San Francisco Rocked By Earthquakes 22 Years After Loma Prieta

 

In 1989, the city of San Francisco was rocked by the Loma Prieta earthquake.  The 6.9-magnitude earthquake rocked the World Series (which was going on at the time), killed 63 people, and caused $10 billion dollars in damage.  Exactly 22 years later, San Francisco has experienced not one, but two earthquakes on the anniversary of Loma Prieta.  At 8:16 PM, San Francisco was hit by a 3.9 earthquake; six hours earlier, the city was hit by a 4.0 earthquake.

Of course, San Francisco is no stranger to earthquakes.  Every weird animal behavior is believed to be an earthquake warning.  San Francisco shakes pretty often; after all,it’s not New York.  San Franciscans know their quakes, and they remember Loma Prieta.  I have no doubt that the shaking earth on the anniversary of one of the most devastating earthquakes in the history of the city had more than a few people worried about what might happen.

These don’t seem like aftershocks, or just small self-contained quakes to me.  I’m no geologist, but if I was in San Francisco, I’d update my earthquake preparedness kit, because there might be a big one coming soon.  That may not be true, but it’s definitely how I’d be feeling if I was in the city by the bay.

Japanese Volcano Wakes Up After 52 Years

 

The Shinmoedake volcano is widely known to an international audience.  For James Bond fans, it’s known as the secret volcano base of Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld.  However, for the Japanese, Shinmoedake is best known as the volcano that’s erupting right now.  Shinmoedake volcano, in the Kirishima mountain range on the southwestern island of Kyushu, is currently erupting in violent fashion after waking up last week.  Experts believe this may be the biggest eruption of Shinmoedake since 1716. After 300 years, the Shinmoedake volcano is waking up.

In a lot of ways, this has been a big year for volcanic activity, and this seems to be increasing.  Shinmoedake is causing a lot of problems for the Japanese.  There are Europe-style travel disruptions, Indonesia-style evacuations (1000 people & growing as the risk increases), and the very real fear of lava erupting from the long-quiet peak.  This is looking like the real deal, and something to be worried about if you’re planning on traveling to Japan (or live there).

 

For More on this story- check out the site below:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2011/01/japan_volcano_erupts_prompts_e.html