Geology, Earthquakes & Volcanism News and Discussions

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Earthquake Rattles Western China, Killing More Than 100 People
by John Ruwitch
December 19, 2023

Introduction:

(NPR) BEIJING — A strong earthquake struck a remote part of western China overnight killing at least 118 people and injuring more than 500, the state news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday.

The tremblor hit Jishishan County, in the southwestern part of Gansu province near the border with Qinghai province — a mountainous region populated, in part, by members of the Tibetan, Hui, Dongxiang and Salar ethnic groups.

Xinhua said the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.2. Of the dead, 105 were in Gansu and another 13 in Qinghai.

The quake damaged water, electricity, transport, communications and other infrastructure in the area, it said.

Read more here: https://www.npr.org/2023/12/18/1220173 ... people/

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87,000 China Quake Evacuees Persevere in Freezing Cold Weather
December 20, 2023

Introduction:

(Kyodo News) About 87,000 people evacuated from damaged houses in northwestern China following a major earthquake earlier this week have been struggling to cope with freezing weather, with the death toll from the disaster topping 130, local authorities and media reports said Wednesday.

The 6.2 magnitude quake, which struck at around midnight Monday in Jishishan county of China's Gansu Province, injured some 1,000 people in the region and neighboring Qinghai, where at least a dozen residents remain missing.

To keep evacuees warm as temperatures fell below minus 10 C, local authorities in Gansu have provided shelters with some 7,000 items of heating equipment, such as coal-fired stoves. Thousands of houses have been destroyed, with infrastructure related to water, electricity and roads damaged.
A 66-year-old local resident in Jishishan said she moved to a tent with six members of her family because their home was ruined and they could not secure water. "I'm afraid of aftershocks," she said.

Zhao Dengcai, 40, who lives in a community near a shelter, said the wall of his house was cracked and that he was using a blanket to try to keep warm while sleeping amid a power outage caused by the quake. "I cannot think about what I should do now," he said.

Read more here: https://english.kyodonews.net/news/202 ... her.html

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China Expresses 'Sincere Thanks' for Taiwan's Aid after Gansu Earthquake
by Jono Thomson
December 29, 2023

Introduction:

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China’s Taiwan Affairs Office has expressed “sincere gratitude” to Taiwanese businesses and individuals that provided aid to earthquake-stricken areas in Gansu Province.

A spokesperson for the Office said on Thursday (Dec. 27) that more than NT$172 million (US$5.64 million) had been donated by Taiwanese businesses and individuals so far. The spokesperson said that among the Taiwanese businesses that donated were iPhone manufacturer Foxconn, media and snack group Want Want, and other groups founded by Taiwanese business people in China.

On Monday Reuters reported the death toll from the 6.2 magnitude earthquake in northwest China had risen to 149, and more than 200,000 homes had been wrecked. A spokesperson for Taiwan’s National Fire Agency told Taiwan News on Friday that rescue teams were on standby to travel to Gansu, though they were told by Chinese authorities that they currently had enough assistance from other teams.

Read more here: https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/5068198

[weatheriscool]

Tonga volcano eruption was fueled by 2 merging chambers that are still brimming with magma

By Sascha Pare( livescience.com ) published about 19 hours ago

Researchers have mapped the magma plumbing system beneath Tonga's underwater volcano and discovered three magma chambers, two of which fed the record-shattering 2022 eruption.

Almost two years after a humongous eruption rocked Tonga's Hunga volcano in the southwest Pacific Ocean, scientists have finally mapped the huge magma plumbing system that gave birth to the record-breaking blast.

On Jan. 15, 2022, a volcano beneath the island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai exploded with such force it triggered the most intense lightning storm ever recorded and the first documented mega tsunami since antiquity. The eruption was felt worldwide, but the volcano's underwater setting posed a challenge for scientists trying to understand how such a violent blast occurred.

Now, in a study published Dec. 15 in the journal Science Advances, researchers have mapped slight variations in the pull of gravity in waters around the island before and after the eruption and found the explosion was likely fed by two magma chambers that merged.

"I was happily surprised that we can indeed image a relatively large magmatic system using this kind of dataset and method," said lead author Hélène Le Mével, a volcanologist and staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington D.C. This kind of work "is rarely done to study submarine volcanoes," Le Mével told Live Science in an email.

More:
https://www.space.com/tonga-volcano-sti ... tification

[wjfox]

Tsunami warning in Japan after strong earthquake

1 January 2024

— Japan has issued a major tsunami warning after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the central region

— Residents in the coastal Noto area in Ishikawa prefecture were asked to "evacuate immediately to higher ground," national broadcaster NHK said

— The first tsunami waves, some more than a metre high, have arrived on the northern coast of central Japan, NHK says

— Authorities have warned that waves as high as 5m could reach Noto

— They have also issued tsunami warnings for neighbouring Niigata and Toyama prefectures, warning that waves there could reach 3m

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-asia-67856144

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Japan issues major tsunami warning for coastal prefecture after 7.6 magnitude earthquake

Source: The Guardian

A major tsunami warning has been issued in Japan’s Ishikawa prefecture, national broadcaster NHK reported, after a series of earthquakes – one with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 – hit the country’s west.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning along coastal regions of Niigata and Toyama prefectures as well.

NHK TV warned torrents of water could reach as high as 5 metres and urged people to flee to high land or a top of a nearby building as quickly as possible.

The broadcaster reported that a tsunami with a height of 1.2 metres reached Wajima city in Ishikawa and another reaching 40cm was recorded at Kashizawaki city.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... earthquake

[Time_Traveller]

Earthquake shakes California with 4.1 magnitude tremor on New Year’s Day

2 hours ago



A magnitude 4.1 earthquake was reported offshore in California on the morning of New Year’s day, according to the US Geological Survey.

The seismic event occurred at 8:27 am local time 11 miles from Rancho Palos Verdes, and 13 miles from Los Angeles.

An average of five earthquakes with magnitudes between 4.0 and 5.0 occur per year in the greater Los Angeles area, according to a recent three-year data sample cited by TheLos Angeles Times.

According to Michigan Technological University, tremors between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude are often felt but rarely cause much damage. Those below 2.5 magnitude are seldom felt by most people.

Shaking was reportedly felt throughout the Southern California region on Monday, though there were no immediate reports of injuries or damages.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 71845.html

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