1.
Coordinated Universal Time
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Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated to UTC, is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean time at 0° longitude. It is one of closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, the first Coordinated Universal Time was informally adopted on 1 January 1960. This change also adopted leap seconds to simplify future adjustments, a number of proposals have been made to replace UTC with a new system that would eliminate leap seconds, but no consensus has yet been reached. Leap seconds are inserted as necessary to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of universal time, see the Current number of leap seconds section for the number of leap seconds inserted to date. The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC and this abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT, while French speakers proposed TUC, the compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time. Time zones around the world are expressed using positive or negative offsets from UTC, the westernmost time zone uses UTC−12, being twelve hours behind UTC, the easternmost time zone, theoretically, uses UTC+12, being twelve hours ahead of UTC. In 1995, the nation of Kiribati moved those of its atolls in the Line Islands from UTC-10 to UTC+14 so that the country would all be on the same day. UTC is used in internet and World Wide Web standards. The Network Time Protocol, designed to synchronise the clocks of computers over the internet, computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC as it is more specific than GMT. If only limited precision is needed, clients can obtain the current UTC from a number of official internet UTC servers, for sub-microsecond precision, clients can obtain the time from satellite signals. UTC is also the standard used in aviation, e. g. for flight plans. Weather forecasts and maps all use UTC to avoid confusion about time zones, the International Space Station also uses UTC as a time standard. Amateur radio operators often schedule their radio contacts in UTC, because transmissions on some frequencies can be picked up by many time zones, UTC is also used in digital tachographs used on large goods vehicles under EU and AETR rules. UTC divides time into days, hours, minutes and seconds, days are conventionally identified using the Gregorian calendar, but Julian day numbers can also be used. Each day contains 24 hours and each hour contains 60 minutes, the number of seconds in a minute is usually 60, but with an occasional leap second, it may be 61 or 59 instead
2.
International Seismological Centre
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1900–1912 J. Milne 1912–1917 H. H. Turner 1918–1931 H. H. Turner 1931–1939 H. Plaskett 1939–1952 Sir Harold Jeffreys 1952–1960 R. Stoneley 1960–1963 P. L. Willmore 1964–1970 P. L. Willmore 1970–1977 E. P. Willeman 2004–2007 A. Shapira 2008–present D. A. Storchak The main scientific goal of the Centre is the compilation of earthquake information. Since 1957 the manipulation of the volume of data has been mainly carried out by computer. Up until then ISS locations were determined manually with the help of a large globe, the ISC now uses a network of workstations accessing a relational database of nearly 50 Gbytes of online data. The analysis of the data is undertaken in monthly batches. During analysis the computer program first groups origin estimates from different agencies, in a typical month more than 200,000 station readings are analysed leading to an average of 10,000 events per month being identified, of which some 4,000 require manual review. Misassociations and other discrepancies are rectified and the remaining unassociated readings are searched for new events, the total number of events listed each month is several times greater than those obtained by any other worldwide location service and results from ISCs goal to provide a fully comprehensive list. This global instrumental earthquake catalogue, covering events for the period 1900–2009, was released in 2013 by the International Seismological Centre, the catalogue was prepared at the request of the GEM Foundation. Epicentral locations and hypocentral depths were recalculated from original travel time using a consistent velocity model. Sources Official website International Seismological Centre Bulletin – IRIS Consortium
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Motagua Fault
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It forms part of the tectonic boundary between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. It is considered the continuation of the Cayman Trench which runs under the Caribbean Sea. The Motagua Fault is regarded by geologists as part of a system of faults designated the Motagua-Polochic system rather than as a discrete single boundary. The Polochic fault lies north and parallel to the Motagua Fault, the Motagua Fault has been responsible for several major earthquakes in Guatemalas history, including the 7.5 Mw Guatemala 1976 earthquake
5.
Fault (geology)
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In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock, across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movement. Large faults within the Earths crust result from the action of tectonic forces. Energy release associated with movement on active faults is the cause of most earthquakes. A fault plane is the plane that represents the surface of a fault. A fault trace or fault line is the intersection of a plane with the ground surface. A fault trace is also the line commonly plotted on maps to represent a fault. Since faults do not usually consist of a single, clean fracture, the two sides of a non-vertical fault are known as the hanging wall and footwall. By definition, the wall occurs above the fault plane. This terminology comes from mining, when working a tabular ore body, because of friction and the rigidity of rocks, they cannot glide or flow past each other easily, and occasionally all movement stops. A fault in ductile rocks can also release instantaneously when the rate is too great. The energy released by instantaneous strain-release causes earthquakes, a common phenomenon along transform boundaries, slip is defined as the relative movement of geological features present on either side of a fault plane, and is a displacement vector. A faults sense of slip is defined as the motion of the rock on each side of the fault with respect to the other side. In practice, it is only possible to find the slip direction of faults. Based on direction of slip, faults can be categorized as, strike-slip. Dip-slip, offset is predominantly vertical and/or perpendicular to the fault trace, oblique-slip, combining significant strike and dip slip. The fault surface is usually vertical and the footwall moves either left or right or laterally with very little vertical motion. Strike-slip faults with left-lateral motion are known as sinistral faults. Those with right-lateral motion are known as dextral faults
6.
Guatemala
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With an estimated population of around 15.8 million, it is the most populated state in Central America. Guatemala is a democracy, its capital and largest city is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción. The territory of modern Guatemala once formed the core of the Maya civilization, most of the country was conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century, becoming part of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Guatemala attained independence in 1821 as part of the Federal Republic of Central America, from the mid to late 19th century, Guatemala experienced chronic instability and civil strife. Beginning in the early 20th century, it was ruled by a series of dictators backed by the United Fruit Company, in 1944, authoritarian leader Jorge Ubico was overthrown by a pro-democratic military coup, initiating a decade-long revolution that led to sweeping social and economic reforms. A U. S. -backed military coup in 1954 ended the revolution, from 1960 to 1996, Guatemala endured a bloody civil war fought between the US-backed government and leftist rebels, including genocidal massacres of the Maya population perpetrated by the military. As of 2014, Guatemala ranks 31st of 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries in terms of the Human Development Index, Guatemalas abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems includes a large number of endemic species and contributes to Mesoamericas designation as a biodiversity hotspot. The country is known for its rich and distinct culture. The name Guatemala comes from the Nahuatl word Cuauhtēmallān, or place of many trees and this was the name the Tlaxcaltecan soldiers who accompanied Pedro de Alvarado during the Spanish Conquest gave to this territory. The first evidence of habitation in Guatemala dates back to 12,000 BC. Evidence, such as obsidian arrowheads found in parts of the country. There is archaeological proof that early Guatemalan settlers were hunters and gatherers, pollen samples from Petén and the Pacific coast indicate that maize cultivation had been developed by 3500 BC. Sites dating back to 6500 BC have been found in the Quiché region in the Highlands, archaeologists divide the pre-Columbian history of Mesoamerica into the Preclassic period, the Classic period, and the Postclassic period. Until recently, the Preclassic was regarded as a period, with small villages of farmers who lived in huts. This period is characterized by urbanisation, the emergence of independent city-states and this lasted until approximately 900 AD, when the Classic Maya civilization collapsed. The Maya abandoned many of the cities of the lowlands or were killed off by a drought-induced famine. The cause of the collapse is debated, but the Drought Theory is gaining currency, supported by such as lakebeds, ancient pollen. A series of prolonged droughts, among other such as overpopulation, in what is otherwise a seasonal desert is thought to have decimated the Maya
7.
Guatemala City
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Guatemala City, locally known as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala, and the most populous in Central America. The city is located in the part of the country. In 2009, it had a population of 1,075,000, Guatemala City is also the capital of the local Municipality of Guatemala and of the Guatemala Department. Human settlement on the present site of Guatemala City began with the Maya who built a city at Kaminaljuyu, the Spanish colonists established a small town, which was made a capital city in 1775. At this period the Central Square with the Cathedral and Royal Palace were constructed, after Central American independence from Spain the city became the capital of the United Provinces of Central America in 1821. The 19th century saw the construction of the monumental Carrera Theater in the 1850s, at this time the city was expanding around the 30 de junio Boulevard and elsewhere, displacing native settlements from the ancient site. Earthquakes in 1917–1918 destroyed many historic structures, during the Guatemalan Civil War, terror attacks beginning with the burning of the Spanish Embassy in 1980 led to severe destruction and loss of life in the city. In May 2010 two disasters struck, the eruption of the Pacaya volcano, and two days later Tropical Storm Agatha, Guatemala City serves as the economic, governmental, and cultural epicenter of the nation of Guatemala. Guatemala City is subdivided into 22 zones designed by the engineering of Raúl Aguilar Batres, each one with its own streets and avenues. Zones are numbered 1-25 with Zones 20,22 and 23 not existing as they would have fallen in two other municipalities territory. Addresses are assigned according to the street or avenue number, followed by a dash, the zones are assigned in a spiral form starting in downtown Guatemala city. Efforts to revitalize this important part of the city have been undertaken by the government and have been very successful thus far. This plan denominated POT aims to allow taller building structures of mixed uses to be next to large arterial roads and gradually decline in height. It is also worth mentioning, that due to the Airport being in the city, to the south and this limits the maximum height for a building, at 60 metres in Zone 10, up to 95 metres in Zone 1. The city is located in the South-Central area of the country and has a lot of green areas, besides the parks, the city offers a portfolio of entertainment in the region, focused on the so-called Zona Viva and the Calzada Roosevelt as well as four degrees North. Also include projects such as Zona Pradera and Interamerica´s World Financial Center http, the location of the La Aurora international airport within the city limits the construction of skyscrapers, changing the limits permitted directly by its location within the urban area. According to the 2017 census, the Guatemala City metropolitan area had a population of 3.3 million, making it the most populous urban agglomeration in Central America. The growth of the population has been robust since then
8.
Los Amates
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Los Amates is a municipality in the Izabal department of Guatemala. The mayor is currently Marco Tulio Ramirez Estrada, Los Amates is located on the Motagua River,6 kilometres from the ruins of the ancient Maya city of Quiriguá. Quiriguá is an ancient Maya archaeological site in Los Amates and it is a medium-sized site covering approximately 3 square kilometres along the lower Motagua River, with the ceremonial center about 1 km from the north bank. During the Maya Classic Period, Quiriguá was situated at the juncture of several important trade routes, the site was occupied by 200, construction on the acropolis had begun by about 550, and an explosion of grander construction started in the 8th century. All construction had halted by about 850, except for a period of reoccupation in the Early Postclassic. Quiriguá shares its architectural and sculptural styles with the nearby Classic Period city of Copán, the previous landowner, by the surname of Payés, had related the existence of the ruins to his sons and to Carlos Meiney, a Jamaican Englishman resident in Guatemala. Stephens had other duties to attend to, but Catherwood was able to accompany the Payés brothers to Quiriguá, a longer account of the ruins was made in 1854 by Dr. Karl Scherzer. He was able to return on three occasions, the last being in 1894, and he made the first efforts to clear the monuments before recording them. The new line would had one hundred and one miles, more archaeological work was carried out from 1910 to 1914 by Edgar Lee Hewett and Sylvanus Morley for the School of American Archaeology in Santa Fe. Duplicates of the stelae of Quiriguá made from Hewitts plaster casts of the originals were exhibited at the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego, California, the casts are still on display at the San Diego Museum of Man in their Maya, Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth exhibition. The Carnegie Institution conducted several intermittent projects at Quiriguá from 1915 through 1934, Los Amates municipality was established by an executive action of president Manuel Estrada Cabrera on 30 June 1916, and ratified and organized on 24 June 1920. On 28 January 1944 the municipality capital was moved to Quirigua, new labor chapters opened both in Morales and Los Amates banana plantations, while Puerto Barrios had more than 250 members. In the 1960s, the importance of the known as Franja Transversal del Norte was in livestock, exploitation of precious export wood. Colonization of the area was made through a process by which areas of the Franja Transversal del Norte were granted to native peasants. The Northern Transversal Strip was officially created during the government of General Carlos Arana Osorio in 1970, by Decree 60-70 in the Congress, Los Amates has a tropical monsoon climate and its municipal capital is 78 m above sea level. Guatemala portal Geography portal Franja Transversal del Norte Izabal Department Quiriguá Tragic Week United Fruit Company
9.
Izabal Department
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Izabal is one of the 22 departments of Guatemala. Its coastal areas form part of the homeland of the Garifuna people, the department of Izabal surrounds Lago Izabal, Guatemalas largest lake. The Spanish Colonial fort of San Felipe, now a Guatemalan national monument, from the area around Lake Izabal, the Department of Izabal stretches along the Río Dulce to the coast of the Caribbean Sea. The department of Izabal includes the ports of Puerto Barrios, Santo Tomás de Castilla, Livingston, Izabal also includes the Pre-Columbian Maya ruins of Quirigua
10.
Adobe
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Adobe is a building material made from earth and often organic material. Adobe is among the earliest building materials, and is used throughout the world, modern methods of construction allow the pouring of whole adobe walls that are reinforced with steel. In dry climates, adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for some of the oldest existing buildings in the world. Adobe buildings offer significant advantages due to their greater thermal mass, cases where adobe structures were widely damaged during earthquakes include the 1976 Guatemala earthquake, the 2003 Bam earthquake and the 2010 Chile earthquake. Puebloan peoples built their structures with handfuls or basketfuls of adobe. Adobe bricks were used in Spain from the Late Bronze and Iron Ages and its wide use can be attributed to its simplicity of design and manufacture, and economics. A distinction is made between the smaller adobes, which are about the size of ordinary baked bricks, and the larger adobines. The word adobe /əˈdoʊbiː/ has existed for around 4000 years with little change in either pronunciation or meaning. The word can be traced from the Middle Egyptian word ɟbt mudbrick, Middle Egyptian evolved into Late Egyptian, Demotic or pre-Coptic, and finally to Coptic, where it appeared as τωωβε tōʾpə. This was borrowed into Arabic as الطوب aṭ-ṭawbu or aṭ-ṭūbu, with the definite article al- attached, tuba, English borrowed the word from Spanish in the early 18th century. In more modern English usage, the adobe has come to include a style of architecture popular in the desert climates of North America. An adobe brick is a material made of earth mixed with water. The soil composition typically contains sand, silt and clay, straw is useful in binding the brick together and allowing the brick to dry evenly, thereby preventing cracking due to uneven shrinkage rates through the brick. The most desirable soil texture for producing the mud of adobe is 15% clay, 10–30% silt, another source quotes 15–25% clay and the remainder sand and coarser particles up to cobbles 50 to 250 mm with no deleterious effect. Modern adobe is stabilized with either emulsified asphalt or Portland cement up to 10% by weight, no more than half the clay content should be expansive clays with the remainder non-expansive illite or kaolinite. Too much expansive clay results in uneven drying through the resulting in cracking. Typically the soils of the Southwest United States, where construction is in use, are an adequate composition. Adobe walls are bearing, i. e. they carry their own weight into the foundation rather than by another structure
11.
Homelessness
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Homelessness is the condition of people without a permanent dwelling, such as a house or apartment. People who are homeless are most often unable to acquire and maintain regular, safe, secure, the legal definition of homeless varies from country to country, or among different jurisdictions in the same country or region. According to the UK homelessness charity Crisis, a home is not just a space, it also provides roots, identity, security, a sense of belonging. American government homeless enumeration studies also include people who sleep in a public or private place not designed for use as a sleeping accommodation for human beings. There are a number of organizations who provide help for the homeless, in 2005, an estimated 100 million people worldwide were homeless, and as many as 1 billion people live as squatters, refugees or in temporary shelter, all lacking adequate housing. In Western countries, the majority of homeless are men. Most countries provide a variety of services to assist homeless people and these services often provide food, shelter and clothing and may be organized and run by community organizations or by government departments or agencies. These programs may be supported by the government, charities, churches, many cities also have street newspapers, which are publications designed to provide employment opportunity to homeless people. While some homeless have jobs, some must seek other methods to make a living, begging or panhandling is one option, but is becoming increasingly illegal in many cities. People who are homeless may have conditions, such as physical or mental health issues or substance addiction. In 2004, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs defined a homeless household as those households without a shelter that would fall within the scope of living quarters. They carry their few possessions with them, sleeping in the streets, in doorways or on piers, or in another space and this category includes persons living in the streets without a shelter that would fall within the scope of living quarters, Secondary homelessness. This category may include persons with no place of usual residence who move frequently between various types of accommodations and this category includes persons living in private dwellings but reporting no usual address on their census form. The CES acknowledges that the approach does not provide a full definition of the homeless. Homelessness is perceived and addressed according to country. The ETHOS approach confirms that homelessness is a process that affects many vulnerable households at different points in their lives. The typology was launched in 2005 and is used for different purposes, as a framework for debate, for collection purposes, for policy purposes, monitoring purposes. This typology is an exercise which makes abstraction of existing legal definitions in the EU member states
12.
Electricity
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Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence of electric charge. Although initially considered a separate to magnetism, since the development of Maxwells Equations both are recognized as part of a single phenomenon, electromagnetism. Various common phenomena are related to electricity, including lightning, static electricity, electric heating, electric discharges, in addition, electricity is at the heart of many modern technologies. The presence of a charge, which can be either positive or negative. On the other hand, the movement of charges, which is known as electric current. When a charge is placed in a location with non-zero electric field, the magnitude of this force is given by Coulombs Law. Thus, if that charge were to move, the field would be doing work on the electric charge. Electrical phenomena have been studied since antiquity, though progress in theoretical understanding remained slow until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Even then, practical applications for electricity were few, and it would not be until the nineteenth century that engineers were able to put it to industrial and residential use. The rapid expansion in electrical technology at this time transformed industry, electricitys extraordinary versatility means it can be put to an almost limitless set of applications which include transport, heating, lighting, communications, and computation. Electrical power is now the backbone of modern industrial society, long before any knowledge of electricity existed, people were aware of shocks from electric fish. Ancient Egyptian texts dating from 2750 BCE referred to these fish as the Thunderer of the Nile, Electric fish were again reported millennia later by ancient Greek, Roman and Arabic naturalists and physicians. Patients suffering from such as gout or headache were directed to touch electric fish in the hope that the powerful jolt might cure them. Ancient cultures around the Mediterranean knew that certain objects, such as rods of amber, Thales was incorrect in believing the attraction was due to a magnetic effect, but later science would prove a link between magnetism and electricity. He coined the New Latin word electricus to refer to the property of attracting small objects after being rubbed and this association gave rise to the English words electric and electricity, which made their first appearance in print in Thomas Brownes Pseudodoxia Epidemica of 1646. Further work was conducted by Otto von Guericke, Robert Boyle, Stephen Gray, in the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin conducted extensive research in electricity, selling his possessions to fund his work. In June 1752 he is reputed to have attached a key to the bottom of a dampened kite string. A succession of jumping from the key to the back of his hand showed that lightning was indeed electrical in nature
13.
Aftershock
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An aftershock is a smaller earthquake that occurs after a previous large earthquake, in the same area of the main shock. If an aftershock is larger than the shock, the aftershock is redesignated as the main shock. Aftershocks are formed as the crust around the fault plane adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Typically, aftershocks are found up to an equal to the rupture length away from the fault plane. The pattern of aftershocks helps confirm the size of area that slipped during the main shock, Aftershocks rates and magnitudes follow several well-established empirical laws. The frequency of aftershocks decreases roughly with the reciprocal of time after the main shock and this empirical relation was first described by Fusakichi Omori in 1894 and is known as Omoris law. It is expressed as n = k where k and c are constants, a modified version of Omoris law, now commonly used, was proposed by Utsu in 1961. N = k p p is a third constant which modifies the decay rate. According to these equations, the rate of aftershocks decreases quickly with time, the rate of aftershocks is proportional to the inverse of time since the mainshock and this relationship can be used to estimate the probability of future aftershock occurrence. These patterns describe only the behavior of aftershocks, the actual times, numbers and locations of the aftershocks are stochastic. N =10 a − b M Where, N is the number of greater or equal to M M is magnitude a and b are constants In summary, there are more small aftershocks. Aftershocks are dangerous because they are unpredictable, can be of a large magnitude. An aftershock sequence is deemed to have ended when the rate of seismicity drops back to a background level, i. e. no further decay in the number of events with time can be detected. Land movement around the New Madrid is reported to be no more than 0.2 mm a year, Aftershocks on the San Andreas are now believed to top out at 10 years while earthquakes in New Madrid are considered aftershocks nearly 200 years after the 1812 New Madrid earthquake. Some scientists have tried to use foreshocks to help predict upcoming earthquakes, on the East Pacific Rise however, transform faults show quite predictable foreshock behaviour before the main seismic event. Reviews of data of past events and their foreshocks showed that they have a low number of aftershocks, seismologists use tools such as the Epidemic-Type Aftershock Sequence model to study cascading aftershocks. Following a large earthquake and aftershocks, many people have reported feeling phantom earthquakes when in fact no earthquake was taking place and this condition, known as earthquake sickness is thought to be related to motion sickness, and usually goes away as seismic activity tails off. Earthquake Aftershocks Not What They Seemed at Live Science
14.
North American Plate
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The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Greenland, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Russia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. It extends eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and westward to the Chersky Range in eastern Siberia, the plate includes both continental and oceanic crust. The interior of the continental landmass includes an extensive granitic core called a craton. Along most of the edges of this craton are fragments of material called terranes. It is thought that much of North America west of the Rocky Mountains is composed of such terranes, the parallel Septentrional and Enriquillo-Plantain Garden faults, which run through the island of Hispaniola and bound the Gonâve Microplate, are also a part of the boundary. On the northerly boundary is a continuation of the Mid-Atlantic ridge called the Gakkel Ridge, the rest of the boundary in the far northwestern part of the plate extends into Siberia. On its western edge, the Farallon Plate has been subducting under the North American Plate since the Jurassic Period, the Juan de Fuca, Explorer, Gorda, Rivera, Cocos and Nazca plates are remnants of the Farallon Plate. The boundary along the Gulf of California is complex and it is generally accepted that a piece of the North American Plate was broken off and transported north as the East Pacific Rise propagated northward, creating the Gulf of California. A few hotspots are thought to exist below the North American Plate, the most notable hotspots are the Yellowstone, Raton, and Anahim hotspots. The Yellowstone and Anahim hotspots are thought to have first arrived during the Miocene period and are still geologically active, for the most part, the North American Plate moves in roughly a southwest direction away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. One recent study suggests that a convective current is propelling the plate. Geologic timeline of Western North America New Madrid Seismic Zone - an ancient intraplate fault zone within the North American Plate, notable as early as 1699 Notes
15.
Caribbean Plate
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The Caribbean Plate is a mostly oceanic tectonic plate underlying Central America and the Caribbean Sea off the north coast of South America. Roughly 3.2 million square kilometers in area, the Caribbean Plate borders the North American Plate, the South American Plate, the Nazca Plate and these borders are regions of intense seismic activity, including frequent earthquakes, occasional tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. Part of the Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean, the Puerto Rico trench is at a complex transition from the subduction boundary to the south and the transform boundary to the west. The eastern boundary is a zone, the Lesser Antilles subduction zone. Subduction forms the islands of the Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc from the Virgin Islands in the north to the islands off the coast of Venezuela in the south. Large historical earthquakes in 1839 and 1843 in this region are possibly megathrust earthquakes and this boundary is in part the result of transform faulting along with thrust faulting and some subduction. The rich Venezuelan petroleum fields possibly result from this complex plate interaction, the Caribbean plate is moving eastward about 22 millimeters per year in relation to the South American plate. In Venezuela much of the movement between the Caribbean Plate and the South American plate occurs along the faults of Boconó, El Pilar, the western portion of the plate is occupied by Central America. The Cocos Plate in the Pacific Ocean is subducted beneath the Caribbean Plate and this subduction forms the volcanoes of Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, also known as the Central America Volcanic Arc. The usual theory as to the origin of the Caribbean Plate was confronted by a theory in 2002. The mainstream theory holds that it is the Caribbean large igneous province formed in the Pacific Ocean tens of millions of years ago. As the Atlantic Ocean widened, North America and South America were pushed westward, the Pacific Ocean floor subducted under this oceanic crust between the continents. With the formation of the Isthmus of Panama 3 million years ago, the more recent theory asserts that the Caribbean Plate came into being from an Atlantic hotspot which no longer exists. The Caribbean Plate began its eastward migration 80 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous and this migration eventually resulted in a volcanic arc stretching from north-western South America to the Yucatán Peninsula, today represented by the Aves Islands and the Lesser and Greater Antilles
16.
Mixco
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Mixco is a municipality in the Guatemala department of Guatemala. Located next to the main Guatemala City municipality, over time it has become part of the Guatemala City Metropolitan Area, most of Mixco is separated from the city by canyons, for which a multitude of bridges have been created. Ciudad San Cristóbal, one of Guatemalas largest cities, is located in this municipality and it is the third largest city in Guatemala Department, after Guatemala City and Villa Nueva, with a population of 688,124. The municipality is divided into zones with residential neighborhoods, villages, settlements, due to its close proximity to Guatemala City, several villages were turned into residential neighborhoods. From the residential neighborhoods it is excluded La Florida, which separated from Mixco to join Guatemala City in 1958, ururalG UPANA USAC URL Deportivo Mixco football club play in the Guatemalan second division. They have been playing their games at different locations, since they plan to build the new Estadio de La Tierra de Campeones. In 1969, the Mexican-Guatemalan film El ogro, with famous Mexican comedian Germán Valdéz and Guatemalan actor Herbert Meneses was filmed on location in Tikal, the scenes shot in Mixco include Germán Valdéz as an old church keeper and a group of kids that listen to his old stories. Mixco has a highland climate. Guatemala portal Geography portal List of places in Guatemala Guatemala Department Guatemala City
17.
Soil liquefaction
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In soil mechanics the term liquefied was first used by Allen Hazen in reference to the 1918 failure of the Calaveras Dam in California. The phenomenon is most often observed in saturated, loose, sandy soils and this is because a loose sand has a tendency to compress when a load is applied, dense sands by contrast tend to expand in volume or dilate. If the soil is saturated by water, a condition that exists when the soil is below the ground water table or sea level. In response to the soil compressing, this increases in pressure. These contacts between grains are the means by which the weight from buildings and overlying soil layers are transferred from the surface to layers of soil or rock at greater depths. This loss of soil structure causes it to all of its strength. Although the effects of liquefaction have been understood, it was more thoroughly brought to the attention of engineers after the 1964 Niigata earthquake and 1964 Alaska earthquake. It was also a factor in the destruction in San Franciscos Marina District during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. A state of soil liquefaction occurs when the stress of soil is reduced to essentially zero. This may be initiated by either monotonic loading or cyclic loading, in both cases a soil in a saturated loose state, and one which may generate significant pore water pressure on a change in load are the most likely to liquefy. As pore water pressure rises a progressive loss of strength of the soil occurs as effective stress is reduced and it is more likely to occur in sandy or non-plastic silty soils, but may in rare cases occur in gravels and clays. A flow failure may initiate if the strength of the soil is reduced below the required to maintain equilibrium of a slope or footing of a building for instance. This can occur due to loading or cyclic loading, and can be sudden. A historical example is the Aberfan disaster, casagrande referred to this type of phenomena as flow liquefaction although a state of zero effective stress is not required for this to occur. The term cyclic refers to the occurrence of a state of soil when large shear strains have accumulated in response to cyclic loading. A typical reference strain for the occurrence of zero effective stress is 5% double amplitude shear strain. This is a soil test based definition, usually performed via cyclic triaxial, cyclic direct simple shear and these tests are performed to determine a soils resistance to liquefaction by observing the number of cycles of loading at a particular shear stress amplitude before it fails. Failure here is defined by the shear strain criteria
18.
Sand boil
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Sand boils or sand volcanoes occur when water under pressure wells up through a bed of sand. The water looks like it is boiling up from the bed of sand, a sand volcano or sand blow is a cone of sand formed by the ejection of sand onto a surface from a central point. The sand builds up as a cone with slopes at the angle of repose. A crater is seen at the summit. The cone looks like a volcanic cone and can range in size from millimetres to metres in diameter. The process is associated with soil liquefaction and the ejection of fluidized sand that can occur in water-saturated sediments during an earthquake. The New Madrid Seismic Zone exhibited many such features during the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes, adjacent sand blows aligned in a row along a linear fracture within fine-grained surface sediments are just as common, and can still be seen in the New Madrid area. In the past few years, much effort has gone into the mapping of liquefaction features to study ancient earthquakes, the basic idea is to map zones that are susceptible to the process and then go in for a closer look. The presence or absence of soil liquefaction features is strong evidence of past earthquake activity and these are to be contrasted with mud volcanoes, which occur in areas of geyser or subsurface gas venting. Sand boils can be a mechanism contributing to liquefaction and levee failure during floods and this effect is caused by a difference in pressure on two sides of a levee or dike, most likely during a flood. This process can result in erosion, whereby the removal of soil particles results in a pipe through the embankment. The creation of the pipe will quickly pick up pace and will result in failure of the embankment. A sand boil is difficult to stop, the most effective method is by creating a body of water above the boil to create enough pressure to slow the flow of water. A slower flow will not be able to move soil particles, the body of water is often created with sandbags forming a ring around the boil. During the flood of spring 2011, the United States Army Corps of Engineers had to work to contain the largest sand boil ever discovered. The sand boil measured 30 feet by 40 feet and was located in the city of Cairo, Illinois at the confluence of the Mississippi River, an example of this is during the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco, when sand boils brought up debris from the 1906 earthquake. This process is a result of liquefaction, by mapping the location of sand boils that erupted in the Marina District during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, scientists discovered the site of a lagoon that existed in 1906. The lagoon developed after the Fairs Seawall was constructed, and was filled in in 1915 in preparation for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition
19.
Puerto Barrios
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Puerto Barrios is a city in Guatemala, located within the Gulf of Honduras. The bay in which the harbour is located is called Bahia de Amatique, Puerto Barrios is the departmental seat of Izabal department and is the administrative seat of Puerto Barrios municipality. It is Guatemalas main Caribbean Sea port, together with its more modern port town just to the southwest. In 2003 the estimated population of Puerto Barrios was 40,900 people, Puerto Barrios is located 297 kilometers northeast of Guatemala City. It is the terminus of Highway CA9 which begins at the Pacific port city of Puerto San José, the citys population is a mix of mostly Afro-Guatemalans, Maya, Afro-Caribbean, and other West Indian groups. Puerto Barrios is divided by many neighborhoods or Barrios such as El rastro, las champas, los tanques, la veinte, la veintedos, la catorce, la trece, and el estrecho. Although the town is small, due to its harbor nature, Puerto Barrios is starting to get more visitors in the new century as the nearby town of Santo Tomás de Castilla has started receiving cruise ships. Puerto Barrios Airport is currently being refurbished in order to receive scheduled flights in the near future, among the many nearby tourist attractions are the Mayan ruins of Quirigua. The Castillo de San Felipe de Lara, an old Spanish fort in Río Dulce, another popular attraction is the lively town of Livingston where Garifuna culture can be experienced, with its Punta and Yankunu dances. However, after the death of Barrios in the Battle of Chalchuapa in 1885. It was not until 1892, when José María Reyna Barrios assumed power, on 19 July 1895, Reina Barrios issued executive action #513, which established that a city was to be founded between the Escondido and Estrecho rivers, to be called Puerto Barrios. The ceremonial act of foundation took place on 5 December 1892, given that in those days most visitors arriving from Europe and North America arrived at the port on the Caribbean Sea shore, Reina Barrios pushed for the Northern Railroad to be finished on time. Not only was the railroad vital for the Expo success, it was key to move merchandise, completing a transoceanic railway was a main objective of Reina Barrios government, with a goal to attract international investors at a time when the Panama Canal was not built yet. The harbor was partly built by Theodore Roosevelts Corps of Engineers in 1906–1908. He also issued an Agrarian Reform that impacted UFCO land, eventually, Árbenz was accused of Communism and was ousted in 1954, but the highway was almost completed and was completed by his successor, colonel Carlos Castillo Armas. Just as Arbenz had hoped, IRCAs last profit was reported in 1957, in the 21st century, Puerto Barrios remains an important hub for Dole and Fresh Del Monte Produce industries, which are what remains from United Fruit Company. Construction of the highway began by the Roads Department of the Ministry of Communications and it was planned to be built parallel along the railway line, as much as possible. The construction of the new port was aimed to break another UFCO monopoly, since Puerto Barrios was owned and operated solely by The Great White Fleet
20.
Morales, Guatemala
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Morales is a municipality in Izabal Department of Guatemala. The municipality was created in 1920 and is formed by the town of Morales,9 villages and 56 rural communities, the Cuevas del Silvino National Park is located a few kilometers north-east of Morales. The new line would had one hundred and one miles, new labor chapters opened both in Morales and Los Amates banana plantations, while Puerto Barrios had more than 250 members. In the 1960s, the importance of the known as Franja Transversal del Norte was in livestock, exploitation of precious export wood. Colonization of the area was made through a process by which areas of the Franja Transversal del Norte were granted to native peasants. The Northern Transversal Strip was officially created during the government of General Carlos Arana Osorio in 1970, by Decree 60-70 in the Congress, for agricultural development. The town boasted a Guatemalan top division side in Deportivo Heredia before it was relocated to San José. Morales has a tropical rainforest climate and its capital is 48 m above sea level. Guatemala portal Geography portal United Fruit Company
21.
Joyabaj
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Joyabaj is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of El Quiché. It is located about 50 kilometers from Santa Cruz del Quiché, Joyabaj was an important part of the royal route to Mexico during the Spanish time. On February 4,1976 the town was almost destroyed by an earthquake, most of its beautiful colonial houses and buildings were lost and hundreds of people died. Joyabaj was also hit hard by the war that lasted about 30 years in Guatemala. The majority of the fled to Guatemala City. The towns fiesta is celebrated from August 8–15, many activities take place every day. One of the most important and fantastic celebrations is El Palo Volador and this is a traditional dance in which flying angels spin to the ground from a huge wooden pole. The Palo Volador reenacts the descend of the angels into the underworld to battle the forces of darkness and this a pre-conquest ritual that has survived many centuries. The people from Joyabaj are called Xoyes or Joyabatecos
22.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
23.
Seismological Society of America
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The Seismological Society of America is an international scientific society devoted to the advancement of seismology and the understanding of earthquakes for the benefit of society. Founded in 1906, the society has members throughout the world representing seismologists and other geophysicists, geologists, engineers, insurers, the society hosts an annual meeting every April. The meeting is open to anyone, SSA members receive a discount on their meeting registration. The Eastern Section of SSA hosts a meeting each fall. American Geological Institute Geological Society of America IRIS Consortium List of geoscience organizations Sources SSA official website
24.
Science (journal)
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Science, also widely referred to as Science Magazine, is the peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and one of the worlds top academic journals. It was first published in 1880, is circulated weekly and has a print subscriber base of around 130,000. Because institutional subscriptions and online access serve an audience, its estimated readership is 570,400 people. Unlike most scientific journals, which focus on a field, Science. According to the Journal Citation Reports, Sciences 2015 impact factor was 34.661, although it is the journal of the AAAS, membership in the AAAS is not required to publish in Science. Papers are accepted from authors around the world, competition to publish in Science is very intense, as an article published in such a highly cited journal can lead to attention and career advancement for the authors. Fewer than 7% of articles submitted are accepted for publication, Science is based in Washington, D. C. United States, with an office in Cambridge, England. Science was founded by New York journalist John Michels in 1880 with financial support from Thomas Edison, however, the journal never gained enough subscribers to succeed and ended publication in March 1882. Entomologist Samuel H. Scudder resurrected the journal one year later and had some success while covering the meetings of prominent American scientific societies, however, by 1894, Science was again in financial difficulty and was sold to psychologist James McKeen Cattell for $500. In an agreement worked out by Cattell and AAAS secretary Leland O. Howard, after Cattell died in 1944, the ownership of the journal was transferred to the AAAS. After Cattells death in 1944, the journal lacked a consistent editorial presence until Graham DuShane became editor in 1956. In 1958, under DuShanes leadership, Science absorbed The Scientific Monthly, physicist Philip Abelson, a co-discoverer of neptunium, served as editor from 1962 to 1984. Under Abelson the efficiency of the process was improved and the publication practices were brought up to date. During this time, papers on the Apollo program missions and some of the earliest reports on AIDS were published, biochemist Daniel E. Koshland, Jr. served as editor from 1985 until 1995. From 1995 until 2000, neuroscientist Floyd E. Bloom held that position, biologist Donald Kennedy became the editor of Science in 2000. Biochemist Bruce Alberts took his place in March 2008, geophysicist Marcia McNutt became editor-in-chief in June 2013. During her tenure the family of journals expanded to include Science Robotics and Science Immunology, jeremy M. Berg became editor-in-chief on July 1,2016
25.
PubMed Identifier
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PubMed is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health maintains the database as part of the Entrez system of information retrieval, from 1971 to 1997, MEDLINE online access to the MEDLARS Online computerized database primarily had been through institutional facilities, such as university libraries. PubMed, first released in January 1996, ushered in the era of private, free, home-, the PubMed system was offered free to the public in June 1997, when MEDLINE searches via the Web were demonstrated, in a ceremony, by Vice President Al Gore. Information about the journals indexed in MEDLINE, and available through PubMed, is found in the NLM Catalog. As of 5 January 2017, PubMed has more than 26.8 million records going back to 1966, selectively to the year 1865, and very selectively to 1809, about 500,000 new records are added each year. As of the date,13.1 million of PubMeds records are listed with their abstracts. In 2016, NLM changed the system so that publishers will be able to directly correct typos. Simple searches on PubMed can be carried out by entering key aspects of a subject into PubMeds search window, when a journal article is indexed, numerous article parameters are extracted and stored as structured information. Such parameters are, Article Type, Secondary identifiers, Language, publication type parameter enables many special features. As these clinical girish can generate small sets of robust studies with considerable precision, since July 2005, the MEDLINE article indexing process extracts important identifiers from the article abstract and puts those in a field called Secondary Identifier. The secondary identifier field is to store numbers to various databases of molecular sequence data, gene expression or chemical compounds. For clinical trials, PubMed extracts trial IDs for the two largest trial registries, ClinicalTrials. gov and the International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number Register, a reference which is judged particularly relevant can be marked and related articles can be identified. If relevant, several studies can be selected and related articles to all of them can be generated using the Find related data option, the related articles are then listed in order of relatedness. To create these lists of related articles, PubMed compares words from the title and abstract of each citation, as well as the MeSH headings assigned, using a powerful word-weighted algorithm. The related articles function has been judged to be so precise that some researchers suggest it can be used instead of a full search, a strong feature of PubMed is its ability to automatically link to MeSH terms and subheadings. Examples would be, bad breath links to halitosis, heart attack to myocardial infarction, where appropriate, these MeSH terms are automatically expanded, that is, include more specific terms. Terms like nursing are automatically linked to Nursing or Nursing and this important feature makes PubMed searches automatically more sensitive and avoids false-negative hits by compensating for the diversity of medical terminology. The My NCBI area can be accessed from any computer with web-access, an earlier version of My NCBI was called PubMed Cubby
26.
1976 Friuli earthquake
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The 1976 Friuli earthquake, also known in Italy as Terremoto del Friuli, took place on May 6 with a moment magnitude of 6.5 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X. The shock occurred in the Friuli region in northeast Italy near the town of Gemona del Friuli, up to 978 people were killed,2,400 were injured, and 157,000 were left homeless. Seventy-seven villages in the Friuli region were affected, the damage was estimated at $4.25 million. Much of the town has since been reconstructed, the tremor was felt in Venice as well as neighboring Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia. In Slovenia, the upper Soča valley and the Brda area was particularly affected, the earthquake damaged several buildings in Nova Gorica and was felt also in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana. The Italian Government nominated Chamber of Deputies member Giuseppe Zamberletti as coordinator of aid efforts on behalf of the regional administration, the national funds were assigned to the reconstruction of the damaged buildings by Zamberletti and the regional council of Friuli Venezia Giulia. From September to December 1976 all the victims were accommodated into prefabricated buildings. Many local inhabitants lived in the Government supplied trailers for years while homes were rebuilt. Nowadays, many years after the tragedy, the States intervention, there were many aftershocks with the two sets of strong shocks on 11 September and again on 15 September 1976. This event also spurred the foundation of the Protezione Civile,1976, More bodies found after Italy quake – BBC
27.
1976 Papua earthquake
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The 1976 Papua earthquake occurred on 25 June with a moment magnitude of 7.1 in Papua, Indonesia. Total deaths for the event amounted to 422, including 70 who died in subsequent landslides, Indonesia lies within the Pacific Ring of Fire, a sector of the Pacific where several tectonic plates intersect. This movement between the results in extremely high volcanic and seismic activity. Papua is constantly plagued by landslides, directly after the earthquake the casualty count was assessed as 350 dead. However, landslides occurred in the affected area, leading to 72 more casualties. A total of six villages were demolished in the area, the west sector of Irian and eastern New Guinea also reported that the earthquake was felt significantly in their region
28.
1976 Bali earthquake
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The 1976 Bali earthquake occurred at 15,13 local time on 14 July with a moment magnitude of 6.5. The shock occurred 5 kilometres south of the Bali Sea coast of the Buleleng Regency,573 people are believed to have died, at least 544 in Buleleng Regency,24 in Jembrana and 5 in Tabanan. Four thousand more suffered injuries and an estimated 450,000 were left temporarily homeless, the island of Bali forms part of the Sunda Arc, which formed above the convergent boundary where the Australian Plate is subducting beneath the Sunda Plate. The rate of convergence across the line of the Sunda–Java Trench is 7.5 cm per year, eastwards from Bali, the Sunda Arc is also being thrust over the Bali and Flores back-arc basins on a series of south-dipping thrusts. Focal mechanisms for earthquakes near Bali are dominantly thrust sense on both the interface and the system of thrust faults to the north. A previous earthquake of 6.6 Ms southeast of Bali on 21 January 1917 had caused 1500 casualties on the island. A subsequent earthquake of 6.5 Ms southeast of Karangasem Regency on 18 December 1979 caused 27 deaths on the island and displaced a similar number of people as the 1976 event. According to the United States Geological Survey, the 14 July shock occurred 915 km east-southeast of Jakarta at a depth of 25.4 km although the hypocenter may actually have been as deep as 40 km, the main shock lasted for a duration of nearly a minute. Several fumaroles reportedly formed in the Yeh Kuning sub-district of Jembrana, the Jakarta Geophysical Service initially believed the epicenter to be in the Bali Strait, some 25 km west of the location observed by the USGS. A subsequent shock of 5.9 Ms occurred at 18,23 local time on 14 July a short distance north, although the hypocenter was at a more shallow 16.3 km. The epicenter was only a few north of Seririt, a town with a population between forty and fifty thousand people and at that time the 3rd most populous in Bali. Early reports by Reuters described Seririt as being flattened and that almost all the buildings in the town, more than 60 students died in the collapse of this particular school, however the exact name of the school remains unclear. The only Buddhist monastery in Bali, the Brahma Vihara Arama in Banjar village 4 km from Seririt, was severely damaged, during the mission, the Singaporean team reportedly experienced three further damaging tremors. Although Seririt and rural sub-districts of Buleleng were most severely affected, the Taman Ujung historic site in Karangasem was also extensively damaged, exacerbating damage already caused by earthquakes associated with the volcanic eruption of Mount Agung in 1963. It was felt in the Kuta and Denpasar areas, but only minor damage resulted, in-country contributions, both in cash and in kind, amounted to more than US$900,000. The armed forces of two nations, Australia and Singapore, dispatched direct humanitarian relief missions in response to damage caused by the, the Australian Embassy in Jakarta dispatched a team to Bali, including a consular official, to determine whether any Australian tourists were killed or injured. The team included an aid official to determine Australian aid requirements, on the same day, the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs announced the donation of A$35,000 to the Government of Indonesia for use in assisting victims of the Balinese and Irian Jayan events. At least 250 Royal Australian Navy personnel provided assistance to victims within Seririt sub-district, including fixing electrical infrastructure, two first aid posts were also established in neighboring villages and 150 were treated
29.
1976 Tangshan earthquake
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The Tangshan earthquake, also known as the Great Tangshan earthquake, was a natural disaster that occurred on July 28,1976. It is believed to be the largest earthquake of the 20th century by death toll, the epicenter of the earthquake was near Tangshan in Hebei, Peoples Republic of China, an industrial city with approximately one million inhabitants. The number of deaths reported by the Chinese government was 655,000. A further 164,000 people were recorded as being severely injured, in traditional Chinese thought, natural disasters are seen as a precursor of dynastic change. The earthquake hit in the morning and lasted 14 to 16 seconds. Chinese government official sources state a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter magnitude scale and it was followed by a major 7.1 magnitude aftershock some 16 hours later, increasing the death toll to over 255,000. The earthquake was generated by the 25-mile-long Tangshan Fault, which runs near the city, well water in a village outside of Tangshan reportedly rose and fell three times the day before the earthquake. Gas began to spout out of a well in another village on July 12 and then increased on July 25, abnormal signals were mentioned for Beijing, Tianjin, Tangshan, Bohai and Zhangjiakou regions. Wang made an effort to publicize the information to 60 people, one of the people listening in Qinglong was official Wang Chunqing. After voicing the concerns to Wang Chunqing, his county took the report very seriously, already some sources showed that the county had been preparing as much as two years earlier. Up to 800 members of his county tried to respond, on July 25 and 26,1976 each community of Qinglong county had emergency meetings to prepare and instruct villagers. Buildings were examined and water reservoirs were given special attention, the high loss of life caused by the earthquake can be attributed to the time it struck and how suddenly it struck, as well as to the quality and nature of building construction in China. The earthquake lacked the foreshocks that sometimes come with earthquakes of this magnitude and it also struck at just before 4 a. m. when most people were asleep and unprepared. Tangshan itself was thought to be in a region with a low risk of earthquakes. Very few buildings had been built to withstand an earthquake, therefore, hundreds of thousands of buildings were destroyed. The earthquake devastated the city over an area of roughly 6.5 kilometres by 8 kilometres, many of the people who survived the initial earthquake were trapped under collapsed buildings. Tremors were felt as far away as Xian, approximately 760 km away, eighty-five percent of the buildings in the city were collapsed into ruins or became uninhabitable. The seismic waves spread far, with damage in such as Qinhuangdao and Tianjin
30.
1976 Moro Gulf earthquake
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The 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake and tsunami took place on August 17 at 00,11 local time near the islands of Mindanao and Sulu, in the Philippines. Its magnitude was calculated as being as high as 8.0 on the moment magnitude scale, several fault zones in the region are capable of producing major earthquakes and destructive local tsunamis. According to the PHIVOLCS historical catalog of earthquakes for the last 100 years, the most recent earthquake along the Cotabato Trench region of subduction being the March 6,2002 earthquake in Southern Mindanao. The initial earthquake was widespread and was felt as far as the central Philippine islands of the Visayas, at least 5,000 people died during the earthquake and tsunami, with thousands more remaining missing. Some reports say that as many as 8,000 people lost their lives in total, after the initial earthquake the people were unaware of the need to move to higher ground, when the tsunami hit it sucked most of the victims out to sea. Based on the investigation on the region it was confirmed that the waves reached up to 4 to 5 metres when they hit the areas. There were reports of weak tsunami activity as far as Japan, in Zamboanga City,14 buildings were partially damaged. Zamboanga City was spared serious damage of the tsunami triggered by this earthquake because the Basilan Island. Philippines Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology The Earthquake and Tsunami of August 16,1976, in the Philippines - The Moro Gulf Tsunami – George Pararas-Carayannis
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