com
Mon, 20 Dec 2010 19:00 UTC
Image
© RSOE EDIS
A very heavy earthquake just happened in Southern Iran.

At 22:11 (10:11 PM) a very powerful and shallow earthquake occurred in the Iranian desert close to Road 93. Some smaller villages are located at a distance of 10 to 20 km from the epicenter.

These villages are: Kaskuh, Darundeh, Dulab, Nemetabad, Sangabad and Bagerabad.

Due to the kind of fault lines Iran earthquakes and the building methods exceeding M 6 are extremely dangerous. It will take a little before the Iranian press will publish more details on this earthquake (our experience based on many prior earthquakes).

The epicenter location has an error margin of 14.6 km.

USGS has calculated that about 735 people will endure a MMI VIII (Severe shaking). 19,000 people a VII, very strong shaking.

The city of Bam, destructed almost completely in another earthquake in a recent history, will get a V MMI shaking today.
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Bizarro Earth

SouthEastern Iran - Earthquake Magnitude 6.5


USGS
Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:35 UTC
Iran Quake_211210
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 18:41:59 UTC

Monday, December 20, 2010 at 10:11:59 PM at epicenter

Location:
28.439°N, 59.098°E

Depth:
12.4 km (7.7 miles) set by location program

Region:
SOUTHEASTERN IRAN

Distances:
213 km (133 miles) SW (236°) from Zahedan, Iran

283 km (176 miles) SE (136°) from Kerman, Iran

310 km (193 miles) ENE (63°) from Bandar-e Abbas, Iran

538 km (334 miles) N (5°) from MUSCAT, Oman
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Cloud Lightning

2010's World Gone Wild: Quakes, Floods, Blizzards

Seth Borenstein & Julie Reed Bell
AP News
Sun, 19 Dec 2010 14:25 UTC
tornado
© unknown
This was the year the Earth struck back.

Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards, landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010 - the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.

"It just seemed like it was back-to-back and it came in waves," said Craig Fugate, who heads the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.

"The term '100-year event' really lost its meaning this year."

And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.


Comment: This article supports the idea of human-caused global warming, and, as the above sentence says, blames us humans for most of the disasters that befell the world this past year. Find an analysis and rebuttal to this story here.


Even though many catastrophes have the ring of random chance, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and weird year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes.

Poor construction and development practices conspire to make earthquakes more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable buildings in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes, the river breaches, or the tropical cyclone hits, more people die.
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Bizarro Earth

5.1-magnitude quake occurs in southern Greece, no damage reported


Winnipeg Free Press
Fri, 17 Dec 2010 20:34 UTC
Athens, Greece - Seismologists in Greece say a 5.1 magnitude earthquake has rattled the south of the country, but there have been no reports from authorities of damage or injury.

Athens Geodynamic Institute, a state earthquake monitoring agency, said the undersea quake occurred at 11:37 a.m. (0937GMT), 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Athens, near the island of Milos. It struck at a depth of 103 kilometres (64 miles).
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Bizarro Earth

Series Of Earthquakes Hit Central Arkansas

Jackie Orozco
Abc24.com
Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:57 UTC
Image
© USGS
Guy - Central Arkansas has been hit by a series of earthquakes recently, the biggest so far was a magnitude four that shook the town of Guy, about 150 miles west of Memphis. A research scientist from the University of Memphis, Dr. Steve Horton said Arkansas is getting a lot of unusual earthquakes, more than 60 in the last month. "In the New Madrid Seismic Zone there's approximately 200 per year, so if we had that many in Central Arkansas in less than a month, something is going on," said Dr. Horton.

That part of central Arkansas isn't even part of the New Madrid Fault Zone, so researchers are trying to figure out what's causing all those earthquakes. Horton thinks, the earthquake swarm could be the result of injecting salt water into old natural gas wells to force more gas production. "There's salt water that's a by product of the natural gas industry in that area and then disposed in a well," said Dr. Horton.

Even though the two areas are not connected, Horton's biggest worry is along the New Madrid Fault where he said damage from a magnitude six earthquake could be catastrophic to Mid-Southerners. "A probability of having that in a 50-year period is about 25 to 40-percent chance," said Dr. Horton.

Comment: There seems to be a good deal of activity in this area. See USGS Records 53 Quakes In Week In Arkansas County

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Bizarro Earth

Papua New Guinea - Earthquake Magnitude 6.2 - Bougainville Region


USGS
Sun, 12 Dec 2010 20:42 UTC
PNG Quake_131210
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Monday, December 13, 2010 at 01:14:43 UTC

Monday, December 13, 2010 at 11:14:43 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
6.563°S, 155.658°E

Depth:
144.8 km (90.0 miles)

Region:
BOUGAINVILLE REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Distances:
40 km (25 miles) SSE of Arawa, Bougainville, PNG

100 km (65 miles) W of Chirovanga, Choiseul, Solomon Islands

990 km (610 miles) ENE of PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea

2325 km (1450 miles) N of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
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Bizarro Earth

US: USGS Records 53 Quakes In Week In Arkansas County


Associated Press
Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:27 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Conway - The U.S. Geological Survey said 53 earthquakes have been recorded in northern Faulkner County in just one week.

The Log Cabin Democrat newspaper at Conway reported Thursday that the earthquakes, all of them small, were recorded as occurring in the vicinity of Guy in the northern part of the county from Dec. 3 through Wednesday, with 25 quakes recorded on Sunday.

The largest of the quakes had a magnitude of 2.6. Researchers say quakes of 2.5 to 3.0 magnitude are typically the smallest felt by humans.

There were no reports of injuries or structural damage.
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Bizarro Earth

5.2 magnitude quake jolts different parts of Pakistan


Geology News
Fri, 10 Dec 2010 02:09 UTC
Image
© USGS
An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale jolted many parts of Punjab and KPK early Friday morning at 23:17 GMT on Thursday (04:17 a.m. Friday local time), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake struck at 4:17 am with its epicenter 64 kilometres east of Zhob in Baluchistan, at a depth of 19 kilometers, the United States Geological Survey said. Tremors were felt in Faisalabad, Vehari, Jhang, Dera Ismail Khan as well as tribal areas. Unsettled by the sudden shocks, people came out of their houses, whereas no reports of any kind of losses have been received.

From USGS:

Date-Time:
Thursday, December 09, 2010 at 23:17:32 UTC

Friday, December 10, 2010 at 04:17:32 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
31.557°N, 70.140°E

Depth:
9.8 km (6.1 miles)
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Bizarro Earth

Philippines - Earthquake Magnitude 6.1


USGS
Wed, 08 Dec 2010 01:12 UTC
Philippines Quake_081210
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Wednesday, December 08, 2010 at 06:47:18 UTC

Wednesday, December 08, 2010 at 02:47:18 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
7.380°N, 126.603°E

Depth:
69.6 km (43.2 miles)

Region:
MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES

Distances:
115 km (70 miles) SSE of Hinatuan, Mindanao, Philippines

115 km (70 miles) ENE of Davao, Mindanao, Philippines

210 km (130 miles) SE of Butuan, Mindanao, Philippines

1005 km (630 miles) SE of MANILA, Philippines
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