Tsunami Warnings

A major earthquake offshore of the Philippines sent people scrambling toward higher ground, generated a small tsunami and killed at least one person Friday, authorities said.

The 7.6-magnitude quake struck Friday evening, with its epicenter about 65 miles southeast of the coastal town of Guiuan, in the Philippine province of Eastern Samar, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was about 20 miles deep.

Tsunami waves ranging from 6 to 7 inches to a foot and a half were recorded in the province of Surigao del Norte, with waves of an inch reported near the cities of Davao and Legaspi, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said.

Those waves did no known damage, but the earthquake triggered a landslide that killed one person and injured another, the council said.

"The quake occurred amid a strong rain, so the earth shook loose and there was a landslide," the country's civil defense chief, Benito Ramos, said, The Manila Times reported.

The quake was centered in the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific Ocean and was felt in the country's east, said Aimee Menguilla, a spokeswoman for the council.

Ed Serrano, the head of security at the Marco Polo Hotel in the city of Davao, about 250 miles south of Guiuan, said he felt the ground shake.

"The hotel guests were panicking," he said. "Most of them went outside."

Marie Elairon, working at the front desk at Hotel Dona Vicenta in the city of Borongan, said some people headed to mountainous areas and others took shelter in a church.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said tsunami waves were possible in a vast arc of the Pacific, but the alerts were soon canceled. The Philippines canceled an advisory urging people to evacuate early Saturday.

Ricky Carandang, President Benigno Aquino's press secretary, said there has been minor damage to roads in six provinces authorities were monitoring: Eastern and Northern Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur. The government also reported damage to bridges and houses.

Paul Earle, a U.S. Geological Survey seismologist, said the quake was "fairly far off the coast, so it likely won't cause severe shaking damage." But, he said, an earthquake "this large could cause a lot of damage" if it were inland.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially said the quake had a magnitude of 7.9 but later revised that figure.

Via CNN

Iranian hospitals struggle to cope after earthquakes leave 250 dead

(Via The Telegraph)

By Barney Henderson

An injured person is taken to hospital in Ahar. Photo: REUTERS/Kamel Rouhi/Fars

The two strong quakes struck towns and villages in northwest Iran in quick succession on Saturday, killing at least 180 people and injuring more than 1,000, according to a preliminary toll by officials.

Khalil Sa'ie, a provincial official, said 250 people had been killed and some 1,300 injured.
Gholamreza Masoumi, the head of Iran's emergency services, said those hurt were being taken to hospitals in Tabriz and Ardebil, the two biggest nearby major cities, both of which escaped relatively unscathed by the quakes.
The quakes measured 6.2 and 6.0 on the moment magnitude scale, according to Tehran University's Seismological Centre, but the US Geological Survey, which monitors seismic activity worldwide, ranked them as more powerful than that, at 6.4 and 6.3, respectively.
"Sixty villages... have been heavily damaged and are in need of help," said Abbas Fallah, an MP in the hard-hit town of Ahar.

Rescue operations were called off after officials said all survivors had been found following Saturday's 6.4 and 6.3 magnitude earthquakes that flattened villages in the north-west of the country, leaving over 2,000 people injured.
"There are no people left to recover from under the rubble in any village, and all necessary aid is currently being distributed," said Hossein Ghadami, an interior ministry official in charge of disaster management. However, other officials at the ground warned that there were still scores of people buried and the death toll could rise.
Over 100 villages were badly damaged and 12 were completely destroyed, leading to an estimated 16,000 people being made homeless. Thousands of people spent the night sleeping outdoors both on Saturday night and last night, while others huddled in tents and makeshift shelters.
Emergency aid workers were struggling to reach some areas as many of the villages were inaccessible by road and phone lines were down. All the local hospitals were full.
"I saw some people whose entire home was destroyed, and all their livestock killed," Tahir Sadati, a local photographer, said by telephone. "People need help, they need warm clothes, more tents, blankets and bread."