Deadly earthquakes of October 26, 19XX – Bosnia and Herzegovina and Pakistan

Titanic building in Banja Luka after the earthquake

M 5.6    26-10-69    Depth 15 km    Bosnia and Herzegovina – killing 15 people
On 26 and 27 October 1969, two devastating earthquakes damaged many buildings in Banja Luka.
15 people got killed, and over a thousand injured. A large building called Titanik in the center of the town was razed to the ground, and the area was turned into a central public square.
With contributions from all over Yugoslavia, Banja Luka was repaired and rebuilt. That was a period when a large Serb population moved to the city from the surrounding villages, and distant areas in Herzegovina.
Google satellite map of the earthquake area

M 5.2    26-10-07    Depth 10 km    Pakistan     – killing 1 person
NORTHWESTERN KASHMIR. One person killed and landslides injured at least 12 people in Ghanche. Felt in Ladakh.
Google satellite map of the earthquake area

These special pages are highlighting deadly earthquakes of the past.
People have forgotten a lot of these human tragedies.
We @ Earthquake Report are hopeful that people in these countries and cities will learn from their history and will make sure that they are building Earthquake Proof houses and that they know what to do when the earth will be shaking again.

What do we offer on our @QuakeSOS twitter link ? :
– The titles of, and links to the in-depth articles of Earthquake-report.com
– Automatic alerts of all important earthquakes in almost real time as they occur in the world
Try us on twitter and be one of the best informed people on earthquakes in the world.

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Deadly earthquakes of October 25, 19XX – Mexico, Indonesia, Afghanistan and China

Image by Jane Liu via Flickr

MW 7.2   25-10-1981    Depth 19 km    Mexico – killing 9 people
One person killed, 11 injured, and damage at Mexico City.  Two     people killed, 17 injured and extensive damage in Michoacan.  Felt hroughout southern Mexico.  The focal mechanism is poorly controlled and corresponds to reverse  faulting.
Google satellite map of the earthquake area

MW 6.5   25-10-1983    Depth 26.6 km    Indonesia – killing 2 people
No specific details found
Google satellite map of the earthquake area

MW 5.8   25-10-1990    Depth 110.2 km    Afghanistan – killing 11 people
HINDU KUSH REGION. Eleven people killed, more then 250 injured and damage in the Chitral-Mardan-Malakand area, Pakistan. Felt throughout northern and central Pakistan. Also felt in northwestern India. Felt (IV) at Ishkashim; (III) at Andizhan, Dushanbe,       Dzhirgatal, Fergana, Khorog, Kulyab, Nurek and Tashkent; (II) at Samarkand, USSR.
Google satellite map of the earthquake area

MW 5.8   25-10-2003    Depth 12 km    China – killing 9 people
GANSU-QINGHAI BORDER REGION, CHINA. At least nine people killed, more than 43 injured and thousands homeless; 10,000 houses destroyed and 45,000 damaged; 2 reservoirs damaged; 16,000 livestock killed in Minle and Shandan Counties. Damage estimated at 40 million U.S. dollars.
Google satellite map of the earthquake area

These special pages are highlighting deadly earthquakes of the past.
People have forgotten a lot of these human tragedies.
We @ Earthquake Report are hopeful that people in these countries and cities will learn from their history and will make sure that they are building Earthquake Proof houses and that they know what to do when the earth will be shaking again.

What do we offer on our @QuakeSOS twitter link ? :
– The titles of, and links to the in-depth articles of Earthquake-report.com
– Automatic alerts of all important earthquakes in almost real time as they occur in the world
Try us on twitter and be one of the best informed people on earthquakes in the world.

Indonesia : Merapi volcano erupts – 20 people hurt by hot ashes, others flee the area

For the latest updates : click here

UPDATE 27/10 – 06:39 UTC
The dead toll is climbing after the first pyroclastic cloud eruption on Mt Merapi. 25 people have lost their live so far.
One of the victims was the mountain’s spiritual gatekeeper.
Seismologists are unsure whether Tuesdays eruption took enough pressure from the volcano to avoid further problems.
The risk of a major explosive eruption with a powerful and devastating adjacent pyroclastic hot cloud is still present.  They are continuously following the tremors and are analyzing gases to predict the state of alert. It can take many more days before the people living on the volcano slopes are allowed to return to their houses.

UPDATE 19:45 UTC
Fifteen people were reportedly killed in Mount Merapi`s hot clouds on Tuesday with four of them found inside and 11 others outside the home of Mt Merapi caretaker Ki Surakso Hargo, popularly known as Mbah Maridjan. Read more in Antara News Agency

Indonesia’s volcano in dessely populated Central Java erupted on Tuesday afternoon, spewing hot ashes, pushing thousands of people to evacuate, head of volcanology monitoring unit at Volcanology Afgency Muhammad Hendratno said.

Mount Merapi of 2,968 meters high erupted three times, the first eruption was at 17:02 p.m. Jakarta time (1002 GMT), Hendratmo told Xinhua.

Local television reported one baby died after suffering from respiratory problem and 20 others suffered from serious injuries from hot ash.

Hendratmo said that the eruption was the beginning of the eruption phase.

Observer at monitoring post for Mount Merapi in Sleman district of Yoyakarta Heru Saparwoko told Xinhua by phone from the district that the cloud had hampered them to monitor how far the hot ash has spread. “We will keep monitoring the peak of eruption,” he said.

The television footage footage displayed thousands of panic residence rush to leave the dangerous area by car or other vehicles to take shelters in baracks.

This article is partly an excerpt from Xinhua, Chinese news agency – please read the full content here

Indonesia Tsunami – Australians surfers safe and well

Nine Australians and a Japanese man were in the area aboard surf charter boat MV Southern Cross when the quake struck.
Fears had been growing for the vessel, skippered by Australian Chris Scurrah and Japanese Akinori Fujita.

But the men finally made contact with their Padang-based company Sumatran Surfariis (Surfariis) on Tuesday night.
“They are now safe, they have been found,” staff member Yuli Rahmi told AAP.
“They only lost their phone signal, they didn’t even feel any tsunami.”
The men were now on land on the island of South Pagai, Ms Rahmi said.

Earlier, humanitarian organisation SurfAid International had been coordinating a search for the vessel.

Read the full Nine News article from the Australian TV station

The story before

Nine Australians and a Japanese man who were believed to be aboard the Southern Cross were missing on Tuesday.
The missing group of surfers were on a traditional wooden boat, the Southern Cross, skippered by an Australian Chris Scurrah and Japanese Akinori Fujita.
SurfAid, a charity set up a decade ago to help villagers in the Mentawai region, said the boat was believed to be close to the quake’s epicentre.
Dave Jenkins, SurfAid’s founder, said Scurrah had “been around here for a long time. He knew to contact in if he could. So that’s why we’re extra concerned.”
A search and rescue mission for the Southern Cross had been launched, Jenkins said.
“We do have increasingly worrying reports of quite high numbers of people who are missing in villages,” he said, adding that he hopes to have accurate information on the missing boat by Wednesday.
Australia waited anxiously for news of its missing nationals.

The remote Mentawai islands are popular with surfers searching for big waves and pristine beaches.
Read the full Nine News Australia report here

 

 

Indonesia Tsunami – Historic facts on the 2007 earthquake – tsunami (same area)

The incredibly active fault area in front of the Sumatra coast and more specific in the immediate vicinity of the Mentawai archipelago was the scene of a devastating earthquake in September 2007.
On September 12 and September 13, the earth shook dramatically heavy in the greater Mentawai region.

Please find herunder the 3 biggest tremors and compare the area with today’s earthquake zone. The similarities are striking.

SEPTEMBER 12 2007 –  11:10 UTC –  Depth 34 km  SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA. MW 8.5

Twenty-five people killed and at least 161 injured, 56,425 buildings damaged or destroyed and roads damaged in Bengkulu and Sumatera Barat. Power and telephone outages occurred. Felt (VI) at Bengkulu; (V) at Padang; (IV) at Lampung, Palembang, Pekanbaru and Sibolga; (III) at Jambi; (II) at Banten and Serang. Also felt at Medan.
Also felt at Batang Berjuntai, Batu Pahat, Gelugor, Johor Bahru, Kertih, Kuala Selangor, Muar, Penang, Pontian Kecil, Putrajaya, Sekudai and Subang Jaya, Malaysia and by people in high-rise buildings at Bangkok, Thailand and Male, Maldives.
A seiche was observed in Khlong Saensaep in Bangkok, Thailand and sink holes which may have been caused by the earthquake appeared at 3 locations in Ipoh, Malaysia.
A tsunami was generated which caused some building damage (included above) in the Serangai area, north of Bengkulu. Tsunami wave heights (in cm, peak-to-trough) were recorded at the following tide stations in the Indian Ocean: 24 at Cocos Island, Australia; 9    on Diego Garcia; 227 at Padang, 52 at Cilacap, 42 at Prigi, 30 at Sibolga, 16 at Sabang and 4.5 at Benoa, Indonesia; 8 at Lamu,     Kenya; 23 at Hanimadu, 21 at Male and 13 at Gan, Maldives; 114 at Rodrigues, Mauritius; 131 at Salalah and Sur Masirah, Oman; 40 at Point La Rue, Seychelles; 60 at Colombo and at Trincomalee, Sri Lanka; 8 on Phuket, Thailand.
Impressing numbers !

SEPTEMBER 12 2007 –  23:49 UTC –  Depth 35 km  KEPULAUAN MENTAWAI REGION, INDONESIA. MW 7.9

This earthquake has almost similar data than yesterday’s quake.
Casualties and damage are included with the event at 11:10 UTC. Felt (VI) at Padang and Painan; (IV) at Pekanbaru, Sibolga and Singkil; (III) at Duri, Sumatra.
Felt at Curup and Dumai. Felt (III) at Jakarta, Java. Felt at Pondokaren. Felt (III) at Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya; (II) at Kuala Selangor, Malaysia. Felt at Banting, Georgetown, Johor Bahru, Kampong Salak Tinggi, Klang, Melaka, Shah Alam, Subang Jaya and Sungai Ara, Malaysia. Also felt (III) in Singapore.

SEPTEMBER 13 2007 –  03:35 UTC –  Depth 22 km  KEPULAUAN MENTAWAI REGION, INDONESIA. MW 7.0

Casualties and damage are included with the event of September 12 at 11:10 UTC. Felt (III) at Bengkulu and Padang; (II) at Kapahiang and Padangpanjang, Sumatra. Also felt at Duri, Palembang and Pekanbaru. Felt (II) at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Also felt at Johor Bahru. Felt (III) in Singapore.
Unfortunately, no Mercalli scale numbers for North Pagai, the epicenter area.

Latest news on this massive earthquake – Click here

South Pagai struck by and even bigger earthquake in 2007 – no lessons learned ?

In September 2007, South Pagai was struck by and even bigger earthquake !

On September 21, 2007, an 8.4 earthquake struck Sumatra near South Pagai Island, producing a cluster of six small new islands, and enlarging others by uplift.
A large portion of Indonesia is seismically active; the number, size, submergence and emergence and shape of islands continues to evolve. (Source Wikipedia)

Why have the authorities not learned from the 2007 earthquake ?
It astonishes Earthquake-Report.com that no wave monitoring equipment was installed since then.
Although the time lapse of the wave striking the islands was only 15 minutes after the earthquake, a fast detection system might have saved the lives of many people. Wave height estimates from calculated models have been proved to underestimate the wave heights.
GDACS ( a great alert system) gave wave heights up to 50 cm.
The Indonesian government called immediately a Tsunami alert, but the big question remains : Do the systems reach also remote travel resorts and small fishing villages.
A lot of questions to be answered in the aftermath of this earthquake and Tsunami.
So far not enough witness reports have been collected to create a good picture of all the realtime facts.

Latest news on this massive earthquake – Click here

Dead toll rises further on the Pagai Islands

Rescue teams found at least 4 bodies after a tsunami hit the islands.
VIVAnews just reported 21 people confirmed killed, 240 still missing.
REUTERS who is citing official sources is talking now about 40 people killed and 380 still missing.
Earthquake-report.com fears that the dead toll will even rise further tomorrow.
Soon it will be dark on the islands and we will have to wait another 12 hours before rescue teams can search again during daylight.

Latest news on this massive earthquake – Click here