Quake kills 450 in Pakistan, creates new island in sea: Shale gas, oil reshape world energy landscape

Region Hit by Large Pakistan Quake as Shown by NASA Spacecraft Grab the HTML/BBCodeCopy and paste the code below: [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/][img]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/9939357963_22b30fca64_t.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/]Region Hit by Large Pakistan Quake as Shown by NASA Spacecraft[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/gsfc/]NASA Goddard Photo and Video[/url], on Flickr [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/][img]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/9939357963_22b30fca64_s.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/]Region Hit by Large Pakistan Quake as Shown by NASA Spacecraft[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/gsfc/]NASA Goddard Photo and Video[/url], on Flickr [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/][img]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/9939357963_22b30fca64_q.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/]Region Hit by Large Pakistan Quake as Shown by NASA Spacecraft[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/gsfc/]NASA Goddard Photo and Video[/url], on Flickr [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/][img]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/9939357963_22b30fca64_m.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/]Region Hit by Large Pakistan Quake as Shown by NASA Spacecraft[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/gsfc/]NASA Goddard Photo and Video[/url], on Flickr [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/][img]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/9939357963_22b30fca64_n.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/]Region Hit by Large Pakistan Quake as Shown by NASA Spacecraft[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/gsfc/]NASA Goddard Photo and Video[/url], on Flickr [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/][img]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/9939357963_22b30fca64.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/]Region Hit by Large Pakistan Quake as Shown by NASA Spacecraft[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/gsfc/]NASA Goddard Photo and Video[/url], on Flickr [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/][img]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/9939357963_22b30fca64_z.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/]Region Hit by Large Pakistan Quake as Shown by NASA Spacecraft[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/gsfc/]NASA Goddard Photo and Video[/url], on Flickr [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/][img]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/9939357963_22b30fca64_c.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/]Region Hit by Large Pakistan Quake as Shown by NASA Spacecraft[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/gsfc/]NASA Goddard Photo and Video[/url], on Flickr [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/][img]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/9939357963_22b30fca64_b.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/]Region Hit by Large Pakistan Quake as Shown by NASA Spacecraft[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/gsfc/]NASA Goddard Photo and Video[/url], on Flickr [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/][img]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3723/9939357963_dc4c346460_o.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/9939357963/]Region Hit by Large Pakistan Quake as Shown by NASA Spacecraft[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/gsfc/]NASA Goddard Photo and Video[/url], on Flickr Size: Square 75 (75 x 75)Size: Square 150 (150 x 150)Size: Thumbnail (100 x 96)Size: Small 240 (240 x 229)Size: Small 320 (320 x 306)Size: Medium 500 (500 x 478)Size: Medium 640 (640 x 612)Size: Medium 800 (800 x 765)Size: Large 1024 (1024 x 979)Size: Original (1540 x 1472) HTML BBCode .Photo license: Some rights reserved .◣NewerOlder On September 24 at 11:29 GMT, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck in south-central Pakistan at a relatively shallow depth of 20 kilometers. The earthquake occurred as the result of oblique strike-slip motion, consistent with rupture within the Eurasian tectonic plate. Tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi as well as Karachi in Pakistan. Even though the immediate area to the epicenter is sparsely populated, the majority of houses are of mud brick construction and damage is expected to be extensive. The perspective view, looking to the east, shows the location of the epicenter in Pakistan's Makran fold belt. The image is centered near 27 degrees north latitude, 65.5 degrees east longitude, and was acquired December 13, 2012. With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. ASTER is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched Dec. 18, 1999, on Terra. The instrument was built by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan science team is responsible for validation and calibration of the instrument and data products. The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER provides scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface mapping and monitoring of dynamic conditions and temporal change. Example applications are: monitoring glacial advances and retreats; monitoring potentially active volcanoes; identifying crop stress; determining cloud morphology and physical properties; wetlands evaluation; thermal pollution monitoring; coral reef degradation; surface temperature mapping of soils and geology; and measuring surface heat balance. The U.S. science team is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. More information about ASTER is available at asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team Image Addition Date: 2013-09-24 NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. ========== KARACHI: On Tuesday, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Balochistan, killing more than 260 people and displacing hundreds of thousands. It also triggered formation of a new island off the coast, which has quickly become a global curiosity. But scientists say the island won't last long. "It's a transient feature," said Bill Barnhart, a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. "It will probably be gone within a couple of months. It's just a big pile of mud that was on the seafloor that got pushed up." Indeed, such islands are formed by so-called mud volcanoes, which occur around the world, and Barnhart and other scientists suspect that's what we're seeing off the Pakistani coast. News organizations have reported that the Pakistani island suddenly appeared near the port of Gwadar after the quake. The island is about 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 meters) high, up to 300 feet (91 meters) wide, and up to 120 feet (37 meters) long. Media reports have located the new island at just a few paces to up to two kilometers off the coast of Pakistan. It is about 250 miles (400 kilometers) from the epicenter of the earthquake. The island appears to be primarily made out of mud from the seafloor, although photos show rocks as well, Barnhart told National Geographic. He has been studying images and media accounts of the new island from his lab in Golden, Colorado. "It brought up a dead octopus, and people have been picking up fish on [the island]," he said. A similar mud island appeared off Pakistan after a 2011 earthquake there, Barnhart said: "It lasted a month or two and then washed away." How Mud Volcanoes Work Though mud volcanoes have been seen elsewhere, they don't always produce islands. Such volcanoes were seen in California after a 2010 earthquake, Barnhart noted, when the tremors caused carbon dioxide to bubble up through the ground, but the result was "vigorous boiling," not new islands. Barnhart said Pakistani scientists will soon be measuring the new landmass to better understand how it formed. "We don't know much about it so far," he added. "We haven't had a satellite pass over it yet to really identify it." Seismic waves from the quake likely caused some fluid material under the seafloor to expand, Barnhart said. The crust holding that pressurized fluid ruptured, and mud spewed up. The whole process is similar to liquefaction, Barnhart said, which is when seismic waves turn normally solid layers of soil into a flowing fluid, often with disastrous results for the buildings and people above. He was skeptical of media reports that the underlying fluid was methane hydrates. "We don't know exactly what this was, whether it was free methane, carbon dioxide, water, or some other kind of fluid," he said. But methane hydrates are offshore in much deeper water, he said. SAMAA/AGENCIES ===================== Tue, Sep 24 12:21 PM EDT By Gul Yusufzai QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A major earthquake hit a remote part of western Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 45 people and prompting a new island to rise from the sea just off the country's southern coast. Tremors were felt as far away as the Indian capital of New Delhi, hundreds of miles (kilometers) to the east, where buildings shook, as well as the sprawling port city of Karachi in Pakistan. The United States Geological Survey said the 7.8 magnitude quake struck 145 miles southeast of Dalbandin in Pakistan's quake-prone province of Baluchistan, which borders Iran. The earthquake was so powerful that it caused the seabed to rise and create a small, mountain-like island about 600 meters (yards) off Pakistan's Gwadar coastline in the Arabian Sea. Television channels showed images of a stretch of rocky terrain rising above the sea level, with a crowd of bewildered people gathering on the shore to witness the rare phenomenon. Officials said scores of mud houses were destroyed by aftershocks in the thinly populated mountainous area near the quake epicenter in Baluchistan, a huge barren province of deserts and rugged mountains. Abdul Qadoos, deputy speaker of the Baluchistan assembly, told Reuters that at least 30 percent of houses in the impoverished Awaran district had caved in. The local deputy commissioner in Awaran, Abdul Rasheed Gogazai, and the spokesman of Pakistan's Frontier Corps involved in the rescue effort said at least 45 people had been killed. In the regional capital of Quetta, officials said some areas appeared to be badly damaged but it was hard to assess the impact quickly because the locations were so remote. Chief secretary Babar Yaqoob said earlier that 25 people had been injured and that the death toll was expected to increase as many people appeared to be trapped inside their collapsed homes. Local television reported that helicopters carrying relief supplies had been dispatched to the affected area. The army said it had deployed 200 troops to help deal with the disaster. (Writing by Maria Golovnina; Additional reporting by Mehreen Zahra-Malik in Islamabad and David Chance in New Delhi; editing by Mark Heinrich) ======================= 45 killed as 7.8 earthquake strikes Pakistan, shaking felt in New Delhi Published time: September 24, 2013 11:49 Edited time: September 24, 2013 17:05 Get short URL Image from usgs.gov Image from usgs.gov Share on tumblrTags Earthquake, Pakistan At least 45 people have been killed in an earthquake measuring 7.8 which struck southwest Pakistan on Tuesday. Tremors were felt across the region and as far as New Delhi, with the disaster creating a 'new island' in its wake. The local deputy commissioner in Awaran, Abdul Rasheed Gogazai, and the spokesman of Pakistan's Frontier Corps involved in the rescue effort stold Reuters that at least 45 people have been killed. The US Geological Survey has measured the quake at 7.8 magnitude after it struck Balochistan, just 69 km north-northeast of Awaran, the nearest city. A “RED” alert was issued by the agency meaning estimated fatalities of over 1,000 and damages costing over $1 billion. At least 30 percent of houses in the impoverished Awaran district have been destroyed, Abdul Qadoos, deputy speaker of the Baluchistan assembly, told Reuters. Roofs of two schools have collapsed in Awaran, according to Pakistan’s English-language daily The Express Tribune. The paper said that houses have been damaged across the province while the injured are in the process of being escorted to nearby hospitals. This is yet to be officially confirmed. The earthquake also created a new island off Pakistan's Gwadar coastline, according to local paper Express News. The new island stands approximately half a mile into the sea. A bemused crowd reportedly gathered to observe the phenomenon of the new island, which apparently has a mountainous terrain. The quake's epicenter was in a remote area of the country at a depth of just 15km (9.3mi), but was felt as far away as neighboring India. Pakistan's Geo TV said that the earthquake, which struck at 4:29 pm local time, lasted for about two minutes. Pakistani Met office officials say that major damage and loss of life has been averted because of the earthquake’s location in such a remote area. However, they have also forecast impending aftershocks of up to 5 in magnitude on the Richter scale. In India's New Delhi, buildings shook sending people running into the streets, Reuters witnesses said. However, there are 337,980 people within 100km of the epicenter who could potentially be affected, according to the Global Disaster Alert and coordination System (GDACS). In April this year a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck the Iran-Pakistan border killing 46 people and injuring some 180 others. Houses collapsed in the disaster, causing people to flee to the streets out of fear. ================ Summary Location and Magnitude contributed by: USGS National Earthquake Information Center 20 km 10 mi Powered by Leaflet Pakistan 27.000°N, 65.514°E Depth: 20.0km (12.4mi) Event Time 2013-09-24 11:29:48 UTC 2013-09-24 16:29:48 UTC+05:00 at epicenter 2013-09-24 20:59:48 UTC+09:30 system time Location 27.000°N 65.514°E depth=20.0km (12.4mi) Nearby Cities 66km (41mi) NNE of Awaran, Pakistan 116km (72mi) NW of Bela, Pakistan 172km (107mi) NW of Uthal, Pakistan 175km (109mi) S of Kharan, Pakistan 791km (492mi) ENE of Muscat, Oman Related Links •Additional earthquake information for Pakistan •Earthquake Summary Poster •View location in Google Maps Tectonic Summary The September 24, 2013 M7.7 earthquake in south-central Pakistan occurred as the result of oblique-strike-slip type motion at shallow crustal depths. The location and mechanism of the earthquake are consistent with rupture within the Eurasia plate above the Makran subduction zone. The event occurred within the transition zone between northward subduction of the Arabia plate beneath the Eurasia plate and northward collision of the India plate with the Eurasia plate. The epicenter of the event is 69km north of Awaran, Pakistan, and 270km north of Karachi, Pakistan (population 11.6 million). On a broad scale, the tectonics of southern and central Pakistan reflect a complex plate boundary where the India plate slides northward relative to the Eurasia plate in the east, and the Arabia plate subducts northward beneath the Eurasia plate in the Makran (western Pakistan). These motions typically result in north-south to northeast-southwest strike-slip motion at the latitude of the September 24 earthquake that is primarily accommodated on the Chaman Fault, with the earthquake potentially occurring on one of the southern-most strands of this fault system. Further, more in-depth studies will be required to identify the precise fault associated with this event. Although seismically active, this portion of the Eurasia plate boundary region has not experience large damaging earthquakes in the recent history. In the past 40 years, only one significant event (M6.1), which killed 6, has occurred within 200km of the September 2013 event, in July of 1990. Seismotectonics of the Middle East and Vicinity No fewer than four major tectonic plates (Arabia, Eurasia, India, and Africa) and one smaller tectonic block (Anatolia) are responsible for seismicity and tectonics in the Middle East and surrounding region. Geologic development of the region is a consequence of a number of first-order plate tectonic processes that include subduction, large-scale transform faulting, compressional mountain building and crustal extension. Mountain building in northern Pakistan and Afghanistan is the result of compressional tectonics associated with collision of the India plate moving northwards at a rate of 40 mm/yr with respect to the Eurasia plate. Continental thickening of the northern and western edge of the India subcontinent has produced the highest mountains in the world, including the Himalayan, Karakoram, Pamir and Hindu Kush ranges. Earthquake activity and faulting found in this region, as well as adjacent parts of Afghanistan and India, are due to collisional plate tectonics. Beneath the Pamir-Hindu Kush Mountains of northern Afghanistan, earthquakes occur to depths as great as 200 km as a result of remnant lithospheric subduction. Shallower crustal earthquakes in the Pamir-Hindu Mountains occur primarily along the Main Pamir Thrust and other active Quaternary faults, which accommodate much of the region's crustal shortening. The western and eastern margins of the Main Pamir Thrust display a combination of thrust and strike-slip mechanisms. Along the western margin of the Tibetan Plateau, in the vicinity of southeastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, the India plate translates obliquely relative to the Eurasia plate, resulting in a complex fold-and-thrust belt known as the Sulaiman Range. Faulting in this region includes strike-slip, reverse-slip and oblique-slip motion and often results in shallow, destructive earthquakes. The relatively fast moving left-lateral, strike-slip Chaman Fault system in southeastern Afghanistan accommodates translational motion between the India and Eurasia plates. In 1505, a segment of the Chaman Fault system near Kabul, Afghanistan ruptured causing widespread destruction of Kabul and surrounding villages. In the same region, the more recent 30 May 1935, M7.6 Quetta, Pakistan earthquake, occurred within the Sulaiman Range, killing between 30,000 and 60,000 people. Off the south coast of Pakistan and southeast coast of Iran, the Makran trench is the present-day surface expression of active subduction of the Arabia plate beneath the continental Eurasia plate, which converge at a rate of approximately 20 mm/yr. Although the Makran subduction zone has a relatively slow convergence rate, it has produced large devastating earthquakes and tsunamis. For example, the November 27, 1945 M8.0 mega-thrust earthquake produced a tsunami within the Gulf of Oman and Arabia Sea, killing over 4,000 people. Northwest of this active subduction zone, collision of the Arabia and Eurasia plates forms the approximately 1,500-km-long fold and thrust belt of the Zagros Mountains, which crosses the whole of western Iran and extends into northeastern Iraq. Collision of the Arabia and Eurasia plates also causes crustal shortening in the Alborz Mountains and Kopet Dag in northern Iran. Eastern Iran experiences destructive earthquakes that originate on both strike-slip and reverse faults. For example, the 16 September 1978 M7.8 earthquake, along the southwest edge of the Dasht-e-Lut Basin killed at least 15,000 people. Along the eastern margin of the Mediterranean region there is complex interaction between the Africa, Arabia and Eurasia plates. The Red Sea Rift is a spreading center between the Africa and Arabia plates, with a spreading rate of approximately 10mm/yr near its northern end, and 16mm/yr near its southern end (Chu, D. and Gordon, R. G., 1998). Seismicity rate and size of earthquakes has been relatively small along the spreading center, but the rifting process has produced a series of volcanic systems across western Saudi Arabia. Further north, the Red Sea Rift terminates at the southern boundary of the Dead Sea Transform Fault. The Dead Sea Transform is a strike-slip fault that accommodates differential motion between the Africa and Arabia plates. Though both the Africa plate, to the west, and the Arabia plate, to the east, are moving in a NNE direction, the Arabia plate is moving slightly faster, resulting in the left-lateral, strike-slip motion along this segment of the plate boundary. Historically, earthquake activity along the Dead Sea Transform has been a significant hazard in the densely populated Levant region (eastern Mediterranean). For example, the November 1759 Near East earthquake is thought to have killed somewhere between 2,000-20,000 people. The northern termination of the Dead Sea Transform occurs within a complex tectonic region of southeast Turkey, where interaction of the Africa and Arabia plates and the Anatolia block occurs. This involves translational motion of the Anatolia Block westwards, with a speed of approximately 25mm/yr with respect to Eurasia, in order to accommodate closure of the Mediterranean basin. The right-lateral, strike-slip North Anatolia Fault, in northern Turkey, accommodates much of the westwards motion between the Anatolia Block and Eurasia Plate. Between 1939 and 1999, a series of devastating M7.0+ strike-slip earthquakes propagated westwards along the North Anatolia Fault system. The westernmost of these earthquakes was the 17th August 1999, M7.6 Izmit earthquake, near the Sea of Marmara, killed approximately 17,000 people. At the southern edge of the Anatolia Block lies the east-west trending Cyprian Arc with associated levels of moderate seismicity. The Cyprian Arc represents the convergent boundary between the Anatolia Block to the north and the Africa Plate to the south. The boundary is thought to join the East Anatolia Fault zone in eastern Turkey; however no certain geometry or sense of relative motion along the entire boundary is widely accepted. ================================== Shale gas, oil reshape world energy landscape Content preferences Done File photo shows US workers laying a shale gas pipeline outside Waynesburg, in Pennsylvania . View gallery . . . AFP Frédéric Pouchot 12 hours ago PARIS (AFP) - After unleashing an energy revolution in the United States, shale gas and oil are now becoming energy game-changers worldwide, a break with the past whose ramifications are still unclear. Thanks to the advent of hydraulic fracturing technology -- used to extract oil and gas locked in sedimentary shale rock -- the United States is on track to become the world-number-one oil producer by 2017 and a net exporter by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Besides radically changing the US energy landscape, this "fracking" revolution is also reshaping markets overseas. Thanks to the sudden abundance of cheap natural gas, American electricity suppliers are shunning domestic coal -- leading producers to export it at low prices to Europe and Asia. That trend has revived the appeal of coal-fired power plants in Europe and taken a toll on plans to transition toward gas-burning plants, despite the air-pollution concerns around coal. Energy experts say the United States will also likely begin exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe and Asia in the next several years. US authorities have already greenlighted four LNG export terminals. View gallery. "Graphic showing the policy of selected countries on … Graphic showing the policy of selected countries on shale gas and oil extraction. (AFP Photo/dp mhc/ …"We anticipate that from around 2016, we are really going to see volumes of LNG coming out of the United States and they are going to change the way that markets connect over the coming decades," said IEA analyst Tim Gould at a recent conference. "The United States won't export a huge amount of gas, because they'll be looking to keep domestic price levels as low as possible, but eventually there will undoubtedly be more than 10 export terminals geared toward Europe and Asia," said Jerome Ferrier, head of the International Gas Union. With all its new non-conventional output, the United States is now producing more than seven million barrels of oil per day, returning to the level of 25 years ago, said Olivier Appert, head of the French institute for oil and new energies (IFPEN). "The fact that the United States is set to become the top oil producer by 2020, ahead of Saudi Arabia, changes everything," said Appert. While the size and longevity of the American boom are up for debate, it will redraw the world energy-trade map at least temporarily by making North America less dependant on Middle Eastern oil. China is on track to take the United States' place as the world's top oil importer in 2017, its oil bill soaring to $500 billion in 2020, the Wood Mackenzie consultancy calculated last month. The United States' bill for oil imports is meanwhile set to fall from a peak of $335 billion in 2008 to $160 billion in 2020. View gallery. "Workers change pipes at a rig exploring the Marcellus … Workers change pipes at a rig exploring the Marcellus Shale outside the town of Waynesburg in Pennsy …This unexpected turn of events is shaking up the global oil market. At first the world's top crude producers, Saudi Arabia and Russia, considered the fracking boom "a speculative bubble that was about to burst", said Appert. "But today it's becoming a major problem for them," to the point that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries launched a study on the issue in June, he added. Keen to emulate the American boom, more than a dozen other countries around the world are currently exploring for shale hydrocarbons or moving in that direction. But environmental fears around fracking -- in which a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals is blasted deep underground to release hydrocarbons trapped between layers of rock -- may stop other countries from embracing the shale revolution with the same fervour as the United States. "The United States is atypical because landowners hold the underground rights to their property, and despite all the local protests, they're encouraged to drill," said Ferrier of the International Gas Union. "It's clear that in Poland, Romania, Great Britain, that won't happen as easily." View gallery. "British police watch an anti-shale gas and fracking … British police watch an anti-shale gas and fracking protest outside parliament in London. (AFP Photo …Energy-hungry China has the world's largest shale-gas reserves, according to preliminary estimates, but recently began exploration returned disappointing initial results. However, "the energy challenges in China are such that the country needs every exploitable resource, and if there's shale gas there, it will probably be tapped," said Ferrier. "The problem will be finding the water for fracking." Europe also faces tricky questions on shale gas. The continent depends heavily on Russian gas, with North Sea deposits quickly running out. The European Union has so far failed to adopt a unified gas strategy, but policymakers consider the issue strategically vital. EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said in May that shale gas could be a good bargaining chip in reaching new deals with Russian energy giant Gazprom. ================= Earthquakes Updated: Wed, 10 Apr 2013 In detailBack to top Every day an earthquake happens somewhere in the world. Many are so light that they cannot be detected. Only a small proportion of the more than a million quakes that occur every year actually cause damage. The vast majority are very small and have no impact on the suface, or they occur in sparsely populated areas of the world. Scientists cannot predict when an earthquake will strike, but they have been able to map where earthquakes are most likely to happen. Most of the largest earthquakes occur within the Pacific "Ring of Fire", a horseshoe-shaped band of volcanoes and fault lines circling the edges of the Pacific Ocean. The Earth’s crust is divided into tectonic plates which are constantly moving. Earthquakes, like volcanoes, take place along the plate boundaries. When two plates move past each other, the jagged parts of the plate boundaries get stuck while the rest of the plates keep moving. Eventually, when the plates have moved far enough, the edges suddenly become unstuck, causing an earthquake. Underwater earthquakes, or landslides caused by an earthquake, can trigger tsunamis – large water waves that can cause widespread damage when they hit land. Anecdotal evidence suggests that animals show unusual behaviour before an earthquake. There have been reports of creatures leaving their homes ahead of an earthquake, but more research needs to be done in this field. Deadly impactsBack to top Earthquakes usually have the greatest impact in poorer countries. The main reason is building quality and regulations - buildings can now be designed to withstand significant levels of shaking, at slightly higher cost. Poorer people's livelihoods are also likely to be more vulnerable. If people aren’t trained in what to do in an earthquake, they are more likely to be killed or injured. In January 2010, Haiti experienced the biggest urban disaster in modern history, when a 7.0 magnitude quake killed more than 200,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless. The main quake was followed by several strong aftershocks. The tremors occurred near the earth’s surface, near a crowded capital city with poorly constructed buildings, and among people who had had little or no training in what to do in an earthquake. In December 2003, an earthquake in the southern Iranian city of Bam wiped it out in just 12 seconds. More than a quarter of the 120,000 population died, and nearly all the survivors were left homeless. The quake measured magnitude 6.5, but it was very shallow, and the city’s traditional architecture meant walls and roofs crumbled as they collapsed, leaving no air pockets and suffocating people inside. Although no structure is 100 percent quake-proof, buildings can be made much safer relatively cheaply, adding less than 10 percent on average to building costs. The cost can be as little as 3 to 4 percent higher when building a safe school, and a 5 to 10 percent increase when building a hospital, the U.N. Secretary-General’s special representative for disaster risk reduction, Margareta Wahlstrom, said soon after the Haiti earthquake. Time is of the essence in saving lives. Usually locals digging with their bare hands save more lives than well-equipped international rescue teams who arrive days after the quake. Terrain is an important factor in the impact of earthquakes. Building on steep slopes and on soft soil foundations increases the chance of buildings sinking or tipping over during an earthquake. The India/Pakistan earthquake of 2005 was magnitude 7.6. It killed nearly 75,000 people – including 16,000 children who were crushed when their classrooms collapsed on top of them. Aftershocks in the mountainous region caused countless landslides, blocking roads and hampering relief efforts. Measuring a tremorBack to top Earthquake size is measured by magnitude, a measure of the amount of energy a tremor releases. The magnitude is usually based on the scale worked out in 1935 by Charles Richter. But the "Richter scale" is unreliable for measuring larger earthquakes and has been heavily modified. The USGS favours describing quakes merely by "magnitude" and gives readings consistent with the Richter scale. Magnitude is the same no matter where you are, or how strong or weak the shaking is on the surface. Every increase of one whole number of magnitude represents a 10-fold increase in intensity. Below is a very rough guide to how magnitudes relate to the amount of shaking on the surface. If an earthquake of high magnitude occurs deep below the earth's surface the amount of shaking will be less than if it occurs nearer the surface. ◦Magnitude 2.5 or less - the earthquake is usually not felt ◦Magnitude 7.0-7.9 - major earthquake, serious damage ◦Magnitude 8.0 or greater - can totally destroy communities near the epicentre. Source: UPSeis Interesting facts: ◦The largest recorded earthquake in the world was magnitude 9.5 in Chile, May 22, 1960. ◦Most earthquakes occur at depths of less than 80 km (50 miles) from the Earth's surface. ◦The world's deadliest recorded earthquake occurred in 1556 in central China, where most people lived in caves carved from soft rock. An estimated 830,000 people died. ◦The earliest recorded evidence of an earthquake dates back to 1831 BC in China's Shandong province. Source: The U.S. Geological Survey's Earthquake Facts page. What to do during an earthquakeBack to top Here's what the American Red Cross says people should do during an earthquake: If you are inside when the shaking starts:◦Drop, cover and hold on. Move as little as possible. ◦If you are in bed, stay there, curl up and hold on. Protect your head with a pillow. ◦Stay away from windows to avoid being injured by shattered glass. ◦Stay indoors until the shaking stops and you are sure it is safe to exit. When it is, use stairs rather than the elevator in case there are aftershocks, power outages or other damage. ◦Be aware that fire alarms and sprinkler systems frequently go off in buildings during an earthquake, even if there is no fire. If you are outside when the shaking starts: ◦Find a clear spot (away from buildings, power lines, trees, streetlights) and drop to the ground. Stay there until the shaking stops. ◦If you are in a vehicle, pull over to a clear location and stop. Avoid bridges, overpasses and power lines if possible. Stay inside with your seatbelt fastened until the shaking stops. Then, drive carefully, avoiding bridges and ramps that may have been damaged. ◦If a power line falls on your vehicle, do not get out. Wait for assistance. ◦If you are in a mountainous area or near unstable slopes or cliffs, be alert for falling rocks and other debris. Landslides are often triggered by earthquakes. Jargon bustingBack to top Fault, fault plane – The edges where two tectonic plates move past each other. Hypocentre – The point at which the earthquake starts below the earth's surface. Epicentre - The point on the earth’s surface directly above the hypocentre. Foreshock – One of a series of smaller earthquakes that sometimes precede a big earthquake in the same place. Aftershock – One of the smaller earthquakes that happen after the main quake. If the mainshock (see below) is large, aftershocks can continue for weeks, months or even years. Mainshock - The main earthquake. Earthquake magnitude - The measured value of the earthquake size. It is a measurement of the size of the largest seismic wave recorded during a quake. The magnitude is the same no matter where you are, or how strong or weak the shaking is in various locations. Earthquake intensity - A measure of the shaking on the earth’s surface created by the earthquake. LinksBack to top For resources, including photos and topographical maps, see the U.S. Geological Survey's Learning Links. The USGS has also produced High Quality Earthquake Animations. For a full set of links to information about earthquakes, see the USGS's Earthquake Topics. The USGS also has information on animals and earthquake prediction. For what to do in an earthquake, see the American Red Cross's Earthquake Safety Checklist To see the latest earthquake alerts, visit: ◦USGS Latest Earthquakes ◦USGS Natural hazards - Earthquakes (Scroll down for latest quakes, with links to further information and local monitoring centres.) ◦The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System ========================== "I am sure (that) to have some shale gas option is a good instrument for our long-term negotiations (with) Gazprom and Russia," he said. =============================== Scale of damages: Nearly all of Mashkai town flattened, say survivors Injure­d victim­s are underg­oing treatm­ent at Karach­i hospit­als. By Sameer MandhroPublished: September 27, 2013 Share this article Print this page Email . A girl survivor of Balochistan’s deadly earthquake undergoes treatment at PNS Shifa hospital. PHOTO: APP KARACHI: Nearly all of Mashkai, a town of over 25,000 people, has been flattened in Tuesday’s earthquake that jolted the country’s largest, but sparsely populated, province of Balochistan. “It was a doomsday for us,” recalled Karim Dad, an earthquake survivor from Mashkai tehsil of Awaran district, who has come to Karachi for treatment. “There was a huge cloud of dust across the city and I heard cries from every direction.” The62-year-old feels as if the earthquake has ruined everything. Karim brought his wife and another relative to Civil Hospital, Karachi, on Thursday morning through an Edhi Ambulance. His 19-year-old daughter, Fatima, died when she couldn’t leave the room on time. “I had a six-room house but it was completely damaged,” he told The Express Tribune. “My daughter is buried under the debris.” Karim was taking a nap at his house when the house was shaken by strong jolts at around 4:15pm. “My room collapsed within seconds as I left it,” he remembered. According to his rough estimates, over 90 per cent of the houses, shops and other buildings in his home town have been flattened. “We had mud houses and almost all of them collapsed in the first jolts. The remaining ones will also fall down,” he feared. Scale of destruction For people living in far flung areas, it is really hard to imagine the scale of destruction. “The first thing we have to do is recover the bodies,” Karim said. “Then we should provide first aid to the injured persons as countless injured people are waiting for doctors.” By Wednesday afternoon – a day after the earthquake – only three Edhi ambulances managed to make their way to the remote town. “It took us 17 hours to reach Karachi,” said Karim, explaining that driving on the hilly terrain is difficult and most roads are damaged. He still finds it hard to shake away the memories of the countless injured people they met on their way to Karachi. “We couldn’t fit anymore people in the ambulance.” Another old survivor from Mashkai, Haji Abdul Aziz, was looking after his seven-year-old grand daughter, Mahnoor, and daughter Halima. The 67-year-old man lost five family members in the deadly earthquake after they waited for more than 24 hours for help. Hardly able to understand Urdu, Aziz said every house in Mashkai has been destroyed. “More people will die if rescue teams do not reach on time. People need food and medicine urgently.” The late arrival of the rescue teams did not go well with the residents. “We are considered insurgents,” explained an attendant, Yar Muhammad. “Do you think the entire population of our area is a rebel?” Relief efforts All the attendants stressed the need for medical camps in the affected areas, especially Awaran and Mashkai. “Thousands of people are living under the open sky. There is no shelter left for us.” A total of 12 injured survivors have been brought to Civil hospital so far and all of them have minor injuries, according to a medical officer. Meanwhile, Pakistan Relief Foundation chairperson Haleem Adil Sheikh said he was trying to take five truck loads of relief goods with him but he was stopped by the Frontier Constabulary. They told him that the law and order situation was not stable enough for a high-profile person to go there. Other vehicles that were part of large convoys were, however, allowed to go on. Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2013. =============== Published time: September 30, 2013 01:44 Get short URL Photo by NASA Photo by NASA Share on tumblrTags Earthquake, History, Natural disasters Amidst the destruction caused by the devastating earthquake in Pakistan that killed more than 500 people, a new island emerged from the depth of the sea. NASA has released images of the newly formed islet. NASA has released before and after photos of a new terrestrial body that was born on September 24 during a quake that struck Pakistan. Called Zalzala Jazeera, or a an earthquake island, the terrestrial formation can now be found 380 kilometers from the earthquake’s epicenter in Paddi Zirr Bay near Swadar, Pakistan in the Arabian Sea. The first image of the island was taken by NASA’s Earth Observing-1 satellite on September 26, while the second snapshot shows the same bay on April 17 with water and no landmass around the coordinates that the new island now inhabits. Photo by NASAPhoto by NASA Photo by NASAPhoto by NASA According to scientists, the depth of the water level around Zalzala Jazeera stands at about 15 to 20 meters, stretching 75 to 90 meters across. It lies approximately one mile from the shore. Scientists say the island is nothing more than just a pile of mud, sand and solid rock that was caused by the forces of highly pressurized gas. “The island is really just a big pile of mud from the seafloor that got pushed up. This area of the world seems to see so many of these features because the geology is correct for their formation. You need a shallow, buried layer of pressurized gas—methane, carbon dioxide, or something else—and fluids. When that layer becomes disturbed by seismic waves (like an earthquake), the gases and fluids become buoyant and rush to the surface, bringing the rock and mud with them,” Bill Barnhart, a geologist at the US Geological Survey told NASA’s Earth Observatory. The Earth Observatory says this is not the first island to have surfaced along the 700-kilometer-long coast over the past century. Scientists predict that the new island will remain above surface for up to a year before sinking back into the Arabian sea. The island rose out of the water during a 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Balochistan, just 69 km north-northeast of Awaran - the nearest Pakistani city - on 24 September 2013. Over 300,000 people were affected by the quake, which caused over 500 deaths, and some 21,000 houses were destroyed. People use boats as they visit an island that rose from the sea following an earthquake, off Pakistan's Gwadar coastline in the Arabian Sea September 25, 2013.(Reuters / Stringer)People use boats as they visit an island that rose from the sea following an earthquake, off Pakistan's Gwadar coastline in the Arabian Sea September 25, 2013.(Reuters / Stringer)

Major earthquake rocks Iran, Gulf and India

Major earthquake rocks Iran, Gulf and India Tue, Apr 16 07:27 AM EDT DUBAI (Reuters) - A major 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Iran near the border with Pakistan on Tuesday and tremors were felt in India and Gulf states. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit at 5.44 a.m. ET at a depth of 15.2 km (9.4 miles). The epicenter was in southeast Iran in an area of mountains and desert. It was located 201 km (125 miles) southeast of the Iranian city of Zahedan and 250 km northwest of Turbat in Pakistan, USGS said. Tall buildings shook in India's capital New Delhi, sending people running into the streets, witnesses said. People also evacuated shaking buildings in Qatar and Dubai, residents said. A powerful 6.3 magnitude quake struck close to Iran's only nuclear power station on April 9, killing 37 people and injuring 850 as it destroyed homes and devastated two villages. Most of Iran's nuclear-related facilities are located in central Iran or its west, including the Bushehr nuclear power plant on the Gulf coast. A U.S. Institute for Science and International Security map did not show any nuclear-linked facilities in southeastern Iran close to Pakistan. (Writing by Angus MacSwan; Editing by Janet Lawrence) Major earthquake rocks Iran, Gulf and India Tue, Apr 16 07:27 AM EDT DUBAI (Reuters) - A major 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Iran near the border with Pakistan on Tuesday and tremors were felt in India and Gulf states. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit at 5.44 a.m. ET at a depth of 15.2 km (9.4 miles). The epicenter was in southeast Iran in an area of mountains and desert. It was located 201 km (125 miles) southeast of the Iranian city of Zahedan and 250 km northwest of Turbat in Pakistan, USGS said. Tall buildings shook in India's capital New Delhi, sending people running into the streets, witnesses said. People also evacuated shaking buildings in Qatar and Dubai, residents said. A powerful 6.3 magnitude quake struck close to Iran's only nuclear power station on April 9, killing 37 people and injuring 850 as it destroyed homes and devastated two villages. Most of Iran's nuclear-related facilities are located in central Iran or its west, including the Bushehr nuclear power plant on the Gulf coast. A U.S. Institute for Science and International Security map did not show any nuclear-linked facilities in southeastern Iran close to Pakistan. (Writing by Angus MacSwan; Editing by Janet Lawrence) ============= 10-degree Map Centered at 30°N,60°E MAP 7.8 2013/04/16 10:44:21 28.107 62.053 82.0 IRAN-PAKISTAN BORDER REGION Skip to earthquake lists Strong 7.8 earthquake hits Iran, tremors felt in UAE The National staff Apr 16, 2013 Save this article -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A strong 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Iran, near the border with Pakistan, at 10.44 GMT (2.44pm UAE) today at a depth of 73 miles, the US Geological survey said. Related • ■ Earthquake: 37 dead and 850 injured in Iran by tremor that rocked UAE •■ Tremors from Pakistan quake ripple across UAE The epicentre was in south-east Iran in an area of mountains and desert, 201 kilometres south-east of the Iranian city of Zahedan and 250km north-west of Turbat in Pakistan, the USGS said. Tremors were felt across the Arabian Gulf and in New Delhi. Buildings in Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi were evacuated. Tall buildings shook in India’s capital New Delhi, sending people running into the streets, witnesses said. People also evacuated shaking buildings in Qatar and Dubai, residents said. A powerful 6.3 magnitude quake struck close to Iran’s only nuclear power station on April 9, killing 37 people and injuring 850 as it destroyed homes and devastated two villages. More to follow newsdesk@thenational.ae ================ Posted by Web Desk / Reuters / AFP QUETTA: A 5.4-magnitude earthquake struck parts of Pakistan and neighbouring countries on Tuesday killing 34 people, said officials. A major 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Iran near the border with Pakistan and tremors were felt in India and Gulf states. The US Geological Survey said the quake hit at 10:44 GMT at a depth of 15.2 km. The epicentre was in southeast Iran in an area of mountains and desert. It was located 201 km southeast of the Iranian city of Zahedan and 250 km northwest of Turbat in Pakistan, USGS said. Several people were injured in the Panjgur and Mashkeel areas of Balochistan, while around 50 people sustained injuries in Karachi in incidents of roof collapse. Over 1,000 houses were partially damaged in Balochistan. An Iranian government official said he expected hundreds of deaths from the earthquake. “It was the biggest earthquake in Iran in 40 years and we are expecting hundreds of dead,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Iranian city of Saravan, which lies near the centre of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake which hit the country on Tuesday, has not seen serious damage, the Fars news agency said. Tremors were felt in Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore, Larkana, Jacobabad, Quetta and other cities which created panic amongst people. However, no casualties were reported PPI reported. Office workers stand outside of their buildings following an earthquake tremor in Karachi April 16, 2013. PHOTO: REUTERS Express News reported that the earthquake was felt in Rahim Yar Khan, Serai Desert, Faisalabad, and Shahdadkot. In areas near Multan and DI Khan the tremors were felt for around ten seconds, but people were scared and evacuated immediately. Buildings in Karachi were immediately evacuated after the tremors were felt. Express employees exit the Karachi office after the earthquake. PHOTO: JAHANZAIB HAQUE “My desk started shaking and we ran out of the building. Since then we are standing outside our office,” a Karachi-ite shared his experience. People anticipating aftershocks in all the main areas of Karachi refused to go inside the buildings. Shahra-e-Faisal, an area with numerous offices, was crowded with people who evacuated their offices and were hesitant to go back inside the buildings. People evacuating from buildings in Karachi. PHOTO: SARA MUZZAMIL “Two of my colleagues fainted during the tremor but we were successful in evacuating through our emergency exit,” a citizen expressed his experience. After the sudden halt in flights, airport authorities announced that they would take-off as per schedule. In Balochistan, the earthquake was felt in Gadani, Harnai, Chaman and Gwadar. According to Met Office sources, the intensity of the earthquake was 5.4 magnitudes in Balochistan, however, some other geological sources said that the intensity was recorded at 6.4 magnitude. People running after the earthquake tremors. PHOTO: Maazj94 Strong tremors shook tall buildings in India’s capital New Delhi on Tuesday. A 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said. The quake hit 125 kilometres (77 miles) southwest of the town of Panguna on Bougainville Island at 8:00 pm local time (10:00 GMT), at a depth of 10 kilometres. ============= Earthquake kills 157, injures 5,700 in China's Sichuan Sat, Apr 20 12:49 PM EDT 1 of 2 By Michael Martina YA'AN, China (Reuters) - China's worst earthquake in three years on Saturday killed at least 157 people and injured more than 5,700, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said. The magnitude 6.6 quake hit a remote mountainous area of southwestern China's Sichuan province at 8:02 a.m. (0002 GMT), close to where an earthquake killed almost 70,000 people in 2008. The quake struck in Lushan county, near the city of Ya'an, at a depth of 12 km (7.5 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was felt in the provincial capital, Chengdu, and in neighboring provinces, causing many people to rush out of buildings, according to social network posts. Most of the deaths were concentrated in Lushan. Pictures on Chinese news sites showed toppled buildings and people in bloodied bandages being treated in tents outside the hospital. Water and electricity in the area were cut off by the quake. Premier Li Keqiang flew into the disaster zone by helicopter to voice support for the rescue operation. "The first 72 hours is the golden period for rescue," Li told officials, the Xinhua news agency reported. "We cannot delay by a minute." "Under the strong leadership of the party and the government, as long as we unite as one, and conduct the rescue in a scientific way, then there will be the conditions and the ability to minimize the losses to the greatest degree and to overcome the disaster," Li said. Chen Yong, the vice director of the Ya'an city government earthquake response office, told reporters: "We believe the number (of deaths) could rise somewhat, but it won't rise by much." Xinhua said 6,000 troops were in the area to help with rescue efforts. State television CCTV said only emergency vehicles were being allowed into Ya'an, although Chengdu airport had reopened. Rescuers in Lushan had pulled 91 survivors out of rubble, Xinhua said. In villages closest to the epicenter, almost all low-rise buildings had collapsed, footage on state television showed. "We are very busy right now, there are about eight or nine injured people, the doctors are handling the cases," said a doctor at a Ya'an hospital who gave her family name as Liu. The hospital was treating head and leg injuries, she said. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was in discussions with the Red Cross Society of China on whether international support was needed. LANDSLIDE WARNING The China Meteorological Association warned of the possibility of landslides in Lushan county on Saturday and Sunday. Lushan recorded 789 aftershocks after the earthquake, the China Earthquake Administration said. A resident in Chengdu, 140 km (85 miles) from Ya'an city, told Xinhua he was on the 13th floor of a building when he felt the quake. The building shook for about 20 seconds and he saw tiles fall from nearby buildings. Ya'an is a city of 1.5 million people and is considered one of the birthplaces of Chinese tea culture. It is also the home to one of China's main centers for protecting the giant panda. "There are still shakes and tremors and our area is safe. The pandas are safe," said a spokesman for Ya'an's Bifengxia nature park which houses more than 100 pandas. Shouts and screams were heard in the background while Reuters was on the telephone with the spokesman. "There was just an aftershock, an aftershock, our office is safe," he said. Sichuan is one of the four major natural gas-producing provinces in China, and its output accounts for about 14 percent of the nation's total. Sinopec Group, Asia's largest oil refiner, said its huge Puguang gas field was unaffected. The U.S. Geological Survey initially put the magnitude at 7, but later revised it down. The devastating May 2008 quake was magnitude 7.9. In 2010, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake killed 2,700 people in Yushu, a largely Tibetan region in northwest China. (Additional reporting by Melanie Lee and Lu Jianxin in Shanghai, Sui-Lee Wee in Beijing and Stephanie Ulmer-Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Jonathan Standing and Stephen Powell) ======= HOW TO: Measure an earthquake Source: IRIN - Mon, 3 Oct 2011 10:05 AM Author: IRIN BANGKOK, 3 October 2011 (IRIN) - While the Richter scale is the most easily recognized measure of an earthquake's magnitude, seismologists say several more dynamic measurement methods have eclipsed it since it was developed more than 70 years ago. IRIN considers current best practices around the world -from the standard magnitude indicators that replaced the Richter scale to prediction models that estimate an earthquake's economic impact on society. Moment magnitude scale (Mw) Today, the most common calculation method for magnitude - the amount of energy released by an earthquake at its source - is the moment magnitude scale (Mw). Developed in the 1970s by Hiroo Kanamori, professor emeritus at the California Institute of Technology, Mw was designed to succeed several magnitude scales, including the 1930s-era Richter scale, whose model was solely based on the geology of California, where earthquakes are mostly shallow. By taking into account the actual area of fault line ruptured, Mw gives a more consistent measurement to earthquakes no matter how deep. "The media still say Richter scale in news reports, but seismologists use magnitude only. Magnitude can be calculated with different formulas," Takeshi Koizumi, seismologist at the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) [ http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.html ], told IRIN. Koizumi said these data are very important for seismologists to predict tsunamis and other earthquake-induced hazards. Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MMI) Unlike the Richter scale and Mw, which assess the earthquake's size in terms of magnitude, the MMI [ http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/mercalli.php ] describes earthquakes in terms of intensity. Numbers are used to describe magnitude; Roman numerals are used to express intensity. Intensity - a completely different concept - indicates how much shaking is felt and the level of damage in a specific location, according to Peeranan Towashiraporn, an earthquake engineer at the Bangkok-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC). [ http://www.adpc.net/2011/? ] "Many people think high-magnitude earthquakes must result in greater damage, but this is not always the case, it depends on location. If you are far from the epicentre, intensity can be low and you may feel very little shaking," Towashiraporn explained. Amod Dixit, general secretary of Nepal's National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET), [http://www.nset.org.np/ ] says it is easier for non-scientists to understand earthquakes in terms of intensity. "Magnitude is a scientist's language. You and I are more concerned with the practical implications of an earthquake," he said. As a result, using magnitude to measure earthquakes often causes people to underestimate their impact. "Engineers here [in Nepal] claim to build houses that can withstand magnitude-7.0 earthquakes, but that doesn't mean it can withstand intensity IX. Low-magnitude earthquakes can also bring high intensity of shaking," Dixit said. Citing the magnitude-6.1 earthquake near Christchurch in New Zealand in February 2011 as an example, Towashiraporn agreed that magnitude alone can be misleading. "A moderate magnitude-6.1 earthquake can still cause significant damage and loss of life if it happens at a shallow depth and is very close to a highly populated area," he said. At least 181 people were killed, 1,500 injured and about 100,000 buildings destroyed or damaged, according to figures from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). [ http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usb0001igm.php ] The Japan Meteorological Agency seismic intensity scale (JMA) The JMA scale measures intensity in the units of "Shindo", and is analogous to the MMI. The only difference is JMA measures intensity from 0 to 7 and the MMI runs from I to XII. While the MMI is applied worldwide, JMA is only used in Japan and Taiwan. Koizumi said JMA gives the world's fastest intensity information. "The initial estimation comes in 1.5 minutes after an earthquake occurs. Then after a few seconds, a warning is issued to the general public on TV," he explained, adding that seismic intensity meters have been installed throughout the country, making calculation much faster. According to David Wald, seismologist at USGS, the USGS-developed ShakeMaps [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/shakemap/ �] - an automatically generated shaking and intensity map that combines instrumental measurement and local geology and earthquake information of a region - can also compute earthquake intensity in near real-time. Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) Against the decades-old debate of whether the magnitude scale or the intensity scale gives better earthquake measurement, the USGS developed this new technology in 2010. Taking into account the demographics, building types and economic and casualty data collected from past earthquakes, PAGER [ http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/pager/] estimates the shaking distribution, the number of people and settlements affected, and the possible fatalities and economic losses experienced. PAGER is still new to most people, but the information it offers is useful to governments and aid agencies. "The PAGER turns the estimates of damage into colour-coded alert levels, so local, national and international actors know what level of response is needed," Wald said. Apart from providing data for post-disaster mitigation, PAGER tops the other scales by generating information that helps prepare for earthquakes. "The PAGER highlights the most vulnerable structures that need improvement. This is especially important for developing countries where people don't always follow building codes," he said. "The system still awaits more awareness from governments, the scientific community and the media," Wald said. "To communicate the seriousness of earthquakes, magnitude and intensity alone are not enough." sh/nb/mw � IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org ==========================

Pakistan: Severe earthquakes leave thousands homeless

Magnitude 6.4
Date-Time

* Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 23:09:58 UTC
* Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 04:09:58 AM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 30.653°N, 67.323°E
Depth 15 km (9.3 miles) set by location program
Region PAKISTAN
Distances 60 km (35 miles) NNE of Quetta, Pakistan
185 km (115 miles) SE of Kandahar, Afghanistan
195 km (120 miles) NNE of Kalat, Pakistan
640 km (400 miles) WSW of ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 6.1 km (3.8 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters NST=130, Nph=130, Dmin=460.8 km, Rmss=1.23 sec, Gp= 25°,
M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=7
Source

* USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)

Event ID us2008yscs

* This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

29 Oct 2008 14:29:21 GMT
Source: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) - Switzerland

Geneva/Islamabad (ICRC) – Thousands of people have been made homeless and hundreds have been killed or injured by three earthquakes, which rocked southwest Pakistan before daybreak on Wednesday.

The consecutive quakes, with magnitudes of 6.2, 6.2 and 6.4 on the Richter scale respectively, hit the Balochistan province and were followed by aftershocks.

"There is no clear information yet on the number of dead or injured but initial reports indicate that hundreds of people may have been wounded or killed and that thousands may be without shelter," said the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross' (ICRC) sub-delegation in Quetta, Andrew Bartles-Smith.

Two ICRC teams have reached the affected area and are on the spot assessing the situation and needs.

They say aftershocks are continuing and that frightened residents are staying outdoors in the cold.

The affected districts are Pashin, Ziarat and Killa Saifullah.

It is a hilly region and several roads are reported to be blocked.

The total population of Ziarat district, reportedly the hardest hit, is estimated at around 50,000.

The Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has sent two teams to the earthquake-hit region to distribute relief supplies for 100 families.

The team includes 28 staff and volunteers, as well as two mobile health teams.

The ICRC intends to send medical kits to the region.

A surgical and medical team will fly from Peshawar early on Thursday.

The ICRC is working closely with the PRCS and stands ready to increase its humanitarian response to those in need.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is also sending a support team to the region, including a disaster management expert, a health specialist and an information officer.

The ICRC is also in contact with military and government authorities, as well as local officials, regarding the humanitarian response to the disaster.


For more information, please contact:
Carla Haddad Mardini, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 2405 or + 41 79 217 3226
Simon Schorno, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 79 251 9302
Marco Succi, ICRC Islamabad, tel: +92 300 850 81 38

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Government and aid agencies respond in Pakistan’s quake-affected province
31 Oct 2008 22:08:40 GMT
Source: World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe office (MEERO)
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
wvmeero logo
By Syed Haider Ali & Andrea Swinburne-Jones

After consultation with the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum consortium and assessing needs and the government's and general NGO capacity, World Vision has decided not to respond to the earthquake now.

Yesterday afternoon, the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum, an emergency consortium, of which World Vision Pakistan is a member, met to discuss the earthquake. Numerous PHF members provided information from some initial assessments conducted. Information gathered indicated that the current disaster was not large scale.

'Four INGOs that were on the ground prior to the disaster are currently providing assistance, and the government and military have mobilised a good response. Based on this information, World Vision Pakistan has decided to not respond to this disaster for the time being,' said Graham Strong, World Vision Pakistan Country Director.

Relief efforts in terms of blankets, tents and food are being provided. Most of the organisations who responded immediately were those already working in Balochistan.

World Vision does not have any programs in the affected province of Balochistan.

The 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck about 70 kilometres north of Quetta, just after 4am local time Wednesday.

The official death toll from the earthquake is 215, with 500 people injured and more than 15,000 displaced. Some 170 people, mainly women and children, were killed in Ziarat alone.

Some 2-3,000 houses have been reported damaged and 500 have collapsed. In the city of Ziarat, houses are either partially or severely damaged. Dozens of schools, hospitals, government buildings and mosques have been destroyed and the roads linking Ziyarat with affected villages were blocked by landslides.

The main areas affected by the earthquake are Harnai, Qilla Abdullah, Vaam, Kelli Zargoom, Bolan, Sibi, Pishin, Loralai, Kohlu, Mastung, Kalat, Dera Murad Jamali, Sani Shooran, Chaman, Toba Achakzai, and Zhob.

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has requested 2,000 tents and 5,000 blankets so far, to assist survivors.

PHF has developed a web-based co-ordination system, allowing the consortium to determine the category and level of any given disaster in Pakistan. According to PHF members, the current disaster was classified as a Category 1 with a Level One Response. The situation will be reviewed on a regular basis and if new information becomes available PHF will re-classify the disaster.

The emergency consortium, developed following the October 2005 earthquake that killed more than 73,000 people and injured a similar number. World Vision assisted more than 116,000 people in the past 3 years through its earthquake relief and rehabilitation project, to rebuild their lives.

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Pakistani quake surviors beg for shelter from cold
02 Nov 2008 12:32:04 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Gul Yousafzai

WAM KHAZI, Pakistan, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Villagers in a southwest Pakistani region hit by a powerful earthquake demanded shelter on Sunday saying they need help before a bitter winter sets in or their children could die.

The 6.4 magnitude quake struck Baluchistan, Pakistan's largest but poorest province on Wednesday, destroying or damaging thousands of mud homes and killing at least 215 people.

The epicentre was in Ziarat district, a picturesque valley framed by mountains and one of the region's main tourist spots. But night-time temperatures in the relatively high-altitude area are falling below freezing.

"We've got food, we've got relief, but we don't have tents which can save our children from the cold," said Rehmat Kakar, a 70-year-old farmer standing by the rubble of his house in Wam Khazi village.

"We want those tents urgently. Please save our children, don't let them die," said Kakar, who said that four of his seven children were killed in the quake.

The disaster struck just over three years after 73,000 people were killed by a 7.6 magnitude quake hit Pakistan's northern mountains. Last year, the worst floods on record in Baluchistan killed hundreds.

Scores of aftershocks, some nearly as strong as the original quake, have jolted the region since Wednesday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), one of several organisations helping with relief, appealed for $7.7 million to step up its emergency operations.

"Our priority will be to provide shelter as winter sets in," said Pascal Cuttat, head of the ICRC delegation in Islamabad.

"Because of continuing aftershocks, many people decided to sleep outdoors at altitudes of 2,000 to 2,500 metres (6,500-8,200 feet)," he said.

"GIVE US THE MONEY"

Another villager said with winter just weeks away, government aid efforts would be too slow.

"They should just give us money and let us rebuild our own houses," said Abdul Wahid.

There have been no reports of outbreaks of disease since the quake but aid officials say without proper shelter, people, especially children, will be vulnerable to common health risks.

A doctor from the paramilitary Frontier Corps helping with the relief effort said he was seeing many people, most of them children, with upper respiratory tract infections.

"We're receiving about 100 patients daily and the number may go up in coming weeks because of the cold," said the doctor, Usman Ahmed, in a clinic set up in Wam Khazi.

"Medical facilities are here but we need to do something urgently to keep people warm," he said.

The quake is one more headache for a government struggling with a balance of payments crisis and a surge of militant violence, but allies have promised help.

Saudi Arabia is giving $100 million while the United States and China had promised $1 million each for rehabilitation work.

Japan and several other countries had also promised help while the World Health Organisation said it was sending two truckloads of essential medicines and supplies.

The World Food Programme said it would provide 700 tonnes of dry food rations in initial relief supplies for an estimated 20,000 homeless.

But one aid group complained of poor coordination.

"There's duplication, like two agencies doing similar jobs in the same place," said Hafizullah Khan of the Muslim Hands international aid group. (Writing by Kamran Haider; Editing by Robert Birsel and Sami Aboudi)