OT - Two Earthquakes in China - 6.5 & 5.6, 4 Dead

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Just saw on the news where two earthquakes hit China - 4 are dead, major damage.

-- ~~~ (~~~@~~~.xcom), January 15, 2000

Answers

Check out this site: Iris Seismic Monitor

There is no news there, just a very kewl graphic representation of earthquakes around the world. Notice the purple dots -- they are all the quakes from the last 5 years. It is amazing how they form perfect lines showing the tectonic plates.

The more recent activity (15 days) is represented by circles, with the diameter indicating the strength of the quake.

It's worth the trip.

-- semper paratus (still_here_with@my.pals), January 15, 2000.


Did I hear one over 9?

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 15, 2000.

I don't know Hokie. A 9 could break a continent in half.

I'll see what I can find out.

-- semper paratus (still_here_with@my.pals), January 15, 2000.


Here's the Link< /a> from the AP breaking news wire.

-- semper paratus (
still_here_with@my.pals), January 15, 2000.

oops. How did that space get in there?

Here's the link

-- semper paratus (
still_here_with@my.pals), January 15, 2000.



Shoulda just cut and pasted.

-- semper paratus (still_here_with@my.pals), January 15, 2000.

I read that Yunnan, China had a 5.9. I looked at the list presented by the Global Earthquake Report at:

http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/quakexe/quakes

They're saying that this happened last night, just before midnight.

I can't find anything about the ones today...where did you see this?

-- Margo (margos@bigisland.com), January 15, 2000.


Re: a "9" quake: The Good Friday earthquake in Southcentral Alaska (1964)was over nine. Not only was it the most powerful quake ever recorded on North America, but it lasted almost 5 minutes. Valdez and Chenega were wiped out, 31 people lost their lives and the quake resulted in the entire town of Valdez being relocated to a site on bedrock. There is a lot of interesting information out about this quake. It caused a monstrous tsunami, and tilted some large areas of land permanently.

-- Liz (lizpavek@hotmail.com), January 15, 2000.

Wow Liz, do you have a link where I can read about that one?

-- semper paratus (still_here_with@my.pals), January 15, 2000.

http://www.weather.com/weather_center/full_story/full3.html

-- nothing (better@to.do), January 15, 2000.


Alaska quake of 1964 first given as 8.4 and then revised according to today's standards to 9.2. LINK

-- Sheri (wncy2k@nccn.net), January 15, 2000.

From http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000115/wl/china_earthquake_7.html

BEIJING (AP) - Two earthquakes struck southwest China 11/2 hours apart Saturday, killing at least four people, injuring 400 others and collapsing thousands of buildings, officials said.

A 5.9-magnitude quake hit Yao'an county in Yunnan province, about 900 miles west of Hong Kong, at 6:09 a.m. local time, sending people running from their homes. An even stronger aftershock with a magnitude of 6.5 struck 90 minutes later, according to a county seismologist who gave just his surname, Su.

Four people were killed, 29 were seriously injured and 371 were slightly hurt, government seismologists and state-run television said. The State Seismology Bureau in Beijing said 4,000 buildings collapsed, but state-run television said up to 10,000 buildings had fallen or were seriously damaged.

Television footage showed crumbled mud walls and a house with a caved-in wooden beam roof. Medical staff in white coats treated some of the injured on beds in the street. An old women and three children huddled under quilts on a layer of straw.

The main compound of Yao'an's government headquarters was seriously damaged, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said. Power in the area also was out, it added.

But there was no damage to a valuable historical site 30 miles from the epicenter where remains of China's oldest fossil man were found in 1965, Xinhua said. The site of Yuanmou Homo Erectus, who is believed to have lived 1.7 million years ago, is now a tourist destination.

Quakes in China often produce high figures for building damage because of fragile building materials and also because officials may count smaller structures other than homes. Outside Chinese cities, one-story homes - sometimes made of mud bricks - are common.

In the town of Guantun, 18 miles from Yao'an, the early morning quakes woke tens of thousands of people and sent residents flocking into the streets, Xinhua said.

Authorities moved in 10 tons of building material, 5,000 rolls of woolen felt and food into affected areas, Xinhua said.

A strong tremor also was felt in the provincial capital Kunming, some 125 miles to the east of Yao'an, it said.

Yao'an was also hit by a 6.5-magnitude quake in 1962 and a 5.6-magnitude quake on August 14, 1993, Xinhua said.

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), January 15, 2000.


The largest well-recorded earthquake in the world was a subduction quake off Chile in 1960... 9.5, per the USGS.GOV site. The 1964 Alaska quake is believed to be second.

That's basically believed to be about the largest quake physically possible, if one calculates possible lengths of rupture, etc.

Measuring magnitude is actually exceedingly tricky, there are a variety of different variations in the scales, and the farther back you go in time, the more differences you'll see in magnitudes from different sources. Till, of course, you go before the period of accurate measurement and it's wild guesstimating.

The only two places in the US you could get a 9+ are Alaska and offshore Washington/Oregon.

-- John H Krempasky (johnk@dmv.com), January 16, 2000.


Yep, dat's true, good to be prepped in Cascadia.

-- prepped Cascadians (thankful@hope.BITR), January 16, 2000.

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