Magnitude 6.4 - TAIWAN

[MilitarismFTL]

Source: US Geological Survey

Thursday, March 04, 2010 at 00:18:52 UTC
Thursday, March 04, 2010 at 08:18:52 AM at epicenter

Location - 22.903°N, 120.823°E

This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Read more: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010tkab.html

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:(

[SpiralHawk]

1. Whoa Nellie

Mother Earth could give us all a rest.

Prayers and strength to the Taiwanese - and all our relatives in all the other shaken lands.

[Mojambo]

2. Plate Tectonics gone mad!

WTF.

[xchrom]

3. Recommend

[yourout]

4. WTF is going on? Maybe the Mayans were right.

Really weird amount of geological activity in a short time frame.

[tblue37]

14. Maybe one movement causes a reaction in other places sometimes.

It's all connected (physically) at some level, after all.

[toolabard]

23. Earthquakes and Butterflys

People don't realize that the interconnectedness of our crustal plates is what is causing all of this. In effect, you cannot make a geologic move without setting up the next quake. In the case of Chile, two events were significant. The first was the sudden movement of the plate against another. Pressure was relieved on one spot, only to be squeezed on another. The second thing was the event was so large, it threw the axis of our planet off 6 ". So violent was the motion, it literally sloshed the molten magma in the mantle, (What the crust sits on). Much like a kid playing football without a helmet, the planet experienced a concussion. You don't just cause that much rock and energy to get frisky, and not expect some kind of event resulting form it.
The next thing I'd point out is the huge upswing in US quakes. Not a day goes by when something in the lower '48 shows up on a seismograph. If you go to a USGS earthquake site, you'll see a LOT of activity at Yellowstone Natl. Park. The caldera there measures 36 miles in diameter. The ground there is visibly swelling. It is possible that the shaking of the Chilean quake had some effect on that weak spot.
If your not familiar with the Yellowstone volcano, it is much like Hawaii. A pipe of sorts connects the mantle to the surface. The molten magma pushes its way to the surface. When the magma chamber beneath the volcano gets blocked from rubble left over from the last event, pressure begins to build. When enough pressure has been built up, the volcano blows. The blast at Yellowstone will be larger then any Mt. St. Helen's event. The ash cloud will quickly spread east, causing a winter of ash. It is impossible to say just how many people will die from this.
Yeah, I'd worry about the upswing in quake activity. There WILL be more events. There are so many site around the world that are overdue.

[ThatsMyBarack]

27. Welcome to DU, toolabard!

:hi:

The earth is broken. :(

[a la izquierda]

24. They were...but not in the way everybody thinks.

Their calendar goes up to the year 4000ad, by the way. No one ever talks about that, though.

[HeresyLives]

5. They had a 6.3 in Feb.

[customerserviceguy]

6. Reuters says no casualties and no reports of damage

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62304M20100304

The Taiwanese know that they live on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and they build accordingly. I used to work at a Taiwanese-owned semiconductor plant in the Pacific Northwest, and the buildings were carbon copies of those made in Taiwan. Our safety officer told us we'd be safer there in an earthquake than if we were in our homes.

[Auggie]

7. Not a really big quake compared to recent events

[Ruby the Liberal]

8. This is insane!

[MineralMan]

9. How so? Taiwan has many earthquakes every year. This is nothing

out of the ordinary.

So, what is insane?

[Ruby the Liberal]

20. The fact that there have been so many over 6 already this year

Not to mention the 6.5+ aftershocks in Chile. One clocked in at 6.9

[TommyO]

10. Earthquakes, like shit, happen

In the grand scheme of things, this was far less powerful than the quake in Chile, and not unheard of, after all Taiwan is extremely seismically active to begin with.

[Ruby the Liberal]

21. I can't help but wonder if these are dominos.

So many over 6 this year (including all of the Chile aftershocks).

Are these plate movements causing a domino effect of sorts?

[slutticus]

11. Taiwan's got this covered. They're used to this.

Plus it happened in a very mountainous area.

Should be OK.

[BootinUp]

12. 6.4. Sissy stuff

:sarcasm:

Hope there were no injuries.

[Duckhunter935]

13. another of many threads same topic

Please check before posting

[Donnachaidh]

15. Chile has had at least two aftershocks of 6 or better today

Shake, rattle and roll ;-{

[malaise]

16. And a complete state of panic

with another tsunami rumor

[slutticus]

17. Well, to be fair

that "complete state of panic" saved quite a few people after the first jolt.

[malaise]

18. On the contrary

as soon as they felt the earthquake they headed for the hills despite the navy telling them that there would be no tsunami. Collective memory is the most important tool for community preservation and no outsiders can influence decision-making for those who have already experienced massive loss of life. It was instinctive to head for those hills.

[slutticus]

19. How is that contrary to my reply?

hmmm.....

[malaise]

28. Collective memory suggests clear thinking

not panic

[Donnachaidh]

22. oh no!

Firefox has a nifty little earthquake add on that shakes your browser and let's you know who's shaking, so to speak. Pretty busy day today on the ring of fire.

[Kablooie]

25. I'm sitting here in Los Angeles. Tapping my foot and waiting.

[cherokeeprogressive]

26. Must be the glacial melt.

Wait... nevermind.