The post Earthquake of magnitude 6.4 strikes near Zagreb, Croatia first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

A destroyed car in Zagreb, Croatia is seen following the earthquake [Darko Bandic/AP Photo]

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GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said the earthquake, which was felt across the Western Balkans, struck at a depth of 10km (six miles). It downgraded the magnitude to 5.3 from an initial reading of 6.0.

The quake struck at a depth of 10km and was felt across the Western Balkans [ Antonio Bronic/Reuters]

“It lasted over 10 seconds. By far the strongest I have ever felt,” one witness said, adding that it was followed by several aftershocks.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake measured 5.4, while the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) also reported a magnitude 5.3, followed by another magnitude 5.1 earthquake.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said the earthquake was the biggest in Zagreb in the last 140 years.

It caused widespread damage including to the city’s iconic cathedral, with the top of one of its two spires collapsing – all amid a partial coronavirus lockdown.

Downtown streets were littered with debris. Concrete slabs fell on cars and chimneys landed in front of entrances.

The earthquake damaged buildings, buried vehicles in rubble and caused several fires [Filip Horvat/AP]

Footage from the scene showed mothers dressed in nightgowns hugging their newborn babies in a car park as they evacuated a damaged maternity hospital amid freezing temperatures.

The women, newborn babies, and incubators were being moved to a new location with the help of the army.

In Zagreb, people fled apartments and took to the streets while parts of the capital experienced electricity cuts. A church bell tower was damaged and some buildings collapsed, Reuters news agency reported.

Several fires were also reported. Residents shared photos of belongings falling off shelves, broken bottles, and glass inside homes.

Officials first said a 15-year-old was killed, but doctors later said she was in critical condition and they were fighting to save her life. They gave no immediate details on the extent of other injuries.

A man looks at damages at the Basilica of the Heart of Jesus, following an earthquake in Zagreb [Antonio Bronic/Reuters]

‘Complex situation’

Croatia’s Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic issued an appeal on Twitter for people in the streets to keep a social distance from each other as the country struggles to contain the spread of the coronavirus. So far, Croatia has confirmed 206 cases of the virus and one death.

Up to five people are allowed to be together while keeping distance.

The prime minister urged the citizens to remain calm and stay outside their homes in the central parts of Zagreb, which sustained the most damage.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/croatia-zagreb-rocked-powerful-earthquake-200322080421838.html

The post Croatia’s Zagreb rocked by powerful earthquake first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Iran’s capital, Tehran, is irreversibly sinking. But not economically speaking — it is literally sinking deeper into the ground by dozens of centimeters every year, according to recent research conducted by the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. Using satellite data in the period between 2003 and 2017, researchers detected that the western part of the city, situated on the Tehran Plains, and the southeast suburbs of the city, Varamin Plain, are “sinking” by about 25cm per year. These regions include both urban and agricultural sectors of the capital.

Tehran’s international airport is also in the risk zone, but is currently it descending at a slower pace — 5cm a year. According to the research, a total of 10% of the city’s urban area is affected by the phenomenon.

The presumed reason behind the sinking is the significant depletion of the aquifer beneath the city as a result of its overuse by the capital’s population and surrounding agricultural activities. Another problem is the illegal pumping of groundwater — in Teheran, there are some 30,000 illegal wells, which are further lowering the underground water levels.

Possibly the worst thing about the phenomenon is the risk of it being irreversible — research shows that refilling groundwater reserves doesn’t “lift up” soil that has already sunk. Along with the decreasing porosity of the underlying bedrock, it creates the conditions for potential massive flooding in the Iranian capital.

This problem comes as Iran is struggling to overcome US economic sanctions, which seek to curb the country’s energy exports and sever its ties with foreign businesses by excluding Iranian banks from SWIFT. The sanctions were imposed after Washington announced its withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, a move which sent the two countries’ bilateral relations into a nosedive.

At the same time, Iran is working jointly on a workaround in order to safely work with European firms and bypass the US sanctions. Tehran also warned Washington against limiting its oil exports, threatening to block all energy exports from the Gulf States.

Source: https://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/Story/33828/Iran-at-a-low-point-Tehran-is-sinking-and-it-may-be-irreversible

The post Iran at a Low Point: Tehran Is Sinking, and It May Be Irreversible first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.