Earthquakes & volcanoes

[stjames1_53]

Wonder if it's related to the earthquake in Ecuador?...

Mexico's Popocatépetl volcano erupts 5 times after quiet week
April 19, 2016 Mexico's - Popocatépetl volcano erupted on Monday, launching ash and burning rocks into the air and showering the city of Puebla with hot ashes. At least five eruptions were reported.

From what I understand, it is entirely possible. Most volcanoes run parallel to fault lines. Most eruptions are preceded with seismic activity. Some are small, some, not so much.

[waltky]

Quake Pitches Past Into Present...

Quake Pitches Past Into Present in Scarred Mexico City District
Sept. 12, 2017) - The powerful earthquake that rocked Mexico City last week had terrifying echoes of a more deadly 1985 shock in one housing project, raising tough questions about how ready one of the world's largest cities is for a major catastrophe.

At its epicenter, Thursday's 8.1 magnitude quake was stronger than the disaster three decades ago that killed at least 5,000 people in Mexico City, toppling two tower blocks in the historic central neighborhood of Tlatelolco. Mexico City has made major advances since then, with regular earthquake simulations, improved building regulations, and seismic alarms designed to sound long enough before the shock to give residents time to flee. Nearly 100 people are known to have died in the latest quake, none of them in the capital. Yet experts noted the tremor's epicenter was further from Mexico City and two times deeper than in 1985, and warned it would be wrong to assume the capital could now rest easy. Such caution was palpable in Tlatelolco.

Antonio Fonseca, 66, a longtime resident who witnessed the 1985 collapse of the tower blocks in the Nuevo Leon housing complex that killed at least 200 people, said memories of the event sparked panic attacks in the neighborhood when the quake rolled through the city on Thursday. "I'm quite sure that these buildings are very well reinforced," said Fonseca, a local history expert. "But there are many people who are still wary." When the ground began shaking in September 1985, local workers laughed it off at first, continuing with breakfast. Nobody believed Fonseca when he told them Nuevo Leon had fallen, he recalled. Later, Fonseca saw a group of children in the neighborhood's central Plaza de las Tres Culturas who had been waiting for the school bus, their uniforms caked in white dust from the building's collapse.

This time around, residents feared the worst. Streets filled across the city when the quake hit near midnight. Crying and praying, hundreds descended onto the plaza and some stayed for hours, questioning whether it was safe to return home. Minerva de la Paz Uribe, a retiree living on the plaza, was unable to evacuate with her father, who turned 104 the next day. She watched from her window as neighbors scrambled to escape. "People leave running with their dogs. They leave screaming. Are we prepared? No, no, we're not prepared," she said, as a group of friends on the plaza murmured in agreement.

Some 30 buildings in Tlatelolco were rebuilt after the 1985 disaster and a dozen were demolished. Mexico's new skyscrapers include hydraulic shock absorbers and deep foundations. But such safety features are less prevalent in much of the sprawling periphery, which is filled with cheap cinderblock homes like the buildings that collapsed on Thursday in the southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas near the epicenter.

CRITICISM OF GOVERNMENT

[waltky]

Mexican government said it could no longer offer aid to victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas...

After deadly earthquake, Mexico says it can't help Texas recovery
Sept. 12, 2017 -- After a devastating earthquake in Mexico killed more than 90 people last week, the Mexican government said Monday it could no longer offer aid to victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas.

Shortly after the hurricane struck the Houston area and the magnitude of destruction was beginning to be realized, Mexico offered an array of services to help with the recovery, including medical teams, helicopters, even troops. And Texas Gov. Greg Abbott accepted some assistance in the form of mobile kitchens. But after last week's earthquake, which was more than 8.0 on the Richter Scale, the Mexican government decided it would need to spend its resources on its own natural disaster.

A woman tries to clean up in the aftermath of an earthquake in Juchitan Municipality, Oaxaca State, Mexico, after Thursday's deadly earthquake. On Monday, the Mexican government said it can no longer aid Texas' recovery because it would need every resource to help its own citizens.

According to the latest death toll, 96 people lost their lives in the earthquake and more than 2.5 million people were estimated to be affected by the damage. "Given these circumstance, the Mexican government will channel all available logistical support to serve the families and communities affected in the national territory," the Mexican foreign ministry said Monday, according to the Guardian.

Abbott said he understood the reasoning for the decision. "We are grateful for Mexico's offer of assistance in the aftermath of Harvey, and fully understand and support the decision to redirect their resources back home in the wake of this deadly earthquake," said Abbott's spokesman, John Wittman, according to the Dallas Morning News.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017...p&utm_medium=1

[jimmyz]

Meh..... our poor couins needing help has been a 150 years proposition. Good on the USA and you are welcome Mexico.

[waltky]

Dey keep comin' across the border an' Granny gonna put another hex on `em...

2 devastating earthquakes have hit Mexico in as many weeks. Here’s why.
September 19, 2017 - A powerful earthquake shook Mexico City Tuesday afternoon, crumbling buildings in the nation’s capitol. The event comes 11 days after the most powerful earthquake to hit the nation in decades killed around 100 people and destroyed more than 45,000 homes.

What happened? The U.S. Geological Survey said a magnitude 7.1 quake struck near the town of Raboso in Puebla, approximately 76 miles southeast of Mexico City, at a depth of 35 miles. This USGS reading is preliminary, but Mexico’s National Seismological Service released similar numbers for the earthquake’s strength. A USGS official told the Associated Press that Tuesday’s earthquake was not an aftershock of the disaster that struck near Chiapas on Sept. 8, due to the large distance between the two events.

Damage report: By Tuesday evening, 149 people had died from the earthquake, according to the AP, which didn’t provide a breakdown by region. The governor of Morelos, a state in central Mexico, said earlier in the day 42 people died there, while eight more deaths were reported in Mexico State, which borders Mexico City. The interior department of Puebla, where the quake hit, reported 11 deaths. Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said at least 20 buildings had collapsed, with reports of people being trapped inside. Social media posts from Mexico City show cracked facades and toppled buildings in populated areas, as locals fill the streets. Gerardo Lazos, a journalist with Patito Television, filmed his home in Mexico City shaking during the quake. But the event likely caused devastation throughout much of central Mexico.

Damages are seen after an earthquake hit in Mexico City, Mexico

Why so many quakes in Mexico? Mexico is part of the Ring of Fire, the rim where the tectonic plates of the Pacific Basin jam into those propping up North America, South America and Asia. The Ring of Fire accounts f or 90 percent of the planet’s earthquakes. But Mexico is especially seismic because it sits on three giant tectonic plates. Moreover, the nearby oceanic crust — the Cocos plate — is denser than the landmass carrying the central portion of the country. As the two plates collide, Mexico’s softer earth crumples, which explains why mountain ranges line the eastern part of the nation.

The Chiapas earthquake in early September also struck an area that seismologists have been watching closely for several years, as Lizzie Wade explained in Science Magazine: The epicenter of the quake, which struck just before midnight local time, was just southeast of the Tehuantepec gap, a 125-kilometer-long stretch of Mexico’s Pacific coast that has been seismically silent since record-keeping began more than a century ago. All along that coast, the ocean’s tectonic plates meet the continental North American plate and are forced underneath it. Violent earthquakes mark the release of built-up pressure between the grinding plates. But the ruptures have somehow avoided the Tehuantepec gap and the Guerrero gap, more than 500 kilometers to the northwest.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/...y-weeks-heres/

[stjames1_53]

Dey keep comin' across the border an' Granny gonna put another hex on `em...

2 devastating earthquakes have hit Mexico in as many weeks. Here’s why.
September 19, 2017 - A powerful earthquake shook Mexico City Tuesday afternoon, crumbling buildings in the nation’s capitol. The event comes 11 days after the most powerful earthquake to hit the nation in decades killed around 100 people and destroyed more than 45,000 homes.

The plates are shifting again. This has happened before and it will happen again. The larger the population, the greater the loss. Expect more volcanic activity

[stjames1_53]

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake has struck Japan 175 miles from the Fukushima nuclear plant
Erin Brodwin,Business Insider



Less than 24 hours after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake pummeled Mexico City, another tremor has occurred off the east coast of Japan.The 6.1-magnitude quake struck roughly 175 miles east of the shuttered Fukushima nuclear plant at roughly 2:30 a.m. local time, according to the US Geological Survey. Its hypocenter — the underwater locus of the quake — happened at a depth of about 6 miles.


(A map of the tectonic plate forces that subject Japan to earthquakes.USGS)
Like Mexico, Japan is located in what is considered an active earthquake region.
The country is influenced by the slipping and sliding of several of Earth's tectonic plates, including the North America plate, Pacific plate, Philippine Sea plate, and Eurasia plate. Whenever these pieces of crust grind or butt up against one another, earthquakes happen.
Over the past century, Japan has been struck by nine severe earthquakes, each of which killed more than 1,000 people.

Part of the problem is the country's high population density, which can make even shallow temblors a serious risk.
In 1995, an earthquake along the Japan Median Tectonic Line near Kobe lead to more than 5,000 deaths.
More recently, the magnitude 9 Tohoku earthquake in 2011 killed more than 20,000 people after it triggered a tsunami that generated powerful waves up to 133 feet tall. That earthquake occurred just 43 miles east of inhabited land and its underwater hypocenter was close to three times as deep.
As of 4:45 p.m. ET, there have been no reports of damage or tsunami warnings from USGS or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/6...181500254.html

AS I was saying, cause and affect. Expect more.............
Let Al Gore explain this one and blame it on MMGW.........
this ball of dirt has been changing and will continue to do so, with or without Man. One doesn't usually look too far ahead to see what's coming. More earthquakes, more volcanic activity............
Some scientists already know that the constant shifting of climate/weather is part of the natural processes of the planet. Others demand tribute to continue their ninny research of discovering ways to make it stop.

[waltky]

Quake collapses school in Mexico City...

21 children dead, dozens missing after quake collapses school in Mexico City
Sept. 20, 2017 -- Rescue teams frantically sifted through debris of a flattened schoolhouse in Mexico City Wednesday, in a race to find dozens of children who remain unaccounted for, just hours after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit.

At least 21 children and four adults have been reported dead after the Enrique Rebsamen primary and secondary school collapsed from the quake. But Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said there could be 30 more people, mostly children, trapped under the debris. But there is still hope lives will be saved. Wednesday night, El Universal reported that five people were found alive in the rubble. The night before, eleven people were saved. A young boy who was attending the school described the moments when the earthquake hit to NBC News. "I was in my English class and the ground started to vibrate. I said it was shaking because no alarm went off. I said it was shaking and we all went down quickly," he said. " And that's when I made the nest decision of my life, which was not to go to the left, which is where where everything fell first. I went to the right with my friends and we were going down the stairs. The powerful quake struck Tuesday afternoon in Chiautla de Tapia, a small town in Puebla state 80 miles south of Mexico City, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Rescue workers search in the debris of collapsed buildings in Mexico City, Mexico, on Wednesday, a day after a powerful 7.1 earthquake that struck central Mexico.

A volunteer rescue worker, Pedro Searrano, said sounds could be heard from the building as he and other rescuers worked. It was unknown if they were cries from those trapped or sounds of rubble shifting. Officials said the death toll was raised to 225 on Wednesday afternoon -- at least 94 in Mexico City alone. Twelve were found dead in the state of Mexico, 732 died in Moralos, 43 in Puebla, four in Guerrero and one in Oaxaca. In the autonomous district comprising Mexico City, officials said at least 800 people were injured. At least 44 buildings in Mexico City were destroyed. Mexico is still recovering from an 8.1-magnitude earthquake less than two weeks ago -- but while Tuesday's earthquake was less severe, it occurred in a more densely populated area of Mexico.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has clashed with Pena Nieto over border issues, said in a Twitter message, "God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you." Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said his state would "offer any support to aid Mexico," and a spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that "the United Nations stands ready to assist." Incidentally, the quake happened just hours after an annual earthquake drill in the Mexican capital -- which was implemented after a devastating 8.0 quake hit Mexico City on the exact same day, Sept. 19, in 1985. It killed more than 6,000 people. Mexico was also hit by Hurricane Katia earlier this month, and the Popocateptl volcano, southeast of Mexico City, vented a large cloud of ash on Tuesday.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-N...&utm_medium=20

See also:

All children at collapsed Mexican school accounted for
Sept. 21, 2017 -- All children who were in a schoolhouse in Mexico City when it collapsed during an earthquake earlier this week have been accounted for, a Mexican navy official said Thursday.

Rescuers had been searching the Colegio Enrique Rebsamen school since shortly after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck on Tuesday afternoon. Adm. Jose Luis Vergara told Foro TV on Thursday that they believed at least one girl was trapped alive in the rubble. But later Thursday, Angel Enrique Sarmiento, sub-secretary of the Mexican navy, said there were no children remaining in the rubble. "We are certain that all the children either passed away, are in local hospitals, or are safe and sound in their houses," he told reporters. Nineteen children and six adults died in the crushed school.

Sarmiento said he's unsure how people came to believe a 12-year-old girl was trapped, but authorities now believe an adult woman is alive under the rubble. Rescuers are attempting to extricate her. "We want to stress, this story about a girl whose name was out in [news casts], we've never had any knowledge of this version," Sarmiento said, as quoted by BuzzFeed. At least 273 people were killed -- a toll that rose slightly from Tuesday to Wednesday -- and scores more are injured across central Mexico. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said late Wednesday night the top priority is finding survivors. He said more than 50 people have been rescued. The government has set up dozens of shelters for people whose homes were destroyed or damaged.

Rescue services and volunteers search for victims on Thursday under the debris of the school that collapsed in the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck Mexico City.

Dozens of buildings have been flattened by the earthquake around central Mexico. It struck Tuesday, on the 32nd anniversary of a magnitude-7 quake that killed thousands in and around Mexico City in 1985. As Mexico grapples with the aftermath of a generational earthquake, the U.S. Department of Defense said dozens of disaster recovery workers who are part of the USAID program were dispatched to Mexico City to help with the recovery. Those workers include members of the Los Angeles County Fire Department who are specially trained for quake response efforts. The fact the country was rocked by two earthquakes in 11 days has seismologists puzzled. The initial tremor, a magnitude-8.1, was followed by an apparently unrelated quake in the same tectonic region, but their varying depths and distance led scientists to conclude the first would have had little to no effect on what caused the second.

Though the second quake was less powerful by a factor of 10, the epicenter's shallow depth of 50 kilometers combined with the geographic characteristics of the area are what made it so much more devastating. "The combination of the earthquake's location, radiated seismic energy, and the very foundations of Mexico City -- thick, loose soils that behave like a bowl of jelly during earthquakes -- created the conditions for devastation," Steve Hicks, a seismologist with the University of Southampton told The Guardian. In some towns outside the capital city, thousands of people were left homeless. Jojutla, in Morelos state, was particularly hard hit. "Jojutla is damaged badly, but there are communities that have suffered the same or worse," said Óscar Cruz, a spokesman with the local Catholic diocese, told The Guardian. "What's tragic is that the damage is worst in the poorest pueblos." The state governor of Puebla said 1,700 homes there were declared uninhabitable, and nearly every structure in the town of Metepec sustained damage.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-N...&utm_medium=14

[stjames1_53]

Quake collapses school in Mexico City...

21 children dead, dozens missing after quake collapses school in Mexico City
Sept. 20, 2017 -- Rescue teams frantically sifted through debris of a flattened schoolhouse in Mexico City Wednesday, in a race to find dozens of children who remain unaccounted for, just hours after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit.


See also:

All children at collapsed Mexican school accounted for
Sept. 21, 2017 -- All children who were in a schoolhouse in Mexico City when it collapsed during an earthquake earlier this week have been accounted for, a Mexican navy official said Thursday.

All children at collapsed Mexican school accounted for
Good news, indeed

[waltky]

Volcano on island of Vanuatu `bout to blow...
Vanuatu evacuating entire island ahead of volcano eruption
Sept. 28, 2017 - The government of Vanuatu has called for what one local journalist called a "Dunkirk-style evacuation" of Ambae.

The government of Vanuatu is trying to evacuate all residents on the island of Ambae as a volcanic eruption appears imminent. The evacuation of more than 11,000 of the island dwellers will likely require a "Dunkirk-style operation," one local journalist told Radio New Zealand, referencing the World War II evacuation of allied forces from France aided by British civilians. "We're going to have to mobilize a lot of civilian marine craft in order to accommodate that large number of people in such a short period of time," journalist Dan McGarry said.

A volcano on the island of Ambae is prompting the government-forced evacuation of the entire island in Vanuatu.

Clouds of ash from the Lombenben volcano have already fallen onto Ambae's villages, the Vanuatu Daily Post reported. The newspaper reported Friday morning local time that there were some 6,000 residents in need of humanitarian assistance.

Prime Minister Charlot Salwai said the volcano's activity has increased and that he doesn't want to take any chances with the lives of the island's residents. "It is better to rescue people and save lives now than get blamed later when worse happens," Salwai said.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-N...&utm_medium=20