5.9-Magnitude Earthquake strikes near Pacific island of Tonga

[DeMoN]

By RAY LILLEY, Associated Press Writer Ray Lilley, Associated Press Writer – 29 mins ago

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit near the Pacific island of Tonga on Thursday, but no casualties or damage were reported and no tsunami warning was issued.

The quake struck 65 miles (135 kilometers) northeast of Hihifo, Tonga, at a depth of 21 miles (35 kilometers).

Many residents of American Samoa felt the quake and went out to look at the ocean while listening to radio broadcasts.

"Nothing is registered on our censors for tsunami waves," according to Carol Baqui, a forecaster with the American Samoa weather service.

No tsunami warning was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii.

Police in the Samoan capital, Apia, said they had no reports on the temblor. "We didn't feel any earthquake," an officer, who declined to be named, said.

Julie Dutton, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado, it was a relatively small quake.

"Right now we don't have any reports of it being felt. It's pretty far off the coast so we're not anticipating anything damaging," Dutton said.

Preliminary estimates put the quake at 6.2, but that was later downgraded to 5.9.

About 90 percent of the world's temblors occur in the so-called "Ring of Fire" — an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100421/ap_on_...onga_earthquake

 

[jan777]

shit. what's with earthquakes these times?
maybe 2012 is true afterall?

 

[JohnLoco]

maybe 2012 is true afterall?

All we can do i wait ^^

 

[Skyline969]

I'm not worried at all. If it's a global flood or something, I'm right dead in the center of Canada - Saskatchewan. It might be beachfront property, but it'll never be sunk!

 

[acesniper]

Yeah, I believe that more people are just starting to take notice. Or we can blame al-Qaeda on this.

 

[ball2012003]

there are earthquakes every day some big some some small it's part of life there is nothing to worry about

 

[Sterling]

Honestly what I feel, and what I think are two different things.

One I "feel" that the world may be coming to an end. I think however that (after reading several past comments), there is an increased awareness through the internet. What I "feel" actually may be a product of what I believe in (Christianity), and doesn't actually have anything to do with what everybody else calls "Logical" thinking.

 

[Deleted_171835]

It seems like the world is coming to an end but it isn't. It's just that after the Haiti earthquake, people just started to report about them more often.

As you can see here, there have been tons of quakes, this year and years before.

 

[jan777]

ahh. i see now.

PROFIT $$$

lol jk.

 

[Rock Raiyu]

I don't think its nothing to worry about anymore. I just had a refresher course on how earthquakes are made and its basically a dominoe effect since the tectonic plates move in one place, they will move in another and the process keeps going until it will eventually fix itself...but why it would do it now is still a mystery to me.

 

[Blue Protoman]

The good news is, these earthquakes are getting weaker each time.

 

[BlackDave]

The quakes are getting weaker

 

[Cyan]

5.x is pretty usual, there are several a day.
~7.x is starting to be big, and even with that power, depending the region of the world there will not be any casualties as the risky areas are already constructed correctly with anti-seismic buildings.

only poor countries/regions have a lot of destructions and death, that's bad for them

 

[RupeeClock]

I think I actually had a nightmare related to this last night.
That the world was actually going to end, scary.