Philippines Earthquake 2012

A tsunami alert has been issued after a magnitude-7.9 earthquake struck off the east coast of the Philippines, the United States Geological Survey says.
 
The earthquake struck at 8:47 a.m. Eastern time and 8:47 p.m. local time in the Philippines, officials said, at a depth of 21.7 miles.
The closest city to the epicenter of the quake, which was several miles off shore, is in Guinan, about 66 miles away. Manilla, the country's capital, is about 465 miles away from the epicenter.
There is no word as to damage or injuries.

Los Angeles Earthquake

The southern California town of Brawley has taken the unusual step of declaring a state of emergency after a swarm of earthquakes rattled nearly 20 mobile homes off their blocks and forced a slaughterhouse to close, the mayor said on Wednesday.
 
It is uncommon for quake-hardy California cities to declare emergencies due to tremors, but Brawley mayor George Nava said the earthquake swarm is a unique case because it has lasted for days and caused millions of dollars in damage.
The cluster of relatively small quakes, which are caused by water and other fluids moving around in the Earth's crust, began on Saturday evening and climaxed the next day with a 5.5 temblor, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The tremors were continuing on Wednesday and geologists say there have been hundreds in total.

Indonesia Quake 2012

It was not like December 2004. Sirens wailed, warnings blared and police moved millions of people away from coastlines around the Indian Ocean as Wednesday's 8.6 magnitude earthquake off northern Indonesia sparked fears of another devastating tsunami.
Damage was light - the quakes were horizontal rather than vertical - and the big waves never came, unlike eight years ago when walls of water roared across the same ocean and ploughed into seaside communities in 13 countries without warning.
"The reports were of people panicking but there was little damage. We need to check for sure," Eko Budiman, deputy head of the emergency mitigation agency, said at Medan airport in Sumatra, struggling to reach Simeulu island near the epicentre.
Five people died in northern Indonesia, at least two from heart attacks, the agency said.
The alerts and evacuations mean a regional system passed a major test since the tsunami of 2004 that killed 230,000 people, including 170,000 in northern Indonesia alone.
But luck helped avert disaster this time as much as the warning system, especially in Indonesia's Aceh province, where roads were jammed with residents trying to flee and damaged power lines silenced the sirens.
"The simple message is that in any critical condition like this it's impossible to get everyone out in time," said Keith Loveard, chief risk analyst at Jakarta-based security firm Concord Consulting.
"The tsunami alert system worked to a degree ... While awareness has improved, reinforced by 2004, it still needs to get better through public education and government campaigns."
The scenes in Banda Aceh showed the roads are just not big enough, he said, pointing to the need to build up infrastructure and "put cities in a different place."
The 2004 disaster swept in with sudden ferocity. Thailand's southwestern beaches and hotels were packed with tourists on their Christmas vacations and people were out for a stroll on Chennai's Marina Beach in southern India when the waves hit.

San Francisco Bay Area Earthquake 2012

A magnitude 4.0 earthquake shook the San Francisco Bay Area early Monday morning, according to information from the United States Geological Survey.
According to the Associated Press, no damage has been reported, although Twitter users in the region reported being woken up by the tremor.
The earthquake's epicenter was one mile from El Cerrito, just east of Richmond and about ten miles north of Oakland, the USGS reports. Initially, the quake -- which struck at 5:33 a.m. PST -- was reported to have occurred at a depth of 5.5 miles, though that number was later revised to 5.7 miles.

Hurricane Irene

Forecasters say Hurricane Irene is lashing the Hampton Roads region along the coast of Virginia with hurricane force winds.

Irene's sustained winds on Saturday night are blowing at 80 mph and the storm is moving north-northeast still on a path to New England on Sunday.

Hurricane warnings extend north to Nantucket, Mass. A tropical storm warning extends all the way to the south coast of Nova Scotia, Canada.

The National Hurricane Center says areas of concern for the strong storm surge are Delaware Bay, Jersey shore, New York Harbor and Long Island Sound.

Recent Earthquake News

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake has struck the east coast of the United States.
The quake was felt in Washington, where the Pentagon and US Capitol Building were evacuated, as well as in New York.
There were no immediate reports of any major damage or injuries.

  The US eastern seaboard has few larger earthquakes. Many workers were bewildered -- and feared the worst -- as their desks swayed violently and their ceilings and walls shook. 

Thousands of people across the US East Coast raced frantically into the streets Tuesday as an earthquake sent shock waves of the kind last seen almost exactly a decade ago on September 11

In a region days away from commemorating the trauma of the September 11, 2001 attacks, many immediately suspected terrorism as they raced down stairways to parks and street corners. 

Many people in parks asked one another where they were on September 11, 2001. But unlike 10 years ago, the mood was more festive as people learned that there was little major damage.

Several bars in Washington smelled a business opportunity and declared earthquake happy hours for residents who did not want to brave the commuter crowds -- or who were suddenly given the afternoon off.  

Many major institutions from schools to the Smithsonian museums closed for the day, some in hopes of easing pressure on commuters. Mass-transit systems around Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia reported major delays, though trains ran closer to schedule in the New York area.   

7.1 magnitude Earthquake Hits Chile

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck the central coastal area of Chile on Sunday, some 70 kilometers (45 miles) northwest of Temuco, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury.
The quake, which stuck around 5:20 p.m. (3:20 p.m. ET), was felt as far away as Santiago, roughly 595 km (370 miles) north of where the USGS said the quake occurred. The epicenter was more than 10 miles underground, the USGS said.
Loreto Henriquez, manager of the Holiday Inn Express in Temuco, felt the quake for about a minute, describing it as loud and strong. She said people ran into the streets, but did not report any major damage.