The earthquake, which struck at 11:20 a.m. local time on Tuesday, was centered in the Flores Sea, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Maumere, one of the largest towns on Flores Island, which is west of Timor-Leste (East Timor).

Indonesia’s seismological agency BMKG put the preliminary magnitude for Tuesday’s quake at 7.4. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), however, put the magnitude at 7.3, down from an earlier reading of 7.6. Both said the earthquake struck at a shallow depth of 12 to 18 kilometers (7 to 11 miles).

Tsunami warnings were immediately issued for nearby coastlines, prompting scores of people to flee to higher ground. The warnings were later downgraded to tsunami advisories, which were canceled at 1:25 p.m. after only small tsunami waves had been recorded.

The USGS estimates that up to 21 million people could have felt Tuesday’s earthquake, of which 347,000 people may have felt “moderate” shaking and “strong” shaking for about 2,000 people. Homes were reportedly damaged on Selayar Island, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Indonesia is on the so-called ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’, an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent and large earthquakes.

A 9.1-magnitude earthquake, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded, struck off the west coast of Sumatra in December 2004, causing a massive tsunami that struck countries across the Pacific Ocean. At least 227,898 people were killed.

Source: https://bnonews.com/index.php/2021/12/powerful-quake-southern-indonesia-tsunami-alert-canceled/

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Residents scrambled to higher ground or to evacuate coastal towns late Wednesday and early Thursday after a massive earthquake struck off Alaska’s coast, triggering aftershocks and now-canceled tsunami warnings.

Pat Branson, mayor of Kodiak, the major city of Alaska’s Kodiak Island, told CNN the magnitude 8.2 earthquake was the strongest in the area since the 1960’s. The quake triggered the area’s third evacuation in 18 months.

If the magnitude 8.2 estimate holds, the quake may be the most powerful in North America since a magnitude 8.7 earthquake in Alaska, Brian McNoldy, senior research associate at University of Miami’s Department of Atmospheric Science, said on Twitter.

Wednesday’s quake hit 56 miles east southeast of Perryville, Alaska, at about 8:15 p.m, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The earthquake was felt throughout the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak, the Alaska Earthquake Center said.

At least two strong aftershocks with preliminary magnitudes of 6.2 and 5.6 occurred within a half hour of the first quake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Based on preliminary seismic data, the earthquake may have caused light to moderate damage and probable moderate shaking.

The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center early Thursday canceled a tsunami warning issued for parts of the state.

“Remember, strong and unusual currents may continue for several hours,” a tweet from the center said. “If you have damage, please report it to your local officials.”

The tsunami warning was canceled after waves of less than one foot arrived onshore, The Anchorage Daily News reported.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center previously issued a notice saying the potential threat to Guam and American Samoa was still under investigation. The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center later alerted that no significant tsunami is expected and California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska are “all clear.” A tsunami warning issued for Hawaii was also canceled.

Kodiak police advised residents to move to higher ground following the earthquake and added the local high school was open as an evacuation location.

People took to social media to share videos of themselves evacuating homes and moving to higher ground amid blaring warning sirens.

In Sand Point, Alaska, Patrick Mayer, superintendent of schools for the Aleutians East Borough, told the Anchorage Daily News he was sitting in his kitchen when the shaking started.

“It started to go and just didn’t stop,” he told the newspaper. “It went on for a long time and there were several aftershocks, too. The pantry is empty all over the floor, the fridge is empty all over the floor.”

Mayer said he evacuated to the local school, which was located on higher ground.

Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, told the newspaper he expects any damage from the earthquake may be revealed later in the morning.

The Anchorage Daily News reported that the earthquake was the third major quake in the area in 13 months.

Alaska is located along the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire, which is a horseshoe-shaped geological disaster zone and hotbed for tectonic and volcanic activity.

The state was previously hit by the strongest earthquake ever recorded in North America: the 9.2-magnitude Good Friday earthquake in 1964 that led to 131 deaths and $2.3 billion in property loss, according to the USGS.

Contributing: The Associated Press.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alaska earthquake: Tsunami warning lifted after 8.2 magnitude quake

Source: https://news.yahoo.com/alaska-earthquake-may-most-powerful-123242517.html

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The post A powerful 7.0-magnitude (6.8) earthquake has struck off the coast of northern Chile. first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

A number of people living near the coast were evacuated as a precaution, according to BNO News. There were no reports of casualties.

GFZ reported aftershocks of around magnitudes 6.2 and 5.5.

There was no tsunami threat from the earthquake, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

GFZ earlier showed the magnitude as 7, with the quake at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles).

Chile is on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin which is prone to frequent earthquakes.

In June, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Chile´s mineral-rich northern desert. Damage in that quake was minimal and mining companies in the region had told Reuters their operations had not been affected.

Mine facilities and other infrastructure in Chile are built to withstand extraordinarily large quakes.

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JAKARTA (AFP) – A strong 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck off the Indonesian coast early on Monday (Jan 7), sending residents running out of their homes, but no tsunami warning was issued.

The quake hit at a depth of 60km under the Molucca Sea, some 175km north-north-west of the city of Ternate, according to the United States Geological Survey.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties and Indonesia’s geophysics agency did not issue a tsunami alert.

“We felt the quake and some people got out of their house but there was no real panic. There is no damage in my area,” said a man from Ternate called Budi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

Mr Bani Nasution, who was in the city of Manado when the quake struck, told AFP: “I ran out of my house and so did other people here, but we’ve all returned to our houses now.” A series of aftershocks also rocked the area.

Indonesia is still reeling from a deadly tsunami at the end of December triggered by an erupting volcano in the middle of the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra islands that killed more than 400 people.

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The biggest quake to strike today was a magnitude 5.0, in Kainantu, Papua New Guinea, neighbouring the island archipelago Indonesia which is still reeling from a devastating earthquake in August.

Today’s quake struck deep below the Earth’s surface, some 80 miles deep, meaning the impact to the surface was minimal.

Indonesia itself saw a quake near Abepura, registering at 4.6, which was too deep to wreak havoc.

Japan, which has seen a spate of deadly natural events this year, has had two quakes today, the biggest registering at 4.4, east of Tomakomai.

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A little more than a month after a 7.5 earthquake struck Papua New Guinea, a 6.9 magnitude tremor occurred near the coast and triggered a tsunami warning earlier today.

Papua New Guinea’s location within the Pacific Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped string of volcanoes along the edges of the Pacific Ocean, makes seismic activity common.

According to National Geographic, 90 percent of all earthquakes occur in the Ring of Fire and 75 percent of the world’s active volcanoes are located in that region.

Although no damage was reported, resort goers near where the quake struck felt the shaking and ran out of buildings in fear of collapse.

“We felt the earthquake, everything was moving so we went out of the building,” May Dovon, a receptionist at the Rapopo Plantation Resort told The Guardian. “Nothing was damaged.”

The earthquake struck around 100 miles southwest of the town of Rabaul on New Britain Island.

According to the Guardian, the area where the quake was felt was much remote than where the earlier 7.5 quake struck.

The latest earthquake triggered a tsunami warning that was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center which went out to all coastlines located within 200 miles of the epicenter of the earthquake.

The tsunami warning was later called off, but while no damage has been reported for this quake the country is still recovering from the earlier quake.

The February earthquake caused major landslides, damaged water supplies and killed 100 people.

Source: https://www.earth.com/news/earthquake-papua-new-guinea/

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