Saturday, September 8, 2012

Strong Aftershock In Costa Rica - "Very Strong" Earthquake In Indonesia

Major Earthquakes List September 8, 2012 - Aftershock In Costa Rica And Very Strong Earthquake Close To Papua, Indonesia

Strong aftershock in Costa Rica.
A 5.6 magnitude earthquake at a depth of 35km (preliminary) struck the already damaged cities of Costa Rica, although the depth would make a IV shaking (light shaking) for 555,00o people, we cant exclude minor damage and more cracks to the damaged buildings and roads of the earthquake that hit earlier this week. A tsunami cant be generated.

Very strong (6.3) earthquake close to the Papua, Indonesia coast
56km (35mi) WNW of Nabire, Indonesia
The earthquake is not strong enough to generate a tsunami. As this is no subduction quake, the depth is measured to be 20 km.
Due to the close distance to the coast, a moderate shaking is expected in a radius of 50 km (will be felt by approx. 3000 people). As Papua New Guinea and Papua people are more or less accustomed to earthquakes, and if the earthquake parameters are correct, this earthquake is not considered as dangerous by ER.
Update 11:22 UTC : BMKG, the Indonesian seismological agency, reports a Magnitude of Ml6.3 but at a depth of 55 km.
Update 11:27 UTC : we can only locate a few very small settlements close to the epicenter, which confirms our initial expectations that this earthquake will be probably harmless

The earthquake story is continuing; it seems that over the past 2-3 weeks we've been seeing an increase in major quakes around the world, including the west coast of the U.S., China, Iran, Philippines, and Japan, just to name a few. This story is worth watching closely.

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