107 Now Feared Dead in Philippines Earthquake

7.2 Magnitude earthquake does damage and kills in the Philippines.

Link:

http://www.voanews.com/content/death-toll-rises-to-107-in-philippines-quake/1770543.html

4.3 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Kentucky

The U.S. Geological Survey reported Saturday that an earthquake centred in Kentucky also rattled at least eight other states.

The USGS website said the epicenter of the 4.3 magnitude earthquake on Saturday afternoon was about 10 miles west of Whitesburg, near the Virginia line. Residents in both states, as well as West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, Ohio and Georgia, all the way to Atlanta also reported feeling the temblor.

National Weather Service spokesman Jeff Carico said employees at the office in Jackson, Kentucky, which is about 60 miles northwest of Whitesburg, felt the ground shake for about 15 seconds. He says the office has gotten numerous calls, but so far no one has reported any serious damage.

USGS geophysicist John Bellini said the quake is considered "light."

Costa Rica Recovering From Earthquake

The country of Costa Rica suffered remarkably little damage from Wednesday's magnitude-7.6 quake — a few blocked highways, some collapsed houses and one death, of a heart attack caused by fright. Officials credited the relatively deep location of the quake and building codes that Costa Rican officials call as strict as those in California and Japan.

The quake was 25 miles below the surface. Tremors that occur deep underground tend to be less damaging, but their shaking can be felt over a wider area.

The quake was followed by three strong aftershocks of magnitudes above 4.

Costa Rica's anti-earthquake structural codes have been updated in line with the latest international standards three times since they were enacted in 1974, most recently last year.

Yes, some houses were damaged, and some landslides blocked roads, but with only one death. the country seems to have escaped a bigger disaster.

The last deadly quake to strike Costa Rica was in 2009, when 40 people died in a magnitude-6.1.

Earthquake Damaged Cathedral to be Replaced by Cardboard

A beautiful cathedral, damaged by the devastating earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand will be replaced by a cardboard structure.

The 82-foot high building will be constructed with 104 tubes of cardboard. The structure will be a temporary replacement for the stone one which was ruined last year in an earthquake that killed 185 people and destroyed much of the picturesque city.

The Rev. Craig Dixon, a church spokesman, said the temporary cathedral would seat 700 people.

While we have the Crystal Catherdral in Southern California, now we have the Cardboard Cathedral in New Zealand.

5.6 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Northern California

A 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck Northern California’s coast Monday afternoon, rattling the ground around the Oregon border but yielding no immediate reports of major injuries or damage, officials said.

It struck at 1:07 p.m. about 18 miles inland in an unincorporated part of Humboldt County, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter was a rural area near the small community of Weitchpec on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation, about 240 miles north of San Francisco and about 60 miles south of the Oregon border.

Tremors were felt as far away as 100 miles.

Debbie Bailey, who owns an office supply shop in Hoopa, about five miles from the epicenter, said only a few items fell off shelves there. She described the jolt, which lasted four or five seconds, “like a pick-up-and-move, like a soft wave.”

Seismologists say the far-northern coast of California is the most seismically active area in the state, but the potential for damage and injuries there is smaller because it’s less populated.

The most damaging earthquake in recent years occurred near Eureka on Jan. 9, 2010, when a magnitude-6.5 temblor caused more than $40 million in damage and one serious injury — an elderly woman who fell and broke her hip.