Chile counts cost of 'nightmare' quake

COQUIMBO, Chile - Traumatized Chileans described Thursday the terrifying moment a powerful earthquake hit, killing at least 11 people and triggering tsunami waves that ravaged long stretches of the coast.

The 8.3-magnitude offshore earthquake Wednesday evening was the sixth strongest in the history of geologically volatile Chile and the most powerful anywhere in the world this year, officials said.

Close to one million people were evacuated from Pacific coastal areas as a precaution as Chile sounded a tsunami alert, with warnings issued as far away as Japan and New Zealand.

Residents took refuge on high ground as aftershocks jolted the region all night and into Thursday.

Maria Zamorano, 60, recounted how she and her large family ran from the shoreline in Coquimbo to save themselves from the surging tsunami waves.

"If we had stayed here we would have perished," she told AFP.

The quake occurred at a shallow depth and the epicenter was 228 kilometers (about 140 miles) north of the capital Santiago, a city of 6.6 million people, where there were scenes of pandemonium as thousands fled swaying buildings.

In the hours that followed, tsunami waves of up to 4.5 meters (15 feet) came crashing onshore in Coquimbo region, 400 kilometers north of Santiago, causing extensive damage to the region's main port.

Fishing boats, trucks, cars and the remains of dozens of houses were among the debris bobbing up and down in Coquimbo city's waterfront on Thursday.

There were similar scenes in the badly hit coastal town of Illapel.

"It was a nightmare," Maria Ramirez told AFP as she swept up debris outside her house.

"We felt the tremors for a long time, too long. And then all the aftershocks -- it was terrible," she said.

"I couldn't stay standing, but luckily we made it out alive."

- Ring of fire -

President Michelle Bachelet headed to the quake-hit area Thursday to assess the relief efforts and Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States was ready to help.

"We know this is a very difficult situation," Bachelet said after meeting a group of local fishermen in Coquimbo.

"But we wish to salute the enormous cooperation of the population which ensured that -- despite the scale of this earthquake -- there are thankfully few victims."

The most recent toll from the quake stood at 11 dead, with nine others injured, according to National Emergency Office (ONEMI) director Ricardo Toro.

The last known victim was a man killed in Coquimbo.

At least 526 homes were damaged in the quake, most of them in the Coquimbo region, according to the ONEMI. A state of emergency was declared in the area, Interior Minister Jorge Burgos said.

Chile lies on what is known as the "Ring of Fire" -- an arc of fault lines that circles the Pacific Basin and is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

In February 2010, an 8.8-magnitude quake off the southern Chilean coast killed more than 500 people and inflicted an estimated $30 billion in damages.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had warned that tsunami waves were possible this time in French Polynesia, Hawaii and California, as well as smaller waves as far afield as Japan and New Zealand.

A minor tsunami was monitored in northern Japan early Friday, authorities there said.

- 'Horrific moment' -

In Illapel, a town of 30,000, daybreak revealed the damage done, with power knocked out, shacks destroyed, store shelves overturned and the local cemetery a chaos of broken crosses, vases and coffins.

"It was the most horrific moment, a terrible thing," local resident Ana Cortes, 35, told AFP. "Everything just kept moving, for the longest time."

Facebook said it had activated a geolocation tool allowing people in Chile to reassure friends and loved ones.

The Safety Check tool is accessed through Facebook's regular interface, and lets members check whether their contacts are in a disaster zone, signal their own presence and let others know they are safe and well.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Magnitude 6.8 quake hits central Japan; no tsunami warning

TOKYO - An earthquake with preliminary magnitude of 6.8 jolted central Japan on Saturday evening, temporarily trapping 21 people when their homes collapsed and leaving 13 people injured, police and public broadcaster NHK said.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said no tsunami warning was issued after the quake, which was felt in the capital Tokyo 180 km (110 miles) away.

A National Police Agency official said the quake destroyed five houses in Hakuba village, host to ski jumping and other events during the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games, but that the 21 villagers trapped were successfully rescued.

At least two of them were injured, although the degree of their injuries was not immediately clear, he said.

NHK reported 13 people were injured in the quake, including five who were seriously hurt.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters an advanced party of Japan's military had been sent to the area, and others were on standby.

High-speed trains were halted but later resumed service, Kyodo news agency reported.

There were no signs of irregularities at Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant, a spokesman for the utility said. The plant, where all seven reactors are currently off-line, is the world's largest power station.

NHK quoted an official in the village of Ogawa near the epicentre as saying there was a long tremor and documents fell off shelves.

"On the second floor of our house, the tremor was too strong to stand," said Sakiko Hagiwara, an NHK employee in the area.

"Pictures fell off the wall," she said, adding there were no cracks in the walls.

NHK also said there was a report of a landslide blocking roads near Hakuba.

Japan, situated on the "Ring of Fire" arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin, accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck under the ocean off the coast of the northern city of Sendai. The quake triggered a massive tsunami that devastated a wide swathe of the Pacific coastline and killed nearly 20,000. It also devastated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, causing meltdowns in the world's worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.

(Additional reporting by Olivier Fabre, Osamu Tsukimori, Kiyoshi Takenaka; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Andrew Roche and David Evans)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Tsunami alert sparks panic in Indonesia

KOTA TERNATE, Indonesia - A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake rocked the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia Saturday, sparking a tsunami warning and causing panicked people to flee their homes.

Small waves generated by the undersea quake were detected in several parts of the sprawling archipelago, local authorities said, although there were no reports of casualties or major damage and the tsunami warning was lifted after a short while.

Nevertheless, the prospect of a major tsunami set nerves on edge in one of the most seismically active countries in the world, almost a decade after quake-triggered destructive waves devastated western Aceh province.

The tsunami of December 26, 2004, left more than 170,000 people dead in Aceh, on Sumatra island, and tens of thousands more in countries with coasts on the Indian Ocean.

Saturday's tremor struck northwest of the town of Kota Ternate, at 0231 GMT, the US Geological Survey said. It was followed by a series of aftershocks that measured between magnitude 4.3 and 5.8, the USGS said.

"Tsunami waves are possible for coasts located within 300 kilometers," said the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

The center also warned of small tsunami waves in the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan and islands in the South Pacific.

On the tiny Sangihe Islands close to the epicentre in Indonesia, people ran out of their homes when the quake hit, Toni Supit, head of the islands' Sitaro district, told AFP.

"People in coastal areas felt the strong quake, which lasted for quite some time, and they immediately went to the sea to see if the water was receding abnormally, which is a sign of an incoming tsunami," he said.

- Ring of fire -

Tsunami waves 90 centimetres high were detected at Jailolo on Halmahera island, in the Maluku Islands, the meteorological agency said. Tiny waves were also detected in Tobelo on Halmahera, and in Manado, on nearby Sulawesi island.

An agency official on Sulawesi said early reports indicated that cracks had appeared in the walls of some houses after the quake, although full damage reports had yet to be come in.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said earlier that waves up to one metre high could hit parts of Indonesia, while waves below 30 centimetres were forecast for the coasts of the Philippines.

Indonesia's meteorological agency warned people in the northern Maluku Islands and in the north of Sulawesi in particular to stay away from the coast.

Julius Galgiano, a Philippine government seismologist, said the Philippines had also issued a tsunami warning.

"We are telling (local communities) to have a tsunami watch in areas along the coast," he said, but added that no evacuation orders had been issued and the tsunami waves were not expected to be high.

Around two hours after the quake, the warning centre said there was no longer a tsunami threat.

"The tsunami threat from this earthquake has now mostly passed. Any remaining threat should be evaluated by local authorities in impacted areas," it said.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity, and has been hit by numerous deadly earthquakes over the years.

A 6.1-magnitude quake that hit inland in Aceh in July last year left at least 30 people dead and thousands homeless. It caused a mosque to collapse in one village, killing six children as they took part in a Koran reading session.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Tens of thousands return home in Samar as tsunami fears subside

GUIUAN, Samar - Tens of thousands of people in Samar returned home on Saturday after a tsunami alert was lifted following a 7.6 magnitude undersea quake, as local authorities began work to repair damages to public infrastructure.

The earthquake 146 km off the town of Guiuan on Samar island on Friday killed one person and caused only minor damage, but prompted the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to issued a tsunami warning.

Authorities ordered thousands of people living in coastal villages to evacuate, but on Saturday those that had fled to higher grounds were returning home, said Conrado Nicart, governor of Eastern Samar province.

"We've sent out our engineers and repair teams to inspect roads, bridges and public buildings," Nicart told radio, adding the earthquake caused minor infrastructure damage.

"Our people were reporting cracks on roads and municipal gymnasiums, and approaches on a bridge near Mercedes town were also damaged but remained passable to light vehicles."

The tsunami warning was initially issued for the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea and other islands in the Pacific including the U.S. state of Hawaii.

Small waves of about 16 cm did hit a southern Philippine island, the seismology agency said.

"It was really scary, that was the strongest earthquake I felt in my life," Alice Caba-caba, a 50-year-old mother of four, told Reuters from her small canteen in Guiuan town, saying she was watching television when jolted by the tremor.

"Everything was shaking and falling down. Our television was broken. After the shaking, I gathered my children and we fled to a safer place because our house is near the beach. Everybody was praying, children were crying and all are panicking."

Eastern Samar, a typhoon-prone coconut-growing area facing the Pacific, is one of the poorest provinces in the Philippines. Nearly 90 percent of the sparsely populated towns are along the coast and most of the structures are low-rise buildings.

The region has been hit by two huge quakes in the past decade. At least 230,000 people in 13 Indian Ocean countries were killed in a quake and tsunami off Indonesia in 2004.

Last year, an earthquake and tsunami off Japan's northeastern coast killed about 20,000 people and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years after waves battered a nuclear power station.

source: interaksyon.com

7.6 quake hits east of PH

A major 7.6 earthquake hit the sea area east of the Philippines on Friday and a tsunami warning was issued for the archipelago, Indonesia, Taiwan and Japan, US seismologists said.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake had a depth of 34 kilometers (21 miles) and hit at 8:47 p.m. (1247 GMT) some 139 kilometers east of the city of Sulangan, eastern Samar.

A tsunami warning was also issued for Papua New Guinea and Guam, and a tsunami watch was in effect for the Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands and Nauru, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said in a bulletin.

The warning center said any wave generated by the quake would be expected to hit Indonesia first, at 1335 GMT.

It would then be due to hit the Philippines at 1338 GMT or 9:38 p.m. local time.

"An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines in the region near the epicenter within minutes to hours," the center said.

The PTWC later lifted the tsunami alert for Japan, Taiwan and several Pacific islands but kept it in place for the Philippines and Indonesia.

The USGS earlier said the earthquake was a magnitude 7.9, but later downgraded it to a 7.6.

Intensity

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said it was a magnitude 7.7 earthquake.

The earthquake’s epicenter was recorded at the Philippine trench, between Samar Island and Mindanao at 8:47 p.m.

According to Phivolcs, the following intensities were felt in provinces near the quake’s epicenter:

Intensity VII - Guian, Oras, Sulat, Borongan City, Eastern Samar
Intensity VI - Siargao, Surigao del Norte; Tacloban City; Palo Leyte; Saint Bernard, S. Leyte
Intensity V - Mati City; Compostela; Compostela; Legaspi City; Iloilo City; Beilig City; Iligan City
Intensity IV - Butuan City, Catbalogan City, Butuan City, Cagayan De Oro City
Intensity III- Cotabato City, Mambajao, Camiguin, General Santos City;
Intensity II - Marawi, Sipalay City

Tsunami alert

Phivolcs specialist Jane Punongbayan said residents in the coastal areas of northern Samar, eastern Samar, Leyte, southern Leyte, Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Sur are advised to evacuate their homes due to a tsunami alert warning number 3.

Punongbayan said Philvolcs is monitoring a possible tsunami and that the warning will be remain for 2 hours after the earthquake.

“Magbabantay tayo hanggang 10:47, kung walang mangyaring tsunami, medyo ibababa natin ‘yung alert. Pero as of now to be safe, itataas natin ‘yung alert level 3,” she said.

She also advised residents not to panic, but to swiftly move to higher ground at least 10 meters above sea level. -- With reports from AFP; Dennis Datu, dzMM

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Magnitude-7 quake strikes off Papua New Guinea but no tsunami alert raised

A magnitude-7 earthquake struck off the north coast of Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey reported.

The quake struck at a depth of 125.5 miles (202 kilometers) and was centered 137 kilometers north of Lae, Papua New Guinea's second-largest city,

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no destructive Pacific-wide tsunami was expected.

Papua New Guinea is on the geologically active Pacific Ring of Fire and suffers many earthquakes but often avoids major damage and casualties because most of its people live in light and flexible housing.

However, more than 2,000 people were killed in 1998 when a magnitude-7 quake struck off Papua New Guinea's north coast, causing a tsunami that smashed into isolated villages.

source: interaksyon.com

Tsunami warning after massive quake strikes off Indonesia's Sumatra

US monitors issued an Indian Ocean-wide tsunami watch following a massive earthquake off the coast of Sumatra Wednesday but said it was not yet certain a giant wave had been generated.

"Earthquakes of this size have the potential to generate a widespread destructive tsunami that can affect coastlines across the entire Indian Ocean basin," the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

The US Geological Survey said the 8.6-magnitude earthquake, revised down from the original 8.7-magnitude, struck off the coast of Sumatra at 2:38 p.m. (0838 GMT) at a depth of 33 kilometers (20.5 miles). USGS had initially reported it as an 8.9-magnitude quake.







The tsunami warning center said it had not yet ascertained whether a tidal wave had been generated but that one was likely given the strength of the temblor, and advised local authorities to take "appropriate action."

Indonesia's disaster management agency said power was down in Aceh province and people were gathering on high ground as sirens warned of the danger.

"The electricity is down, there are traffic jams to access higher ground. Sirens and Koran recitals from mosques are everywhere," said Sutopo, spokesman for the agency.

The quake was felt as far away as the Thai capital, Bangkok, and in southern India, residents said.

Hundreds of office workers in the Indian city of Bangalore left their buildings, workers there said.

The quake was also felt in Sri Lanka and the southern Thai holiday island of Phuket, both of which were hit hard by the 2004 tsunami.

Malaysian authorities issued a tsunami alert for the country's western coastline and warned citizens to stay away from the shore following a massive earthquake in the Indian Ocean.

"We have issued a tsunami alert. We urge people to keep away from the beach in (the states of) Kedah, Perlis, Langkawi, Penang and Perak," Che Gayah Ismail, deputy director-general of the Malaysian Meteorological Department, told AFP.

"People are advised to keep away from the beaches. It is not an evacuation order."

Sri Lanka issued a tsunami warning across the island and the disaster management centre asked residents on the coast to move inland to avoid being hit by any large waves.

A government statement said waves could hit the island's eastern coast by about 1040 GMT and urged an orderly evacuation of the coastal strip.

In the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, nervous crowds gathered on the streets after the strong quake.

"There was a first jolt for five seconds, then a pause and then a really big one. It was really frightening, the whole room was shaking," said 42-year-old tourist Maria Teresa Pizarro from the Philippines.

"You could hear the wood in the furniture cracking, the curtains were moving and the ceiling fan was rattling. I just picked up the children and ran downstairs," she said from the city's coastal Galle Face hotel.

Thailand issued an evacuation order for its Andaman coast, a popular tourist destination. The National Disaster Warning Center advised people in the area to move to higher places and stay as far away as possible from the sea.

"All people along the Andaman coast must evacuate to safe areas. We expect a tsunami 1.6 to 2.0 metres high to hit Phuket and Phang Nga at 5:40 p.m. (1040 GMT)," the center's director Somsak Khaosuwan said on Thai television.

Australian Bonnie Muddle, vacationing in the Thai resort island of Phuket at the time of the quake, said people were being evacuated from popular tourist areas including Krabi and Phang nag bay.

"Everyone is getting a little concerned over here," she told AFP.

The Indian National Center for Ocean Information Service issued a red high-level warning for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, located in the Indian Ocean, and also put out lower alerts for the coasts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu states in the southeast of the country.

Sri Lanka issued a tsunami warning across the whole island.

On December 26, 2004 a 9.2-magnitude earthquake off Sumatra generated a catastrophic tsunami that wrought devastation across southern Asia, killing an estimated 220,000 people.

Wednesday's quake was in roughly the same area as that of 2004. The 2004 quake was at a depth of 18 miles (30 kilometers) along a fault line running under the Indian Ocean, off western Indonesia and up into the Bay of Bengal.

Last year, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake caused a tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, killing some 19,000 people.

source: interaksyon.com