Hayward Bay Fault Line MORE DANGEROUS Than San Andreas: It’s A ‘Ticking Time Bomb’

Scientists are now saying that the “Big One” in California may not be caused by the San Andreas fault line, but by the Hayward Bay fault line. It is now thought to be the “ticking time bomb” fault line and more dangerous than the San Andres.

The scariest scenario for the next major earthquake may not be from the San Andreas Fault (though that one still threatens), but from the Hayward Fault that runs along the east side of the San Francisco Bay. In fact, many say that the next earthquake on the Hayward Bay fault line would be “disastrous.” According to KTUV, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake along the Hayward Fault could kill as many as 800 people and injure 18,000, according to results of a new research released Wednesday.

The U.S. Geological Survey, citing findings from a simulated tremor with an epicenter in Oakland, said the disaster would cause 400 fires that could destroy 50,000 homes. Nearly half a million people would be displaced, authorities said.

The simulated quake in the video above, known as the “HayWired scenario,” was modeled to occur at 4:18 p.m. on April 18 (yesterday). It replicates a rupture along the fault’s entire 52-mile length, from San Pablo Bay in the north to just east of San Jose in the south. According to this model, the violent shaking from the earthquake could cause the two sides of the fault to split six feet apart in some places. Some of the aftershocks would continue for several months as well. Cities in the East Bay would be hit hard, including Berkeley, Oakland, San Leandro, and Hayward.

If a 7.0 magnitude quake occurred like the one simulated, researchers say that the East Bay residents could be without water from anywhere between six weeks to six months. Electricity could be out for up to four weeks in some locations.

According to Business Insider, the statistical chances of this type of an earthquake occurring are not very comforting either. There’s about a 76% chance that the San Francisco Bay Area could experience a 7.2 magnitude earthquake within the next 30 years, according to some recent reports.

The San Andreas Fault under San Francisco rumbled apart about 112 years ago, causing the devastating 1906 earthquake that swallowed city blocks, broke water mains, and triggered massive fires that burned for days.  However, the threat of another major quake for the Bay Area is “real and could happen at any time,” according to researchers for the US Geological Survey.

The Hayward Fault is a “tectonic time bomb, due any time for another magnitude 6.8 to 7.0 earthquake,” according to a 2008 USGS report. Since then, research has indicated that the likelihood of a Hayward quake is greater and more threatening to the 7 million Bay Area residents than a San Andreas quake would be.

“It’s just waiting to go off,” USGS earthquake geologist emeritus David Schwartz warned when speaking to the Los Angeles Times.

Hayward Bay Fault Line MORE DANGEROUS Than San Andres: It’s A ‘Ticking Time Bomb’

Scientists are now saying that the “Big One” in California may not be caused by the San Andres fault line, but by the Hayward Bay fault line. It is now thought to be the “ticking time bomb” fault line and more dangerous than the San Andres.

The scariest scenario for the next major earthquake may not be from the San Andreas Fault (though that one still threatens), but from the Hayward Fault that runs along the east side of the San Francisco Bay. In fact, many say that the next earthquake on the Hayward Bay fault line would be “disastrous.” According to KTUV, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake along the Hayward Fault could kill as many as 800 people and injure 18,000, according to results of a new research released Wednesday.

The U.S. Geological Survey, citing findings from a simulated tremor with an epicenter in Oakland, said the disaster would cause 400 fires that could destroy 50,000 homes. Nearly half a million people would be displaced, authorities said.

The simulated quake in the video above, known as the “HayWired scenario,” was modeled to occur at 4:18 p.m. on April 18 (yesterday). It replicates a rupture along the fault’s entire 52-mile length, from San Pablo Bay in the north to just east of San Jose in the south. According to this model, the violent shaking from the earthquake could cause the two sides of the fault to split six feet apart in some places. Some of the aftershocks would continue for several months as well. Cities in the East Bay would be hit hard, including Berkeley, Oakland, San Leandro, and Hayward.

If a 7.0 magnitude quake occurred like the one simulated, researchers say that the East Bay residents could be without water from anywhere between six weeks to six months. Electricity could be out for up to four weeks in some locations.

According to Business Insider, the statistical chances of this type of an earthquake occurring are not very comforting either. There’s about a 76% chance that the San Francisco Bay Area could experience a 7.2 magnitude earthquake within the next 30 years, according to some recent reports.

The San Andreas Fault under San Francisco rumbled apart about 112 years ago, causing the devastating 1906 earthquake that swallowed city blocks, broke water mains, and triggered massive fires that burned for days.  However, the threat of another major quake for the Bay Area is “real and could happen at any time,” according to researchers for the US Geological Survey.

The Hayward Fault is a “tectonic time bomb, due any time for another magnitude 6.8 to 7.0 earthquake,” according to a 2008 USGS report. Since then, research has indicated that the likelihood of a Hayward quake is greater and more threatening to the 7 million Bay Area residents than a San Andreas quake would be.

“It’s just waiting to go off,” USGS earthquake geologist emeritus David Schwartz warned when speaking to the Los Angeles Times.

Famed Psychic Nostradamus’ 2018 Predictions Are DIRE

Notable psychic Nostradamus put together a series of predictions, which some scholars say point to this year, 2018.  In these predictions, are dire situations such as war, death, and economic hardships.  But there is also a silver lining…

Nostradamus has predicted terrible things for 2018, however, the good thing could be that life spans after all of this trauma could expand to up to 200 years.  But before that, the French prophet says we have to endure World War 3.

The most chilling prediction for 2018 is from Nostradamus’ book Les Propheties. It includes a quatrain that some have interpreted as describing the start of the third world war.  “The big war will start in France and all Europe will be attacked, it will be long and terrifying for everyone and then finally there will be peace but only a few will enjoy it,” said Nostradamus.  “A war will start between the two great world powers and it will last for a period of 27 years.” Some scholars have predicted China, Russia, and North Korea will unite to take on the United States.

As if a worldwide war, likely a nuclear war as well, isn’t bad enough, Nostradamus also predicted that Mount Vesuvius will erupt violently.  The Italian volcano will “shake the earth every five minutes,” and at least 6,000 people will be killed, according to the prophecy. In early 2016, more than 1.5 million people were warned they are were living in the danger zone of the supervolcano. At that time, it was also clarified that the volcano could go off anytime causing a global catastrophe. Half of the three million people living in Naples were told they live in a new yellow danger zone of the Vesuvius supervolcano, the infamous peak which was responsible for the historic destruction of Pompeii in 79AD.

Nostradamus also appears to have predicted the United States will suffer a major earthquake we’ve come to know as “the Big One.”  According to the prediction, “An earthquake shall concern particularly the western area of the United States. Its power shall be felt in lands throughout the globe.” Worryingly, the US Geological Survey (USGS) carefully monitors seismic activity in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, where there were a series of medium tremors in 2016, and two fault lines in California, including San Andreas. Scientists say both the California fault lines and the Cascadia Subduction Zone are long overdue a major earthquake of magnitude eight or above.

The Cascadia Subduction Zone appears to be of utmost concern. It runs about 60 miles offshore along the Pacific coast from northern California to Vancouver Island, so major cities including Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver are within its tsunami range, threatening millions of people’s lives and major infrastructure.

Some also say that Nostradamus predicted an economic collapse. According to his prophecies, “the rich would die many times over.” This is taken by many to mean the global economic collapse as a result of WW3 and the effects of many natural disasters will generate an apocalyptic cumulative effect of despair and disaster.

But the one bright point is that those who pull through all of these disasters could see their life expectancy skyrocket.  Nostradamus also predicted that humans could live up to 200 years after the apocalypse.

Strong Earthquakes Hit San Francisco And Mount St. Helens And Experts Warn They May Be Foreshocks For ‘Something Larger’

Just when it seemed like things may be settling down, two very unusual earthquakes have hit the west coast within the past couple of days. 

A 4.4 magnitude quake struck Berkeley, California just prior to 3 AM on Thursday morning, and a 3.9 magnitude earthquake hit Mount St. Helens in Washington state on Wednesday.  Overall, there have been 68 earthquakes in the vicinity of Mount St. Helens since New Year’s Day, and there have been a total of 629 earthquakes in the state of California within the last 30 days.  Could it be possible that all of this activity is leading up to a historic seismic disaster on the west coast?

The 4.4 magnitude earthquake along the Hayward fault very early on Thursday jolted people out of bed all over the San Francisco area…

A strong 4.4 magnitude earthquake has rattled the Bay Area shortly before 3 a.m.

USGS is reporting the quake was centered in Berkeley. On KRON4’s real time earthquake map it shows the epicenter.

The quake struck at 2:39 a.m. and was centered near the Claremont hotel. The earthquake had a preliminary depth of 8 miles, according to USGS.

This wasn’t a soft and gentle earthquake that everyone kind of laughs about after it is over.

Rather, this was the kind of extremely intense earthquake that puts the fear of God into people.  In fact, one Bay area resident said that it “felt like a truck hit my house”…

“I was actually awake putting my shoes on for work. It felt like a truck hit my house from the back which pushed my against the staircase railing, the walls were cracking and threw my cell phone and keys down the stairs. Pretty scary”

If this was the worst quake in this particular swarm, it won’t ultimately be that big of a deal.

However, USGS Geologist David Schwartz is warning that this 4.4 magnitude earthquake could potentially be “a foreshock of something larger”…

“It is centered on about a five-mile-long section of the Hayward Fault that in the past 10 years has produced 30 earthquakes of magnitude between 3-4,” he told KPIX 5. “So it is a hot spot along the fault and this morning’s earthquake was the largest of that group.”

Schwartz said the real question in the hours after the quake was “is this a foreshock of something larger? That’s the concern.”

I have been writing about the shaking that has been happening on the west coast quite a bit lately, but I don’t think that people understand the seriousness of what we are facing.

Scientists assure us that the “Big One” is coming, and when it does arrive the devastation will be absolutely off the charts.  Just consider the words of seismologist Peggy Hellweg…

Speaking to Daily Star Online, seismologist Peggy Hellweg, from the University of California, said the region is not prepared to deal with the fallout from such an earthquake.

She said that a magnitude 7 or greater earthquake could kill “tens of thousands of people”.

In financial terms, such a quake would likely cause “tens to hundreds of billions of dollars in damage”, she said.

And remember, she is talking about a magnitude 7 earthquake in her scenario.

A magnitude 9 earthquake would be many, many times more powerful, and it would easily be the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of the United States.

Meanwhile, Mount St. Helens was hit with a very unusual 3.9 magnitude earthquake on Thursday, and some believe that this could be a sign that the volcano is “recharging”…

A series of 68 tremors, peaking with a magnitude 3.9 quake, have been detected in Washington state by scientists since New Years day.

The 3.9 quake is the second largest since 1981, the year after the natural disaster which killed 57 people and came minutes after a magnitude-5.1 earthquake.

Last month, seismologists at the University of Washington logged more than 80 quakes, four times as many as the average.

Earthquake swarms at Mount St. Helens are not unusual, but what we have seen over the first four days of 2018 has definitely gotten the attention of seismologists.

They are hoping that things will calm down at the volcano, but one seismologist did warn that “a larger quake could follow within 48 hours”.

We haven’t had a major volcanic eruption in the United States in a very long time, and so there is a lot of complacency out there right now.

But we should remember that the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 was “the deadliest and most economically damaging volcanic event in the history of the United States.”  The following comes from Forbes…

Mount St. Helens is most commonly known for its major eruption in 1980, the deadliest and most economically damaging volcanic event in the history of the United States. The stratovolcano is situated just 96 miles from Seattle and 50 miles from Portland, making an eruption especially dangerous.

And Mount St. Helens is certainly not the only threat.  Personally, I am so concerned about a potential eruption of Mount Rainier that I even included one in my novel.

With each passing year it appears that our planet is becoming increasingly unstable.  Many believe that we have entered a time when seismic activity will be much higher than it has been previously, and that is going to have dramatic implications for our society.

Our tech industry is very heavily concentrated along the west coast.  When the “Big One” does finally strike, it could literally crash our economy overnight.

When the day arrives, are you ready for what will happen next?

Earthquake Alert: Swarms Reported Near Mt. Saint Helens Volcano

A magnitude 3.9 earthquake that hit near Mount St. Helens early Wednesday was followed by a swarm of aftershocks.  This earthquake swarm is sparking fears that the volcano could be awakening once again.

The first earthquake hit east of Mount St. Helens, 23 miles south-southeast of Morton,  just after 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. Nineteen aftershocks have followed with the largest being 2.7 in magnitude.

Mount St. Helens, 96 miles (154 km) south of Seattle, Washington and 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Portland, Oregon, is part of the Cascade Mountain Range that runs from northern California to British Columbia, Canada. It isn’t the only active volcano in the region. In fact, there are 12 other major volcanoes and nearly 3,000 other volcanic features in the Cascades but scientists consider Mt. Saint Helens the most active within the past 10,000 years.

Seismologists said they are confident the earthquake was a tectonic event and not related to magma activity within the volcano itself, but were also rather careful to point out that the location and strength of the quake were atypical. “We have had a lot of small, tiny earthquakes in this zone. What we haven’t had is an earthquake that size, a 3.9 in that area,” said  Bill Steele with PNSN.

Although the large quake happened on the east side of Mt. Saint Helens, seismologists primarily expect to see are smaller swarms of quakes on the west side of the mountain. People from Mountlake Terrace to Seattle and from Portland to Astoria told KIRO 7 they felt the quake. Others in Glenoma, Randle, Morton, and other towns along Highway 12 in Lewis County told KIRO 7 they felt some significant shaking. No damage was reported.

“The trains running, the cars, the airplanes landing, there are a lot of things you can do with just a few seconds of warning,” said University of Washington seismologist John Vidale.  Scientists are working on plans to give a 7 to 10-second warning in the event of a major seismic event near Mt. Saint Helens.

 University of Washington seismologists say they log about 17 earthquakes a month on average near Mount St Helens, however, in the past month, they have tracked more than 80.  But they say there is no cause for concern although these tremors appear very strange, to say the least.

Japan’s Warning: Prepare For An Impending Mega Quake!

The Japanese government is warning citizens of a massive “impending” mega earthquake that could be as large as the one which caused Fukushima to meltdown. The major earthquake is forecast to strike off the Pacific coastline of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island, most likely triggering a massive tsunami, within the coming three decades.

Normally when government’s make this type of warning, they are attempting to cover their exposed backsides, as the Daily Sheeple says. According to Telegraph UK, the government’s Earthquake Research Committee predicted a 70 percent chance of a magnitude-8 to 8.6 earthquake hitting the Nemuro area in eastern Hokkaido within the next 30 years.

Joe Joseph of the Daily Sheeple thinks this should be setting off the radar of those who are paying attention, and he’s most likely correct. “Now what the Japanese government is saying,” says Joseph, “is that they’re looking at a mega-quake in the next 30 years. Now, I say, if they’re saying this, that means that the conditions are ripe right now for this to happen.”

“This is just going off of historical,” Joseph continues. “But we have to also take a look at what’s going on cosmically as well. And with our planet, because that is also triggering a lot more of these larger earthquakes that we’ve been seeing. The sun due to it’s continuing to…or steady decrease, I should say, in solar activity, over the last hundred or so years probably even more than that…each maximum not as maximum, each minimum, much more minimum, and we’re seeing this slow progression of the sun taking a nap.”

But what does that mean for these mega-earthquakes, and life on Earth in general? “Coincidentally, as the sun gets quieter, so does the Earth’s magnetic field. So, the Earth’s magnetic field is also getting weaker. And as a result, it’s allowing more cosmic rays to penetrate our magnetic field and affect our planet. It has affected the planet. It has affected our weather and has absolutely nothing to do with man-bear-pig and CO2…and cow farts.”

All joking aside, Joseph is correct. The sun’s cycle has a major impact on our Earth, and its solar minimum could be the source of some upcoming difficulties. But it is possible to prepare for such a cataclysmic event.

 

 

Earthquake In North Korea Was Less Than TWO MILES From The Nuclear Test Site

An earthquake struck North Korea less than two miles away from the reclusive nation’s nuclear test site.  The regime’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons is heightening tensions globally that are set to snap at any moment.

The 2.5-magnitude earthquake which shook North Korea early Saturday morning near its nuclear test site was initially picked up by Seoul’s weather agency. According to Newsweek, around 7:45 a.m. local time, the quake struck Kilju, a county in the North Hamgyeong Province, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) reported. Kilju is located about 1.7 miles away from the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Facility, where the country has conducted six nuclear tests since 2006.

Although the KMA believes that this quake was natural, North Korea’s nuclear test in September could have played a role. “Kilju is a rocky area where natural earthquakes normally do not occur. However, the quake could have been caused by geological changes created from the recent nuclear explosion,” a KMA official who asked not to be named, told the United Press Association.

Following the September 3 underground atomic explosion, a 6.3 magnitude quake rocked the test site and even shook houses in China, according to The Washington Post.   The group 38 North—who closely tracks the country’s nuclear activity—believes the seismic activity is potentially a sign of “Tired Mountain Syndrome,” which is when the rock is altered as a result of detonated nuclear bombs. “What we are seeing from North Korea looks like some kind of stress in the ground,” Paul G. Richards, a seismologist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, told The Washington Post. “In that part of the world, there were stresses in the ground, but the explosions have shaken them up.”

The earthquakes near North Korea’s nuclear test site also present even more disturbing implications. Chinese scientists have stated that more nuclear tests underneath Mount Mantap could cause the mountain to collapse. If that happens, radiation could be sent across the region, Wang Naiyan, former chairman of the China Nuclear Society and a senior researcher on China’s nuclear weapons program, warned.

North Korea’s most recent nuclear test also led to the death of at least 200 people. They’re believed to have died after a tunnel collapsed about a week after the hydrogen bomb test. Nuclear explosions can cause any number of horrific tragedies, but North Korea seems dedicated to the advancement of their weapons program, despite repeated calls for them to cease developments.

New Zealand Fault Line Wakes Up: "We Need To Think Japan 2011 Ruptures"

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

A 2016 earthquake has awoken a fault line that was thought to be dormant. Now that it’s becoming active, fears have arisen that New Zealand could be destroyed by a massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake.

The devastating Kaikura earthquake in 2016 has resurrected the Hikurangi subduction zone where two tectonic plates clash and one is pushed down. Geologists are now warning that this trench could cause a massive earthquake on the ocean floor, and could trigger other 9.0 magnitude earthquakes and tsunamis that will reach the western coast of the islands in just seven minutes.

The Australian plate is heading north while the Pacific plate is heading west, and the combination of these motions means that the Pacific plate, which includes much of the South Island, is moving relative to the Australian plate at a rate of about 40millimeterss each year in a southwesterly direction.

Ursula Cochran, from the science firm GNS, told The Marlborough Express:

“We need to think Japan 2011 basically, because if our whole plate boundary ruptured it would be a magnitude-9 earthquake.”

The Great East Japan Earthquake and resulting tsunami smashed through the country’s north-eastern coast killing almost 16,000 people and destroying the lives of thousands more. It also triggered a major ongoing crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

“One of the biggest hazards of that kind of earthquake is the tsunami that is triggered by a fault rupture offshore.,” Cochran added.

 

“We know from tsunami modeling from a hypothetical earthquake from the Hikurangi subduction zone that the travel times could be very short to the coast, so seven minutes for some of the south Wairarapa coast.”

One year after it struck, scientists are also warning that the Kaikoura quake was not the “big one” for the Hikurangi subduction zone. The quake on the Hikurangi subduction zone was devastating.

The magnitude 7.8 that destroyed houses, lifted the Kaikoura seabed by 2m, tore apart farmland, and wrecked kilometers of State Highway 1, may be minor compared to what could come, Cochran said.

“One thing about reflecting on from the Kaikoura earthquake is we don’t want people to think this is the big one.” 

An international team hopes to drill boreholes into the subduction zone and place monitoring equipment there to act as an early warning system.

Fault Line Wakes Up: New Zealand Could Be DESTROYED By Massive 9.0 Earthquake

A 2016 earthquake has awoken a fault line that was thought to be dormant. Now that it’s becoming active, fears have arisen that New Zealand could be destroyed by a massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake.

The devastating Kaikura earthquake in 2016 has resurrected the Hikurangi subduction zone where two tectonic plates clash and one is pushed down. Geologists are now warning that this trench could cause a massive earthquake on the ocean floor, and could trigger other 9.0 magnitude earthquakes and tsunamis that will reach the western coast of the islands in just seven minutes.

The Australian plate is heading north while the Pacific plate is heading west, and the combination of these motions means that the Pacific plate, which includes much of the South Island, is moving relative to the Australian plate at a rate of about 40millimeterss each year in a southwesterly direction.

Ursula Cochran, from the science firm GNS, told The Marlborough Express: “We need to think Japan 2011 basically, because if our whole plate boundary ruptured it would be a magnitude-9 earthquake.” The Great East Japan Earthquake and resulting tsunami smashed through the country’s north-eastern coast killing almost 16,000 people and destroying the lives of thousands more. It also triggered a major ongoing crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

“One of the biggest hazards of that kind of earthquake is the tsunami that is triggered by a fault rupture offshore.,” Cochran added. “We know from tsunami modeling from a hypothetical earthquake from the Hikurangi subduction zone that the travel times could be very short to the coast, so seven minutes for some of the south Wairarapa coast.”

One year after it struck, scientists are also warning that the Kaikoura quake was not the “big one” for the Hikurangi subduction zone. The quake on the Hikurangi subduction zone was devastating. The magnitude 7.8 that destroyed houses, lifted the Kaikoura seabed by 2m, tore apart farmland, and wrecked kilometers of State Highway 1, may be minor compared to what could come, Cochran said.

“One thing about reflecting on from the Kaikoura earthquake is we don’t want people to think this is the big one.” An international team hopes to drill boreholes into the subduction zone and place monitoring equipment there to act as an early warning system.

134 Earthquakes Rocked San Andreas Fault In ONE WEEK: ‘Prepare Now’

The 134 earthquakes that have had the San Andreas fault line rocking and rolling this past week are igniting fears that the “big one” could be just around the corner.

According to The Daily Mail, in the last week, 134 earthquakes have hammered a three-mile stretch around Monterey County on the San Andreas fault. Fresh fears have been raised that a huge earthquake is about to hit California after a swarm of recent tremors in the area.

Of those earthquakes, 17 were stronger than 2.5 magnitude and six of them were stronger than 3.0, with more tremors expected in the coming weeks, experts warn. It follows fears raised last week that the ‘Big One’ is about to hit after a series of ten “mini-quakes” struck the same area. The swarm included one 4.6-magnitude quake that was felt in San Francisco more than 90 miles (145 km) away. The 4.6 shock was followed by 9 smaller aftershocks. The largest of these aftershocks measured a magnitude 2.8, Annemarie Baltay, a seismologist with the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park, told SFGATE.

“This one has been a quite productive aftershock sequence,” said Ole Kaven, a US Geological Survey (USGS) seismologist. “We suspect there will be aftershocks in the 2 to 3 [magnitude] range for at least a few more weeks,” he said. There have not been any reports of injuries, writes San Francisco news outlet SFGate.  

Experts have continuously warned that any activity along the San Andreas fault line is a cause for concern because of the soaring population that would be affected. “Any time there is significant seismic activity in the vicinity of the San Andreas fault, we seismologists get nervous,” Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Centre, told the LA Times last year.

Seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones, from the US Geological Survey, warned in a dramatic speech that people need to act to protect themselves rather than ignoring the threat. Jones said people’s decision not to accept it will only mean more suffer as scientists warn the ‘Big One’ is now overdue to hit California. In a keynote speech to a meeting of the Japan Geoscience Union and the American Geophysical Union, Dr. Jones warned that the public is yet to accept the randomness of future earthquakes.

People tend to focus on earthquakes happening in the next 30 years but they should be preparing now, she warned. Jones said there are three key reasons why the peril is so frightening – it cannot be seen, it is uncertain, and it seems unknowable. This means people bury their heads in the sand and pretend it won’t happen when they should be prepared and soon for the “big one.”

Experts Issue 2018 Warning: Earth "Had It Easy This Year" With Only 6 Severe Earthquakes

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

Scientists are warning that 2018 won’t be as “easy” on us as 2017 was when it comes to the number of severe earthquakes they predict.

In 2018, Earth, and one billion of its inhabitants could face 20 severe earthquakes due to the slowing rotation of the planet.

Tiny changes in the speed of our planet’s rotation will trigger huge seismic activity by releasing vast amounts of underground energy causing severe earthquakes, experts claim. Although their research has been rejected by some scientists, they are intent on sounding the alarm. The slowing of Earth’s rotation could disrupt the crust of the Earth making it possible to see 20 severe earthquakes next year.

According to the Daily Mail, the planet’s rotation is slowing down because of tidal forces between Earth and the moon. The side of Earth closest to the moon feels its pull the strongest, while the side farthest from the moon feels its gravity less. That difference in gravitational pull stretches the Earth, which causes tidal bulges. These bulges pull the moon closer or farther away from Earth by around 4cm per year. The moon exerts the opposite force on them, pulling them back toward it, creating friction and slowing down the planet’s rotation. The time the Earth takes to make a complete rotation on its axis varies by about a millionth of a second per day. While the rotational rate hasn’t declined evenly,  the average day has grown longer by between 15 millionths and 25 millionths of a second every year.

Researchers found five periods in the past century when there were more earthquakes than other times. On these five occasions, there was a 25 to 30 percent increase in the number of earthquakes with a magnitude of 7 or above. These all coincided with a slowing in the rotation of the Earth. Scientists from the University of Colorado in Boulder and the University of Montana say that even fluctuations of a millisecond could increase seismic activity.

The minuscule variations in Earth’s rotation cause a shift in the shape of the Earth’s iron and nickel “inner core.” This, in turn, changes the liquid outer core on which the Earth’s tectonic plates rest. “The mechanism we’ve come up with is that as the Earth slows down it’s like a skater spinning on ice. As the Earth slows down its equatorial diameter reduces,” Dr. Rger Bilham of the University of Colorado told BBC Inside Science. “Its (the Earth’s) waistline gets smaller, but its clothes, the tectonic plates on Earth, remain the same size, which means they get rumpled up. These tiny changes to the overall shape of the Earth are enough, if there are faults that are already ready to go … to kind of kick them over into failure,” he said.

“The correlation between Earth’s rotation and earthquake activity is strong and suggests there is going to be an increase in numbers of intense earthquakes next year,” Dr. Bilham said.

This research comes just after a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck Iran, leaving at least 400 people killed and more than 6,000 injured. The quake hit 19 miles southwest of Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan at around 9.20pm on Sunday, when many people would have been at home. More than 100 aftershocks followed.

Officials Caught Forcing State Scientist to Alter Findings to Cover Up Earthquake Fracking Link

A former state-sponsored scientist revealed that he was ordered to alter his findings on the links between fracking and earthquakes.

San Andreas "Quake Swarm" Has Cali Residents Fearing The "Big One" Is Imminent

Yesterday morning a series of 10 earthquakes struck Monterey County, California along the San Andreas fault line and has Cali residents increasingly concerned that the "Big One" could be next.  The quakes, the biggest of which measured 4.6 on the Richter scale, hit near Salinas, California but were felt 90 miles away in San Francisco.  Per SF Gate:

A 4.6-magnitude earthquake rattled Monterey County on Monday and was felt more than 90 miles away in San Francisco, officials said.

 

The quake hit at 11:31 a.m. about 13 miles northeast of Gonzales, near Salinas, and was followed by nine smaller aftershocks, with the largest measuring magnitude 2.8, said Annemarie Baltay, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park.

 

There were no reports of injuries or damage.

 

Baltay said the quake occurred on the San Andreas Fault, close to an area where the Calaveras Fault branches off. The quake happened at a depth of about 4 miles.

While a seismologist for the US Geological Survey, Annemarie Baltay, dismissed the recent quakes as part of "normal seismic activity", the Director of the Southern California Earthquake Center offered a slightly different opinion to the LA Times last year:

“Any time there is significant seismic activity in the vicinity of the San Andreas fault, we seismologists get nervous,” said Thomas H. Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, “because we recognize that the probability of having a large earthquake goes up.”

 

As seismic activity drops, the probability of having a large earthquake also decreases.

 

Experts said it’s important to understand that the chance of the swarm triggering a big one, while small, was real.

 

“When there’s significant seismicity in this area of the fault, we kind of wonder if it is somehow going to go active,” said Caltech seismologist Egill Hauksson. “So maybe one of those small earthquakes that’s happening in the neighborhood of the fault is going to trigger it, and set off the big event.”

Of course, Thomas Jordan is the same California Seismologist who raised some eyebrows last year when he proclaimed that the San Andreas fault is well overdue for a major quake. 

“The springs on the San Andreas system have been wound very, very tight. And the southern San Andreas fault, in particular, looks like it’s locked, loaded and ready to go,” Jordan said in the opening keynote talk.

 

Other sections of the San Andreas fault also are far overdue for a big quake. Further southeast of the Cajon Pass, such as in San Bernardino County, the fault has not moved substantially since an earthquake in 1812, and further southeast toward the Salton Sea, it has been relatively quiet since about 1680 to 1690.

 

Here’s the problem: Scientists have observed that based on the movement of tectonic plates, with the Pacific plate moving northwest of the North American plate, earthquakes should be relieving about 16 feet of accumulated plate movement every 100 years. Yet the San Andreas has not relieved stress that has been building up for more than a century.

Jordan went on to say that when the tension that has been building along the San Andreas fault is finally relieved, it could potentially produce a magnitude 8 earthquake. Here"s what a Magnitude 8 quake would look like...

Back in 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey concluded that just a magnitude 7.8 earthquake along the southern San Andreas fault would cause more than 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries and 200 billion dollars in damage...so lets hope that Jordan is wrong.

Over 61 Dead, 300 Injured After Huge Quake Strikes Iran-Iraq Border

Update: AP reports that Iranian officials raise death toll to at least 61, more than 300 injured during earthquake on Iran-Iraq border region.

???? ????????????? ?????? ?? ????????
???????? ?????? ???? pic.twitter.com/FwBLiX4hBI

— Rudaw (@Rudawkurdish) November 12, 2017

Iranian state TV said Iraqi officials had reported six deaths and 200 injuries inside Iraq, though there was no official comment from Iraq"s government.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered 19 miles (31 kilometers) outside the eastern Iraqi city of Halabja.

The Islamic Republic of Iran News Network quoted the head of the country"s emergency medical services, Pirhossein Koulivand, as saying at least 61 had been killed and 300 injured on Iran"s side of the border.

Iranian state TV also said Iraqi officials reported at least six people dead inside Iraq, along with more than 50 people injured in Sulaymaniyah province and about 150 in Khanaquin city. No reports were immediately available from Iraq"s government.

Koulivand earlier told a local television station that the earthquake knocked out electricity in Iran"s western cities of Mehran and Ilam. He also said 35 rescue teams were providing assistance.

The semi-official Iranian ILNA news agency said at least 14 provinces in Iran had been affected by the earthquake.

#Urgent Call; there are over 500 injured people& deaths recorded.Urgent medical assistance; Medical First aid kits & surgical equipment & medicine, medical teams are needed to support the local hospitals to treat the injured civilians in #Slemani governorate; #KRI Earthquake pic.twitter.com/F03LuoPYRB

— JCC_KRG (@JccKrg) November 12, 2017

*  *  *

 

Update: Iranian Student News Association (ISNA) reports that officials are saying "so far, 30 people were killed and 200 people injured with more expected to be added to this number as first responders being excavation to fix the problem, we are delivering water and electricity to the people."

*  *  *

As we detailed earlier, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake just struck near the Iran-Iraq border (in Iraq, southeast of the city of As-Sulaymaniyah, according to US Geological Survey). Initial reports of damage in Baghdad and that the tremor was felt in Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.

Prelim M7.2 earthquake Iran-Iraq border region Nov-12 18:18 UTC, updates https://t.co/QIaZuvWNXu

— USGS Big Quakes (@USGSBigQuakes) November 12, 2017

M7.6 #earthquake (#?????) strikes 204 km NE of #Baghdad (#Iraq) 15 min ago. Effects reported by witnesses: pic.twitter.com/tUrMJAxI3f

— EMSC (@LastQuake) November 12, 2017

Eye witnesses recount:

"Terrible... Extremely horrible"

 

"The swaying was significant, I stood up and tried to get to a doorway and stumbled a little bit. It lasted nearly 5 minutes with the first 2 minutes being the strongest."

 

#breaking #erbil the earth quake felt across #iraq pic.twitter.com/NxqwMu67zT

— Steven nabil (@thestevennabil) November 12, 2017

Moments after the quake strikes Erbil people are rushing into the streets...

Moments quake strikes #Erbil, people rushing into streets. pic.twitter.com/aOhDQWBnIP

— Rekar Aziz (@Rekarricci) November 12, 2017

Everyone is standing outside in Kuwait...

 

 

#Earthquake in #kuwait. Everyone is standing outside. pic.twitter.com/WolwXLvzh3

— Imran Rafiq (@imranbird) November 12, 2017

Developing story...

Volcano Experts To Monitor Canary Islands After Hundreds Of Earthquakes Recorded

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

It certainly seems like volcanoes are erupting all over the world right now, and the newest region to attract scientists’ attention, is the Canary Islands. 

After hundreds of mini-earthquakes were this week, experts were called in to monitor a potential eruption.

According to The Daily Mail UK, the situation could quickly become volatile. Seismic experts have been called in to carry out tests on the Canary Island of La Palma after fears that an active volcano may erupt. Hundreds of mini-earthquakes have been recorded on the island in the past few weeks, and scientists are now monitoring the seismic activity on La Palma 24 hours-a-day. Tests will be carried out on the slopes of the island’s active volcano, Cumbre Vieja, to attempt to calculate any potential risk of an eruption.

Cumbre Vieja, on the volcanic ocean island of La Palma, near Tenerife, last erupted in 1971. But the hundreds of mini-earthquakes are prompting fears that it could go again – and soon. A slew of tiny tremors beneath the volcano’s surface in just a matter of hours this week have reportedly caused lava to rise up from beneath. Scientists will sample underground water, measure PH levels, conductivity, temperature, and radon dissolved gas activity, according to The Express. 

All of this new testing was launched as a “hydrogeochemical monitoring program,”  will see tests conducted three times a week at four different points on the volcano. The 350 mini-earthquakes have prompted scientists to probe deeper into the volcanoes eruption potential. The National Geographic Institute (NGI) notes that a team is to be sent to La Palma to carry out CO2 profiles and structural studies of Cumbre Vieja.

A majority of the tremors were so small, that they could not be detected by scientists and were not felt by any residents on La Palma. Between October 6 and 7, more than 40 tremors were recorded, with the most powerful hitting 2.7 on the Richter scale and located at a depth of 17.4 miles.  A few days without any tremors followed. Then, between October 10 and 13, seismographers on La Palma picked up another swarm of tremors, taking the total to 352 in just ten days. On October 13 alone, some 44 quakes were recorded at depths of between 9.3miles and 13.6miles, the most powerful at 2.1 on the Richter scale.

In a report published on Saturday, the NGI adds that one of the reasons for the high number of tremors could be the three new monitoring stations in the area.

The Director of the National Geographic Institute, María José Blanco, told Canarias7 that while "seismic swarms" are nmot abnormal, she added that they had "never recorded a similar swarm" since monitoring began.

Ominous Earthquake Swarm At Yellowstone Supervolcano Now One Of Longest Ever Recorded

This report was originally published by Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge

The rumblings beneath the formerly dormant supervolcano known as the Yellowstone caldera just won’t quit. And the ongoing earthquake swarm at the Yellowstone National Park supervolcano is now one of the longest ever recorded, having started on June 12.

Over the past three and a half months, almost 2,500 earthquakes have been recorded in the western part of the national park. This is on par with the biggest swarm ever recorded, where more than 3,000 earthquakes took place over three months, Newsweek reports.

In its latest monthly update about activity at Yellowstone, the US Geological Survey said 115 earthquakes had been reported in the park during September. Of these, 78 were part of the ongoing swarm 6 miles north of West Yellowstone. The biggest event in the swarm last month was magnitude 2.3.

“This is the sort of work that will happen in the months to come, as we gather up all of the available data and start crunching numbers,” Poland says. “What we can say now is that through the of September, the University of Utah has located 2,475 earthquakes in the swarm. This puts the 2017 swarm on par with that of 1985, which lasted three months and had over 3,000 located events.

“[This is] certainly a fascinating event and one that we hope to learn more about through some post-swarm analysis,” he adds. “There’s a lot to work on this winter, for sure.”

While scientists at the USGS have brushed off the threat of a supervolcano eruption, scientists at NASA have said it represents a potentially devastating threat to the US population. These same scientists have suggested several risky strategies to prevent an eruption if one appears imminent.

Brian Wilcox, a former member of the NASA Advisory Council on Planetary Defense, and several other NASA researchers over the summer shared a report previously unseen outside the space agency about the threat Yellowstone poses, and what can be done to prevent an eruption.

According to NASA, an eruption at Yellowstone could plunge the earth into a volcanic winter and destroy crops and livestock, precipitating widespread famines. Food reserves would only last about 74 days, according to the UN, after an eruption of a super volcano, like that under Yellowstone.

With an eruption long overdue, NASA has devised a plan to drill into the caldera and try to artificially cool it – a strategy that researchers say comes with its own risks.

Scientists at the USGS say the monthslong earthquake storm at the caldera has ended; however, they played down the risks posed by the swarm shortly after it started over the summer, only for the rumbling to continue. Others maintain that an eruption is long overdue.

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Author: Tyler Durden
Views: Read by 474 people
Date: October 6th, 2017
Website: http://www.zerohedge.com/

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Island Nation Of Vanuatu Evacuated As Volcano Erupts

Natural disasters are coming fast and furious around the globe.  About 6,000 people have been evacuated from the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu because of an erupting volcano.

Although the Monaro volcano on Ambae island has been active since 2005, however, sudden activity on Saturday raised fears of a major eruption.  The director of Vanuatu’s National Disaster Management Office Shadrack Welegtabit said on Tuesday that Vanuatu would declare an emergency on the island after the volcano’s activity measure was raised to Level Four for the first time over the weekend.

Vanuatu is located about one-quarter of the way from Australia to Hawaii.  It’s made up of 80 islands, about 65 of which are inhabited, and is home to around 280,000 people. The nation is considered one of the world’s most prone to natural disasters, with a half-dozen active volcanoes as well as regular cyclones and earthquakes.  It rests on the Pacific’s ‘Ring of Fire,’ the arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes and volcanoes are common.

Welegtabit also said those villagers had been moved into schools and community halls in the island’s eastern and western regions and that authorities have already planned to send a ship to the island filled with water, food, and other supplies to help those people who had been displaced. That ship is due to arrive on Wednesday.

Almost 50,000 people are currently evacuated from the island nation of Bali in Indonesia as well, due to an imminent volcanic eruption there.
‘There’s ash, fire, stones, and lava being thrown out from the mouth of the volcano,” Welegtabit said. “There’s a lot of activity going on.” He also said that it’s difficult to say whether there will be a major eruption and that those who have been evacuated will just have to sit and wait for further instruction. At this time, evacuees are in limbo.

Vanuatu was also close to a 6.4 magnitude earthquake that occurred on September 20 of this year.

Vanuatu’s Meteorology and Geohazards Department said that villagers within 6.5 kilometers (4 miles) of the volcano face the biggest risk from airborne rocks and volcanic gas.  The department also warned that acid rain could damage crops across a broader area.

“With the seismic machine, we can measure what’s happening but we can’t really predict what the volcano will do next,” he said.

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Author: Mac Slavo
Views: Read by 208 people
Date: September 26th, 2017
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Doesn't Mexico Have Building Codes?

Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

During the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake in Los Angeles, my mother was working in downtown Los Angeles in one of the buildings then known as the Arco Towers. 

The building was of early 1970s vintage, but thanks to expensive technology introduced to help high-rises withstand earthquakes, the Arco Towers merely swayed from side to side, rather than collapse in response to the quake. That earthquake was a medium-sized earthquake (to use casual terminology), but the building is designed to withstand far larger tremors. Eight people died in the wake of the quake.

Two years earlier, the 1985 Mexico City earthquake struck with devastating results. While the earthquake was considerably stronger, the casualty totals were far beyond what we would expect were a similar quake to hit Los Angeles. While the number is still in dispute today, more than 30,000 people may have died in the quake, thanks largely to collapsed buildings. 

Fortunately, the death toll in Tuesday"s Mexico-City quake looks to be much, much smaller than was the case in 1985. So far, casualty counts number in the low hundreds. 

The Wall Street Journal today attributes this to improvements in building codes: 

Mexico City’s building codes improved dramatically in the years following the city’s 1985 earthquake, a magnitude 8.1 temblor that killed more than 6,000 and toppled nearly 2,300 buildings, including hospitals, schools, hotels and entire high-rise apartment blocks.

After 1985, “the building codes changed a lot,” said Ricardo Warman, an architect who both builds and renovates houses in the Condesa and Roma neighborhoods of central Mexico City, among the hardest hit on Tuesday. “That is why most of the buildings that fell are from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.”

But why was Mexico still building earthquake-prone construction in the 1970s? By the mid-80s, California had already been at work addressing the earthquake issue for years. 

Why didn"t Mexican cities pass better building code laws before then? 

Well, it turns out that they did have building codes before then, but merely passing laws doesn"t actually solve problems. Prior to this week"s quake — while commenting on Hurricane Harvey — Bret Stephens at the New York Times recalled: 

Why do richer countries fare so much better than poorer ones when it comes to natural disasters? It isn’t just better regulation. I grew up in Mexico City, which adopted stringent building codes following a devastating earthquake in 1957. That didn’t save the city in the 1985 earthquake, when we learned that those codes had been flouted for years by lax or corrupt building inspectors, and thousands of people were buried under the rubble of shoddy construction. Regulation is only as good, or bad, as its enforcement. 

So, for nearly 30 years leading up to the 1985 quake, new, improved building codes had been in place; but it seems that — as one Mexico City engineer described it — enforcement was "very lax."

But why did they ignore them? Was it part of just an amorphous tolerance for doing a lousy job? As Walter Block recently noted, we can"t just blame corruption: 

They can have all the regulations and “safety standards” they want in poverty-stricken nations such as [Bangladesh]. Either these bureaucratic rules will be ignored, or, if they are rigidly upheld and enforced, then virtually no new houses will be built, and almost all extant houses will have to be torn down. Why? Since this country is so poor, it cannot possibly live “up” to these modern, western, regulations and “safety standards.”

In most cases, people don"t ignore building codes because they"re sociopaths who don"t care about the safety of their customers.

Thanks to the existence of greed, of course, there"s always the temptation to skimp on safety in order to pad profits, and just hope things work out. But in wealthy nations, there are numerous incentives beyond government regulation to not do this: (1) insurance companies may refuse to insure structures that are of questionable safety, and (2) there are well-developed legal systems that facilitate lawsuits against negligent builders. 

But perhaps most importantly: consumers of housing and office space in wealth countries can more often afford to pay for units in buildings where expensive retrofits and safety features have been added. In poor countries, by contrast, consumers are far less likely to be able to afford buildings constructed to specifications that would be considered run-of-the-mill in wealthier areas. Given that producers can only set prices at levels their customers can afford to pay, builders will build accordingly. 

The end result is that in wealthy areas, paying close attention to code regulations may shave some profitability off a building project. But in a poor country — as Block correctly suggests — rigid enforcement is more likely to totally erase profitability, and prevent new construction from being built at all. On other words, the opportunity cost of building a modern, earthquake-proof building in a poor country is much higher. 

So what"s the solution? 

As Stephens points out: "Every child knows that houses of brick are safer than houses of wood or straw — and therefore cost more to build." Mexicans — of course — are already well aware that the ideal solution is to produce high quality housing for everyone. The problem is that sort of thing is expensive. 

Unfortunately, the answer to this conundrum is the same as with building to withstand hurricanes and other natural disasters:  bulding wealth is the only true long term solution. 

City councils can pass building code laws all day long, but as long as residents lacks the incomes necessary to afford housing, offices, and factory space that"s built to withstand earthquakes, there will always be an especially large incentive to cut corners on construction. Innocent people will suffer as a result.

Earthquake Detected Near North Korea Nuclear Test Site; China "Suspects Explosion"

In what may be the latest major escalation involving North Korea - and potentially the nation"s 7th nuclear test - China"s earthquake administration said it detected a magnitude 3.5 earthquake in North Korea, which it suspects "was caused by an explosion", raising fears that the rogue state has tested another nuclear bomb. The Chinese administration said in a statement on its website that the quake was recorded at a depth of zero kilometers, while Xinhua said the epicenter was in roughly the same place as a similar shallow earthquake on 3 September, which turned out to be caused by North Korea"s sixth and largest nuclear test.

However, in analyzing the same earthquake, South Korea came to a different conclusion, and said it was likely to be natural or man-made such as a nuclear test. South Korea’s weather agency assessed the seismic activity as a natural event.

"The quake is presumed to have occurred naturally," an agency official said, according to South Korea"s Yonhap news agency. "A sound wave, which is usually generated in the event of an artificial earthquake, was not detected."

“We use several methods to tell whether earthquakes are natural or manmade,” an official, who asked for anonymity, told the Independent. “A key method is to look at the seismic waves or seismic acoustic waves and the latter can be detected in the case of a manmade earthquake. In this case we saw none. So as of now we are categorizing this as a natural earthquake.”

Furthermore, all of North Korea"s previous six nuclear tests registered as earthquakes of magnitude 3.9 or above. The last test on 3 September registered as a 6.3 magnitude quake. A secondary tremor detected after that test could have been caused by the collapse of a tunnel at the mountainous site, experts said at the time.

Additionally, the US Geological Survey said that it detected a magnitude 3.5 quake in the area of previous North Korean nuclear tests, but that it was unable to confirm whether the event was natural. North Korea"s weakest nuclear test, its first, which it carried out in 2006, generated a magnitude 3.9 quake.

As shown previously, satellite photos of the area after the 3 September quake showed numerous landslides that were apparently caused by the huge blast, which North Korea said was a hydrogen bomb. It is possible the tremor was linked to ongoing landslide activity.

Overview of Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site Before the nuclear test:

And after:

Nuclear proliferation watchdog CTBTO said on Saturday it had detected two seismic events in North Korea on Saturday but they were probably not deliberate explosions.

“Two #Seismic Events! ... unlikely Man-made! Similar to "collapse“ event 8.5 mins after DPRK6! Analysis ongoing,” CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo said in a Twitter post.

Two #Seismic Events! 0829UTC & much smaller @ 0443UTC unlikely Man-made! Similar to "collapse" event 8.5 mins after DPRK6! Analysis ongoing pic.twitter.com/DXaDn8TZOf

— Lassina Zerbo (@SinaZerbo) September 23, 2017

Concerns about another North Korea test have been heightened ever since Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, who is currently in New York for a United Nations meeting, warned on Thursday that Kim could consider a hydrogen bomb test of an unprecedented scale over the Pacific. Ri told reporters that a test of "the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb" was one possible "highest-level" action against the US.

But he said that he did not know exactly what his state"s exact plans were. "We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong-un," he added.

The quake comes amid heightened tensions around the Korean Peninsula, as the North has been maintaining a torrid pace in nuclear and weapons tests. The state said its recent nuclear test was a detonation of a thermonuclear weapon built for its developmental intercontinental ballistic missiles. In two July flight tests, those missiles showed potential capability to reach deep into the US mainland when perfected.