EARTHQUAKES!

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BroJones
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EARTHQUAKES!

Post by BroJones »

A big earthquake shook Nevada this morning, also felt in No. Utah:

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695255091,00.html

(Suggest this thread to record earthquake events and predictions. BYU geologist Harris has warned of earthquakes along the Wasatch front in the near future, meaning in the next few hundred years (geologic near-time). )

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BroJones
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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

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Earthquake shakes Nevada, Utah and Idaho
By Ben Winslow, Pat Reavy and Stephen Speckman
Deseret Morning News
Published: February 21, 2008
WELLS, Nev. — The city of Wells, Nev., and Elko County have declared states of emergency following a magnitude 6.0 earthquake that rocked the city this morning and shook a large portion of the Mountain West.

Nevada Division of Emergency Management spokesman Daniel Burns told the Deseret Morning News as of 11 a.m. it was still a "challenging situation."

"We don't know if 25 structures have been damaged or 700," he said. "We've had early reports of both."

Burns said his office had seen photos of buildings that had suffered serious damage. There were also reports of three water main breaks and gas line fires, he said. The city, however, still had electricity and phone service.

"Pat Notestine was beginning her shift at Stuart's Foodtown when the earthquake hit. The ceiling buckled and items flew off the shelves, smashing onto the ground. Signs dropped from the ceiling and she panicked.

"It felt like the end of the world,' she said.

Aftershocks that have hit the town have not done anything to ease fears, said Yvonne Stuart, the owner of the town's only grocery store.

Authorities said 25 people have been displaced from their homes but the majority of the damage was confined to the town's historic district. At Wells' Combined School, basketball coach Bob Woolsey said the gym is in danger of collapsing.

Wells Mayor Rusty Tybow said as many as 13 buildings had been severely impacted if not totally destroyed. Inspection teams were also being sent to all of the county's dams and bridges.

"I think everybody in town has been impacted," Tybow said.

Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons was keeping a very close watch on the situation, Burns said. The first priority for Nevada officials was going door-to-door in the city of 1,600 residents to make sure there were no injuries, Burns said.

"Our highest priority right now is knocking on every door in town," he said. "We want to make sure no one is trapped ... that the refrigerator hasn't fallen on someone and they can't move."

As of 10:30 a.m., Tybow said there were two people claiming they had suffered minor injuries due to the quake.

A temporary evacuation center was being set up at an LDS Church in Wells.

At 7:16 a.m. the quake, centered 11 miles east of Wells near the Utah-Nevada border, shook a large area in Nevada, Utah and Idaho, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The USGS initially measured the quake at a 6.3 but downgraded it slightly to a 6.0.

Aftershocks from the quake continued for several hours.

"We're on our fifth or sixth aftershock," said Elko County Sheriff Dale Lotspeich.

Humberto Cervantes, owner of Better Deal Pawn Shop in Wendover, Utah, was putting on his shoes and getting ready for work when he felt the quake at his apartment near the Wendover airport.

"The whole building was shaking," said Cervantes, who lived in Los Angeles for several years and has plenty of experience with temblors. "It was a little bit strong, even for here."

The shaking lasted about five or six seconds, knocking over a plant and a few knickknacks around Cervantes' home. Following a mild aftershock, he called relatives in Elko, Nev., who reported something odd just prior to the quake.

"The dogs were howling before it happened," one of Cervantes' children in Elko said over the phone.

Cervantes also called a friend who works at the 4 Way Truck Stop in Wells, where Cervantes worked for a while. The word from his old employer was that a ceiling had caved in. Cervantes said the truck stop and adjacent restaurant with "old-style home cooking" are a major employer in Wells.

At a casino just a stone's throw across the state line from the pawn shop, everyone among a bus-load of people outside a casino said they felt the quake. One man was playing the slots when his machine started to shake.

A woman with Peppermill Inc., which operates three casinos in the area, said there was no damage at any of the casinos. She was in a casino basement at the time of the quake.

"It shook everything down here," said Lisa, who, because of company policy, was not allowed to give her last name.

A little farther down the road at the Desert Discount Liquor Store, where there are a lot of bottles on the shelves, not one fell to the ground.

The temblor shook much of the Wasatch Front, although there were no early reports of damage in Utah.

Police dispatchers in Ogden, Davis County, and Salt Lake City all said they felt the shaking. Dispatchers in Wendover, Utah said they had received numerous calls from people who felt the shaking but there were no early reports of damage.

Ogden police officer Tim Shelstead was running radar on 7th Street when his car began shaking.

"I thought it was a train going by with no train," he said.

It wasn't until after residents started calling emergency dispatchers and the information was relayed over police radio that he realized it was an earthquake.

The Greater Salt Lake Area Chapter of the American Red Cross sent several volunteers and its Emergency Response Vehicle to Wells.

Five volunteers were dispatched to Nevada from Utah with additional people put on standby, said Red Cross spokeswoman Ashlee Gunter.

The group's Disaster Services trailer is supplied with blankets, cots, food and drinks to provide support to residents and emergency responders.

A radio communications team was also sent to Nevada from the Red Cross.

Also, the Salt Lake County Emergency Operations Center was activated because of the Wells quake.

Unified Fire Authority Capt. Jay Fearnley called it a "very low level" activation, which included planning, information gathering and coordinating with officials in Nevada.

"We're in touch with Wells, Nevada, to find out what kind of damage, to determine if they need any resources from us," he said.

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Col. Flagg
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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

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Are there even any faults in the area where it occurred? Talk about earthquakes in diverse places. It was said to be felt as far as east as American Fork in Utah County, but I live west of there and didn't feel a thing at 7:15 this morning. Dr. Jones... check out the USGS website... another earthquake just occurred over an hour ago or so about 100 miles southwest of Delta, UT (was a 4.5 on the richter scale). Geologically speaking, the Wasatch Front here in Utah is about 50 years overdue for a big quake (7.0+). They typically happen every 300 years and the last one hit 350 years ago.

Not sure if this is a warning/message from the Lord, but I was wondering what everybody thinks of the 1999 Salt Lake tornado... think there was a little divine involvement there? IMHO, I think there was because if you look at the track it took, it destroyed several gay bars when it first touched down and then it went over the Delta Center and did a lot of damage (how many LDS Jazz fans consider basketball a religion and will go to playoff games on Sunday?), then it took a northeasterly track towards the new conference center, where it did some minor damage and then went up into the avenues and destroyed several expensive homes... then it disappated. Thoughts?

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SwissMrs&Pitchfire
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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

Post by SwissMrs&Pitchfire »

A new one (a 3.0) on the salt flats. Does that count as Wasatch front? Could it be the first in "a series of 3's along the Wasatch front?"

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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

Post by ShawnC »

Col. Flagg wrote:Are there even any faults in the area where it occurred? Talk about earthquakes in diverse places. It was said to be felt as far as east as American Fork in Utah County, but I live west of there and didn't feel a thing at 7:15 this morning. Dr. Jones... check out the USGS website... another earthquake just occurred over an hour ago or so about 100 miles southwest of Delta, UT (was a 4.5 on the richter scale). Geologically speaking, the Wasatch Front here in Utah is about 50 years overdue for a big quake (7.0+). They typically happen every 300 years and the last one hit 350 years ago.

Not sure if this is a warning/message from the Lord, but I was wondering what everybody thinks of the 1999 Salt Lake tornado... think there was a little divine involvement there? IMHO, I think there was because if you look at the track it took, it destroyed several gay bars when it first touched down and then it went over the Delta Center and did a lot of damage (how many LDS Jazz fans consider basketball a religion and will go to playoff games on Sunday?), then it took a northeasterly track towards the new conference center, where it did some minor damage and then went up into the avenues and destroyed several expensive homes... then it disappated. Thoughts?


I was just south of Salt Lake when that tornado hit. I saw it touch down. I understood the rumors about destroying gay bars and such were not true. It did a little damage to the conference center construction also, but it was just minor cosmetic damage. Most of the damage was a little to the Delta Center glass and some columns, and mostly on an outdoor flea market fair thing going on at the time. I think things like that most likely have a purpose from the Lord.

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SwissMrs&Pitchfire
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I was in North Salt lake and watched it for about 5 minutes with my boss who was riding along. I kept casually looking out the window at it while working as it was quite odd, and then he began looking. After a few minutes he says "That looks like." And I said, "Yeah, that's what I've been thinking." About then his radio started squawking and getting reports from other technicians about it. We quickly buttoned up and headed up to the capitol and through the avenues (they were diverting traffic the wrong way down the one way road there and you could only go into the avenues). So we got to see lots of fresh destruction at the capitol and through the avenues. Pretty cool to watch.

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prew
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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

Post by prew »

Col. Flagg wrote:Are there even any faults in the area where it occurred?
http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/info/faultmaps/115-41.html

This shows the active faults. The 6.0 earthquake occurred about 6 miles west of the active Independence fault zone- near the blue line which is the major highway.
This earthquake may be an indication of a 'new' active fault zone. I mean, a fault zone where there has been no recorded activity in the past.

Proud 2b Peculiar
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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

Post by Proud 2b Peculiar »

WOW, that is getting active there isn't it?

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SwissMrs&Pitchfire
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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

Post by SwissMrs&Pitchfire »

Funny, they deleted the one on the salt flats!

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shadow
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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

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The Salt Lake tornado has an interesting story behind it. One of my old clients volunteered as a tour guide at the conference center after it was built. He came to my office and we got talking. He said that Pres. Hinckley told the contractors a few days before the tornado that the structure needed to be strong enough withstand a tornado. Quite prophetic.

Which brings up another point. What do you think about Pres Hinckleys remarks in general conference (Oct 2006 If ye are prepared...) about having the tabernacle renovated to "withstand the shaking of the earth"? He spoke about how we can heed warnings and how New Orleans had been warned about their vulnerability, then he said "We are told by seismologists that the Salt Lake Valley is a potential earthquake zone." Prophetic?

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SwissMrs&Pitchfire
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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

Post by SwissMrs&Pitchfire »

I think so. How could it not be coming from a guy with a real honest to goodness crystal ball?

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M249Gunner
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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

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Below is a good site for information regarding earthquakes. Part of my job at the mine I work at is to monitor the mining related seismic events. If you click on the following link, you will see a crescent of seismic activity around Utah's coal mining region. Today or maybe it was yesterday, I noticed that Saratoga Springs had a small earthquake. There is at least one falt running through Utah Lake. I remember reading a thesis by a student at BYU who, if I remember correctly, used gravity and magnetic methods to map it. There was a little discussion regarding whether or not a strong earthquake along a fault in Utah Lake would set up a seche (standing wave) that could be destructive to structures around the lake. That thesis was written long before most of the development along the west shores of the lake. I would imagine it would be an even greater concern now.

Regarding faults in the Basin and Range provence, there are alot of them. I would guess that most mountain ranges in the Basin and Range province would have at least one fault on at least one side of them. I suppose that is why most of them are there. Correct me if I am wrong, however I believe they are generally due to normal faulting which is a result of the extention of the western portion of the United States. Some believe the western extention of the U.S. is due to a young portion of the oceanic crust that didn't have enough time to cool sufficiently to keep it from bouying up under the continental crust when it was subducted.

I hope that wasn't too much information. I kind of like geology.

http://www.seis.utah.edu/

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M249Gunner
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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

Post by M249Gunner »

Doc Jones,

Did you ever work with or meet Doc Benson at BYU? He was a really nice guy and a great professor.

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BroJones
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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

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Yes, M249 -- Doc Benson is a friend of mine (although haven't seen him for quite a while). He left BYU and went to UVSC; I don't know the full story though. Great guy, as you said.

Shadow-- I agree that Pres. Hinckley's remarks about fixing up the tabernacle vs earthquake would be considered a prophetic warning... I think a big one is coming and hope folks are getting prepared. Personally, I checked with Doc. Harris BYU geology before getting a place in Sanpete valley, which he said has small earthquakes while the Wasatch front was expecting a very big one...

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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

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http://www.sltrib.com/ci_8332828
Consider the Wells earthquake a wake-up call.
The 6.0 magnitude quake that hit the Nevada city early Thursday morning left the city strewn with the wreckage of older buildings - and that's the kind of damage to expect from a Wasatch Fault earthquake, a University of Utah seismologist said Thursday.
Geophysics professor Robert B. Smith, former director of the university's seismograph station, said the Wasatch Fault that runs between Brigham City and Levan stretches the Earth's crust four inches every year.
That constant elasticity is "pulling the West apart," he said. "It's a rubber band being loaded."
And it will snap.
Mathematical calculations, based on regional earthquake history, show a one-in-four chance of a big quake of magnitude 6.5 to 7.5 will happen here in the next 50 years.
Or maybe tomorrow.
The Wells quake, which the U.S. Geological Survey says likely occurred on what is called the Independence Valley fault system, is considered moderate. But even a moderate earthquake of 5.5 to 6.5 magnitude, if its epicenter were in a Wasatch Front city, would be devastating, Smith said.
The Wasatch Fault is is 350 kilometers long - about 217 miles - and divided in segments, Smith said. Those segments in a large earthquake would act as if the loaded rubber band shot a rock into a windshield: break lines speed outward from the ding until the whole thing shatters.
"The crack propagates and has a velocity of roughly the speed of sound," Smith said.
That means a fracture would travel a 20-mile fault segment in six seconds, collapsing unreinforced brick buildings and homes in an instant and possibly shearing underground water, electric, sewer and natural gas lines along the way and causing billions of dollars of damage.
That doesn't mean post-earthquake cities would be smoldering ruins, as newer buildings are engineered to withstand seismic activity, Smith said.
Still, the Wells quake, moderate as it was, "is going to be remembered as something that caused a lot of damage," Smith said.
Unfortunately, he added, memories are short.
"We all say we're going to make preparations, but we don't. People have the tendency with earthquakes [to remember] for about a week," he said.
There's not much people can do to defend themselves in a 7.5 magnitude quake, but they can allay damage by retrofitting masonry homes to make them safer.
Smith said
people also should pull together the standard, basic emergency 72-hour kits of food, water and batteries and make plans for how to contact families and friends - the sorts of advice available from multitudes of public-safety and church Web sites.
But the best preparedness comes from land-use planning and government. Officials understand they have a huge responsibility, but tend to treat earthquakes as a problem far in the future they won't have to deal with, Smith said.
"They want to know what's going to happen in the next year or so, not the next 100 years," he said.


* Earthquakes of magnitude 6.5 to 7.5 are considered large - and likely to occur in Utah. While it's not possible to predict with certainty when such a quake might occur in Utah, they could shake it up on any of several active sections of the Wasatch Fault between Brigham City and Levan.
* Large quakes have occurred on the Wasatch Fault once every 400 years during the past 6,000 years. Seismologists figure there's a 25 percent chance a big one could hit in the next 50 years.
* Future large earthquakes will break segments of the fault about 20 to 40 miles long and cause extensive damage up to 50 miles from the epicenter, including soil liquefaction, landslides, rock falls and even permanent tilts in valley floors that could cause the Great Salt Lake and Utah Lake to flood Salt Lake City and Provo.
* Seismologists have predicted that a big one would wreak havoc with utilities, water lines, sewer systems, highways, bridges, airports and railways. Should such a quake occur in the central part of the Wasatch Fault, damage costs would be in the billions of dollars.
* At particular risk are Utah's brick buildings and homes built before 1960, because the unreinforced masonry crumbles easily, even during earthquakes of smaller magnitude. The loss of those structures likely would account for three-quarters of the damage.
* Moderate earthquakes of 5.5 to 6.5 magnitude occur somewhere in Utah once every seven years on average. Should one of those quakes' epicenters be in a major metropolitan area, the effects would be devastating.
Levan is a little south of Nephi. From data I've seen, it appears the most likely starting point for a major quake on the Wasatch front is in the North -- near Brigham City.

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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

Post by Stephen »

Finance people say "Past performance is not indicitive of future results". It is has been pressing on my mind recently how this may prove to be very true in our future regarding various natural disasters. Many in the LDS crowd will dismiss various disasters saying "We don't have a problem with that around here"! I don't care where the fault lines are...I don't care where the tornados have gone in the past...where the tsunamis have been before...our God who is the God of nature is in control...and he can switch things up to suit his purposes. I suspect much of what we think we understand regarding the where, when, and how of natural disasters take place will be turned on it's ear. While I do believe that fault lines and other such data are good indicators...and should be heeded...I think that we must not fall into what I believe is a trap of thinking that such things couldn't happen in various regions because it defies past experience.

It would be interesting to talk to the people in 3rd Nephi whose cities were destroyed..(by the way which is a type or shadow for us) and ask if they were used to the "whirlwinds" or had ever had the "opening of the earth" to recieve them as a problem before...or the "fires"...and other such catastrophes.

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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

Post by buffalo_girl »

I worked for KUTV in the late 70's while attending BYU. I did research for a reporter in Utah County.

In researching a story on seismic activity in California, I talked with an earthquake scientist about the various faults on the Pacific Coast. He was living in the Bay Area but was very aware of faults along the Wasatch Front. He told me the greatest danger in the Salt Lake and Utah Valleys came from what is called liquefaction. That's when a predominately sandy soil is shaken by prolonged seismic activity into what becomes quicksand. The smooth sand particles simply slip past one another and mix with the ground water. Buildings just sink. Doesn't matter much how well built they are to withstand the initial shock waves.
Last edited by buffalo_girl on February 23rd, 2008, 3:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

Post by rindee »

University of Utah has some great maps that show the liquification risk all throughout Utah. Here is a link where you can see your area...
http://www.quake.utah.edu/REGIONAL/liquefaction.htm

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SwissMrs&Pitchfire
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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

Post by SwissMrs&Pitchfire »

Welcome Rindee!

I never cared for West Valley anyways :D

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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

Post by rindee »

Thanks! I've been lurking and learning for a few months now.

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BroJones
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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

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Welcome, Rindee.

Today's quake reported in CNN:
(CNN) -- A magnitude 4.7 earthquake shook Britain early Wednesday, centered on the east coast north of London, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The British Geological Survey put the preliminary magnitude for the earthquake at 5.3 on the Richter scale, according to the British Press Association.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The quake's center was about 125 miles (205 km) north of London, or about 30 miles (50 km) south of Kingston upon Hull, the USGS said. It struck just before 0100 GMT.

"It felt pretty scary," Haydn Jones of Nottingham, who lives in a third-floor apartment, told CNN. He said he has lived abroad in Japan and knew immediately what it was, but felt that a lot of those in England "didn't really know what was going on."

Jones likened the feeling to "someone very big and angry jumping on the ceiling below you, rather than the floor."

He believed the shaking lasted about 10 seconds, but said, "time sort of stands still for you." He said there was no damage in his area.

The USGS classifies earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 to magnitude 4.9 as "light."

Earthquakes frequently hit Britain -- between 200 and 300 annually, according to the British Geological Survey, although most have a magnitude of less than 2. Earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.0 to 4.9 hit mainland Britain about once every two years and strike beneath the North Sea about once per year.

Britain's strongest recorded quake was the North Sea quake of June 7, 1931, with a magnitude of 6.1. It was felt across the British isles and in northwestern Germany. The quake killed one person.
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The most powerful onshore quakes occurred on July 19, 1984, in north Wales (magnitude 5.1) and on April 2, 1990, along the Welsh border with England (5.1 magnitude).

A 4.6 magnitude quake in Colchester on April 22, 1884, was Britain's most damaging earthquake, knocking spires from churches and masonry from roofs. Turrets and parapets also fell, and brick walls and chimneys collapsed. Two people were killed.

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SwissMrs&Pitchfire
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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

Post by SwissMrs&Pitchfire »

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake....for the earthquake at 5.3 on the Richter scale
Must me a metric conversion in there somewhere :D

Diver's places? Does that mean under water?

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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

Post by buffalo_girl »

There was also one near Norway & the 'Doomsday Seed Bank'. Doesn't seem like a good thing.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/rec ... 08nsag.php

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BroJones
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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

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6.9 near the Phillipines earlier today:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

(A good place to get earthquake info...)

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Re: EARTHQUAKES!

Post by Proud 2b Peculiar »

Wow, I did not realize that there was so much activity along the West Coast...

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