At least four people are dead and the toll is expected to rise after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck the Xinjang region of China.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake took place in one of the “most seismically hazardous regions on Earth” and centered the quake 59 miles southeast of Yilkiqi, China.
“If many people are gathered in one place during an earthquake, it can lead to a serious disaster, but in this case, there were relatively few people so it isn’t so serious,” China Earthquake Networks Center researcher Sun Shihong told state broadcaster China Central Television.
Dozens are reported injured by multiple sources and the government reported thousands of homes and buildings in the region were damaged or destroyed.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs put the number of damaged homes alone at 3,000.
Over 1,000 tents are being sent into the region to provide temporary shelter for families who have lost their homes.
Canadian officials confirmed a magnitude 3.6 earthquake rattled Nova Scotia on the country’s independence day.
Natural Resources Canada (NRC) reported that the quake struck about 37 miles west-southwest of the town of Digby in the Gulf of Maine.
Residents say the quake lasted around 10 seconds. Helen Teed, who lives near the epicenter, told the Canadian Broadcasting Company.
“It’s an old house, and we felt the walls crackling a little bit,” Teed said. “It wasn’t shaking things off my wall, but it made the house crack. Creaking, crack, I don’t know, I’ve never experienced this before so I don’t know how to explain it.”
Mike Springer was on the golf course when it struck and looked at his watch to see it was 3:33 p.m. when the quake struck.
“Holy mackerel,” he said. “I didn’t think we had earthquakes in Nova Scotia.”
The NRC reported no damage from the quake.
Scientists are trying to explain a 3.3 magnitude earthquake that struck 13 miles southeast of Battle Creek, Michigan Wednesday.
The quake was recorded 20 miles from the epicenter of a 4.2 magnitude earthquake that struck on May 2nd, the strongest recorded in Michigan in 67 years.
The Wednesday quake was far enough apart from May’s quake that scientists say it’s not an aftershock of the first. Apparently there are two separate fault lines in the region. The first quake revealed a fault line that had only been previously speculated by scientists but had not been proven.
“After the May event, I suspected we wouldn’t see another event, so I was a bit surprised by this one,” said Harley Benz, a seismologist with U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). “What more surprised me is that they weren’t in the same locations.”
John Yellich of the Michigan Geological Survey concurred the two quakes were not connected.
“Two separate ones today. That’s what it looks like,” Yellich said. “Nothing unusual and the fact that we are getting two of them in the same area, it could be that it’s all of this movement just readjusting. It appears to be two different areas.”
Benz said the quakes could be “glacial rebound”, a conditions where land masses pressed down by tons of ice during Michigan’s last glacial period are starting to rise.
While some environmentalists were quick to related the quakes to the process known as “fracking”, Benz said that evidence shows the quakes are tectonic, or related to the natural movements of the earth’s crust.
A small Alabama county has experienced its 16th earthquake in just eight months.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported a 3.8 magnitude earthquake struck Greene County, Alabama around 1:44 a.m. The quake centered 12 miles northwest of Eutaw at a depth of 3.1 miles.
The county is the least populated county in the state. There has been a cluster of quakes in the Northwest portion of the county.
“We do know that clusters of earthquakes occur from time to time as part of normal seismic activity in our dynamic planet,” Sandy Ebersole of the Geological Survey of Alabama said to AL.com. “These clusters often go unnoticed, but are of interest to those studying geology and seismology as they can teach us more about fault movement, subsurface structures, and stress in the crust.
“These earthquake clusters or swarms are very rarely followed by a large magnitude earthquake.”
Monday’s quake was the strongest since November 2014.
A major earthquake struck beneath the Hawaiian city of Volcano on Saturday evening.
The 5.2 magnitude quake was the strongest of 94 quakes that have struck the region in the last two weeks.
The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said that the quake caused no injuries and it doesn’t appear that any of the volcanoes are experiencing a major change in their activity.
“HVO monitoring networks have not detected any significant changes in activity at the summits or rift zones of Kilauea or other Hawaiian volcanoes,” HVO’s Scientist-in-Charge Tina Neal said.
Five aftershocks were recorded within an hour of the main quake with the strongest measuring magnitude 3.1.
The park is home to two active volcanoes including Kulauea, considered one of the world’s most active.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake did not cause a tsunami in the region.
Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung has now released a plume of ash strong enough to cover the provincial capital of North Sumatra.
The residents of Medan now have to don masks to be able to breathe when they step outside of their homes or businesses. The city is located 31 miles from the volcano and has a population of 3.4 million people.
The monitoring post watching the mountain says seven hot ash avalanches slid down the mountain on Wednesday for a distance of 10,500 feet. The ash cloud from the eruptions rose over a mile into the sky.
Mount Sinabung, located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, had been dormant for 400 years before roaring to life in 2010. Scientists who are investigating the rebirth of dormant volcanoes have published a study suggesting that earthquakes could be the cause.
Solid Earth, the journal of the European Geosciences Union, suggests that “megathrust earthquakes” in the region around previously dormant volcanoes could be the cause of new eruptions. In the case of Mount Sinabung, three megathrust quakes between 2005 and 2007 could have sparked the volcano’s 2010 awakening. These earthquakes include the magnitude 8.6 earthquake in 2005, the magnitude 7.9 earthquake in 2007, and another magnitude 8.4 earthquake in 2007.
The massive 7.8 earthquake that rocked Nepal and left hundreds dead still hasn’t been fully noted by the government but a report on the state of the healthcare system shows the country is in serious trouble.
A new report given to the Nepal planning commission shows that one third of the nation’s healthcare system has been destroyed or severely damaged to the point it is currently inoperable. Almost 450 public health facilities in the nation were completely destroyed by the quake and its aftershocks.
Over 700 public health facilities have been reported with significant damage although they are still able to provide some services.
The total value of the damage is estimated to be around $58 million and the estimate cost to rebuild is close to $110 million over the next five years.
The situation is being complicated by the monsoon season with landslides threatening some of the remaining damaged healthcare structures.
The WHO said Nepal was one of the worst nations in the world for healthcare before the quake, with only 2.1 doctors per 10,000 residents of the population. The WHO says native doctors head for more industrialized nations in search of better pay and working conditions.
“Health services must be rebuilt and made accessible to all, while risk-reduction programmes must be implemented at the sub-national level,” Poonam Khetrapal Singh, the WHO regional director for Southeast Asia, wrote last week. “Soil testing, the enforcement of health facility-related building codes, and investment in design of quake-proof facilities and homes must be encouraged across the country.”
The death toll has climbed to 16 from a Friday earthquake in Malaysia.
The 5.9-magnitude quake struck around Mount Kinabalu in Sabah state. The quake rained boulders and rocks down around the mountain and blocked hiking trails, trapping climbers on the country’s highest peak.
One survivor told the Associated Press that rescue efforts were scarce and that they “waited for a helicopter that never came.”
One group of 21 climbers on the mountain trekked down the mountain after promised helicopter rescue didn’t arrive for them either.
“There were risks of us dying up there of cold overnight,” said 23-year-old Sabah native Amanda Peter. “The guide said we either die of waiting or we die trying. So we all chose to try walking down ourselves.”
Peter noted her group saw two dead hikers laying on rocks as they made their descent.
“It really affected me as it could have been me. I was lucky to be given a chance to live,” she said.
Among the dead were six children from Singapore on a school trip. Their teacher and guide also perished.
Local officials admitted it was “easy to pick on weaknesses” of the rescue operation and that they would be examining shortcomings after the current incident has passed.
Japanese seismologists are warning citizens to prepare for “Big One” after a 7.8 magnitude quake struck off the country’s coast Saturday night.
The quake, more than 540 miles from the nation’s capital, was strong enough to make buildings in the capital shake for more than a minute. No serious damage was reported and no tsunami was issued for the country.
However, a dozen people were injured, mostly from falls.
“This was a very big quake… the shaking was felt over a broad area… fortunately, because it was deep, there is little danger of a tsunami,” Naoki Hirata, of the University of Tokyo’s earthquake research center, told the BBC.
The Saturday quake was followed Sunday morning by a 6.2 magnitude quake.
Experts are saying that the recent seismic activity around the country, which includes the eruption of Mt. Shindake, could mean that active crustal changes are taking place.
“I can say Japan is in an active stage now,” said Toshiyasu Nagao, head of Earthquake Prediction Research Centre at Tokai University.
“Considering the geographic location of Japan, we can say the current activities are rather normal and it was too quiet [before the 2011 earthquake],” Nagao told AFP. “We should be vigilant by knowing that an earthquake sizeable enough to affect our society can occur any time in the future.”
The death toll from the massive earthquakes and aftershocks in Nepal has become the largest in the country’s history.
Officials confirmed the death toll has passed 8,500.
The official count of 8,583 passed the previous record of 8,519 set in 1934. The 1934 quake also led to the deaths of thousands in neighboring India which was spared the same level of devastation in the dual quakes.
Officials also reported over 250,000 homes confirmed destroyed by the quake or resulting landslides.
Hundreds are still missing including 112 foreigners, although officials said those foreigners could have simply left the country without informing officials they were survivors of the quake.
United Nations officials say the death toll in the region could go higher in the coming months as refugees who lost their homes and belongings have to face disease, starvation and the upcoming monsoon season. The UN reports impassable roads and the country’s looming monsoon season are hampering relief efforts.
The UN is attempting to raise $423 million from countries around the world for relief in Nepal but only 16% of that goal has been raised.
The rescue efforts have also been hampered by ongoing aftershocks. A 5.7 magnitude aftershock struck the region Saturday.
