6.9 Earthquake in China

At least 300 people have died and thousands are feared hurt after a magnitude-6.9 earthquake struck China's Qinghai province, officials say. The powerful tremor hit remote Yushu county, 500km (310 miles) south-west of provincial capital Xining, at 0749 (2349 GMT), at a shallow depth of 10km. One official told journalists more than 85% of buildings in Jiegu town near the epicentre had collapsed. Many of the buildings in Yushu, a county with a largely Tibetan population of about 80,000, were thought to be made from wood.
In 2008, a huge quake struck neighbouring Sichuan province which left 87,000 people dead or missing. Terrible disaster.

Update 4/16:
The number of people known to have been killed by a massive quake in China's Qinghai province has risen to 1,144, officials say. Another 417 are still missing in the remote mountainous region and 11,744 have been injured, a rescue spokesman told the Xinhua news agency.

Earthquake in Chile

A massive 8.8 magnitude quake hits central Chile, north-east of the city of Concepcion, killing at least 47 people.
The quake struck at 0634 GMT about 91km (56 miles) north-east of the city of Concepcion and 317km south-west of the capital, Santiago.
Buildings in Santiago were reported to have shaken for between 10 and 30 seconds, with the loss of electricity and communications.

Haiti Update

Haiti's government said about 230,000 people have died in the 12 January earthquake. The death toll is approaching that of the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed 250,000 people. About 300,000 were injured. There is increasing concern that with the rainy season approaching, the lack of tents and temporary shelter could lead to the outbreak of disease. What a tragedy...

[source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8507531.stm]

Haiti's still shaking

A strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti this morning. This earthquake was 10 times lighter than the devastating one last week. Let's hope there won't be additional victims and damages as rescue team are still finding surviors under the wreckage.

Beware of preying companies

Cell phone users can text the word "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10," and when prompted, hit "YES" to confirm the donation. So far $5,000,000 were donated. While Americans are shocked by the Haiti devastation and trying to help by donating money, some companies are trying to make a profit out of it.
MSNBC asked Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint whether or not they're charging for the sms. Verizon and T-Mobile said they were not charging. Sprint and AT&T admitted they charged the customers who didn't have an unlimited text message plan.
I guess someone at AT&T finally saw the ludicrousness and they promised to waive the charges. Nothing's heard from Sprint yet. This is so inhuman, that I don't even want to comment. If you are a Sprint customer be aware you will receive additional charges for the sms.

The Power of Nature - 15 worst disasters of all time

The Haiti's earthquake reminded us again about how powerful and destructive nature can be.
Here's a list of the 15 worst disasters of all time:

January 12, 2010 - Casualties resulting from the Haiti quake are still unknown, but the Red Cross estimates that up to 3 million people may have been affected.

May 2, 2008 - The death toll from Cyclone Nargis remains uncertain but has been put at 140,000 or more. Caught with nowhere to run, residents of low-lying rice fields in Maynmar were simply swept away.

Oct. 8, 2005 - Magnitude-7.6 earthquake in Pakistan killed more than 40,000 people. The destruction was due in part to the quake's shallow origin.

August 2005 - Hurricane Katrina killed more than 1,800 people and is the costliest hurricane in U.S. history. More so than any U.S. disaster in recent decades, its effects linger even today as New Orleans and many coastal communities still struggle to get back on their feet.

Dec. 26, 2004 - The magnitude-9.3 Indian Ocean earthquake and resulting Sumatran tsunami is estimated to have killed more than 225,000 people. It affected a broader region and more people than any modern disaster.

1992 - Hurricane Andrew killed 26, but property damage was $25 billion -- most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history at the time.

1985 - Nevado del Ruiz (Columbia) volcano killed 25,000 people, most caught in a massive mudflow.

1976 - Tangshan earthquake in China, a magnitude-8 event, killed somewhere between 255,000 and 655,000.

1931 - Yellow River flood, estimated to have killed 1 million to 3.7 million people via drowning, disease, ensuing famines and droughts. The river also had flooded catastrophically in 1887, killing nearly as many.

1815 - Tambora, Indonesia, volcano of 1815. 80,000 people died of subsequent famine.

1811-12 - Three New Madrid earthquakes in Missouri represent some of the strongest earthquakes in the contiguous United States in recorded history. With magnitudes estimated as high as 7.8 or so, they were felt as far away as Boston. Damage was relatively light due to sparse population, but the quakes serve as a frightening reminder of how fickle nature can be and they are also alarmingly predictive of what could happen in the future now that the area is far more populous.

1737 - Calcutta, India, event killed 300,000. Once thought to have been an earthquake, scientists now lean toward typhoon.

1556 - Shaanzi, China, earthquake killed 830,000. Nobody knows the seismic magnitude.

1330-1351 - The Black Death or Bubonic Plague, a pandemic caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis, killed an estimated 75 million people, wiping out somewhere between 30 to 60 percent of Europe's population.

1138 - Aleppo earthquake in Syria, killed about 230,000. It is listed by the U.S. Geological Survey as the fourth deadliest earthquake of all time.

1500 B.C., or so - The Mediterranean Stroggli island blew up. A tsunami virtually wiped out Minoan civilization. Area now called Santorini; Plato called it the site where Atlantis disappeared.

[source:livescience.com]

Massive earthquake hits Haiti

A major earthquake, centered 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, stroke Haiti yesterday 01/12/10, shortly before 5pm. The 7-magnitude earthquake flattened the capitol city and some believe that 150,000 could be dead. Most of the buildings have collapsed, there are uncontrolled fires, dead bodies in the streets, no electricity, no water. Pictures from the tragedy look like taken from a low-budgeted movie in which the make-up guys went too far. Nations have started sending aid to the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, where survivors still fight to survive the lack of food and water and somehow cope with the stress and loss of their friend and relatives.
Let's hope the dead toll will not reach this horrifying number and let's pray for the survivors.

Solomon Islands Earthquake

Today, two big earthquakes have struck near Solomon Islands. The first one was felt at 8:48 AM local time with a magnitude of 6.5. Another one followed, this time stronger, with a 7.2 magnitude recording at 9:36 AM. There are no warnings posted on the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center web site and no reports of injury or damage.

The Solomon Islands archipelago, about 2,500 kilometers east of Australia, lies in the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and experiences frequent seismic tremors.

Let's hope there won't be any injuries...