The death toll from Indonesia’s massive earthquake will likely double as officials reach rural communities wiped out by landslides that buried more than 600 people under mountains of mud. Virtually nothing remained of four villages on a hillside on the Padang Pariman district in Indonesia’s
Posts Tagged ‘quake’
Race to save Sumatra quake buried
October 2nd, 2009 |
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Rescue teams are struggling to dig survivors buried under rubble following a devastating earthquake on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Many people are thought to be trapped under rubble after the 7.6-magnitude quake struck on Wednesday.
Frantic search as Indonesia quake toll tops 1,000
October 2nd, 2009 |
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Rescuers dug feverishly on Friday through the rubble of a school and other buildings toppled by an earthquake in the Indonesian port of Padang, but  few victims were being found alive two days after the tremor. The United Nations said more than 1,000 had been killed in and around the city
Indonesia quake deaths pass 450
October 1st, 2009 |
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At least 464 people are now known to have died in a powerful quake that struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Wednesday, the government says. Rescuers struggled in heavy rain on Thursday to find survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Indonesia quake death toll 100-200: disaster agency
October 1st, 2009 |
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AÂ powerful earthquake, which struck near the city of Padang on Indonesia’s Sumatra island on Wednesday, has killed between 100 and 200 people, but thousands remain buried in rubble, officials said on Thursday morning. Priyadi Kardono, spokesman for the national disaster agency, gave the
Strong quake hits off Indonesia
September 30th, 2009 |
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A strong earthquake has just struck off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake, with an epicenter 20 km off Padang, had a magnitude of 7.9.
Rescuers search for survivors after Bhutan quake kills 11
September 22nd, 2009 |
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Officials say rescue workers are fanning out across eastern Bhutan, one day after an earthquake shook the tiny isolated Himalayan nation. Dorji Nurbo, Bhutan’s top home ministry official, says 11 people were killed in Monday’s 6.3-magnitude earthquake that damaged an ancient monastery and
Over 400 families homeless after Georgia quake
September 9th, 2009 |
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More than 400 families were left homeless after a powerful earthquake struck northwestern Georgia, the regional governor told RIA Novosti on Wednesday. The earthquake, measuring 8 on the Richter scale, struck Georgia’s Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti region early on Tuesday. Georgian environment officials said hundreds of houses were destroyed in the town of Oni and in other locations. No casualties were reported.
Hopes fade for missing after Indonesia quake
September 5th, 2009 |
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Rescuers in Indonesia continued to search Saturday as hopes faded for dozens of people missing after a major 7.0-magnitude earthquake, an official said. The quake, which struck off the south coast of Java on Wednesday, triggered a landslide that buried dozens of people in the village
Indonesia quake death toll at 46, likely to rise
September 3rd, 2009 |
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Indonesian villagers searched frantically on Thursday for people buried under collapsed buildings. It came after a powerful quake killed at least 46 and damaged thousands of homes in the hills of West Java.
Strong quake strikes Indonesia’s Sumatra, seven hurt: official
August 16th, 2009 |
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Seven people were injured after a strong, 6.9-magnitude quake struck Indonesia’s western Sumatra Sunday, an official said. The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 2:38 pm (0738 GMT), was located 43 kilometres (29 miles) southeast of Siberut island off western Sumatra. It was measured at a
Strong quakes hit Japan and India
August 11th, 2009 |
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A strong earthquake has struck Tokyo and central Japan, halting train services, closing motorways and causing a nuclear power station to shut down.
At least 43 people were injured by the magnitude 6.4 quake, many of them by falling objects, officials said. No deaths have been reported.
Separately, there was another powerful earthquake off India’s Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean.
Both earthquakes triggered tsunami alerts, which were later cancelled.
‘Huge tremble’
In Japan, the magnitude 6.4 quake shook buildings, threw objects from shelves and jolted people from their sleep in Tokyo area at 0507 (2007 GMT Monday).
The quake was centred in the Pacific Ocean, about 170km (105 miles) south-west of Tokyo, the US Geological Survey reported.
Of those injured, at least three people are thought to be in a serious condition.
"It was a huge tremble, like nothing I had experienced before," said Tadao Negami, a 69-year-old resident of Mishima city in Shizuoka.
"I couldn’t stay seated on a chair. My daughter and my grandchildren were scared and surprised and they rushed downstairs," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
A large landslide triggered by the quake damaged a highway at Makinohara, Shizuoka, causing long traffic jams, television footage showed.
The Hamaoka nuclear plant in Shizuoka immediately shut down two reactors after the quake, and the Shinkansen bullet train service was briefly suspended.
‘Big one’ expected
While officials said there was no risk of a tsunami in Japan, another earthquake in India’s Andaman Islands, prompted tsunami warnings there.
The US Geological Survey said the quake – unrelated to Japan’s – with a 7.6 magnitude hit the Indian Ocean about 257km (160 miles) north of Port Blair in the Andaman Islands.
A tsunami watch called for India, Burma, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh was later lifted without any tsunami being recorded.
An earlier earthquake of magnitude 6.9 hit Japan on Sunday, but caused no damage or casualties.
Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, and experts believe Tokyo has a 90% chance of being hit by a major quake over the next 50 years.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Strong quake rattles Tokyo, disrupts transport
August 11th, 2009 |
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A strong earthquake jolted Tokyo and surrounding areas early Tuesday morning, throwing food and bottles from store shelves, disrupting transport and closing a nuclear power plant for safety checks. The magnitude 6.5 quake centred around 150 km (90 miles) southwest of Tokyo damaged the main
Close neighbours: Quake edges NZ towards Australia
July 22nd, 2009 |
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A massive earthquake last week has brought New Zealand closer to Australia, scientists say.
The 7.8 magnitude quake in the Tasman Sea has expanded New Zealand’s South Island westwards by about 30cm (12in).
Seismologist Ken Gledhill, of GNS Science, said the shift demonstrated the huge force of the tremor.
But the BBC’s Andre Vornic says that with more than 2,250km (1,400 miles) separating the countries, the narrowing will not exactly be visible.
Nor, as the New Zealand media have observed, is it likely to bring cheaper air fares.
Tsunami alert
The quake was powerful enough to generate a small tsunami with a wave of one metre (3ft) recorded on the west coast of New Zealand.
People in coastal areas were for a time advised to move to higher ground.
While the south-west of the South Island moved about 30cm towards Australia, the east coast moved only one centimetre westwards, Dr Gledhill said.
"Basically, New Zealand just got a little bit bigger is another way to think about it," he told AFP news agency.
Although it was New Zealand’s biggest earthquake in 78 years, it caused only slight damage to buildings and property when it struck in the remote Fiordland region west of Invercargill last Thursday.
"For a very large earthquake, although it was very widely felt, there were very few areas that were severely shaken," Dr Gledhill said.
GNS Science is a research organisation run by the New Zealand government.
New Zealand frequently suffers earthquakes because it sits on the meeting point of the Australian and Pacific continental plates.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Quake sparks NZ-Australia alert
July 15th, 2009 |
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A 7.8-magnitude earthquake has shaken New Zealand, prompting a tsunami warning for parts of the Pacific Ocean.
The quake struck off the south-west tip of New Zealand, 161km (100 miles) west of Invercargill at a depth of 33km (20 miles), the US Geological Survey said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a "non-expanding regional tsunami warning" for nearby areas.
There were no immediate reports of damage or any evidence that a tsunami had formed after the quake.
"An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines in the region near the epicentre within minutes to hours," the warning centre said in a statement.
The quake was detected at 0922GMT (2122 local time), reports said.
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China Earthquake Displaces 250,000 People
July 11th, 2009 |
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GUANTUNXIANG, China — Thousands camped in tents in southwestern China on Saturday after a magnitude-6.0 earthquake destroyed thousands of homes, killed one person and injured 320, state media reported.
At the epicenter of Thursday’s qua…