AI
Sunday, April 04, 2010 10:17:35 PM
Strong earthquake rocks Mexico
April 5, 2010 - 11:17AM
Wow, i just heard. This experience must have been so terrifying for many. Good news, is none have been hurt?
A USGS map of the location of the quake in Mexico.
A strong 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocked the north-western Mexican state of Baja California, and was felt in the southern part of the US state of California, the US Geological Survey reported this morning.
Are you there? What did you experience? Message 0424 SMS SMH (+61 424 767 764), email us or direct message us on Twitter @smh_news with information or images.
The quake, which struck at 2240 GMT (8.40am), was at a depth of 32.3 kilometres and was located 26 kilometres south-south-west of Guadalupe Victoria, Baja California, and 64 kilometres south-west of San Luis, in the US state of Arizona, the USGS added.
A number of San Diego residents said the quake was the worst they had felt in decades.
Jess Ponting, an Australian working at San Diego State University, said he was at home when the quake struck.
"The main earthquake shook our apartment block and caused a panic up and down the street," Mr Ponting said.
"I cowered under my kitchen table on the third floor for about 45 seconds as the apartment shook violently and glassware rattled and ornaments and pictures fell off the walls.
"After the tremor finished, everyone spilled out on to the streets and started calling loved ones and figuring out what was going on."
Mr Ponting said he felt about five smaller aftershocks.
"The last one ... was the strongest and had us diving under the table again, though it was only short lived," he said.
A Qantas airline crew had just checked into the Marriott hotel in Torrance, a city in south-western Los Angeles County.
A crew member, who asked not to be named, said the hotel was evacuated when the earthquake hit.
"It was really severe and it went for what seemed like a minute," the crew member said.
He said he had experienced nine or 10 quakes in Japan and California.
"This was definitely the most severe and prolonged," he said.
"The pool was like a cup of water splashing around."
Another San Diego resident, Erin, who did not want her surname published, said it was the worst earthquake she had experienced in the 20 years she had lived in the area.
"It wouldn't stop," Erin said.
"I thought after 20 seconds it would stop. It didn't.
"For the first time I got under the table and was crying.
"I thought my [two-storey] house was going to collapse as my house is old."
The tremor was forceful enough to move buildings in Los Angeles and San Diego in southern California, as well as in Arizona, the Los Angeles Times reported.
KABC Television in Los Angeles said high-rise buildings in that city and in San Diego rocked back and forth when the quake hit.
The report said Los Angeles City Fire Department crews were responding to people trapped in stalled elevators in the city, but there were no reports of serious damage, power outages or injuries in Los Angeles.
The sheriff's department in Yuma, Arizona, said it was responding to many building alarms but that it had no immediate reports of injuries.
The Yuma Sun reported that Fry's grocery store front-end manager Karla Favela said that, "a little bit of everything" fell down every aisle of the store.
"The first thing I thought of - have you seen the movie 2012? The part when the grocery store splits in half?"
In Mexico, the National Seismological Institute said it had no early reports of injuries or damage.
An agency official, Adriana Gonzalez, said that people had reported feeling the quake across a wide area of Baja California and Sonora states.
The USSG said it had reports that quake was felt as far away as Las Vegas, Nevada, about 460 kilometres from the epicentre as well as in Los Angeles, 360 kilometres away, and in Phoenix, Arizona (300 kilometres).
In the Phoenix area, Jacqueline Land said her king-sized bed in her second-floor apartment felt like a boat gently swaying on the ocean.
"I thought to myself, that can't be an earthquake, I’m in Arizona," she said.
"And I thought, oh my God I feel like I’m nine years old."
Mike Wong, who works at a journalism school in downtown Phoenix, said he was in his second-floor office getting some work done on Sunday afternoon when he heard sounds and felt the building start to sway.
"I heard some cracking sounds, like Rice Krispies," he said.
"I didn’t think much of it, but I kept hearing it, and then I started feeling a shake. I thought, ’You know what? I think that might be an earthquake."
Wong said the swaying lasted for "just a few seconds", and he did not notice any damage.
Powerful aftershocks
A series of powerful aftershocks shook the earth north of the US-Mexico border following the quake.
The US Geological Survey says three strong jolts including a magnitude-5.1 aftershock were felt in the Imperial County desert east of San Diego in the hour after the initial quake.
Magnitude-4.5 and magnitude-4.3 aftershocks came before and after.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
AFP, AP, Georgina Robinson
http://www.smh.com.au/world/strong-earthquake-rocks-mexico-20100405-rm0x.html
April 5, 2010 - 11:17AM
Wow, i just heard. This experience must have been so terrifying for many. Good news, is none have been hurt?
A USGS map of the location of the quake in Mexico.
A strong 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocked the north-western Mexican state of Baja California, and was felt in the southern part of the US state of California, the US Geological Survey reported this morning.
Are you there? What did you experience? Message 0424 SMS SMH (+61 424 767 764), email us or direct message us on Twitter @smh_news with information or images.
The quake, which struck at 2240 GMT (8.40am), was at a depth of 32.3 kilometres and was located 26 kilometres south-south-west of Guadalupe Victoria, Baja California, and 64 kilometres south-west of San Luis, in the US state of Arizona, the USGS added.
A number of San Diego residents said the quake was the worst they had felt in decades.
Jess Ponting, an Australian working at San Diego State University, said he was at home when the quake struck.
"The main earthquake shook our apartment block and caused a panic up and down the street," Mr Ponting said.
"I cowered under my kitchen table on the third floor for about 45 seconds as the apartment shook violently and glassware rattled and ornaments and pictures fell off the walls.
"After the tremor finished, everyone spilled out on to the streets and started calling loved ones and figuring out what was going on."
Mr Ponting said he felt about five smaller aftershocks.
"The last one ... was the strongest and had us diving under the table again, though it was only short lived," he said.
A Qantas airline crew had just checked into the Marriott hotel in Torrance, a city in south-western Los Angeles County.
A crew member, who asked not to be named, said the hotel was evacuated when the earthquake hit.
"It was really severe and it went for what seemed like a minute," the crew member said.
He said he had experienced nine or 10 quakes in Japan and California.
"This was definitely the most severe and prolonged," he said.
"The pool was like a cup of water splashing around."
Another San Diego resident, Erin, who did not want her surname published, said it was the worst earthquake she had experienced in the 20 years she had lived in the area.
"It wouldn't stop," Erin said.
"I thought after 20 seconds it would stop. It didn't.
"For the first time I got under the table and was crying.
"I thought my [two-storey] house was going to collapse as my house is old."
The tremor was forceful enough to move buildings in Los Angeles and San Diego in southern California, as well as in Arizona, the Los Angeles Times reported.
KABC Television in Los Angeles said high-rise buildings in that city and in San Diego rocked back and forth when the quake hit.
The report said Los Angeles City Fire Department crews were responding to people trapped in stalled elevators in the city, but there were no reports of serious damage, power outages or injuries in Los Angeles.
The sheriff's department in Yuma, Arizona, said it was responding to many building alarms but that it had no immediate reports of injuries.
The Yuma Sun reported that Fry's grocery store front-end manager Karla Favela said that, "a little bit of everything" fell down every aisle of the store.
"The first thing I thought of - have you seen the movie 2012? The part when the grocery store splits in half?"
In Mexico, the National Seismological Institute said it had no early reports of injuries or damage.
An agency official, Adriana Gonzalez, said that people had reported feeling the quake across a wide area of Baja California and Sonora states.
The USSG said it had reports that quake was felt as far away as Las Vegas, Nevada, about 460 kilometres from the epicentre as well as in Los Angeles, 360 kilometres away, and in Phoenix, Arizona (300 kilometres).
In the Phoenix area, Jacqueline Land said her king-sized bed in her second-floor apartment felt like a boat gently swaying on the ocean.
"I thought to myself, that can't be an earthquake, I’m in Arizona," she said.
"And I thought, oh my God I feel like I’m nine years old."
Mike Wong, who works at a journalism school in downtown Phoenix, said he was in his second-floor office getting some work done on Sunday afternoon when he heard sounds and felt the building start to sway.
"I heard some cracking sounds, like Rice Krispies," he said.
"I didn’t think much of it, but I kept hearing it, and then I started feeling a shake. I thought, ’You know what? I think that might be an earthquake."
Wong said the swaying lasted for "just a few seconds", and he did not notice any damage.
Powerful aftershocks
A series of powerful aftershocks shook the earth north of the US-Mexico border following the quake.
The US Geological Survey says three strong jolts including a magnitude-5.1 aftershock were felt in the Imperial County desert east of San Diego in the hour after the initial quake.
Magnitude-4.5 and magnitude-4.3 aftershocks came before and after.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
AFP, AP, Georgina Robinson
http://www.smh.com.au/world/strong-earthquake-rocks-mexico-20100405-rm0x.html
Jonathan Swift said, "May you live all the days of your life!"
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