HolyMoly---Another big quake..

by Andie
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on this morning, shaking buildings and sending screaming people running into the streets only eight days after the country's capital was devastated by an apocalyptic quake. The U.S. Geological Survey said the new quake hit at 5:03 CST about 35 miles northwest of the capital of Port-au-Prince. It struck at a depth of 13.7 miles but was too far inland to generate any tidal waves in the Caribbean.

this is so sad..........whole place must be so terrified at this point, I can't imagine..
It seems like there have been about 4-5 big quakes in the last 2 weeks in different places...maybe that 2012 stuff is not so whacked ?
( was near the '89 quake in Oakland, CA......i'd rather have my hurricanes or tornadoes i think)

God bless them all..
Andie
  • Profile picture of the author Michael Motley
    wow. that really sucks.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    It should have been EXPECTED! One person was asked if he was surprised by it, and HE said as much!

    Aftershock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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  • Profile picture of the author SilverStockReport
    It's really sad. You know what's more troubling? There are quakes over 5 magnitudes happening all over the world almost everyday.
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  • Profile picture of the author Shane Dolby
    They have had over 40 aftershocks this one being the biggest. It can take weeks or months for the aftershocks to stop as the earth resettles from the first major one


    Shane
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Motley
    Originally Posted by Mr. Goof Off View Post

    Physics aside how long does it take for aftershocks to stop? I am ignorant in this field. Initially I thought if there was an aftershock it would be 2 days afterward a quake at max. This one was a week and I wonder how many more of them will there be and at what decimal.
    I think it depends on the size and density of the tectonic plate(s) involved.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    Originally Posted by Mr. Goof Off View Post

    Physics aside how long does it take for aftershocks to stop? I am ignorant in this field. Initially I thought if there was an aftershock it would be 2 days afterward a quake at max. This one was a week and I wonder how many more of them will there be and at what decimal.
    In the 1994 northridge CA earthquake, they were talking about them YEARS later. There is no real science to it that anyone KNOWS. Basically, an earthquake means INSTABILITY. That means it is likely to happen again. I don't think it can be TRULY called an aftershock or foreshock unless it happens on the same fault though. BTW aftershocks are generally at lower degrees, and usually gradually decrease. On one show here, they mentioned an aftershock(at least the first one) is usually 1/10th the force of the earthquake. This one was about that magnitude. The next one may be a LOT closer to the last one though.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Motley
      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      In the 1994 northridge CA earthquake, they were talking about them YEARS later. There is no real science to it that anyone KNOWS. Basically, an earthquake means INSTABILITY. That means it is likely to happen again. I don't think it can be TRULY called an aftershock or foreshock unless it happens on the same fault though. BTW aftershocks are generally at lower degrees, and usually gradually decrease. On one show here, they mentioned an aftershock(at least the first one) is usually 1/10th the force of the earthquake. This one was about that magnitude. The next one may be a LOT closer to the last one though.

      Steve
      Yeah, there's a science to it, there are actually a couple different mathmatical equations that can dictate the intensity and location of an aftershock.
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by Michael Motley View Post

        Yeah, there's a science to it, there are actually a couple different mathmatical equations that can dictate the intensity and location of an aftershock.
        Gee, they never seem to use them! Even that wikipedia reference uses terms like GENERAL, UP TO, ROUGHLY, ASYMMETRIC, MODIFIED, TYPICALLY, GIVEN, uses undefined values, and presents SEVERAL "laws". (if one is right, why make another?) Also, the wikipedia article says a future "aftershock" that is greater than the others is promoted to an eartquake, and ones before are demoted to foreshocks!

        So YEAH, there is a science to it, IF you know the variables. Variables that AREN'T even in any of those formulas(and how could we even record them,the Heisenberg uncertainty principle comes into play.), by the way, but nothing you can pin down to say on THIS day you will have an earthquake HERE of THIS magnitude. Heck, if they could do that, the haiti disaster would never have happened.

        BTW I DID live through a LOT of earthquakes MYSELF, including the northridge one. And there is an article in wikipedia saying that was small. **BULL** Nearly every building around me was DESTROYED(NO exageration, almost every single one was RED TAGGED(Which meant you couldn't go in, and they had to be torn down, and many were obviously to damaged to even be near.))! MY building SPLIT just behind a bedroom. The water system, of the AREA, was damaged, power was out, in the area, businesses were shut down. Insurance companies WOULD have gone BANKRUPT, but they appealed to the courts. It even affected my FATHERS area that was over 30 miles away from me, and northridge wasn't that close to EITHER of us. MANY houses in HIS area were destroyed. The insurance companies didn't pay what they were supposed to, and the government took over. OH YEAH, my bed swung about 3 feet to either side. I'm surprised my building with a STEEL structure built on one SOLID foundation survived as it did. Anyway, many said it was OVER 8. snopes.com: Northridge Quake Underreported I've been through ones that were 6 and 7, and they didn't seem NEAR as bad.

        People didn't even know that faultline existed!

        Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    It is very normal for an area that is struck by a major quake - 7 or over to get hit with a series for awhile. I'm surprised that they hadn't prepared people for that after the first one.

    As far as Haiti - it's part of an Archipelago, it's gonna get smacked - prime location to get smacked. If people populated the Kermadec Archipelago like they did this tropical one you'd be sending aid 5 or 6 times a year for this type of thing.

    Earthquakes are a bit up this year - but nothing like 2007 yet. The magnetic N. pole is shifting, the mantle rotation is shifting, that means quakes. It means volcanoes, it means winds. -- Not destroy everything on earth stuff, but stuff like this is going to be normal. People who live on subduction zones, volcano plumes, and fault lines should be aware that they are living in high risk areas. If the Cascadia Zone blows, as is over-due, you are going to see millions of casualties, not hundreds of thousands. And it won't be anything but business as normal for planet earth.

    This was a horrible event -- but it is not caused by humans, it is not unusual in any way shape or form.
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    Sal
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