Thursday, March 18, 2010
Strong Aftershock Shakes Chile
Another strong aftershock has jolted Chile, nearly a week after the deadly 8.8 magnitude earthquake caused widespread destruction in the South American country. In the badly-hit city of Concepcion, some residents ran into the streets Friday as the magnitude 6.6 tremor shook the area. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. Concepcion was the city closest to the epicenter of the Feb. 27 quake. Dozens of aftershocks have been reported since the initial quake occurred.
Meanwhile, Chile's ambassador to the United Nations says last week's earthquake cost the nation's economy $30 billion and will cost at least that much to rebuild.
In a briefing with reporters Friday at UN headquarters in New York, Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz said the agriculture and wine industry alone lost $280 million in the initial earthquake. He said the fishing industry took a hard hit as well, with entire fishing villages wiped out.
The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, was also at the briefing to represent what she said was the commitment of the international community to helping Chile. She said that next month, she would bring a group of wealthy donors to Chile in an effort to raise money for reconstruction.
Muñoz said a telethon would be held in Chile late Friday and into Saturday to raise funds for relief efforts. Muñoz said he believes visiting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon may participate in the event. Ban was expected to meet Friday in Santiago with President Michelle Bachelet and President-elect Sebastian Pinera, who takes office March 11. Ban also was expected to visit Concepcion.
Ambassador Muñoz said there are signs the nation is recuperating. He said the capital, Santiago, is operating almost normally. He also noted that while Concepcion is still in bad shape, 58 percent of the city's automatic teller machines are operational.
Chile Thursday declared a three-day mourning period to remember those lost in last Saturday's quake. The official death toll stands at 802, but the ambassador says the figure will be lowered because in some places the missing were counted as dead. Bachelet has said it could take at least three or four years to rebuild the country.
Chile Earthquake Among Strongest Since 1900
Based on U.S. Geological Survey figures, Saturday's 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile could rank as one of the most powerful in history. If the magnitude of the Chilean earthquake stands, it would be tied as the fifth-strongest earthquake recorded since 1900, when records were first kept. An earthquake off the coast of Ecuador in 1906 also was recorded to have a magnitude of 8.8.
The most powerful earthquake recorded also occurred in Chile, in 1960. It had a magnitude of 9.5. In southern Chile alone, that earthquake killed approximately 1,655 people, left about two million homeless, and caused $550 million in damage.
The strongest earthquake in recent years -- and the third strongest since 1900 -- was a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in 2004. That quake spawned the tsunami that killed almost 228,000 people in South Asia.
The 1960 Chile earthquake generated a tsunami that caused 61 deaths and $75 million of damage in Hawaii, 138 deaths and $50 million damage in Japan, and another 32 dead and missing in the Philippines. It also caused $500,000 in damage on the west coast of the United States.
Throughout history, the most powerful earthquakes have not necessarily been the deadliest. The deadliest earthquake of modern times was recorded in 1556 in central China. More than 830,000 people were reported killed in that quake, which had an estimated magnitude of 8.
Friday, March 5, 2010
A brief history of earthquakes
The world’s first seismograph was invented in A.D. 132 by the Chinese mathematician Cheng Heng. The device had eight wooden dragons each holding a ball. When an earthquake occurred, a ball dropped from a dragon’s mouth into a receptacle below, indicating the direction of the tremor. It could predict an earthquake centered in a rural area up to 600 kilometers (373 miles) away from the capital city.
The Richter magnitude scale was developed in 1935 by Charles F. Richter. It is a mathematical device to compare the size of an earthquake based on its magnitude, which is determined from the logarithm of the amplitude of waves recorded by seismographs. A disastrous earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale takes place once a year.
A massive earthquake registering a magnitude of 7.0 hit Haiti last month. Each year 130,000 earthquakes that measure more than 3.0 - the same magnitude as the earthquake that recently occurred around Seoul - occur worldwide.
Animals might sense changes too subtle to register on modern instruments. A toad migration phenomenon was spotted just a couple of days before the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. Countless pet owners claimed to have witnessed their cats and dogs acting strangely before the earthquake devastated Kobe in 1995.
One newspaper reported that an earthquake monitoring center in Pyongyang operates by focusing on the unique behavior of each animal. Earthquake-watchers in China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region monitor snake farms, insisting the reptiles “can sense an earthquake from 120 kilometers away, three to five days before it happens.”
If wind is the earth’s breath, an earthquake is its pulse. However, humans often forget this truth, simply averting their eyes.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
How to donate to chile? (text)
To make donations via text, customers can send a keyword to the short code designated for the organizations they wish to support. The customer will then receive a confirmation message, to which he or she should reply “yes” to finalize the donation. One hundred percent of all money donated will be passed on to the organization the customer selected, and AT&T will waive text-messaging fees for the donations.
The short codes are:
· Text “4CHILE” to 50555 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through Convoy of Hope
· Text “CHILE” to 50555 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through the World Program
· Text “CHILE” to 25383 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through Habit for Humanity
· Text “REBUILD” to 50555 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through Operation USA
· Text “CHILE” to 52000 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through The Salvation Army
· Text “CHILE” to 20222 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through World Vision
· Text “CHILE” to 85944 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through International Medical Corp
· Text “YOUTH” to 20222 to donate $10 to support Chile relief efforts through UNICEF
The donations will appear as a line-item on customers’ bills or be debited from prepaid accounts.
*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Japan warns of tsunami up to 10 feet along coast
TOKYO - Japan put all of its eastern coastline on tsunami alert Sunday and ordered hundreds of thousands of residents in
low-lying areas to seek higher ground as waves generated by an earthquake off Chile raced across the Pacific at hundreds of miles
(kilometers) per hour.
Officials warned a ``major'' tsunami of up to 9.8 feet (3 meters) could hit northern coastal areas within the next few hours following the devastating earthquake in Chile. Waves of about that size killed 140 people in Japan after a quake off Chile hit in 1960.
It was the first such alert for Japan's coasts in almost 20 years.
Towns along northern coasts issued evacuation orders to hundreds of thousands of residents. Japan's national broadcaster NHK switched
to emergency mode, broadcasting a map with the areas in most danger and repeatedly urging caution.
The 8.8-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that swept across the Pacific on Sunday, but little damage was being reported as nations evacuated their coastlines well in advance of the waves.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center already lifted its warning for every country but Russia and Japan, though some countries in Asia
and the Pacific _ including the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand _ were keeping their own watches in place as a precaution.
As the wave continued its expansion across the ocean, Japan's Meteorological Agency said its tsunami alert applied to its entire Pacific coast, with the waves expected to be biggest in the north.
In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano told a news conference the government has set up a crisis control task force to
deal with the possible tsunami danger.
``We will do our utmost to minimize the possible tsunami damage,'' Hirano said.
Towns along northern coasts issued evacuation orders to hundreds of thousands of residents, and authorities urged people close to the shore to head for higher ground.
People packed their families into cars, but there were no reports of panic or traffic jams. Fishermen secured their boats, and police
officers patrolled beaches, using sirens and loudspeakers to warn people to leave the area.
Earlier Sunday in Tonga, where up to 50,000 people fled inland hours ahead of the tsunami, the National Disaster Office had reports
of a wave up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) high hitting a small northern island, deputy director Mali'u Takai said. There were no initial
indications of damage.
Nine people died in Tonga last September when the Samoa tsunami slammed the small northern island of Niuatoputapu, wiping out half
of the main settlement.
In Samoa, where 183 people died in the tsunami five months ago, thousands of people Sunday morning remained in the hills above the
coasts on the main island of Upolu, but police said there were no reports of waves or sea surges hitting the South Pacific nation.
In Japan, a tsunami of up to 9.8 feet (3 meters) was expected to hit the northern prefectures of Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi at about
1:30 p.m. local time (0430 GMT).
The town of Kamaishi in Iwate prefecture (state) issued evacuation orders to its 14,000 coastal residents through its community radio system, urging them to go to designated community centers and other facilities, according to town official Masashi Suenaga.
It was the first major tsunami alert for Japan since July 1993, when a tsunami triggered by a major earthquake off Japan's northern
coast killed more than 200 people on a small island of Okushiri.
Yoshinobu Tsuji, a tsunami expert at University of Tokyo, warned that once a tsunami strikes, it could stay nearly half an hour like
a flash flood, because it is triggered by the quake's center with a broad width of about 370 miles (600 kilometers).
``Once a tsunami hits, waves would stay for 20-30 minutes.
It would take a long time before it subsides,'' he told NHK. He said it would be safe to stay at least on the third floor or higher, or 15 feet (5 meters) above ground.
Villagers living close to the Philippines' eastern coast were advised to move to higher ground, said Renato Solidum, the chief of
the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. He said a wave of about 3.2 feet (1 meter) high could hit early in the
afternoon.
``We're not expecting any huge tsunami so we're just urging everybody to take precautions,'' Solidum told The Associated Press.
On New Zealand's Chatham Islands earlier Sunday, officials reported a wave measured at 6.6 feet (2 meters).
Oceanographer Ken Gledhill said it was typical tsunami behavior when the sea water dropped a meter off North Island's east coast at Gisborne then surged back.
Several hundred people in the North Island coastal cities of Gisborne and Napier were evacuated from their homes and from camp
grounds, while residents in low-lying areas on South Island's Banks Peninsula were alerted to be ready to evacuate.
New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management downgraded the national warning to an advisory Sunday afternoon.
In the Cook Islands the police issued an all-clear midmorning Sunday after the tsunami caused a minor tidal surge of a few
centimeters.
In Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology reported a tsunami measuring 1.6 feet (0.5 meters) off Norfolk Island, about 1,000
miles (1,600 kilometers) northeast of Sydney. There were no immediate reports of damage and no evacuations were ordered.
But the warning for much of the nation's east coast remained in effect Sunday afternoon, and was expected to stay in place the rest
of the day. The bureau warned of the possibility of dangerous waves, strong ocean currents and foreshore flooding. [AP]
low-lying areas to seek higher ground as waves generated by an earthquake off Chile raced across the Pacific at hundreds of miles
(kilometers) per hour.
Officials warned a ``major'' tsunami of up to 9.8 feet (3 meters) could hit northern coastal areas within the next few hours following the devastating earthquake in Chile. Waves of about that size killed 140 people in Japan after a quake off Chile hit in 1960.
It was the first such alert for Japan's coasts in almost 20 years.
Towns along northern coasts issued evacuation orders to hundreds of thousands of residents. Japan's national broadcaster NHK switched
to emergency mode, broadcasting a map with the areas in most danger and repeatedly urging caution.
The 8.8-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that swept across the Pacific on Sunday, but little damage was being reported as nations evacuated their coastlines well in advance of the waves.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center already lifted its warning for every country but Russia and Japan, though some countries in Asia
and the Pacific _ including the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand _ were keeping their own watches in place as a precaution.
As the wave continued its expansion across the ocean, Japan's Meteorological Agency said its tsunami alert applied to its entire Pacific coast, with the waves expected to be biggest in the north.
In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano told a news conference the government has set up a crisis control task force to
deal with the possible tsunami danger.
``We will do our utmost to minimize the possible tsunami damage,'' Hirano said.
Towns along northern coasts issued evacuation orders to hundreds of thousands of residents, and authorities urged people close to the shore to head for higher ground.
People packed their families into cars, but there were no reports of panic or traffic jams. Fishermen secured their boats, and police
officers patrolled beaches, using sirens and loudspeakers to warn people to leave the area.
Earlier Sunday in Tonga, where up to 50,000 people fled inland hours ahead of the tsunami, the National Disaster Office had reports
of a wave up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) high hitting a small northern island, deputy director Mali'u Takai said. There were no initial
indications of damage.
Nine people died in Tonga last September when the Samoa tsunami slammed the small northern island of Niuatoputapu, wiping out half
of the main settlement.
In Samoa, where 183 people died in the tsunami five months ago, thousands of people Sunday morning remained in the hills above the
coasts on the main island of Upolu, but police said there were no reports of waves or sea surges hitting the South Pacific nation.
In Japan, a tsunami of up to 9.8 feet (3 meters) was expected to hit the northern prefectures of Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi at about
1:30 p.m. local time (0430 GMT).
The town of Kamaishi in Iwate prefecture (state) issued evacuation orders to its 14,000 coastal residents through its community radio system, urging them to go to designated community centers and other facilities, according to town official Masashi Suenaga.
It was the first major tsunami alert for Japan since July 1993, when a tsunami triggered by a major earthquake off Japan's northern
coast killed more than 200 people on a small island of Okushiri.
Yoshinobu Tsuji, a tsunami expert at University of Tokyo, warned that once a tsunami strikes, it could stay nearly half an hour like
a flash flood, because it is triggered by the quake's center with a broad width of about 370 miles (600 kilometers).
``Once a tsunami hits, waves would stay for 20-30 minutes.
It would take a long time before it subsides,'' he told NHK. He said it would be safe to stay at least on the third floor or higher, or 15 feet (5 meters) above ground.
Villagers living close to the Philippines' eastern coast were advised to move to higher ground, said Renato Solidum, the chief of
the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. He said a wave of about 3.2 feet (1 meter) high could hit early in the
afternoon.
``We're not expecting any huge tsunami so we're just urging everybody to take precautions,'' Solidum told The Associated Press.
On New Zealand's Chatham Islands earlier Sunday, officials reported a wave measured at 6.6 feet (2 meters).
Oceanographer Ken Gledhill said it was typical tsunami behavior when the sea water dropped a meter off North Island's east coast at Gisborne then surged back.
Several hundred people in the North Island coastal cities of Gisborne and Napier were evacuated from their homes and from camp
grounds, while residents in low-lying areas on South Island's Banks Peninsula were alerted to be ready to evacuate.
New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management downgraded the national warning to an advisory Sunday afternoon.
In the Cook Islands the police issued an all-clear midmorning Sunday after the tsunami caused a minor tidal surge of a few
centimeters.
In Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology reported a tsunami measuring 1.6 feet (0.5 meters) off Norfolk Island, about 1,000
miles (1,600 kilometers) northeast of Sydney. There were no immediate reports of damage and no evacuations were ordered.
But the warning for much of the nation's east coast remained in effect Sunday afternoon, and was expected to stay in place the rest
of the day. The bureau warned of the possibility of dangerous waves, strong ocean currents and foreshore flooding. [AP]
USA OBAMA
US President Barack Obama makes a statement outside the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., USA, on 27 February 2010 on the earthquake in Chile and the possible tsumami in Hawaii.
President Barack Obama turns to leave after speaking to the media about the recent earthquake in Chile outside the Oval Office of the White House in Washington Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010. Obama called the earthquake "devastating,"and said the U.S. has resources in position to deploy should Chile ask for help.
8.8 magnitude earthquake hits Chile
A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile Saturday, killing at least 78 people, according to AP report.
The quake hit some 325 kilometers southwest of the capital, Santiago, at a depth of 35 kilometers at 3:34 a.m. local time, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
The epicenter was 115 kilometers from Concepcion, Chile's second-largest city, where more than 200,000 people live, reports said.
Chilean President Michele Bachelet said the death toll was at 78 and rising, and declared a "state of catastrophe," according to AP.
Chilean television showed images of destroyed buildings and damaged cars, with rubble-strewn streets. Bachelet said, "We have had a huge earthquake, with some aftershocks," she added "Despite this, the system is functioning. People should remain calm. We're doing everything we can with all the forces we have."
The US Pacific Tsunami warnings issued over all Pacific nations, including South America, Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand.
A huge wave reached a populated area in the Robinson Crusoe Islands, 660 kilometers off the Chilean coast, Bachelet said. There were no immediate reports of major damage there, she
added.
The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same area of Chile on May 22, 1960. The magnitude-9.5 quake killed 1,655 people and left 2 million homeless. The tsunami that it caused killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines and caused damage to the west coast of the United States.
The quake hit some 325 kilometers southwest of the capital, Santiago, at a depth of 35 kilometers at 3:34 a.m. local time, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
The epicenter was 115 kilometers from Concepcion, Chile's second-largest city, where more than 200,000 people live, reports said.
Chilean President Michele Bachelet said the death toll was at 78 and rising, and declared a "state of catastrophe," according to AP.
Chilean television showed images of destroyed buildings and damaged cars, with rubble-strewn streets. Bachelet said, "We have had a huge earthquake, with some aftershocks," she added "Despite this, the system is functioning. People should remain calm. We're doing everything we can with all the forces we have."
The US Pacific Tsunami warnings issued over all Pacific nations, including South America, Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand.
A huge wave reached a populated area in the Robinson Crusoe Islands, 660 kilometers off the Chilean coast, Bachelet said. There were no immediate reports of major damage there, she
added.
The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same area of Chile on May 22, 1960. The magnitude-9.5 quake killed 1,655 people and left 2 million homeless. The tsunami that it caused killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines and caused damage to the west coast of the United States.
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