Quake Watch 2012

With all the quakes happening its put our town councils on its toes.

TOWNSVILLE CITY COUNCIL

A tsunami is a series of waves generated by a sudden upward movement of the ocean floor due to earthquakes. Tsunamis can also be generated by undersea landslides, volcanic eruptions, and meteorite impacts.

A tsunami can travel great distances, sometimes across entire oceans, at up to 950 kilometres per hour in the open sea. It can range from a few centimetres in height offshore to many metres high once the wave slows down and shoals in shallow water.

Townsville City Council have complied the Tsunami Evacuation Guide, providing details maps on the risk to areas around the Townsville region.

Download the Tsunami Evacuation Guide (3.34MB)
Download the 2010 Tsunami Response Plan (166KB)

Love and harmony
Whateva

Just east of the central portion of the San Andreas:
Mag 4.0 and Mag 4.1
This pair may have awakened a few Californians...

Here is a pic from GEE software, station PB073 vertical component, located about 45 km away.

Death toll rises to 64 in SW China quakes
English.news.cn 2012-09-07 21:03:52

news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-09/07/c_131835270.htm

ZHAOTONG, Yunnan, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Sixty-four people have been confirmed dead and 715 others were injured after multiple earthquakes struck a mountainous region in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Friday, the province's civil affairs department said.

Editor: Yang Lina

President Hu calls for immediate efforts to aid quake zone
English.news.cn 2012-09-07 20:23:34

news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-09/07/c_131835184.htm

BEIJING, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- President Hu Jintao has called for immediate efforts to help with disaster relief work in southwest China, where multiple earthquakes that occurred on Friday have killed at least 50 people, according to China Central Television, or CCTV.

Hu, who is in Russia's city of Vladivostok for an annual economic leaders' meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, said authorities should work to ensure safety and protect property in the quake zone.

Premier Wen Jiabao has already left for the area.

More than 160 people were injured in multiple earthquakes that struck southwest China's Yunnan and Guizhou provinces on Friday. The quakes have also forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 people, according to local civil affairs authorities.

Editor: Yang Lina

HURON, Calif. (AP) — Seismologists say Friday's quakes in Southern and Central California are not on the San Andreas Fault and weren't triggered by a magnitude-7.6 quake in Costa Rica.

www.seattlepi.com...

Originally posted by lacrimaererum

HURON, Calif. (AP) — Seismologists say Friday's quakes in Southern and Central California are not on the San Andreas Fault and weren't triggered by a magnitude-7.6 quake in Costa Rica.

www.seattlepi.com...

edit on 7-9-2012 by lacrimaererum because: (no reason given)

Oh.... Ok. Lol

Thanks for the link, i do wonder if what they think they know is actually fact based.

67 confirmed dead, 731 injured in SW China quakes
English.news.cn 2012-09-08 00:21:38

news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-09/08/c_131835430.htm

67 confirmed dead, 731 injured in SW China quakes

Editor: yan

67 killed in multiple quakes in SW China
English.news.cn 2012-09-08 01:02:40

news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-09/08/c_131835443.htm

ZHAOTONG, Yunnan, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Sixty-seven people have been confirmed dead and 731 others injured after multiple earthquakes struck a mountainous region in southwest China on Friday, authorities said.

Rescuers in Yunnan Province said on Friday night they had reached 90 percent of the six quake-hit counties under Zhaotong, where a total of 740,000 people had been affected by the quakes.

The disaster has so far incurred 3.5 billion yuan (551 million U.S. dollars) in direct economic losses, Yunnan's civil affairs department said.

Two quakes measuring 5.7 and 5.6 on the Richter scale hit a border area near Yiliang in Yunnan and Weining county in Guizhou province at 11:19 a.m. and 12:16 p.m. Friday, respectively.

The quakes have cut off electricity and triggered landslides that have blocked roads, creating complications for rescuers.

Yunnan's civil affairs department said the quakes destroyed 6,650 houses and damaged 430,000 others. More than 100,000 residents have been evacuated and 100,000 others are in need of relocation.

Local authorities are also taking epidemic control measures after shed collapses had killed more than 4,300 heads of cattle in Yunnan. Over 153 hectares of farmlands were damaged or destroyed.

Officials in Guizhou said two people were injured and lives of nearly 28,000 people were disrupted in Weining county. Eighteen houses were toppled and more than 10,000 houses were damaged in the quakes.

MINING COMMUNITY DESTROYED

"The hardest part of the rescue will be handling traffic," said Li Fuchun, head of Luozehe township in Yiliang. "Roads are blocked and rescuers have to climb mountains to reach hard-hit villages."

Li said the number of casualties might be high, although it will be impossible to assess until rescuers reach more remote areas.

Xinhua reporters in the hardest-hit Luozehe saw large rocks, some as tall as four meters, tumbling down mountain slopes and crushing houses and cars.

A settlement established near a zinc mine in Luozehe was seriously damaged. More than two dozen mining families were forced to evacuate.

"It is scary. My brother was killed by falling rocks. The aftershocks have struck again and again. We are so scared," said miner Peng Zhuwen.

Retired miner Liu Linde, 62, said he was thrown three meters off the road when the quake struck.

"When I returned, the door to my home had collapsed. Cracks were everywhere on the walls," Liu said.

MASS MOBILIZATION

Chinese netizens in the quake-hit region have swarmed to Sina Weibo, a popular microblogging site, to seek information on their missing family members and friends or to describe their plights after the quakes.

In one post, an Internet user in the Xiafajie Village said villagers were in desperate need of tents after their houses were damaged in the quakes.

"We dare not return to the cracked houses and had to stay in the vegetable fields. It's getting cold and we fear there might be rains," said the post by "Pig that can climb trees JY."

Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is in Russia for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, has called for immediate efforts to help with disaster relief work.

In a meeting on relief work held en route to the quake zone, Premier Wen Jiabao stressed that efforts to save lives should come first to minimize casualties.

Wen also said intensified efforts will be needed to take care of the injured, as well as restore damaged infrastructure facilities to facilitate the rescue work.

Yunnan has initiated a level-one emergency response to the quakes. The Red Cross Society of China has dispatched 650 tents and 3,000 quilts to the disaster-hit region.

The Chengdu Military Area Command in southwest China said it has sent 1,300 soldiers equipped with relief materials to join rescue efforts.

Local meteorological authorities said the region will experience rains in the coming three days, which may affect the ongoing rescue.

POOR BUT POPULOUS AREA

The quake-stricken area is relatively populous, which may result in heavier casualties, noted Huangfu Gang, director of Yunnan's seismological bureau.

The area's population density is estimated to be 205 people per square km, nearly twice the figure for the whole province, Huangfu said.

He said homes and buildings in the relatively poor region were not built strongly enough to resist the destructive power of a violent earthquake.

The mountainous terrain also made the quake more devastating, as landslides were more easily triggered, the expert added.

Zhaotong, with a population of about 5.6 million, is prone to geological disasters. A magnitude-5.6 earthquake in 2003 killed four people and injured 594 in Ludian county. In 2010, rain-triggered landslides left 45 dead or missing in Qiaojia county.

Editor: yan

2nd LD-Writethru: Chinese top leaders call for efforts to aid quake zone
Xinhua, September 8, 2012

www.china.org.cn/china/Off_the_Wire/2012-09/08/content_26463736.htm

BEIJING, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- President Hu Jintao and other top leaders Friday called for immediate efforts to help with disaster relief work in southwest China, where multiple earthquakes have killed at least 67 people.

Hu, who is in Russia's city of Vladivostok for an annual economic leaders' meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, said authorities should work to ensure safety of lives and property in the quake zone.

Other top leaders, including top legislator Wu Bangguo, premier Wen Jiabao, vice premier Hui Liangyu, Central Military Commission Vice Chairmen Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou also made instructions for rescue work.

In a meeting on relief work held en route to the quake zone, Premier Wen stressed that efforts to save lives should come first to minimize casualties.

He said intensified efforts will be needed to take care of the injured, as well as restore infrastructure facilities that were damaged to facilitate the rescue work.

The premier asked authorities to provide adequate supplies of water, food, clothing and shelter for local residents affected by the quakes.

After withstanding the test of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, China is confident and capable in its ability to cope with natural disasters, he said.

Two quakes measuring 5.7 and 5.6 on the Richter scale hit a border area near Yiliang in Yunnan and Weining county in Guizhou province at 11:19 a.m. and 12:16 p.m. Friday, respectively.

So far 67 people have been confirmed dead and 731 others injured.

Rescuers in Yunnan Province said on Friday night they had reached 90 percent of the six quake-hit counties under Zhaotong, where a total of 740,000 people had been affected by the quakes.

The disaster has so far incurred 3.5 billion yuan (551 million U.S. dollars) in direct economic losses, Yunnan's civil affairs department said.

Officials in Guizhou said two people were injured and lives of nearly 28,000 people were disrupted in Weining county. Enditem

reply to post by wujotvowujotvowujotvo


Thank you for the information..... Truly sad.

1st LD Writethru: UN ready to offer help after quake in SW China
GuZhenQiu
Xinhua, September 8, 2012

www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2012-09/08/content_26463789.htm

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- The UN humanitarian office is monitoring developments after multiple earthquakes struck a mountainous region in southwest China, and stands ready to assist the Chinese government, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters here Friday.

Nesirky made the statement at a daily news briefing here, referring to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Sixty-seven people have been confirmed dead and 731 others injured after multiple earthquakes struck a mountainous region in southwest China on Friday, local authorities said.

Rescuers in Yunnan Province in southwest China said on Friday night they had reached 90 percent of the six quake-hit counties under Zhaotong, where a total of 740,000 people had been affected by the quakes.

The disaster has so far incurred 3.5 billion yuan (551 million U.S. dollars) in direct economic losses, Yunnan's civil affairs department said.

Two quakes measuring 5.7 and 5.6 on the Richter scale hit respectively a border area near Yiliang in Yunnan and Weining county in Guizhou Province at 11:19 a.m. and 12:16 p.m.(local time) on Friday. Enditem

Anybody know if there is one of those dams nearby? If I remember correctly, there were a few eq's near to a dam about a week ago that put cracks in the dam wall.

Rainbows
Jane

Further to the GeonetNZ Web Site Database Change Fiasco
8 days in.
What a nightmare this has been, its like groundhog day, I keep waking up and its still Sept 1st LOL.
To get a daily map up I've had to use the last of the old magma search data that was put out until Sept 4th+the new Timemap to manually pick up the missing new data (they only publish the last 30 quakes now)+ a .json file that Mr.Puterman managed to find and process for me.
For some reason the new SeisComP3 data starts at 07:31:21 (you can tell on the tags by the 4 decimal place magnitudes)
The Timemap data starts at 05:57:02 (stuff I manually copied has single decimal place magnitudes)
And the residual data from magma starts at 00:25:01 and includes the Mag 5.5 at Mamuku (that didn't make it into the new data)
You would think they would have started a new system at 00:00:00 rather than some obscure time like they did.
Hopefully this is it for now. I can't cross check with Canterbury Quakes Live list as he only does the last 100, so we are well past Sept 1 now. Isn't he something to do with the University down there? probably got a few tips off GNS friends who knew where the data was hidden.

Here is what it came out like anyway Sept 1st 2012 NZ Earthquakes
I've had to bring back the 100% opacity icons as well to distinguish the reviewed data (by a human) from the automatic machine sourced data (which may be suspect as to accuracy). I hope that doesn't raise new issues with Google Maps because on a busy day with a range of 0-7 magnitudes there could be up to maybe 8 different icons in use on any individual map, I have to hope that they DO review anything above 4 as a minimum, that would reduce the number of possible icons required to 6.
Once I get past the 4th Sept and the residual magma data it should be easier, I hope.

SW China quake.

Nature just showing us that it is not always the Bigger size that counts in a quake.
More depends on the movement of such quake, depth and the location where it strikes.
Normally a 5.6 or 5.9 would not get very much attention when compared to 7.6 or higher.

Feeling very sorry for those who were so unfortunate to have Mother Nature throwing them around.

34 photos

Quakes kill at least 80 in mountainous SW China
CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press
Updated 5:33 p.m., Friday, September 7, 2012

www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Quakes-kill-at-least-80-in-mountainous-SW-China-3846540.php

BEIJING (AP) — Twin earthquakes and a spate of aftershocks struck southwestern China on Friday, toppling thousands of houses and sending boulders cascading across roads. At least 80 people were killed and hundreds injured in the remote mountainous area, and more than 100,000 residents were evacuated.

(...)

A moderately strong earthquake has hit eastern Indonesia, causing panic among residents, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. No tsunami warning was issued.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the 6.0-magnitude quake struck Saturday evening off the eastern province of Papua. It says it was fairly shallow, just 20 kilometers (12 miles) beneath the sea, which often causes more shaking than deeper quakes.

www.boston.com...

08:57 7 September
Quake-hit areas facing acute shortage of workers for reconstruction

MORIOKA, Japan, Sept. 7, Kyodo

english.kyodonews.jp/news/2012/09/180849.html

Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, the three prefectures hardest hit by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, are suffering an acute shortage of workers necessary to handle the enormous task of reconstruction, government officials said Friday.

As of August, just over 30 percent of the required workforce, or 318 staffers from local authorities across Japan, had been assigned to 41 municipalities in the quake-ravaged prefectures under the aegis of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

The ministry is attempting to send more local government workers as the prefectures are woefully understaffed with the disaster having claimed the lives of 226 regular staffers at 19 municipal offices.

Of the total 908 workers requested by the three prefectures as of Aug. 10, Miyagi has received 181 rather than the 543 it had requested, Iwate has received 51 rather than 153 and Fukushima has received 86 instead of 212, according to the ministry.

Civil engineers including earth-moving experts are particularly in short supply, although land needs to be compacted to an elevated level, and houses and buildings have to be relocated to higher ground to shield residents from future tsunami.

More experts are also required to survey buried cultural assets at locations earmarked for future occupation by people and organizations and to negotiate land acquisitions.

"(The three prefectures) are fighting over how to share the scarce workers (being sent from other localities)," a personnel management officer of a coastal Miyagi town said.

The prefectures are making their own efforts to secure workers instead of just relying on the central government.

Iwate and Miyagi are recruiting temporary staff on behalf of localities in their regions worst affected by the disaster. After the two prefectures made a plea for more workers at a joint meeting in Tokyo on Aug. 18, Miyagi secured all the manpower it needs in five work categories and Iwate received more offers of help than it asked for in certain fields of expertise.

Still, complacency is not something they can afford.

Iwate prefectural staffers began touring cities across the country in August, looking for more help, and have so far visited local government offices in 10 prefectures including Tokyo, Osaka and Kanagawa.

An Iwate official says, "We are aware that other local authorities are short of staff because of their on-going belt-tightening efforts but we'd be most grateful if we can enlist their support."

Copyright 2012 Kyodo News

13:42 7 September
Japan to provide $6 mil. to U.S., Canada for debris disposal

TOKYO, Sept. 7, Kyodo

english.kyodonews.jp/news/2012/09/180914.html

The Japanese government has decided to provide $6 million to the United States and Canada to help pay for the disposal of debris that continues to be washed up on their coasts following the deadly tsunami triggered by the March 2011 earthquake, government officials said Friday.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is set to announce the plan during a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Russia's Vladivostok, they said.

Although there are no international rules on objects washed ashore, countries or municipal governments where such objects end up typically dispose of them at their expense.

The government is planning the financial contribution mainly as a return for the support provided by the U.S. army in the disaster-hit region.

According to an estimate by Japan's Environment Ministry, about 5 million tons of debris was swept into the Pacific from the three hardest-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima in northeastern Japan. Although 70 percent of it is believed to have sunk in waters off Japan, some 1.5 million tons has drifted much further offshore.

Since March, debris has washed up on the west coasts of North America, and more flotsam is expected to arrive from October as a result of the Ocean currents.

Copyright 2012 Kyodo News

Magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits near Hojancha, Costa Rica - USGS

2012-09-08 20:29:32 UTC
2012-09-08 14:29:32 UTC-06:00 at epicenter
2012-09-08 16:29:32 UTC-04:00 system time
Nearby Cities
11km (7mi) ENE of Hojancha, Costa Rica
15km (9mi) ESE of Nicoya, Costa Rica
34km (21mi) ESE of Santa Cruz, Costa Rica
44km (27mi) SW of Canas, Costa Rica
136km (85mi) W of San Jose, Costa Rica

M4.8 - 199km SE of Hirara, Japan 2012-09-08 20:55:50 UTC

M4.9 - 187km NE of Raoul Island, New Zealand 2012-09-09 00:13:50 UTC

earthquake.usgs.gov...

And here's one in an odd place, I think:

M4.4 - 18km E of Obock, Djibouti 2012-09-08 21:11:41 UTC