Mild quake rocks Kashmir

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Rashid Faridi

Barely 16 hours after a major quake of 8.8 magnitude on the Richter scale stuck off coastal Chile in South America, a moderate intensity quake measuring 5.7 on the jolted Kashmir valley at 4:51 am.The quake lasted for a few seconds and its epicentre was in Hindukush mountain range of Afghanistan located at 36.5 degrees North Latitude and 71.2 degrees East Longitude, said Amir Ali, Head of Disaster Management Cell in Srinagar.

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Posted in India, News, seismic activities | 2 Comments

Disaster Struck the Planet Again: Chile Quake

Posted on February 28, 2010 by Rashid Faridi

A deadly 8.8-magnitude on Richter Scale earthquake struck central Chile early Saturday, ripping apart buildings, highways and bridges and leaving a path of smoky rubble across a long swath of this earthquake-tested country before sending waves rumbling across the Pacific Basin.

At least 300 people died, according to local news services that quoted the director of Chile’s emergency management office, and more than 1.5 million people were displaced. The death toll was expected to rise, particularly around Concepción, Chile’s second-largest metropolitan area, which is roughly 70 miles from the quake’s center.

Quake halts refineries, copper mines

Quake  halted production at two oil refineries and two major mines in the world’s top copper supplier, but exports of the metal will not be affected, officials said.

The 8.8-magnitude quake forced state mining company Codelco to halt operations at its El Teniente and Andina mines, and Mining Minister Santiago Gonzalez said it could take two days for production to resume. Other Codelco operations were unaffected.

Japan issues tsunami alert

The Japan Meteorological Agency on  issued a major tsunami alert for its Pacific coast .The tsunami alert is issued for the pacific coast of Aomori, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures in northeast Japan. Waves of up to three meters high are expected in the areas and “everyone near the coast must evacuate to higher ground”, it said.

US group launches text message aid drive for Chile quake

A US group that harnesses mobile phone technology to raise money for charities on Saturday launched text message campaigns to raise money for victims of the powerful quake in Chile.

By texting the word “Chile” to a five-digit number, Americans and Canadians can make micro-donations of five or 10 dollars to non-profit groups including Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army or World Vision to help Chileans recover from the 8.8-magnitude quake that rattled their country early Saturday.


Sources:

New York Times

The Hindu

Reuters

Hindustan Times

AFP

External Links:

2010 Chile Earthquake on Wikipedia

Richter Scale

Posted in News, oceans, seismic activities | 1 Comment

Scientists spot aliens in Milky Way

Posted on February 28, 2010 by Rashid Faridi

Scientists have spotted ‘alien’ invaders in Milky Way, comprising as many as a quarter of the star clusters in our galaxy, many more than previously thought, says a new study.The report also suggests that there may be as many as six dwarf galaxies yet to be discovered within the Milky Way, besides the two that were previously found.

Previously, astronomers had suspected that some star clusters, each of which contains between 100,000 and a million stars, were foreign to our galaxy, but it was difficult to identify which ones.

The researchers’ work also suggests that the Milky Way may have swallowed up more dwarf galaxies than was previously thought.

They found that many of the foreign clusters originally existed within dwarf galaxies — ‘mini’ galaxies of up to 100 million stars that sit within our larger Milky Way.

The study is slated for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

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Earth is not as warm today as during the last interglacial!

Posted on February 27, 2010 by Rashid Faridi

Paleoclimate records suggest that during the last interglacial (so-called Eemian period, a mere 125 thousand years back) .Earth was substantially warmer than present (close to 2C ) despite the fact that GHG concentrations were within the historical range of variability of glacial-interglacial cycles (180-280 ppm).

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Posted in climate change | 1 Comment