Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Death Toll Rises To 226 From Mexico Earthquake, New Zealand Hit By 6.1 Magnitude, L.A. Rocked By 3.6 Earthquake



The Latest: Death toll rises to 226 from Mexico earthquake



The latest on the strong earthquake that hit Mexico City (all times local):
12:55 a.m.
Mexico's civil defense agency says the death toll has risen to 226 from Tuesday's magnitude 7.1 earthquake that knocked down dozens of buildings in Mexico City and nearby states.
The official Twitter feed of agency head Luis Felipe Puente said early Wednesday that 117 people were confirmed dead in Mexico City, and 55 died in Morelos state, which is just south of the capital. It said 39 are dead in Puebla state, where the quake was centered.
Twelve people died in Mexico State, which surrounds the capital, and three in Guerrero state. The count does not include one death reported by officials in Oaxaca state.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.1 quake was centered near the Puebla state town of Raboso, about 76 miles (123 kilometers) southeast of Mexico City.

12:45 a.m.
The Philippines says the powerful earthquake that rocked central Mexico has badly damaged its embassy in Mexico City, but the staffers were unhurt and there are so far no reports of casualty among the 60 members of the Filipino community in Mexico City.
It is also offering its sympathy to Mexico following Tuesday's powerful earthquake that killed at least 149 people and collapsed dozens of buildings in the capital and nearby states.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella says: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Mexico, especially the bereaved families, who were hit and affected by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake."
Philippine Ambassador to Mexico Eduardo de Vega says he and the embassy staff rushed out of the building when debris started falling and they all escaped unhurt. The Philippine Embassy occupies the first two floors of an eight-story office building in Mexico city's Cuauhtemoc neighborhood.

11:55 p.m.
Mexico's president has issued a video statement urging people to stay calm in the aftermath of the powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake that toppled dozens of buildings in Mexico City and in nearby states.
President Enrique Pena Nieto said in the message issued late Tuesday night that many people will need help, but the initial focus has to be on finding people trapped in wrecked buildings.
In his words, "The priority at this moment is to keep rescuing people who are still trapped and to give medical attention to the injured people."
Pena Nieto said that as of late Tuesday 40 percent of Mexico City and 60 percent of Morelos state have no electricity.
The earthquake occurred just two weeks after a magnitude 8.1 tremor in the south of the country caused more than 90 dead and caused buildings in Mexico City to sway for more than a minute. Tuesday was also the 32nd anniversary of the devastating 1985 earthquake that killed thousands of people in the capital.







An undersea earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 struck in the remote Southern Ocean south of New Zealand on Wednesday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The quake, at a shallow depth of 10 km (6 miles), was recorded 211 km (140 miles) west of the sub-Antarctic Auckland Island, off New Zealand's South Island, the USGS said.
There were no tsunami warnings issued immediately after the quake.
The quake was felt strongly in the capital Wellington but no damage to buildings has been reported.
Train services were briefly disrupted in the area.
Two smaller quakes — a 4.7 and 5.0 magnitude — were also recorded off the New Zealand coast.







Los Angeles was rocked by a 3.6 magnitude earthquake just before midnight Monday night, with its epicenter about 13 miles from the shaky city center.
The U.S. Geological Survey said that some parts of the northwest of Los Angeles experienced “moderate” shaking, while much of the area experienced “light” or “weak” tremors.

Around two hours later, early Tuesday morning, another, weaker quake of magnitude 2.6 hit further down the San Andreas fault, just outside Ocotillo Wells, a rural town near the Salton Sea about 100 miles east of San Diego.
There was plenty of chatter about the quake on Twitter, though not all of it was alarmed:

You know you grew up in CA when you wait for the #earthquake to impress you before you'll get out of bed to duck & cover. pic.twitter.com/BM2AptCq7X

Jokes aside, Californians have been a little jumpy since Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, announced in 2016 that the southern part of the San Andreas Fault “looks like it’s locked, loaded and ready to go.”
The fault runs about 750 miles, mostly along the California coast, but it also passes directly under San Francisco and to the east of Los Angeles.
Matthew Blackett, Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography and Natural Hazards at Coventry University, wrote near the time that there is a “suggestion that [a major earthquake] is imminent and, given the amount of stress that might actually have accumulated, when it arrives it will be the ‘Big One.’”
Researchers believe that such catastrophic temblors occur roughly every 100 years, but the last truly "big one" was the 1857 quake — an earthquake that was so strong that soil liquefied, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Blackett said a recurrence would most likely to be of a magnitude of somewhere between 7.0 and 8.0, and could unleash a “great amount of destruction.”



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