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07 Feb 2012 01:35

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U.S.: Earthquake drills: Millions remember New Madrid by hiding under desks

  • 2.2 million people in eight states to participate in a “ShakeOut” source
  • » Get ready Tuesday morning: In honor of Missouri’s earthquake awareness month and timed in honor of the New Madrid Earthquake, millions will take part in a giant earthquake drill that starts at 10:15 CST. Will you take part? You never know when another earthquake might hit.

07 Feb 2012 01:22

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U.S.: The day the Plains shook: The New Madrid Earthquake, 200 years later

  • Set your watches: At 3:45 a.m. CST, it will have been 200 years since the strongest earthquake Middle America has ever seen. One of four major earthquakes from the 1811-1812 era, the New Madrid Earthquake (which averaged about 7.8 in magnitude) was felt hundreds of miles away and was so powerful that it destroyed the Missouri town that gives it its name. But could it happen again? Experts say it’s likely, and the damage could be far worse. “If another quake of the magnitude of the New Madrid Quake of 1811 should hit the region, it would be the worst natural disaster in American history,” Arkansas state auditor Charlie Daniels wrote in the 1990s. “Almost all of downtown Memphis would fall.” Is that enough to fret over, though? (Photo: 1904 photo of an earthquake fissure filled with intruded sand in Mississippi County, Missouri, originally created during the New Madrid Earthquake. Photo via USGS; see more photos here.) source

06 Jan 2012 10:06

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U.S.: Ohio earthquakes may be man-made byproduct of “fracking”

  • These earthquakes were sitting there waiting to happen. We have triggered these earthquakes.
  • Seismologist John Armbruster • Discussing the recent string of earthquakes in Ohio. If you live in that state, you might have noticed up to a dozen small earthquakes since last spring. There hasn’t been a measured earthquake in the area ever until last March. Apparently, the disposing of waste water into the ground (during a energy-releasing process called “fracking”) may have flowed into an earthquake fault line. This same problem has happened in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas. In Arkansas alone, 1,000 mini-quakes were measured. source

24 Mar 2011 00:38

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U.S.: Earthquake preparedness: Bay Area bridges in bad shape

  • 34% of bridges in San Francisco are structurally deficient source

26 Feb 2011 10:42

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World: Update: Christchurch earthquake death toll gets deadlier

  • 145 have been found dead in the rubble of the 6.3-magnitude quake
  • 200+ are still missing; most are feared dead from the quake source

24 Feb 2011 10:32

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World: Christchurch earthquake: Dozens could be inside single building

  • 120 bodies could be in one Christchurch building source
  • » The building in question: The Canterbury Television building, which beyond a television station, also housed an English-language school with many foreign students. The station says that many of its top executives could be in the rubble. None of this count, by the way, is included in the official death toll of 76. So that death toll could go up significantly; shudder.

22 Feb 2011 10:00

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World: By the numbers: New Zealand’s deadly Christchurch quake

  • 6.3 the magnitude of the quake that hit the city of Christchurch
  • 65+ reported killed in the region’s second quake quake in six months
  • 100+ feared hidden under the rubble of collapsed buildings source
  • » New Zealand’s worst disaster ever? While already the worst disaster the region has faced in 80 years, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key suggested it may be even worse than that. “We paid a very heavy price here,” he said. “We could be looking down the barrel at New Zealand’s darkest day.” Buildings with schools and television stations were reduced to rubble. Cathedrals lost their shape. All in all, he may be right.
 

30 Dec 2010 09:51

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U.S.: Today in unexpected rumbles, Indiana gets its very own earthquake

  • 4.2 guess something exciting finally happened in Indiana source

30 Oct 2010 09:30

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World: Finally, some good (OK, better) news from the Indonesia quake

  • 135 missing people were found alive so far; whew source

20 Apr 2010 20:16

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World: Iranian cleric finds (earthquake) fault in promiscuous women

  • When promiscuity spreads, earthquakes increase. … There is no way other than taking refuge in religion and adapting ourselves to Islamic behavior.
  • Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Kazim Sadeghi • Making a statement that’s a weeee bit controversial in a YouTube video that got distributed over the weekend. But then again, it’s nothing new for a country that seems to have a controversy of some kind every single week. Iran, by the way, has a lot of earthquakes, including a huge one in 2003 that killed a lot of people. Way to play on people’s fears, jerk. source