News Topic - Earthquake
Articles 51 - 60 of most recent articles
China ploy: 'Aiding' or abetting?
Is China using last month's devastating earthquake to obtain military spare parts from the U.S. -- materiel Beijing couldn't otherwise obtain through thievery?
PittsburghLive.com – Jun 30, 2008 04:54 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh
Is China using last month's devastating earthquake to obtain military spare parts from the U.S. -- materiel Beijing couldn't otherwise obtain through thievery?
PittsburghLive.com – Jun 30, 2008 04:54 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh
Carlson: Floods empty Oakville for 16 days — so far
"It's like a combination earthquake and flood hit here," Gov. Chet Culver said as he and his wife, Mari, drove down Oakville's main street past dozens of houses with little chance of being repaired. The official count, so far, is 174 structures destroyed in and around the community.
DesMoinesRegister.com – Jun 30, 2008 04:28 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Iowa: Des Moines
"It's like a combination earthquake and flood hit here," Gov. Chet Culver said as he and his wife, Mari, drove down Oakville's main street past dozens of houses with little chance of being repaired. The official count, so far, is 174 structures destroyed in and around the community.
DesMoinesRegister.com – Jun 30, 2008 04:28 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Iowa: Des Moines
China leaders praise US help on quakeAP - China's top leaders said they were thankful for U.S. help after Sichuan's devastating earthquake, with Premier Wen Jiabao saying Monday he was impressed that the first foreigners he saw providing help when he toured the province were Americans.
Yahoo! – Jun 30, 2008 04:26 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in World: Asia
June 30, 1908: A Very Close Encounter of the Second Kind
1908: A fireball streaking across the sky and a massive explosion in the Siberian hinterlands marks the largest recorded collision ever between Earth and an object from space.The Tunguska event flattened 80 million trees covering 830 square miles of sparsely populated (but not unpopulated) Russian outback in the region of the Tunguska River northwest of Lake Baikal. Whatever it was -- an exploding fragment from a disintegrating meteorite seems the likeliest explanation -- scientists concluded there was no actual impact. The explosion appears to have been caused by an air burst similar to that of an artillery round detonating in midair, rather than on impact with the ground. In this case, the fragment, which is believed to have measured perhaps 100 feet across (although new research suggests it may have been even smaller), was probably traveling at around 21,000 miles per hour when it exploded anywhere from four to six miles above the Earth's surface. Based on later assessments of the damage, the force of the blast was estimated to be between 10 and 15 megatons of TNT, roughly a thousand times more powerful than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. The remoteness of the blast and the chaotic conditions prevailing inside Russia at the time prevented a thorough examination of the area until 1927, when an expedition from the Soviet Academy of Sciences finally arrived on the scene. Ironically, a lot of the data wouldn't be clearly understood until the Soviet Union began conducting its own Cold War experiments with atomic-blast impacts during the 1950s and '60s.Soil samples revealed high levels of nickel and iridium, which are commonly found in meteorites, and the pattern of the forest devastation was consistent with a strong central detonation followed by shock waves emanating outward from ground zero. Based on eyewitness accounts at Tunguska, a bluish fireball appeared in the sky at around 7:15 a.m. Ten minutes later, there was a flash, followed by a deafening explosion that was heard 300 miles away. The ground began shaking as in an earthquake, and a hot wind blew across the land, singeing crops and shattering windows. While contemporary accounts refer to many people in the vicinity becoming covered with boils and dying as a result of the blast, that may be better explained by a smallpox epidemic that was occurring at the same time. The fear, of course, is that the Earth is vulnerable to these meteor strikes. Flying objects enter the atmosphere every day, but the vast majority burn up before posing any real threat. Some meteorites do get through, however, and there have been events similar to -- if smaller than -- Tunguska recorded in the past century. Here's something to consider: In its 1966 edition, the Guinness Book of Records concluded that, based on the Earth's rotation, had the Tunguska meteorite struck 4 hours, 47 minutes later, it would have obliterated St. Petersburg, then the capital of imperial Russia. Given the events that would shortly torment that nation -- and all of Europe -- for the better part of the 20th century, one is left to wonder how history might have changed in those circumstances.Sounds like the premise for a pretty good alternative-history novel.Source: Various
Wired News – Jun 30, 2008 04:00 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Technology
1908: A fireball streaking across the sky and a massive explosion in the Siberian hinterlands marks the largest recorded collision ever between Earth and an object from space.The Tunguska event flattened 80 million trees covering 830 square miles of sparsely populated (but not unpopulated) Russian outback in the region of the Tunguska River northwest of Lake Baikal. Whatever it was -- an exploding fragment from a disintegrating meteorite seems the likeliest explanation -- scientists concluded there was no actual impact. The explosion appears to have been caused by an air burst similar to that of an artillery round detonating in midair, rather than on impact with the ground. In this case, the fragment, which is believed to have measured perhaps 100 feet across (although new research suggests it may have been even smaller), was probably traveling at around 21,000 miles per hour when it exploded anywhere from four to six miles above the Earth's surface. Based on later assessments of the damage, the force of the blast was estimated to be between 10 and 15 megatons of TNT, roughly a thousand times more powerful than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. The remoteness of the blast and the chaotic conditions prevailing inside Russia at the time prevented a thorough examination of the area until 1927, when an expedition from the Soviet Academy of Sciences finally arrived on the scene. Ironically, a lot of the data wouldn't be clearly understood until the Soviet Union began conducting its own Cold War experiments with atomic-blast impacts during the 1950s and '60s.Soil samples revealed high levels of nickel and iridium, which are commonly found in meteorites, and the pattern of the forest devastation was consistent with a strong central detonation followed by shock waves emanating outward from ground zero. Based on eyewitness accounts at Tunguska, a bluish fireball appeared in the sky at around 7:15 a.m. Ten minutes later, there was a flash, followed by a deafening explosion that was heard 300 miles away. The ground began shaking as in an earthquake, and a hot wind blew across the land, singeing crops and shattering windows. While contemporary accounts refer to many people in the vicinity becoming covered with boils and dying as a result of the blast, that may be better explained by a smallpox epidemic that was occurring at the same time. The fear, of course, is that the Earth is vulnerable to these meteor strikes. Flying objects enter the atmosphere every day, but the vast majority burn up before posing any real threat. Some meteorites do get through, however, and there have been events similar to -- if smaller than -- Tunguska recorded in the past century. Here's something to consider: In its 1966 edition, the Guinness Book of Records concluded that, based on the Earth's rotation, had the Tunguska meteorite struck 4 hours, 47 minutes later, it would have obliterated St. Petersburg, then the capital of imperial Russia. Given the events that would shortly torment that nation -- and all of Europe -- for the better part of the 20th century, one is left to wonder how history might have changed in those circumstances.Sounds like the premise for a pretty good alternative-history novel.Source: Various
Wired News – Jun 30, 2008 04:00 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Technology
Rubber eyed for city hall quake fix
Seismically upgrading Vancouver city hall would be expensiveand could change the look of the heritage building, so engineers areconsidering an innovative way to save it from an earthquake: lift upthe structure and put a rubber foundation underneath.
Canada.com – Jun 30, 2008 04:00 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Canada: British Columbia
Seismically upgrading Vancouver city hall would be expensiveand could change the look of the heritage building, so engineers areconsidering an innovative way to save it from an earthquake: lift upthe structure and put a rubber foundation underneath.
Canada.com – Jun 30, 2008 04:00 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Canada: British Columbia
Help for little victimsDogs injured in the earthquake that killed 70,000 people inChina on May 12 are getting a second chance at life, thanks to aprivate shelter run by Chen Yunlian in Sichuan province. Many of thedogs taken in by the shelter were found dragging crushed hind legsthrough the rubble-clogged streets of Sichuan province. They werethe lucky few -- stray and abandoned dogs were mostly shot by policeand soldiers in the wake of the quake for fear they would spreaddisease. One of the about 100 dogs rescued by Chen from devastatedcities including Beichuan, Wenchuan, Qingchuan and Dujiangyan takesa rest (above) as it learns to walk in a home-made walker. One ofthe eight staff members at the shelter (left) trained dogs over theweekend to use their walkers. Chen, 60, has been rescuing stray dogsfor a decade and now has about 900 dogs and 100 cats in the shelterjust outside Chengdu, the provincial capital. Dog ownership hasgrown more popular as Chinese become wealthier, but few people havethe emotional attachment to pets that is common in the West. Indeed,dogs are still often seen as a source of meat for the family stewpot, especially in some rural areas.
Canada.com – Jun 30, 2008 04:00 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Canada: British Columbia
China quake rare and unexpected, says new MIT study
A new analysis of the setting for last month's devastating earthquake in China by a team of geoscientists at MIT shows that the quake resulted from faults with little seismic activity, and that similar events in that area occur only once in every 2,000 to 10,000 years, on average.
EurekAlert! – Jun 30, 2008 04:00 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Technology: Science
A new analysis of the setting for last month's devastating earthquake in China by a team of geoscientists at MIT shows that the quake resulted from faults with little seismic activity, and that similar events in that area occur only once in every 2,000 to 10,000 years, on average.
EurekAlert! – Jun 30, 2008 04:00 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Technology: Science
China to resume talks with Dalai Lama
Talks had been scheduled between the sides in early June but were called off after the earthquake that struck Sichuan Province on May 12.
International Herald Tribune – Jun 30, 2008 01:32 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in World: Asia
Talks had been scheduled between the sides in early June but were called off after the earthquake that struck Sichuan Province on May 12.
International Herald Tribune – Jun 30, 2008 01:32 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in World: Asia
Rice visits Chinese earthquake zone
CHENGDU, China, June 29 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited earthquake-ravaged areas of China Sunday and praised the country's recovery efforts.
United Press International – Jun 29, 2008 4:06 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Top Stories
CHENGDU, China, June 29 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited earthquake-ravaged areas of China Sunday and praised the country's recovery efforts.
United Press International – Jun 29, 2008 4:06 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Top Stories
Rice praises China's post-quake recovery efforts
DUJIANGYAN, China (AP) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised China's earthquake recovery efforts during a visit to the disaster zone Sunday, contrasting Beijing's "attentive" response with Myanmar's reluctance to accept outside aid after a devastating cyclone....
AP – Jun 29, 2008 1:15 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in World
DUJIANGYAN, China (AP) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised China's earthquake recovery efforts during a visit to the disaster zone Sunday, contrasting Beijing's "attentive" response with Myanmar's reluctance to accept outside aid after a devastating cyclone....
AP – Jun 29, 2008 1:15 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in World