Sunday, April 13, 2014

Global Disaster Watch - daily natural disaster reports.

**Success is due less to ability than to zeal.**
Charles Buxton


LARGEST QUAKES so far today -
None 5.0 or higher.

Yesterday, 4/12/14 -
5.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
6.2 SOLOMON ISLANDS
7.8 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.4 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS
6.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.0 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.

4/11/14 -
6.6 NICARAGUA
5.1 NICARAGUA
5.1 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.0 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.7 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.4 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.4 OFFSHORE TARAPACA, CHILE
5.1 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
6.5 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
7.3 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE
6.1 OFFSHORE TARAPACA, CHILE

Nicaragua - A strong 6.6 earthquake shook Costa Rica and Nicaragua on Friday afternoon at 2:28 p.m. The epicenter of the earthquake was located in southwest Nicaragua, near the city of Nandaime. This is the second large earthquake with an epicenter in Nicaragua to hit in the past 24 hours. The country has experienced hundreds of aftershocks in the last day.
Nicaragua – A magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck Nicaragua on Thursday killed one person, left 33 injured and damaged more than 800 homes, the government said Friday. The President declared a state of emergency after Thursday’s quake, centered in the Pacific coast region of the Central American nation. It caused significant damage and triggered panic among the population.
Three of the injured were in serious condition. “There are thousands of families who lost their homes or saw them seriously damaged." The quake happened at 2327 GMT and its epicenter was some 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the capital at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). The president ordered classes suspended for Friday, and there were more than 400 aftershocks. People ran out of their homes in panic. Managua was left without power for a few hours. The quake was also felt in El Salvador, Honduras and the north of Costa Rica.

Solomon Islands - An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 hit near the Solomon Islands, but there have been no reports of major damage or casualties. The undersea quake was registered at a depth of 29km (18 miles), 100km (60 miles) south-east of Kira Kira. A tsunami warning issued for the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia was later cancelled.
Strong waves were reported after the earthquake struck at 07:14 on Sunday (20:14 GMT Saturday). People had been warned to stay away from low-lying areas, as high seas battered the coast. But no injuries or structural damage have been reported. The Solomon islands suffered severe flash floods just over a week ago in which at least 16 people died.

Recent quakes in Chile, California have people wondering if this recent uptick foretells that more, and perhaps more destructive, earthquakes are imminent. The answer is a resounding no, according to a geologist with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, and numerous other Oregon and Washington scientists. Increases or decreases in earthquake activity are all part of normal fluctuations, they said. "There is no evidence that these earthquakes mean anything for the future."
Earthquakes happen every day. In 24 hours, (5 p.m. Monday through 5 p.m. Tuesday) the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at the University of Washington has recorded 17 earthquakes. The largest was a magnitude 2.4 temblor 40.5 miles southwest of Penticton, British Columbia. But the 2.4 quake was barely felt -- like most of the 20,000 earthquakes a year documented by the National Earthquake Information Center of the U.S. Geological Survey, or about 55 a day worldwide.
Repeated earthquakes along subduction zones — where one tectonic plate dives below another — are more worrisome, and can trigger additional quakes. The Cascadia Subduction Zone off the Oregon coast hasn't experienced a major earthquake in more than 300 years. Chile's earthquake occurred along a subduction zone off the coast.
Thanks to the large number of seismic networks and better detection, the public hears about earthquakes faster than ever. A typical earthquake in California occurs at a depth of 6 to 10 miles underground. Under the Portland area, the typical depth is 12 to 15 miles underground. The recent 3.3 Sherwood, Oregon, quake was about 13.6 miles underground. The deeper the quake, the more widely it's felt because shock waves move up to the surface in a cone shape, and thus typically cover a bigger territory. The Sherwood quake happened quickly, which boosted its impact.
"The same amount of energy released in a shorter time makes for a sharper shake, with fewer seconds of shaking that is more intense. Every other year or so we get one these oddball quakes in the mid-2s to magnitude mid-3s that are felt much more widely that they should be. We had a magnitude 3.9 at Kelly Point that generated the same response as a magnitude 2.6 earthquake in the Laurelhurst neighborhood, even though the Kelly Point quake was 25 times stronger."
The faults aren't only complex, they're closer than you might think. "You are never more than one mile from a fault in the Portland area. And so far, we have been unable to tie any earthquake to specific fault. If these earthquakes were just a bit bigger, the recordings would be a lot better and we could actually tell a lot more about what's happening."

VOLCANOES -
Ubinas volcano (Peru) spews white hot rocks, prompts evacuation. Residents have fled villages near Ubinas, which this week began spitting out white-hot chunks of rock, some as big as 30cm. For the first time in the current eruption, incandescent lava fragments up to 20 cm in size were ween seen during 7-8 April. Activity at the volcano has been increasing over the past week, both the number and size of explosions and the corresponding seismic activity.

Fuego volcano (Guatemala) - Increased activity and possible new lava flow. Activity at the volcano continues to increase and could be heading towards a new paroxysm with lava flows and strong explosions.

Nyamuragira volcano (DR Congo) - Eruption warning. According to local news, a seismic crisis is under way at the volcano and the volcano observatory in Goma thinks that a new eruption in coming days or weeks is likely. "The eruption of Nyamulagira will have no impact on the famous volcano Nyiragongo, whose activity is in a normal state." Nyamuragira (also spelled Nyamulagira) volcano is located 22 km north of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. It erupts on average every 2 years. Its last eruption was in late 2011-early 2012. The Nyamulagira volcano is currently in highly intense activity that can lead to a blowout in the coming days.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Current tropical storms - maps and details.

* In the Pacific -
- Tropical cyclone Ita is located approximately 55 nm south-southeast of Cairns, Australia.
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Category 4 Tropical Cyclone Ita powered ashore along Australia’s Queensland coast near 9 pm local time (10 UTC) on Friday with sustained winds rated at 145 mph by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Satellite loops show that Ita has weakened considerably since landfall, with the cloud tops in the eyewall clouds warming.
Radar loops from Cairns, Australia show torrential rains from Ita are affecting a large stretch of Queensland as the storm track parallel to the coast, just inland. Cape Flattery caught the eyewall, and had sustained winds of 70 mph (10-minute average), gusting to 99 mph. Cooktown recorded sustained winds of 48 mph, gusting to 71 mph.
Fortunately, Ita appeared to be undergoing an eyewall replacement cycle at landfall, and was probably weaker than a Category 4 storm when it came ashore. Ita hit a portion of the coast that is relatively lightly populated, and damage should be nowhere near the $3.6 billion price tag of the last Category 4 cyclone to hit Queensland, Tropical Cyclone Yasi of February 2, 2011. (satellite photo)
Ita leaves 7000 without power in Australia - About 7000 houses remain without power after Cyclone Ita battered Queensland and authorities have warned it could be months until power is restored.
Flash floods close roads - Cyclone Ita ran south of Cairns but wind gusts of up to 100km per hour are still expected in the city. Residents in north Queensland are facing flooding and power outages as Tropical Cyclone Ita continues to make its way down the state's coast.

'GLOBAL WEIRDNESS' -

Weather-related blackouts in U.S. doubled in 10 years - Most of the blackouts were triggered when extreme weather damaged large transmission lines and substations. Michigan had the most outages.

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