**Desire, ask, believe, receive.**
Stella Terrill Mann
HAPPY EASTER!
So far this month there have been 17 quakes in the 6's, 6 quakes in the 7's and one 8.0 -
For comparison, the entire month of January had just 6 quakes in the 6's.
February had 8 quakes in the 6's.
March had 15 quakes in the 6's.
In 2013,
February had the most large quakes, with 17 quakes in the 6's, and 5 quakes in the 7's.
April was next with 13 quakes in the 6's, and 3 quakes in the 7's.
May had the only 8+ quake of the year - an 8.3 in the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia. It was the DEEPEST EARTHQUAKE EVER RECORDED and at these pressures, quakes of that size were not expected to be able to occur (378 miles / 608.9 km deep).
LARGEST QUAKES so far today -
5.4 SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE
6.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS
5.1 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.7 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N. G.
5.2 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
Yesterday, 4/19/14 -
5.1 SOLOMON ISLAND
5.5 OFFSHORE TARAPACA, CHILE
5.1 ST. MARTIN REGION, LEEWARD ISL.
5.0 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.3 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.2 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.3 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.6 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
7.5 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.2 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
6.6 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.0 GUERRERO, MEXICO
4/18/14 -
5.0 KOMANDORSKIYE OSTROVA REGION
5.5 BALLENY ISLANDS REGION
5.6 NORTHERN ALASKA
5.6 NORTHERN ALASKA
7.2 GUERRERO, MEXICO
5.2 SOUTH OF JAVA, INDONESIA
5.2 SOUTH OF JAVA, INDONESIA
5.3 SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO, ARGENTINA
5.3 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS REGION
6.1 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS REGION
A powerful 7.2 earthquake hit Mexico City, shaking buildings for at least 30 seconds and causing widespread panic. The quake was registered at a depth of 24km (15 miles). Its epicentre was in the western state of Guerrero, near the seaside resort of Acapulco.
There are no reports of casualties or significant damage, but frightened residents across the Mexican capital fled their homes as the tremor began. The earthquake was felt in several southern and western Mexican states at 09:27 local time (14:27 GMT). Windows were broken and trees fell in Chilpancingo, capital of Guerrero.
In Acapulco, where many tourists were enjoying the Easter holiday, there were scenes of panic. "People were turning over chairs in their desperation to get out, grabbing children, trampling people." Mexico lies on top of three continental plates and is regularly shaken by tremors.
In 1985, at least 10,000 people were killed in Mexico City by a magnitude-8.1 earthquake. Mexico City is vulnerable even to distant earthquakes because much of it sits atop the muddy sediments of drained lake beds.
The powerful earthquake damaged more than 100 homes in the southwestern state of Guerrero.
A parked car suffered damage when a adobe wall collapsed on it after the strong earthquake shook Chilpancingo, Mexico, Friday morning.
RARE earthquake, aftershocks rattle northwest Alaska - Several moderate earthquakes rattled Northwest Alaska on Friday morning, causing a stir in an area that historically has little seismic activity.
VOLCANOES -
Nicaragua - Experts downplay volcanic threat, warn of more quakes. Nicaraguan authorities say "there's no scientific evidence" of a pending eruption of Momotombo and Apoyeque volcanos despite recent earthquakes.
TROPICAL STORMS -
Current tropical storms - maps and details.
* In the South Indian Ocean -
- Tropical cyclone Jack is located approximately 380 nm west-southwest of Cocos Islands.
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Jack - A cluster of showers and storms over the South Indian Ocean last week organized into Tropical Cyclone Jack on Friday.
Australia - Mosquito mayhem: Dengue danger in Cairns and Far North Queensland after Cyclone Ita. Health officials are urging all Far North residents to increase their mosquito vigilance over the Easter period, as knock-on effects from cyclone Ita.
New Zealand - Homes flooded in cyclone Ida's tail could be red-zoned. Christchurch homes washed out in the second flood in just over a month could be added to the list of the city's red-zoned properties.
SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
Sudden movement raises alarm in Wyoming slide area - A slow-moving landslide in the Wyoming resort town of Jackson sped up significantly Friday, splitting a house in two, causing a huge uplift in a road and a Walgreens parking lot, and threatening to destroy several other unoccupied homes and businesses.
The 100-foot-high hillside is unlikely to liquefy and collapse suddenly like the March 22 landslide in Oso, Washington, that killed 39 people, a geologist said at a town meeting Friday. But large blocks of earth could tumble down one piece at a time, presenting a drawn-out threat to four homes on the hill and to two apartment buildings and four businesses below.
"Is it weeks, is it longer? I really don't know. I think it's really unpredictable how long it might take. I don't expect it to end in a day." Geologists were still trying to fully understand the mechanics of the slide.
On Friday morning, a crack that ran beneath one house vacant for the past year shifted downward several feet and split the structure in two. Inside the home, floor planks have been coming apart and cabinets have been falling off the walls for the past two weeks. Three nearby homes also are in the high-risk zone. A sewer line ruptured and electric power had to be rerouted because the slide is moving a utility pole. The slide breached a retaining wall, and gravel was spilling into a parking lot.
Town officials first noticed significant hill movement April 4. They evacuated 42 homes and apartment units April 9, when the slide was moving at about an inch a day. By Friday, the rate had surged to a foot a day. Overnight, the shifting earth had bulged a road and a parking lot at the foot of the hill by as much as 10 feet. The groundswell pushed a small town water pump building 15 feet toward West Broadway, the town's main drag.
A large crack continued to widen near the four homes at highest risk partway up East Gros Ventre Butte, a small mountain on the west side of town. Meanwhile, a steady stream of rock and dirt tumbled off the hill gouged with fresh gullies. Efforts to slow the slide — such as pouring rock and dirt fill behind large, L-shaped concrete barriers arranged in a line at the base of the slide — were on hold to keep workers out of the danger zone. "It's really not safe to put people out there. You try to do what you can, but at some point you're really restricted from entering the area."
On a town webcam, pedestrians could be seen pausing in the rain now and then to gawk at the slide zone that's as big as three or four football fields. Cars and trucks on West Broadway also slowed occasionally, the cause of at least one fender-bender Friday and a police warning for lollygaggers. "Everybody's looking over there instead of looking where they're driving."
On Monday, town officials lifted the evacuation for residents of about 30 homes outside the high-risk zone but said they couldn't drive on the neighborhood street. They have had to walk to and from home by cutting across private property. On Friday, not even work crews could drive on Budge Drive, which was buckled several feet.
Town officials said they didn't know what was causing the slide, but they have noted the area has seen considerable road-grading over the past few decades. The latest work was last year's construction of the Walgreens drug store, which opened in January. (photo at link)
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