Anglonautes > English vocabulary > Earth > Natural / weather disasters

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Vocabulary > Earth > Natural / weather disasters

Ash billows from the crater

where the summit of Mount St. Helens had been only hours earlier

during a huge eruption on May 18th, 1980.

USGS/Robert Krimmel

Boston Globe > Big Picture > Mount St. Helens, 30 years ago May 18, 2010
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/mount_st_helens_30_years_ago.html

The ruins of San Francisco,

still smoldering after the 1906 earthquake,

taken from the tower of the Union Ferry Building,

and looking southwest down Market Street.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:San_francisco_1906_earthquake.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1906_San_Francisco_earthquake

added 24.4.2007

natural disasters
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/26/earth-population-consumption-disasters
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/business/02insure.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/02/natural-disasters-floods-earthquakes-landslides
http://www.guardian.co.uk/naturaldisasters/0,7368,422669,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/0,5860,1112768,00.html

natural disasters and extreme weather
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/natural-disasters

natural disasters > insurers
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/business/02insure.html

act of God
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/31/opinion/corn-for-food-not-fuel.html

earth tremor

beneath the earth's crust

tremor
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/01/earthquake-shakes-blackpool
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1719003.ece

earthquake
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/01/earthquake-shakes-blackpool
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-04-18-midwest-earthquake_N.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-10-30-calif-earthquake_N.htm
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2067792,00.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1719003.ece
http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/0,5860,1121610,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1419964,00.html

quake (abbr)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-21-nev-quake_N.htm

earthquake warning > California 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/us/california-lags-behind-on-a-quake-warning-system.html

Biggest quake since 1984 hits Britain 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/27/earthquake
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/27/naturaldisasters
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/2008/02/did_the_earth_move_for_you_las.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/interactive/2008/feb/27/earthquake
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/feb/27/homeinsurance.insurance
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/gallery/2008/feb/27/1?picture=332720554
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/27/2
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-shaken-by-significant-earthquake-788045.html

U.S. Geological Survey USGS USA
http://www.usgs.gov/

U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

On May 18th, 1980, at 8:32 a.m.,
the ground shook beneath Mount St. Helens in Washington state
as a magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck,
setting off one of the largest landslides in recorded history
- the entire north slope of the volcano slid away.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/mount_st_helens_30_years_ago.html
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2463

ash

ashen clouds
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/mount_st_helens_30_years_ago.html

Hebgen Lake Earthquake / Largest Earthquake in Montana USA 1959
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/events/1959_08_18.php

earthquakes: why they happen
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2008/jan/23/earthquakes

moderate earthquake > rattle
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/us/06quake.html

magnitude 7.7 quake
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/10/27/us/ap-cn-canada-earthquake.html

8.8 quake
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/are-we-prepared-for-an-8-8-quake/

a moderate earthquake of between 5.4 and 5.7 magnitude

massive undersea earthquake

an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter

a magnitude of 6.7

powerful earthquake

a magnitude 8.1 quake and tsunami

hazard
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-04-18-midwest-earthquake_N.htm

San Francisco earthquake USA 1906
http://www.sfmuseum.net/1906/06.html
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/sf-earthquake-and-fire/
http://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/sf/
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/papr/sfhome.html
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/progress/cities/earthqak.html
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tri131.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5334411
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-04-18-quake_x.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/page/0,,1753479,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/0,,1745885,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1753202,00.html
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2006/04/18/commemoration_or_celebration.html#more

the San Andreas fault
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,1804331,00.html

Big One
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/earthquakes/exhibit.html

British Geological Survey
http://www.bgs.ac.uk/

U.S. Geological Survey
http://www.usgs.gov/

epicenter

evacuate
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1719003.ece

sequel

aftershock
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/06/15/us/AP-US-California-Quake.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/us/06quake.html

Richter scale
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/topics/richter.php

shake
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/01/earthquake-shakes-blackpool
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/06/15/us/AP-US-California-Quake.html
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2067792,00.html

rock
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-04-18-midwest-earthquake_N.htm

rumble
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/06/15/us/AP-US-California-Quake.html

strike

hit
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/us/06quake.html

jolt
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-29-quake_N.htm

sway
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/03/26/world/asia/ap-as-taiwan-earthquake.html

flatten

topple

lie in ruins

debris

damage

rubble
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/arts/design/11restore.html

be caught alive from the rubble

be pulled from the rubble

search through the rubble of collapsed buildings

seek out life

casualties

dead

the dead

death

the stench of death

the stench of decomposing corpses

spread over...

mass burial

pyre

cremation

aid
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-05-29-quake_x.htm

rescue
http://www.guardian.co.uk/indonesia/Story/0,,1785405,00.html

rescue worker

rescuer

makeshift hospital

collapse

sniffer dog

sniff out

survivor

pull out

die from exposure

scavenge for food
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-05-28-quake_x.htm

volcano
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/23/alaska-volcano-mount-redoubt-erupts
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/03/22/us/AP-Alaska-Volcano.html

active volcano

active underwater volcano

the volcano's crater

erupt

magma / molten rock

blast

tremor

blow

spit

seismometer

seismic

rumbling

tremor

bubbling magma

lava

gases

eruption

ash

cloud of ash

steam

steam plume
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/03/22/us/AP-Alaska-Volcano.html

This pair of photographs shows the same location on a street in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, Japan

on two different dates, March 11, 2011 and February 17, 2012.

The first photograph shows the area today,

and the second shows a tsunami wave crashing

into the street after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake.

Miyako City Office/Handout/Reuters and Toru Hanai/Reuters

Boston Globe > Big Picture > Japan tsunami pictures: before and after March 7, 2012
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/03/japan_tsunami_pictures_before.html#photo2

tsunami

http://www.youtube.com/user/skynews#p/u/29/jBGROIKdsOs

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/03/japan_tsunami_pictures_before.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/13/us-japan-tsunami-predictions-idUSTRE73C5JV20110413

Japan tsunami pictures: before and after March 7, 2012
In this first of three Big Picture posts on the anniversary
of the Japan earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disaster,
we have a series of paired "then and now" pictures,
with the first image taken recently paired with a picture from the same vantage point
taken during or in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/03/japan_tsunami_pictures_before.html

hit
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/world/asia/01tsunami.html

33 feet high

freak wave

giant wave
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1654539,00.html

massive tidal wave

swell

ocean surge

the surge of water

killer wall of water

be triggered by a 9.0-magnitude undersea earthquake
off the Indonesian island of Sumatra

swirling ocean swells

the quake's epicenter

at the epicenter

sweep across

the shorelines of Asia and East Africa

coastal Thailand and Sri Lanka

devastation

destruction

calamity

carnage

towns ravaged by the waves

death toll
http://www.guardian.co.uk/indonesia/Story/0,,1785194,00.html

dead are put at 57,000

4,000 people missing

tens of thousands still unaccounted for

the seismological bureau of the country's meteorology department

the tectonic plates beneath the ocean

disease

rotting food

the use of outdoor toilets

create breeding grounds for germs

rescue team

rescuer

the largest relief effort in history
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/29/international/worldspecial4/29quake.html

An Indian man cries as he holds the hand of his eight-year-old son,

who was killed in a tsunami in Cuddalore, southern India, December 27, 2004.

The death toll in a tsunami that slammed into coasts from India to Indonesia

topped 22,000 as rescuers scoured the sea for missing tourists

and fears of disease grew

as soldiers raced to recover rotting bodies.

Photo by Arko Datta/Reuters

Corpses Piled on Asian Coasts After Tsunami Kills 23,2004

Mon Dec 27, 2004 02:18 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=
AG0FBJZKEQIG0CRBAEZSFEY?type=topNews&storyID=7186453

tectonic plate
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tsunami/story/0,15671,1447280,00.html

the Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean region

the giant Burma and Indian tectonic plates

Indonesia

quake

a massive 8.7 magnitude earthquake

ocean / sea floor

coastline

Year Packed With Weather Disasters

Has Brought Economic Toll to Match

August 19, 2011
The New York Times
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

The weather this year has not only been lousy, it has been as destructive in terms of economic loss as any on record.

Normally, three or four weather disasters a year in the United States will cause at least $1 billion in damages each. This year, there were nine such disasters. They included the huge snow dump in late January and early February on the Midwest and Northeast, the rash of tornadoes this spring across the Midwest and the more recent flooding of the Missouri and Souris Rivers. The disasters were responsible for at least 589 deaths, including 160 in May when tornadoes ripped through Joplin, Mo.

These nine billion-dollar disasters tie the record set in 2008, according to a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The total damage done by all storms, tornadoes, flooding and heat waves so far this year adds up to about $35 billion. The National Climatic Data Center says it estimates the costs in terms of dollars and lives that would not have been incurred had the event not taken place. Insured and uninsured losses are included in damage estimates and are likely to change as assessments become more complete. With four months to go in 2011, this year’s total amount of damage is likely to rise. Forecasters are already predicting further meteorological mayhem as hurricane season intensifies.

Over the last 30 years, there have been about 108 natural disasters that have caused $1 billion in damages each, according to NOAA. The total damage from all natural disasters since 1980 is about $750 billion.

“The increasing impacts of natural disasters, as seen this year, are a stark reminder of the lives and livelihoods at risk,” Jack Hayes, director of NOAA’s National Weather Service, said in a statement.

Part of the problem is that more people are living in high-risk areas, NOAA said. This makes them “increasingly vulnerable to severe weather events, such as tornado outbreaks, intense heat waves, flooding, active hurricane seasons, and solar storms that threaten electrical and communication systems,” the statement said.

NOAA, along with other private and public agencies, is taking several steps to try to make the nation more “weather ready,” including making more precise forecasts, improving the ability to alert local authorities about risks and developing specialized mobile-ready emergency response teams.

The National Weather Service is also planning several test projects involving emergency response and ecological forecasting. Test projects are to start soon at strategic locations in the mid-Atlantic region, on the Gulf Coast and elsewhere in the South. They include improvements to a system in Charleston, W.Va., for alerts three hours ahead of severe weather instead of the current half-hour.

The nine weather events that have caused at least $1 billion in damages so far this year are:

¶Central/East Groundhog Day blizzard (Jan. 29-Feb. 3). This storm was tied to 36 deaths. The losses exceeded $2 billion.

¶Midwest/Southeast tornadoes (April 4-5). Nine people were killed. Total losses were more than $2 billion.

¶Southeast/Midwest tornadoes (April 8-11). Resulted in more than $2 billion in losses.

¶Midwest/Southeast tornadoes (April 14-16). Caused 38 deaths. Total losses are more than $2 billion.

¶Southeast/Ohio Valley/Midwest tornadoes (April 25-30). Caused 327 deaths. Losses total more than $9 billion.

¶Midwest/Southeast tornadoes (May 22-27). Caused 177 deaths. Total losses are more than $7 billion.

¶Southern Plains/Southwest drought, heat waves, wildfires. Direct losses are more than $5 billion.

¶Mississippi River flooding. At least two deaths and losses ranging from $2 billion to $4 billion.

¶Upper Midwest flooding. Losses estimated at $2 billion.

    Year Packed With Weather Disasters Has Brought Economic Toll to Match,
    NYT, 19.8.2011,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/us/20weather.html

In Wake of Natural Disasters,

Insurers Brace for Big Losses

June 1, 2011
The New York Times
By CHRISTINE HAUSER

The devastation from the natural disasters that have ripped through parts of the country this year has been starkly evident. Hundreds of people have died and thousands of houses have been shattered in a deadly string of tornadoes. Millions of acres of farms were inundated and businesses shut down by flooding along the Mississippi River.

Now, as homes are repaired, fields are pumped and factories are cleaned out, the damage assessments will mount, and another measure of the impact will come into clearer focus: the cost to insurance companies.

Based on nearly two dozen interviews with farmers, business owners, analysts and government officials, private insurance companies are likely to experience at least $10 billion in insured losses this year, mostly associated with the tornadoes and the flooding along the Mississippi, based on property damage, lost inventory, business interruption and disrupted crop plantings.

Insurance industry and risk analysis experts arrived at their projections by adding median damage estimates for the worst of the tornadoes so far. The tally will rise when private-sector insurance flood and crop claims associated with the Mississippi River flooding are tacked on and hundreds of other tornadoes and severe winter weather events are factored in.

“Natural catastrophe losses in the United States are likely to be well over $10 billion by the end of 2011,” said David Smith, the senior vice president of Eqecat Inc., a catastrophe risk modeling firm. And Robert P. Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, said that just one “relatively minor” hurricane this year could push the total private insurance catastrophe losses in 2011 above the $13.6 billion paid out in 2010.

Whatever the numbers prove to be, analysts acknowledge that the geographic and economic range of damage is vast. Farmland is still submerged, meaning farmers must wait until the water fully recedes to determine whether the soil is fit to replant. Damage assessment teams are still fanning out in tornado zones, surveying the destruction.

And there is also uncertainty about what insurance policies will cover, a question recently on the mind of Austin Golding, a 25-year-old manager in his family’s barge business in Vicksburg, Miss. Like other business owners along the Mississippi, Mr. Golding took pre-emptive measures when the river started to rise, moving equipment and staff members to portable trailers on higher ground and putting the main office on blocks, a costly operation that he said saved the insured building from water damage.

“I think we are probably going to try to recoup what we spent in trying to avoid a total replacement” of the building, Mr. Golding said. He added that they would at least try to negotiate a decrease in the premium.

The Mississippi River areas that were flooded include two million to more than three million acres of farmland and pasture, said Michael Cordonnier, a consultant with the Soybean and Corn Advisor, an information service for the commodity industry. Houses, ports, casinos, hotels, grain elevators, infrastructure, fisheries and other facilities are among the sources expected to generate claims from damages.

In addition to the flooding, some of the worst tornadoes in decades have struck this year. As of Wednesday, there have been at least 518 fatalities from tornadoes in the United States, just behind the 519 in 1953, the highest number since official record-keeping started in 1950, said Gregory Carbin, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologist.

Just the tornadoes that affected Alabama and neighboring states in the last week of April, and Joplin, Mo., in May, could produce insured losses of $4.5 billion to $8 billion, said Mr. Hartwig of the insurance institute. Eqecat Inc. estimated insured losses at $2 billion to $5 billion in the April week and $1 billion to $3 billion for Joplin. AIR Worldwide, a risk modeling and consulting firm, said it estimated $3.7 billion to $5.5 billion in insured losses for tornadoes and other severe weather events, including Alabama’s, in just one week: April 22 to 28.

Catastrophes are defined in the industry as any single event with $25 million or more in insured losses. The biggest catastrophe to hit the industry’s insurers was Hurricane Katrina, which generated $45 billion, adjusted for inflation, in insured losses for houses, businesses and vehicles.

While many in the industry, and those clearing out their homes or pumping out businesses, say it is too early to put a figure on the damage, private insurance companies will not be alone in bearing the cost.

The government will cover most of the losses related to flooding for insured homes and small businesses through the National Flood Insurance Program. Officials said the flood insurance program was already $17.7 billion in debt to the Treasury Department, mostly because of Katrina. They added, however, that the program still had $668 million in cash reserves as of April 30 and the ability to borrow nearly $3 billion more from the department if needed to cover this year’s claims.

Farmers Insurance, which is one of at least 90 private insurance companies that pays out the flood claims losses using the flood insurance program’s funds, has received about 300 claims for flood losses as of May 30, said Jeffery W. Hinesly, a manager of the program for the company. He said that each claim averaged $20,000 to $30,000 for property damage. “I do not expect much more than the 300 because many do not own flood insurance,” he said. The major loss exposure that private insurance companies will have using their own funds for flood losses is for automobile insurance, which is not covered by the flood insurance program, he added.

For crop insurance, the government’s Risk Management Agency shares the payments for losses with the 15 private insurance companies that it regulates. William J. Murphy, the administrator of the agency, said he expected crop-related losses from Missouri south through the Mississippi River basin to be in the $700 million to $800 million range. The amount paid by the private companies depends on individual contracts with farmers, but it is expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“We are waiting to see the extent of the losses down there,” Mr. Murphy said.

Meanwhile, along the river and in tornado-wrenched towns, residents, farmers and business owners are struggling to adapt.

Bobby W. Armstrong, 79, and his wife, Barbara, moved into a Days Inn in Joplin after their three-bedroom home was damaged, but they considered themselves fortunate that it was not destroyed.

“We heard sirens going and so we went into the hallways and sat down next to the linen closet and huddled up there on the floor,” said Mr. Armstrong, a Marine Corps veteran. He said a “wild guess” was that the house needed a new roof, siding, gutters and other repairs, but they had yet to see a claims adjuster.

“We have turned in the report on it, and it will take time before they get out,” he said.

Farmers, too, must wait, and with commodity prices at recent highs, the delays can be costly. The floods wiped out investments in fertilizer, labor and seeds. Crop insurance might cover only 50 to 75 percent of the value, depending on average historical yields. In addition, there are seasonal issues. It is too late to replant corn, but soybeans may still take root if the topsoil is in shape.

John Michael Pillow, a 41-year-old farmer in Yazoo County, Miss., watched in dismay when the river spilled over onto his insured farmland, destroying about 3,000 of the 4,000 acres of corn he had already planted.

“I am really hoping we can plant soybeans,” he added, “so we will be able to get out of this year without a complete loss.”

In Wake of Natural Disasters, Insurers Brace for Big Losses, NYT, 1.6.2011,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/business/02insure.html

6.0 quake rattles northeastern Nevada

21 February 2008
USA Today
AP

RENO (AP) — A strong earthquake shook rural northeastern Nevada Thursday, causing at least one building to collapse and forcing a truck stop to evacuate, authorities said.

The magnitude of the quake, initially estimated at 6.3, was later revised to 6.0 by the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo. The quake was centered in a sparsely populated area 11 miles southeast of Wells near the Nevada-Utah line.

"It was pretty bad," said Jane Kelso, who answered the phone at the Motel 6. "Everything in our whole building shook. "We have cracks in our walls."

The temblor was felt across eastern Nevada, Utah and as far away as Southern California. In Twin Falls, Idaho, residents reported severe shaking and items falling off shelves.

"Definitely a lot of people felt this, and if they were sleeping, they were awoken," said USGS geophysicist Carrieann Bedwell.

Elko County Undersheriff Rocky Gonzalez said there were reports of some damage to buildings. At least one building collapsed, he said, and a Flying J truck stop was evacuated because of a propane leak, he said.

There were no immediate reports of serious injuries, but a manager at the truck stop said the store was a wreck, with groceries and goods scattered. One woman was reportedly injured when cigarette rack fell on her.

6.0 quake rattles northeastern Nevada, UT, 21.2.2008,
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-21-nev-quake_N.htm

Earthquake Hits Solomon Islands

April 29, 2007
Filed at 3:33 a.m. ET
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) -- A moderate earthquake toppled several houses Sunday in the Solomon Islands near where a quake and tsunami killed 52 people earlier this month, an official said.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported that a magnitude 5.4 quake struck mid-afternoon local time, 25 miles southeast of the region's main town of Gizo and 6 miles beneath the earth's crust. The quake was too small to pose a tsunami risk.

Provincial government member Danny Kennedy said there were reports of houses being toppled on the island of Mono in the western Solomons, but he said Gizo appeared to have suffered little damage. There were no reports of casualties.

''It certainly shook us quite a lot,'' Kennedy said.

A magnitude 8.1 quake and tsunami on April 2 killed 52 people, including 33 on Gizo island.

Earthquake Hits Solomon Islands, NYT, 29.4.2007,
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Solomon-Islands-Quake.html

Earth tremor hits southeast England

Sat Apr 28, 2007
8:56AM EDT
Reuters

FOLKESTONE (Reuters) - Southeast England was hit by a small earthquake on Saturday that brought down power lines and caused some structural damage.

Kent Police said they were working closely with emergency services in the coastal town of Folkestone -- the area worst hit by the tremor -- in dealing with more than 100 emergency calls. But there were no reports of serious injuries.

"Sussex police's helicopter is helping us with a view of the area, while the Kent police marine unit is out as well," said a Kent police spokeswoman.

Experts gave differing estimates of the earthquake's strength with the U.S. Geological Survey measuring the tremor's magnitude at 4.7 on the Richter scale while the British Geological Survey put it at 4.3.

"It's similar to ones in 1950 and 1776," said Dr Roger Musson of the British Geological Survey (BGS). "We're quite fortunate that it's as small as it is."

The earthquake brought down power lines with several thousand homes affected, but EDF Energy Networks said service had been quickly restored to customers in the Folkestone and Dover areas.

After the earthquake, local residents called television stations to report feeling the ground shake, cracks appearing in homes and chimneys being brought down.

"It woke me. It felt like an explosion and my bedroom started shaking backwards and forwards. It was a violent, violent rattle," Alison Reiney told Sky News

Witness Lorraine Muir said chimneys had come down, gas and electricity supplies were off and people were being evacuated from their homes by the Salvation Army.

"We've been evacuated ... we've got no gas or electricity at the moment. It's chaos up here," she said.

The earthquake had no effect on international travel services with Eurotunnel, which runs cross-channel rail services to France from its terminal near Folkestone on the English coast, running normally.

A spokesman at Dover, one of the busiest ferry ports in Europe, also said it was operating normally. "There has been no impact on ferries or on checking in," he said.

The tremor, which struck at 0718 GMT, was the largest British earthquake since the one that hit Dudley in the West Midlands in 2002.

Earth tremor hits southeast England, R, 28.4.2007,
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL2861575520070428

A Strong Earthquake Rattles Hawaii

October 16, 2006
The New York Times
By JANIS L. MAGIN and MARIA NEWMAN

HONOLULU, Oct. 15 — A strong earthquake struck the Hawaiian Islands early Sunday, shaking residents and tourists from their sleep, knocking out electrical power to several areas and setting off a landslide that rained boulders and other debris on the major highway of the largest island.

The United States Geological Survey said that the main quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 and that there had been at least a dozen aftershocks, including one that measured 5.8. Officials said the quake was the largest to hit Hawaii since one of magnitude 6.7 in 1983.

Gov. Linda Lingle issued a disaster declaration Sunday afternoon and activated the National Guard, which happened to be conducting a statewide drill this weekend. The governor ordered her cabinet to convene at the headquarters of the Hawaii State Department of Civil Defense, which is in Diamond Head crater in Honolulu, the state capital, on the island of Oahu.

There were no reports of deaths, but there were scores of unconfirmed reports of injuries. Kona Community Hospital had significant damage, and patients were moved to a hotel, officials said.

The lack of electricity hampered communications, and officials could not say exactly how severe the damage was or what the extent of injuries was. The governor urged people to go to work on Monday as usual.

The quake, centered just off the northwest shore of the Island of Hawaii, occurred at 7:07 a.m. local time, officials said. That side of the island contains Kohala, a popular resort area.

The quake and its aftershocks set off fears of a tsunami. But the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a report saying that “no tsunami is expected” because the quake was too deep and that its magnitude was below the tsunami trigger point of 6.9.

Kawaihae Harbor, near the epicenter, was closed because of damage to buildings and a fuel line.

Power was knocked out for hours in many areas, but by midafternoon, it had been restored to Hilo on the Island of Hawaii and to parts of Maui.

Leonid Citer, 50, a photographer from Wayne, N.J., said in a telephone interview that he was on his way to photograph a wedding in Kona when the quake hit. Mr. Citer said he pulled to the side of the road when he felt the shock and debris began to rain down.

“There are rocks and fruit all over the road,” he said. “There are police and firemen at all the major intersections, and they were instructing people to go up as high as they can, elevation-wise, and they are advising them to stay away from the shore.”

Emergency management officials also urged residents and others to stay put if they could, to keep roadways open for emergency vehicles.

Beth Chapman, who co-stars with her husband, Duane Chapman, on the A&E cable reality series “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” said she was at their home in the Portlock section of Oahu when the quakes hit.

“There were two quakes, one at 7:08 this morning and the second one at 7:12,” she said in a telephone interview. “I know because the clock stopped when the second one came.

“I was outside for the second one, and you could hear this strange noise coming from the ocean,” Ms. Chapman said. “Then the ground shook, and there was a huge wave in our swimming pool.”

Airports across the islands switched to emergency backup systems, which allowed inbound flights to land and a few outbound planes to depart. By midday, all flights out of the airports on Honolulu and Maui were canceled, as were flights to Hawaii from the United States mainland. At the airports still in operation, security officials checked luggage manually and agriculture agents used dogs to sniff packages and luggage because X-ray machines were without power.

Officials asked cruise ships to keep guests on board, and ships scheduled to make landfall in Hawaii were asked to head to their next location.

“We’re are dealing with a lot of scared people,” Harry Kim, mayor of Hawaii County, said in a televised interview on KITV.

Governor Lingle was on the Big Island, staying at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel, when the building rattled.

“It shook very strongly and knocked the televisions off the bureaus in the hotel,” she said in an interview on KSSK Radio, one of the few broadcast outlets that was not knocked off the air. “TV’s fell, books fell, mirrors fell off the wall.”

Insurance experts said that early reports suggested relatively light damage to homes and businesses and that perhaps the heaviest costs could result from electric power failures in Honolulu and on other islands.

The insurers offered no immediate estimates on overall economic damage, but Robert P. Hartwig, chief economist of the Insurance Information Institute, said payouts for damage from insurance companies for the earthquake probably would be “very modest,” perhaps under $25 million compared with $1.1 billion for one of the least costly hurricanes last year, Hurricane Dennis, which hit Florida in June 2005.

The most costly earthquake in the United States, the Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles in 1994, cost insurers up to $26 billion in today’s dollars. It measured 6.7. By comparison, the insurers paid out $41 billion for damage from Hurricane Katrina.

Mr. Hartwig said that probably no more than 25 percent of homeowners in Hawaii and fewer than 50 percent of businesses had special policies that pay for earthquake damage.

“Right now, it does not look like there is substantial structural damage or major fires,” he said. “And it looks like very modest costs to insurers. It could turn out to be higher if there is considerable damage to foundations and walls that is not immediately obvious.”

Janis L. Magin reported from Honolulu,

and Maria Newman from New York.

Andrew C. Revkin, Joseph B. Treaster

and David Carr contributed reporting from New York.

A Strong Earthquake Rattles Hawaii, NYT, 16.10.2006,
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/16/us/16hawaii.html

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