Chapter 12

Sunday, January 08, 2006

From the NEIC:
A strong earthquake occurred at 11:34:52 (UTC) on Sunday, January 8, 2006. The magnitude 6.7 event has been located in SOUTHERN GREECE. The hypocentral depth was estimated to be 38 km (23 miles). (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)

I was working away on the book, Chapter 12. Topic: Earthquakes. My fingers literally were shaking as I typed. Thank God, it was deep, the focus far under the Earth's crust. Dear Chloe, I am so glad you are o.k. and this was not a near surface fault.

Phew.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 at 7:23 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.

1.  Michelle said:
   7:32 PM  

   Wow, scary stuff. I actually think i heard of another earthquake occuring last week, a little bigger than that one, and for the life of me i can't think where it was.

1.  Cathy said:
   7:48 PM  

   Michelle;
   There are hundreds of earthquakes every week; last week there were some large ones in the Fiji Region, in the Gulf of California, and the Sandwich Islands region. The one you likely heard about was the one in Fiji (over a 7.0). If you click on the link in my post, you can scan through the list quickly and just look for the red text, which are in the "major" category of earthquakes.
   So here's to no red.

1.  x said:
   8:39 PM  

   Thanks Cathy. It's great to know i have a friend who is also a scientist that watches over me!
   I didn't feel it at all! I was in the theater. Nobody there felt a thing.
   But even if it had been a bit worse, we are used to it here. My sister did this: She put on her coat and grabbed her purse and got out. Of course i don't want to think about the possibility of such an earthquake happening closer to sea level.

1.  Cathy said:
   9:13 PM  

   Chloe;
   There have been enough natural disasters in 2005 to last our lifetime. We certainly don't want any close to home. Shudder.
   Glad you didn't even have to feel it. At least with hurricanes (our natural disaster threat here on the western side of the Atlantic), we have a season and we can see them coming on the map. Earthquakes are completely unpredictable. Unless you adhere to the Chinese belief that animals can sense them coming. Even then, they would only be minutes, not days away. Enough doom talk, you are fine and that's all that matters. You are up late, are you not? I must get back to work.

1.  Cathy said:
   9:36 AM  

   Gurgo;
   Once the focus has been identified (which happens relatively quickly), the speed of the movement of the quake can be determined. Unfortunately, for the areas that are hardest hit (those closest to the epicente), the time is very brief and there is little or no time to get the warning out. For locations further away, there may be hours of warning, which is what is needed in areas where tsunamis impacts are possible.

1.  Cathy said:
   10:54 AM  

   Laura:)
   Nothing of significance has registered since, which is a good thing.

1.  Cathy said:
   3:05 PM  

   GUrgo;
   You are right; this would aid with predictions of intensity but not time of release, unfortunately. There is still a lot of learning to be done.

1.  missbhavens said:
   5:15 PM  

   nothing, nothing, NOTHING scares me like earthquakes. There's only been one in my lifetime in NYC that I can remember and it was small (by earthquake standards) but it woke me from a deep sleep and freaked me out. I will NEVER live on the West coast for this reason. I don't care how nice the weather is in San Fansisco.
   
   ...and you really know your stuff! Cool!

1.  Cathy said:
   8:20 PM  

   MissB;
   They scare me as well.
   Thanks for reading.

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