powerfull earthquake hits iran

earthquake

And killed up to 50 people and 400 wounded, and two powerful earthquakes struck northwestern Iran on Saturday, the head of emergency services in the country.
And multiple tours in reference to the major cities in the region and a neighboring province.Other officials said two powerful earthquakes struck in quick succession, prompting panicked residents fleeing from their homes.Measure the temblors, which occurred near Tabriz, and home to 1.5 million people and 6.2 and 6.0 on a scale the size of this moment, according to the seismic center of the University of Tehran.Classified U.S. Geological Survey, which monitors earthquakes around the world, as a stronger, at 6.4 and 6.3, respectively.Survived unscathed Tabriz itself, regardless of the observed cracks in buildings.
But neighboring villages, and were "a concern," said provincial governor Ahmed Ali Reza Beigi state television, adding that he is not yet able to give the outcome of infections in general.The Seismological Center at the University of Tehran in the first quake hit at 04:53 (1223 GMT), with only 60 kilometers from the center of Tabriz, near the town of Ahar, and a depth of 10 kilometers.Moved in 11 minutes later from a spot almost the same amount - Episode II - 1 large earthquake. A series of 11 smaller aftershocks, the classification of 4.7 or less, quickly.Iran sits at the crossroads of several major fault lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes, some of which was devastating.It was the deadliest earthquake 6.6 on the Richter scale that hit the southern city of Bam in December 2003, killing 31,000 people - about a quarter of the population - and the destruction of the ancient city of mud castle.

new zealand earth quake kermadec islands"series of earthquake and aftershocks"

The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck near New Zealand's Kermadec Islands. There are no reports of damage or risk of tsunami from the quake.According to the USGS, the quake struck at 21:17:00 UTC on Saturday, which is 9:17 a.m. Sunday morning local time. The epicenter of the quake was 12 miles below the mostly uninhabited islands, which are approximately 620 miles east of New Zealand's capital city of Auckland.A series of earthquakes and aftershocks have shaken New Zealand in the months following a magnitude 6.3 quake that devastated the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 181 people.Meanwhile, a magnitude 3.6 quake rolled across the San Francisco Bay Area at 7:05 p.m. local time on Saturday. Emergency officials said there were no reports of serious damage or injury.The USGS National Earthquake Information Center received scores of quake reports from people in the Bay Area.Also on Saturday, scientists from the Icelandic Meteorological Office confirmed that an eruption began in the Grímsvötn volcano at approximately 17:30 UTC.The eruption produced minor seismic activity in the region and an the eruption plume that had risen to an altitude of over 65,000 ft. a short time later. Radio evangelist Harold Camping had predicted that 'Rapture' would begin on Saturday, May 21, 2011 with an earthquake in New Zealand.Followers of the 89-year-old retired civil engineer spent months warning the world of the apocalypse, some giving away earthly belongings or draining their savings accounts. But the May 21 doomsday deadline has passed and many of Camping's followers are wondering why they're still here.Keith Bauer and other believers waited outside the Oakland headquarters of Harold Camping's Family Radio International. Bauer drove his family from Maryland to California to await the May 21 Rapture.Bauer says he was somewhat skeptical but made the trip because of his belief in God. "It's God who leads you, not Harold Camping".

Tokyo japan nuclear plant

TOKYO: The operator of the crippled nuclear power plant leaking radiation in northern Japan announced a plan Sunday that would bring the crisis under control within six to nine months and allow evacuated residents to return to their homes.The phased road map for ending the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, announced by Tokyo Electric Power Co. chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata at a news conference, includes plans to cover the damaged reactor buildings to contain the radiation and eventually remove the nuclear fuel.Frustrations have been mounting over TEPCO’s failure to resolve the nuclear crisis more than a month after a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, knocking out power and cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex.
In the first three months of the plan, the company hopes to steadily reduce the level of leaking radiation, Katsumata said. Three to six months after that, it hopes to get the release of radioactive materials under control.
”We would like to see evacuees return to their homes as early as possible,” Katsumata said.
The company is focusing on cooling the reactors and spent fuel pools, decontaminating water that has been contaminated by radiation, mitigating the release of radiation into the atmosphere and soil, and measuring and reducing the amount of radiation affecting the evacuation area, he said.TEPCO Vice President Sakae Muto said that in addition to covering the reactor buildings, the company will also work with authorities to decontaminate areas affected by the radiation.In a show of support for a staunch American ally, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed admiration and sympathy for the Japanese as she visited Tokyo on Sunday.
”We pledge our steadfast support for you and your future recovery. We are very confident that Japan will demonstrate the resilience that we have seen during this crisis in the months ahead,” Clinton told reporters after meeting with Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto.

tokyo:nuclear power plant leaking

TOKYO: The operator of the crippled nuclear power plant leaking radiation in northern Japan announced a plan Sunday that would bring the crisis under control within six to nine months and allow evacuated residents to return to their homes.The phased road map for ending the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, announced by Tokyo Electric Power Co. chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata at a news conference, includes plans to cover the damaged reactor buildings to contain the radiation and eventually remove the nuclear fuel.Frustrations have been mounting over TEPCO’s failure to resolve the nuclear crisis more than a month after a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, knocking out power and cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex.
In the first three months of the plan, the company hopes to steadily reduce the level of leaking radiation, Katsumata said. Three to six months after that, it hopes to get the release of radioactive materials under control.
”We would like to see evacuees return to their homes as early as possible,” Katsumata said.
The company is focusing on cooling the reactors and spent fuel pools, decontaminating water that has been contaminated by radiation, mitigating the release of radiation into the atmosphere and soil, and measuring and reducing the amount of radiation affecting the evacuation area, he said.TEPCO Vice President Sakae Muto said that in addition to covering the reactor buildings, the company will also work with authorities to decontaminate areas affected by the radiation.In a show of support for a staunch American ally, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed admiration and sympathy for the Japanese as she visited Tokyo on Sunday.
”We pledge our steadfast support for you and your future recovery. We are very confident that Japan will demonstrate the resilience that we have seen during this crisis in the months ahead,” Clinton told reporters after meeting with Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto.

jakarta:worlds biggest nuclear plant

The skeleton of what will soon be one of the world’s biggest nuclear plants is slowly taking shape along China’s southeastern coast right on the doorstep of Hong Kong’s bustling metropolis.Three other facilities nearby are up and running or under construction.Like Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant they lie within a few hundred miles (kilometers) of the type of fault known to unleash the largest tsunami spawning earthquakes.Called subduction zones, these happen when one tectonic plate is lodged beneath another. And because the so-called Manila Trench hasn’t been the source of a huge quake in at least 440 years, some experts say tremendous stresses are building, increasing the chances of a major rupture.Should that happen, the four plants in southern China, and a fifth perched on Taiwan’s southern tip, could be in the path of a towering wave like the one that struck Fukushima.But China, Taiwan, India and several other countries frantically building coastal facilities have made little use of new science to determine whether these areas are safe. At least 32 plants in operation or under construction in Asia are at risk of one day being hit by a tsunami, nuclear experts and geologists warn.And even when nations have conducted appropriate seismic hazard assessments, in many cases they have not shared the findings with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, leaving experts frustrated and in the dark.In assessing the tsunami risks to nuclear power stations, scientists focus on their proximity to subduction faults, volcanoes and areas frequently hit by underwater landslides all of which can trigger seismic waves. Because giant tsunamis recur, they also look at historic and scientific records, going back up to 4,000 years if possibleThe greatest threat comes from the subduction faults crisscrossing the globe, some far from the minds of policymakers, nuclear industry officials and the public because it has been so long since they exploded.In places where tectonic plates that form these faults are ”coupled,” or stuck together, the stresses are the biggest, especially if centuries have passed without a major energy releasing earthquake.When the strain eventually forces one plate to pop up or dive under the other, the resulting temblor can spawn mammoth waves like the one that struck off Japan’s northeast coast on March 11, triggering the nuclear crisis that has carried on for more than a month.While there is some ”coupling” at the Manila Trench, there is debate about just how much. Scientists say more research needs to be done to determine if pressure is building and along which segments.A computerized simulation by Yuen’s students shows a magnitude-9.0 quake along the Manila Trench sending waves racing along the South China Sea, before slamming Taiwan’s southern shore 15 minutes later. The tsunami reaches China’s southeast coast in around two hours. It also strikes Hong Kong, which sits just 30 miles from the nearest nuclear plant close enough to see increased radiation levels if a plant were to be damaged by a Fukushima-like event.
Scientists paint a worst-case scenario in which waves 15 to 24 feet high (5 to 8 meters) could strike the plants in China and Taiwan.Science has come a long way since the first nuclear plant was built in the 1950s.By carbon dating the ash, pollen or other organic material attached to tsunami sand deposits swept inland with the giant walls of water, geologists can determine to the decade, and sometimes even the year, when the wave hit and how big it was when it roared ashore.
That’s important because some tsunamis only strike once a millennium.