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Update 07:54 UTC :  immigrant workers, weather, solidarity
- Tension in a shelter in Finale Emilia. A group of North African laborers and their families were not amused at all when they were initially not granted admission in the shelters setup by the Civil Protection.  Civil Protection said that it is always giving priority to the children and the elderly.  After some fierce discussions, everybody was happy again, as there was enough space for everybody.
- Part of the tension in the above shelter is caused by the rainy weather. Staying outside in the rain is horrible for everyone.  One of the first elements Earthquake-Report.com looks at when an earthquake strikes is the weather at the time of the mainshock and the weather outlook. This morning temperature at Finale Emilia was only 10 °C and it is raining non-stop since early this morning.
- Authorities are asking all Italian people to show their solidarity with the victims of the earthquake. A plea in that sense was made by the President of the Emilia Romagna, Mr. Errani.

Update 07:54 UTC :  building code, European Union, Insurance companies
- A lot of specialists are really surprised about the number of modern facilities (some were build in 2000) who collapsed during the earthquake, especially industrial equipment and buildings.  The chief of Civil Protection told the RAI earlier today that this kind of collapses should be studied very carefully and that lessons should be learned.

Lack of a European building code !
Although construction engineers have expressed already many years that the lead in a better building code should be organized by Europe, individual countries have decided (by means of their Ministers), that building codes should be kept National. Such a legislation is highly needed and can have enough exemptions for poorer countries, but at least new buildings would enjoy a far better resistance to earthquakes than today. Earthquake-Report.com is one of the advocates of a European earthquake-resistant building code. 100% protection is not possible, but earthquakes up to M7 or even more should not trigger collapses.
Insurance companies can also take the lead in earthquake resistant building methods. Refusing to insure not adequately build constructions should conduct owners to improve their constructions.

Update 21/05 – 07:24 UTC :  aftershocks, PM Monti
- The area has been shaken by 18 aftershocks since midnight UTC. The strongest one being a M3.5, which will have been felt as a weak shaking by the people living in the epicenter area. Earthquake-Report.com sees aftershocks of M4.5 or higher as a real danger for unstable buildings. So after all, we can conclude that people must have had an acceptable night.
- Since the mainshock during the night of May 20 until now, 150 aftershocks were recorded. 90% of these aftershocks could not be felt by people, but were recorded by sensitive seismographs from INGV.
- Prime Minister Monti has decided to return to Italy earlier than planned because of the earthquake. After meeting world leaders during the G8, mr. Monti should have traveled to Chicago to take part in the NATO top summit.  He now decided to return to Italy.

Update 22:41 UTC :  Civil Protection, false Facebook calls
- The Italian Civil Protection has prepared 4500 beds for people unable to spend the night at home
- Malicious persons have send (so called official) messages via Facebook to call the people to leave their houses for the night. The Police and Authorities have informed the people that they NEVER called for such action.  Police is thinking that people try to loot houses this way.

Update 21:36 UTC :  scary for the night
A lot of people from the direct epicenter area have decided to spend the night in their car  as they are scared for severe aftershocks. Shelters are only used for people who cannot return to their houses

Update 18:34 UTC : Anna Firs, an elderly woman of 86 years got sick at the time of the earthquake and perished in a hospital because of a heart attack later today. Anna Firs lived in Vigarano Mainarda.  This brings the number if indirect fatalities to 3 and the total to 7.

Update 18:25 UTC : INGV has announced that they cannot rule out another severe aftershock.
In fact NOBODY IN THE WORLD WILL BE ABLE TO PREDICT THE TIME or STRENGTH OF WHATEVER EARTHQUAKE or AFTERSHOCK.  As we said earlier today, aftershocks are normally weaker than the mainshock but this is only theory.  A good example of this exception theory was this weeks M4.8  Aftershock at Timpson, Texas. The mainshock occurred 7 days earlier and had a Magnitude   of M3.9!.

Update 18:20 UTC :  Mantua, Modena, shelters, highways
-150 people have been listed by the Mantua authorities for shelter for the night. They are unable to return to their damaged houses
- Modena has installed temporary shelters for 2000 homeless people
- The regional highway authority was happy to tell the press that NO problems were reported in their regional network of more than 400 bridges, viaducts, tunnels, etc

Update 18:13 UTC :  Rovigo churches,  firefighter,  cultural heritage
- Churches have been closed for further inspection in the Rovigo province.
- A firefighter who fell from a roof when the building he was inspecting during an aftershock collapsed is conscious again. Good news, but a further proof that these people are taking great risks to get close to unstable buildings.
- The vast cultural heritage in between Modena and Ferrara and especially in Emilia Finale has been suffered enormously.

Update 17:54 UTC :  aftershocks, hospital, PM Monti
- We have just counted 64 aftershocks since the mainshock at 02.03 UTC
- Civil protection will be helping with the evacuation of the hospital in Finale Emilia
- Prime Minister Monti, currently in Chicago for the G8 meeting, has said that he will do everything in his power to cope with the situation.  He is constantly updated by the responsible presidents of the damaged provinces.
- The Sant’Agostina area has suffered seriously from the M5.1 aftershock from this afternoon.

Update 17:13 UTC :  anti-looting, missing persons
- Police have organized anti-looting patrols to take care of unattended houses and buildings
- The president of Emilia Romagno has said to the press that nobody is missing anymore, making it probable that the current list of killend and injured people will remain as it is

KEEP FOLLOWING OUR NEWS REPORTS – EARTHQUAKE-REPORT.COM is probably the only specialized earthquake reporting website in the world combining scientific information with human impact information.

Update 16:21 UTC :  displaced people, additional damage after aftershock, power, animals
- Because of some cracks in Mantua’s Palazzo Ducale, the fire department has decided to close the building for the public
- The number of displaced people (people who cannot return to their houses) is currently estimated to be 3,000.
- The M5.1 aftershock was responsible for the additional collapse of a still standing part of the Sant’Agostine town hall
- ENEL, the main Italian power company, said that besides some isolated cases, all users have electricity again.
- Misery for a number of animals too. A number of stables have been collapsed and at least a herd of cows and breeding pigs have been covered by the rubble. We expect more livestock to be in trouble as everybody knows that stables are often in a bad condition.

Update 16:00 UTC : prisoners evacuated, telecommunications and Railway line working again
- Italian Railways have reopened the Bologna – Verona railway route.
- The Modena province has asked the national government to take urgent measures to help the owners of damaged houses and businesses. An extension in time to enter tax forms isd one of them.
- The 200 users cutoff from Telecommunications at Finale Emilia have been reconnected
- 500 prisoners have been evacuated from the Ferrara prison. Some of the prisoners were maffia linked and had to be kept away from others because of testimony programs.

Update 15:27 UTC : Damage will be huge!
Earlier in this article, we have reported to believe that the damage would go into the hundreds of millions of Euro’s. We will have to boost this damage considerably as a lot of factories and buildings may be found unstable to continue producing goods.  This economic damage will be added on top of the structural damage to buildings. James Daniell, an earthquake damage specialist working at Cedim Germany, will certainly be able to produce a very good estimate by tomorrow afternoon.

Update 15:21 UTC : Strong aftershock
A M5.1 aftershock struck the epicenter area at 13:18 UTC (15:18 local time). The depth of the hypocenter was at 8.9 km following USGS. INGV, Italy seismological institute, reports the same Magnitude but a depth of 5.1 km.
These continuous aftershocks are bad news for the people in the greater earthquake area as they will go on for many hours and will last at least until tomorrow, meaning that a lot of people will have to spend the night outside their own houses.  The aftershocks will gradually weaken, but the situation will be at least unstable for a limited number of days. The epicenter of the last aftershock was very close to Ferrara, much closer than the mainshock.  Normally, a M5.1 earthquake is not really damaging, but in combination with already unstable buildings, such shocks will be capable to increase the amount of damage considerably.

List of the deceased (5 in the Ferrara province and 1 in Bologna province)
- Nicholas Cavicchi, 35, resident of San Martino (Ferrara) and killed while working in factory in Sant’Agostino
- Ansaloni Leonardo, 51, resident of Reno Centese (Ferrara) and killed in the same factory as Mr. Cavacchi
- Gerardo Cesaro, 59, resident of Moline.
- Tarik Naouch, 29, residing in Crevalcore. Mr. Naouch was killed in the Ursa factory in Ponte Rodoni di Bondeno
- Nerina Balboni, 103, got a heart attack when she was buried partly by debris
- 37 year old German woman died of a heart attack in Bologna (we are still searching for her identity)
Earthquake-Report.com pays his respects to the family of all the deceased.

Update 12:19 UTC :
-The President of the National Council of Engineers has said that all efforts have now to be invested in more earthquake-resistant buildings. He mentioned especially the need to further stabilize historic buildings, one of the main damaged building types during this earthquake.
- The President of the Lombardy province, Mr. Roberto Formigoni, has joined the plea of the President of Emilia Romagna to call the State of Emergency in the earthquake damaged areas. Mantua, another seriously hit area is part of Lombardy.
- Schools will be closed tomorrow as inspection of school buildings will take place

Update 11:31 UTC :
- The number of people killed directly or indirectly remains the same
- Fifty people have been reported as injured
- The body of Gerardo Cesaro, worker at the Tecopress company has been recovered from below the rubble
- Italian President Napolitano has send his sympathy to the family of the killed people and has also send words of thanks to the  SAR people and all people involved in helping the victims of the earthquake. President Napolitano is constantly updated from the situation by the Italian Civil protection.
- Aftershocks are continue to strike the area.  At 11:13 a M4.2 aftershock made it very clear that the dangerous hours are not over yet. Stronger aftershocks are very exceptional but occur from time to time.
- The President of Emilia-Romagna has asked the National Government to call the state of National Emergency for the area.

Image courtesy INGV Italia - Yellow star : mainshock - yellow circle : M4.1 foreshock - big red circles : aftershocks in between M4 to M5

Update 09:55 UTC : Mr. Gabrielli, chief of the regional Civil Protection has declared that the situation is “under control”. Mr. Gabrielli told the press that he has overflown the greater earthquake area and that he has not seen serious problematic areas. Traffic is going smoothly, infrastructure is almost intact and damage is not widespread.

Update 09:47 UTC :
- Italian Civil Protection is organizing shelters for people who’s houses have been damaged by the earthquake.
- tens of people have been injured during the earthquake. The devastation is not widespread. Only isolated houses and buildings have suffered serious damage. We expect not earthquake-resistant building methods to be one of the major reasons that such serious damage has been inflicted.
- The collapse, partial collapse and damaged historic buildings are currently visited by Civil Protection and Local authorities to become a clear picture of the amount of damage.
- Earthquake-Report.com is increasing the expected amount of damage into the hundreds of millions Euros.  This amount not only includes damage to buildings and historic sites but also to the economy.

Update 09:23 UTC : INGV has reported 41 aftershocks so far, the strongest being a M4.9 at 03:02 UTC (05:02 local Italian time). 5 aftershocks measured M4 or higher and 14 aftershocks in between M3 and M4.

Update 09:15 UTC : The Mantua area was also seriously damaged. The church of Felonica in Mantua was damaged.

Update 09:11 UTC : Many people in the greater epicenter area remain in the streets fearing for aftershocks.

Important Update 08:56 UTC : The death toll has increased to 6 when a worker was found under the rubble of the Tecopress factory at St. Augustine (Ferrara). 4 are considered in earthquake terms as shaking deaths, 2 people have been killed indirectly (see below).

Update 08:47 UTC : Click on the pictures below to see more images of the damage inflicted by this deadly earthquake.

Images courtesy and copyright La Repubblica - Click on the images to see more of them

Update 08:35 UTC :  The Chief of Civil Protection from the Ferrara province has just arrived at the Prefecture office and is now leading an assessment and operations meeting with his staff.
- Based on the many images we have seen so far, the damage will run into at least tens of millions of Euro’s, probably a lot more. Some historic buildings have collapsed completely, others partially. Industrial warehouses have been damaged. So far we have NO immediate numbers of injured, but a lot of people living in damaged houses must have at least minor injures.

Update 08:26 UTC :  To give our readers an idea of the extend of the damage, we have combined a “before” and “after” image of the Castle of Finale Emilio. The angle is not the same, but you can see very good that the towers have almost completely collapsed.  Images courtesy and copyright of its owners, damaged castle from Gianluca Diegoli via twitter and the “before” picture from animoweb.it.

Update 08:18 UTC :  The earthquake was also felt in the neighboring countries. We got I Have Felt It reports from the Alps region, Slovenia and the Cote d’Azur (France).

Update 08:09 UTC :  2 helicopters of the Italian Police are overflying the earthquake hit areas and are trying to locate and to guide SAR forces (Search and Rescue forces) to eventual collapsed or heavily damaged buildings. These overflying helicopters are especially looking for old abandoned houses were often poor families are residing.

Update 08:01 UTC : The Palace of Venice, an historic building in Finale Emilia, badly hit by the earthquake, is partially collapsed. The 11 people from three families who lived there were rescued by SAT personnel.

Update 07:58 UTC : It is still not sure how many people have exactly perished during this earthquake. We have counted 4 so far, but the number may increase slightly. Let us make an overview.
- 2 indirect fatalities (a 37 year old ill woman died probably of an heart attack and a 100 year old person probably from the same)
- a Moroccan worker died in Ponte Rodoni, Bondeno. He worked at Ursa, a polystyrene foam company, and his shift would end at 5.  He was killed when a support beam collapsed on his head.
- 2 Italian workers were killed when a roof from a ceramics manufacturing company collapsed on them. Theur work shift would have ended at 6.
3 shaking deaths and 2 indirect killed people is the sad result so far.

Update 07:45 UTC : A 5 year old child was rescued out of the rubble in a collapsed building in Finale Emilia !

Historic earthquakes map courtesy INGV - earthquake in between M6 and M7

Update 07:32 UTC : The earthquake’s epicenter was located in a area which has no damaging earthquakes since a long time.  We have to go back to 1570 for a major earthquake near Ferrara and to even 1346 for another M6 to M7 earthquake at a distance of approx. 20 km from the current epicenter. From 2002 to 2008 6 smaller earthquakes (less than M4) occurred within a radius of 20 km.

Update 07:17 UTC : A lot of people are asking themselves why an earthquake with (only) a M5.9 Magnitude can inflict such a lot of serious damage.  Not only was this earthquake very shallow (close to the surface), but one of the main factors is that the earthquake occurred in a relatively soft soil area. Soft ground layers are propagating the earthquake waves a lot stronger than areas with harder rocky layers.

Update 06:41 UTC : 2 earthquake of respectively M4.1 and M2.2 were precursors of the damaging M6 mainshock. Since that mainshock, INGV has recorded 12 aftershocks!

Important Update 06:39 UTC : We are sad to tell that a 4th fatality has been reported. We have also a few more details on the killed people. All of the death people are coming from the Ferrara area. 2 people died in a pottery factory in Ferrara. A third person died in the Ferrara Bondeno industrial zone and the 4th victim was a 37 year ill woman who died of an heart attack.

Update : The video below shows the damage to a couple of buildings in the Ferrara area.  The shaking must have been very strong to inflict this kind of damage.

Update : The video below is mainly a picture from a damaged building combined with an interview with the Governor of the Ferrara province (in Italian). The governor talks about a lot of damage to bridges, schools, historic buildings etc. She calls the situation very serious.

Update 06:35 UTC : In San Felice sul Panaro, near Modena, the tower of the fortress collapsed. Another tower went down in Finale Emilia, and a nursing home was evacuated.

Update : Mostly historic buildings have been damaged in the quake. Click here for series of images from La Repubblica.  Some churches and older buildings collapsed completely.

Damage in Northern Italy after the May 20 earthquake - Images courtesy and copyright La Repubblica - Please click on these pictures to see more of them in La Repubblica

Update : The 3 killed people are believed to be 3 farm workers in the Ferrara area

Update : The heavy shaking lated for about 20 seconds

Update : As what can be expected, everybody ran to the streets after feeling the shaking.

Update : A church bell collapsed in Ferrara, in Finale Emilia a church steeple was reported damage, in San Felice Parano a segment of a castle collapsed.

Update : USGS has upgraded the earthquake to 6.0 at a depth of only 5km. The updated PAGER says 73,000 people would felt a severe shaking!! and 178,000 a very strong shaking. Avery bad sign.

Update :  An also strong aftershock M5.1 occurred 59 minutes later

Shaking map courtesy USGS

Update :  The village who has been hit most (MMI VIII) was Camposanto, a little town with 3,000 inhabitants.

Update : GDACS reports that the nearest populated places are: Stuffione (20km), Ronchi (19km), Sammartini (19km), Solara (18km), San Pietro (19km), Cantone (19km), Caselle (16km), San Prospero (18km), Camposanto (15km), Palata Pepoli (17km), Galeazza (19km), Casoni (16km), Cadecoppi (15km), Staggia (15km), Gorzano (14km), Alberone (19km), Motta (16km), Reno Centese (19km), Entra (12km), Finale Emilia (16km), Villafranca (12km), Cavezzo (13km), San Felice sul Panaro (10km), Rovereto sulla Secchia (17km), Rivara (10km), San Felice San Panaro (9km), Medolla (10km), Massa Finalese (11km), Disvetro (13km), La Quiete (15km), Pioppa (15km), Pavignane (8km), San Biagio (8km), San Giacomo Roncole (9km), Camurana (8km), Sant’antonio In Mercadello (16km), Viarovere (14km), Mortizzuolo (6km), Bellaria (13km), Scortichino (17km), Mirandola (7km), San Possidonio (12km), Cividale (5km), Novi di Modena (19km), San Giovanni Battista (12km), Burana (18km), Concordia (12km), Quarantoli (3km), Fossa (8km), Redena (11km), Gavello (4km), San Martino in Spino (8km), Moglia (17km), Rangona (16km), Vallalta (10km), Pilastri (13km), Zerbinate (19km), Tramuschio (4km), Valle San Martino (17km), Stoppiaro (5km), La Pedocca (14km), Zambone (13km), Bondanello (15km), Malcantone (11km), Marzettelle (20km), Dragoncello (7km), San Giovanni del Dosso (6km), San Giacomo Delle Segnate (9km), Carobio (5km), Galvagnina (18km), Felonica (18km), Roversella (14km), Santa Croce (12km), Trivellano (16km), Quattrocase (7km), Calto (19km), Agnolo (8km), San Rocco (12km), Schivenoglia (9km), Sermide (16km), Villa Poma (8km), Magnacavallo (9km), Quistello (15km), Ghisione (9km), Moglia (14km), Castelmassa (18km), Fienili (12km), Castelnovo Bariano (16km), Zello (11km), Nuvolato (15km), Pieve di Coriano (12km), Carbonara di Po (14km), Carbonarola (16km), San Benedetto Po (20km), Quingentole (14km), Santa Lucia (16km), Bonizzo (14km), Revere (14km), Borgofranco sul Po (15km), Libiola (15km), Mirasole (18km), Bergantino (18km), Melara (16km), Correggioli (15km), Serravalle A Po (16km), Ostiglia (16km), Sustinente (18km), Santo Stefano (18km), Cardinala (18km). The closest civilian airport is Guglielmo Marconi (46km).

Update : The shaking must have been extremely strong with a max. intensity of VIII (severe shaking) which was felt by 7,000 people. 91,000 people have felt a potentially damaging MMI VII very strong shaking and 191,000 people a strong shaking.

The earthque happened in the heavily populated triangle Mantua,  Ferrara Modena area.
The damaging earthquake  occurred after another M4.2 earthquake took place a few hours earlier at 01:15 local time (see our earthquake list from May 19).

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : M6.0
UTC Time : Sunday, May 20, 2012 at 02:03:52 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Sunday, May 20, 2012 at 04:03:52 AM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 5.1 km
Geo-location(s) :
7 km NW Finale emilia (pop 15,337)
30 km W Ferrara (pop 131,771)
36 km (22 miles) NNW of Bologna, Italy

Links to important maps
USGS Did You Feel It Map
Google satellite map showing the epicenter and the surrounding area
Historic earthquakes map
Seismic hazard map
Shaking map
Scientific parameters
Human impact map

Click here for examples of our “earthquake notifications (button below)”

SRC	Location	UTC Date/time	M	D	INFORMATION
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 23:53 PM	2.8	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 23:04 PM	4.1	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 23:04 PM	4.0	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 22:45 PM	2.8	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 22:22 PM	3.6	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 22:22 PM	3.9	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 22:05 PM	2.6	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 19:26 PM	3.1	15.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 18:11 PM	3.9	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
Argenta - Felt it clearly. Shaking again, since 1.00 am tonite
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 18:11 PM	3.3	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 17:52 PM	3.1	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Northern Italy	May 20 17:37 PM	4.7	21.0	MAP	I Felt It
Vicenza, Italy - We just had another aftershock about 4 mins ago...Sitting on my bed on my second floor as it shook
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 17:37 PM	4.6	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 17:37 PM	4.6	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 17:20 PM	3.1	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 16:50 PM	3.1	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 14:51 PM	4.1	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
Modena - terrified night and day
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 14:51 PM	4.1	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 14:51 PM	3.4	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 13:18 PM	5.1	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
Trento - 1321 UTC. lasted for long time trento - was quite long! arcugnano - About 40 seconds of shaking. Pictures and mirrors on wall were moving. Heard glasses in the cabinets rattling. Castelfranco Emilia - Stronger and longer than previously, quite fearful this one. Argenta - Shaking experience bad feeling Milano - Felt slow undulations in my aptartment building back and forth for about 20 seconds Milano - Felt slow undulations in my apartment building back and forth for about 20 seconds Ferrara - Moderate shaking reported Modena - a las 4:05am empezó un ruído que durante 20seg fué ascendiendo
USGS	Northern Italy	May 20 13:18 PM	5.1	8.9	MAP	I Felt It
INGV	Pianura Padana Emiliana, Italy	May 20 13:18 PM	5.1	4.7	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 13:18 PM	5.2	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 13:01 PM	3.4	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 13:01 PM	3.5	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 12:50 PM	4.2	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
Itaky - Only felt a slight tremor this time. Nothing compared to this morning. Castelfranco Emilia - chair shakes at 1st floor.
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 12:50 PM	3.8	2.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 11:22 AM	3.5	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 11:22 AM	3.1	2.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 10:59 AM	3.6	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 10:59 AM	3.9	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 10:59 AM	4.1	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 10:51 AM	3.3	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 10:51 AM	3.8	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 10:12 AM	4.5	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 10:12 AM	4.3	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Northern Italy	May 20 10:12 AM	4.5	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 10:12 AM	3.8	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 09:13 AM	4.5	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Northern Italy	May 20 09:13 AM	4.7	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
Argenta - This one just woke me from sleeping after tonite's shakes... Not so hard but clearly felt. Trento - Woke me up, but not serious like early in the mornin 4:04
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 09:13 AM	4.5	2.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 09:13 AM	4.5	2.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 08:47 AM	3.7	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 08:47 AM	4.0	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 08:15 AM	4.3	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 08:15 AM	3.7	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 08:05 AM	3.0	15.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 07:51 AM	2.9	15.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 07:42 AM	3.0	15.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 07:36 AM	3.2	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 07:34 AM	3.2	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 07:23 AM	4.0	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 07:23 AM	3.6	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 07:00 AM	2.7	30.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 06:41 AM	2.7	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 06:32 AM	3.3	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 06:32 AM	3.6	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 06:32 AM	3.7	2.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 06:13 AM	3.1	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 06:13 AM	3.6	5.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 05:45 AM	3.0	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 04:57 AM	3.1	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 04:50 AM	2.9	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 04:33 AM	3.5	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 04:22 AM	3.2	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 03:44 AM	2.9	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 03:34 AM	3.3	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 03:32 AM	3.5	15.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 03:07 AM	3.7	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Northern Italy	May 20 03:02 AM	5.1	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 03:02 AM	5.2	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
Venice - Another little tremor. Pretty terrified : Bergamo - (5h5 sentita altra scossa Milano - Another shaking. 4th floor.just moved to Italy, never experienced this before. Viareggio - 10 seconds of bed shaking. Argenta - Another shaking after the bigger one at 0404 am: this one was shorter.
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 03:02 AM	5.2	2.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 02:52 AM	3.2	2.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 02:37 AM	3.8	2.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 02:37 AM	4.0	2.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 02:35 AM	4.0	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 02:35 AM	4.1	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 02:32 AM	3.7	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 02:29 AM	3.5	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 02:25 AM	3.8	2.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 02:20 AM	4.3	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Northern Italy	May 20 02:03 AM	6.1	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
Florence - Very weak shaking reported Milano - Very weak shaking reported MILAN - Moderate shaking reported Longare (VI) - Shook just enough to wake me from sleep. Not like the severe shaking that just happened at 4 am, which severely shook my apartment building and set off car alarms. Trento, Italy - 3rd floor of apt. building Torri de Benaco - Waking up in bed, Shaking for minutes Milano - Woke up to the apartment shaking. No noise, lased less than a minute Asolo, Italy - Light shaking indicated Arzignano (VI) - 4.05am woke to moderate shaking followed by at least 2 smaller after-shocks Florence, Italy - Woke my husand and I out of a sound sleep at 0400. Bologna - 4h first time in my life Padova - Strong shaking reported ITALY - Woke everyone up. Closet doors rattling and car alarms going off. Parma - The shaking last more than 15 seconds and wake up everybody from the beginning. No fallen objects. (2nd floor) Noale - grew up in southern california, shook pretty good here. Venice - On holiday in Venice, from the UK. Just got woken up by bed shaking and very scary noises. Hoping that was it....us Brits are not used to it!! Arcugnano - Woke from a deep sleep to shaking that lasted for about a minute. Everything on the walls shook, but nothing fell. Car alarms were set off. milan, 6th floor - woke me up from sleep Forlì - I'm sleeping Bologna - Strong enough to wake me and my wife and to cause some little light objects to fall. Desenzano del Garda - Woken up Milano - Woke up for a light shaking, first time in my life. 4th floor Desenzano del Garda - Light shaking reported Zermatt Switzerland - 4am Shook me out of bed and dresser handles rattled pretty good. Milano - Woke up for shaking S.Maria di Sala, Venice,Italy - 4.03am The noise and vibration woke me & my husband from a deep sleep. (2nd floor) Not as violent as I've felt on previous occasions but very pronounced and prolongued swaying sensation - maybe 10 or 15 seconds. Furniture creaking, crockery rattling, dogs barking. Scary. Bologna - Strong enough to wake almost every people in our building. Reggio Emilia - Down from bed!!! Reggio Emilia - Sorry... MMI VII is the correct MMI Genova - Nervi - Woke me up with a thud and a rolling action. Lived 20 plus years in SF bay area and still don't like these things. Genova - Nervi - Moderate shaking indicated Arzignano (VI) - Moderate shaking reported Lugano - 10-15 sec of shake. Wake off on 5th floor. Bergamo - h405 4th floor strong Porec (Parenzo) - Woke up while sleeping. Low hum, shaking, glasses vibrating, hanging stuff oscillating. Novo naselje (Porec jug), houses in a row, 2 floors, bedroom is upstairs. Duration: about 5 seconds. Thanks, greetings. Montecchio Maggiore - The bed was really shaking, the wooden furniture squeaking, the wine glasses rattled in the cabinet, the closet sounded as if someone was inside dancing a rumba. I was so scared I couldn't get out of bed. I heard my neighbours open windows and go into the street. I heard the furniture squeak again, saw the water in the bottle shake, heard people cry and myself I started to cry. Here we go again, another quake! Trento,Italy - Again ??? Alpbach, Tyrol - Light shaking indicated ITALY - Woke up to building shaking. No sounds outside, many slept through it. A series of tremors afterwards, one about 29 minutes ago. I am in Venice, Italy. Milan - Awakened by swaying. Heard hangers knocking in the closet. Cagliari - Ho sentito nella notte verso le 2:05 un forte boato. Dopo circa 10 secondi un' altro boato. Dopo qualche minuto un terzo boato, seguito da un quarto dopo altri minuti. Verso le 2:15 l' ultimo boato. Ho creaduto fossero delle esplosioni ma erano di uguale intensità e a distanze differenti. Florence, Italy - Bed shaking quite strongly around 4:20AM. It seemed to last 5seconds, then pause à few seconds, then again shaking 5seconds. It frightened me because I didn't know if it would continue...as I am from San Francisco and was there for thé 6.7 in 1989. Carpi (Modena) italy - Strong shaking indicated Lido di Pomposa - wakker geworden, huis bewoog, rare ervaring Cannes - Reveillé dans la nuit, secousse faible 04h06. Cannes France Vicena, Italy - We have experienced a light shaking here Marina di Carrara (MS) - Strong shaking reported Gardalake Italy - shaky shaky again on 2nd floor. it scares the crap out of me everytime. Ferrara - Moderate shaking indicated Savignano sul Panaro - Awakened during the night by a strange "wind-lke" sound and oscillating motion of the bed. Torino, Italy - Bed shaking around 4am, 5th floor. Padua - We live on the ground floor in an old building in the historic city centre of Padua, Veneto, Italy. At 4AM we felt strong shaking that lasted about 20 seconds. We heard creaking floor boards and furniture, and rattling pots and plates. People who live on the upper floors felt it even stronger. We felt a lighter after-shock at 5AM. No serious damage to buildings has been recorded in Padua so far, except a roof ledge that collapsed in the town centre. Pontecorvo (FR) - Salve la notte tra il 18 e il 19 maggio ho avvertito una piccola scossa..stavo dormendo e ho sentito tremare il letto...mi sono svegliata e due secondi dopo ho sentito tremare il letto.. Argenta - Heard a big "booom" which woke me up. After that 20 secs of shaking, many people ran outside. Milan, Italy - woke me up from sleep! Pisa - Bed shook for a few seconds and light swayed for 30 secs. Milano - Woke me up; was a slow rolling wave, not rattling Milano - Woke me up; was a slow rolling wave, not rattling Sant'ilaria d'Enza - Wake up at once and no time to think and act Padova - Fairly strong earthquake here in Padova. No damages whatsoever, but as we live on the third floor, we significantly felt it. Since then, we've been feeling many minor earthquakes all day long. Interesting experience but I hope it won't get any stronger than that ! Gorizia - Sesto piano, ondeggiamento deciso, il palazzo ha vibrato compatto, senza rumori di muri o solette, ma l'ascensore ha fatto rumore nella sua tromba. Nessun danno rilevato Trento - Le finestre agitavano come un vibratore del cellulare e mi ha svegliato fortissimo Parma - Woke me up from a deep sleep. Room was shaking.
INGV	Emilia-romagna - Modena, Italy	May 20 02:03 AM	5.9	6.3	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Northern Italy	May 20 02:03 AM	6.0	5.1	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Northern Italy	May 20 02:03 AM	6.1	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
Udine - Woke at 4am to the 4th floor hotel bed swaying like someone trying to wake me...it worked!

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QuakeSOS+ and QuakeSOS free are iPhone applications developed by Armand Vervaeck, the founder of Earthquake Report. The Application simplifies immediate group communication to friends and family members (with your exact GPS location) and is feeding the users with Earthquake Report news. The 0.99 US$ QuakeSOS+ version will support the activities of SOS Earthquakes.

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@OnlyQuakeNews : Get all the headlines of our earthquake-report.com articles + regular updates on ongoing events
@QuakeSOS : earthquake-report.com news + automatic earthquake notifications of USGS earthquakes of M 4.0 or higher with emphasis to earthquakes in the America’s and the Pacific Ocean sphere (4 and up) and a lot of the rest of the world (5 and up). This account was created for our QuakeSOS and QuakeSOS+ iPhone applications
@ShakingEarth : earthquake-report.com news + automatic earthquake notifications of EMSC earthquakes of M 4.0 or higher with emphasis to earthquakes in European and Asian / Middle East sphere (4 and up) and a lot of the rest of the world (5 and up). This account was originally created to stimulate our Facebook account
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Update 07:32 UTC : I

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Broken streetlight mast in Arica - image courtesy @Siamecita

Important Update 17:40 UTC :
CHILE side of the border
The Tarapaca governor reported earlier today that :
- Some walls have collapsed in the Arica port area
- Power was cut in 15% of Arica’s households (3000 families)
- some roads are / where  inaccessible (ie route 5)
The governor also said that local people had the feeling that the quakes intensity was stronger than VI which was reported by Chile’s ONEMI.
- Although the authorities never called a tsunami alert as the hypocenter was below land, a lot of people have auto-evacuated to higher grounds
- Luckily there are NO reports of injuries
All these data are for the Chile side of the border
Peru side of the border
- As could be expected, also TACNA had power cuts
- Walls and roofs fall in the area, a water pipe broke in Para sector and cracked windows in stores.
- TACNAschools like “Francisco Antonio de Zela” and “Coronel Bolognesi” showed fissures in walls.
- Landslides in the road of Ilabaya and cracks on irrigation canals of Candarave
- 5 people did jump from their houses causing them to be injured

Update 11:33 UTC :  IGP, Peru has also other earthquake data. Ml5.9 at a depth of 105 km. Epicenter : see below (Peru side of the border). IGP Peru has calculated that based on their earthquake data Tacna would have experienced a MMI IV light shaking and Arequipa a MMI III weak shaking.

Shaking map courtesy USGS

Update 11:03 UTC : ONEMI Chile, the outstanding emergency authority in Chile, is calling the earthquake “mediana intensidad” (moderate intensity).  The strongest Magnitude has been given to Arica (MMI VI or strong shaking). At Earthquake-Report.com we use MMI VII as a beginning of chances for serious damage. MMI VI can generate small effects like falling objects, cracks in walls etc.

Update 10:58 UTC : Theoretical calculations (based on USGS data) have reported that 295,000 people will have experienced a MMI V moderate shaking. 1.9 million people a light shaking and 2.24 million people a weak to very weak shaking.

Update 10:53 UTC : Universidad de Chile (to be trusted highly) reports a Magnitude of Ml6.4 at a hupocenter depth of 119.6 km (good but still serious earthquake numbers). Universidad de Chile Santiago, is putting the epicenter close to Tacna, Peru. Both EMSC and USGS have located the epicenter in Chile!

Update 10:52 UTC : Tacna has reported a moderate shaking (MMI V). The earthquake was felt as far as Arequipa in Peru and Arica in Chile. Deep earthquakes are felt in a far wider area than shallow earthquakes.

Update 10:49 UTC : Preliminary earthquake numbers can be very tricky during earthquakes. There is a night and day difference in between the depths of 20 or 90 km. The first can be highly damaging.  These depths are rarely noticed in the area but they occur, so there is no certainly of what really happened at the beginning.

Update 10:47 UTC : We have removed the text “very dangerous”  from the title because the depth value of USGS has changed from 22 km to 98 km.  The Magnitude however has been increased from 5.9 to Mw6.2. In general we can say that a 90+ km depth would only be capable to generate minor damage or injuries. Only a few exceptions can be more damaging.

Update 10:41 UTC : the earthquake occurred at 06:00 AM during the early morning hours when a lot of people are still asleep.  This is always a bad period for earthquakes. On the positive side is that daylight will have started. We have NO reactions from the area as of yet. We call upon our readers from the area to at least give us a few more details on the time that the strong shaking lasted.

Update 10:37 UTC : We have changed the title and have added “very dangerous” to the already existing text. Why ? Because EMSC has increased the Magnitude from 6.0 to 6.4 – Depth at EMSC has been reduced in few time from 80 to 40 km. Bad numbers !

Update 10:35 UTC :  12 minutes later, a M 4.0 aftershock struck the same area.

Update 10:33 UTC :  Initial reports from USGS and EMSC are locating the epicenter in different countries (EMSC in Peru and USGS in Chile). Also the depth is fundamentally different in this initial phase (22 km USGS = dangerous and 40 km EMSC = less dangerous)

The earthquake took place in the border area of Southern Peru and Northern Chile.

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 6.2 preliminary – 5.9 USGS  EMSC 6.4 – USGS 6.2
UTC Time :   Monday, May 14, 2012 at 10:00:30 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Monday, May 14, 2012 at 06:00:30 AM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 22 to 80 km ?? — USGS 98 km – EMSC 60 km
Geo-location(s) :
66 km (41 miles) ENE (62°) from Tacna, Peru
110 km (68 miles) NE (38°) from Arica, Chile

Links to important maps
USGS Did You Feel It Map
Google satellite map showing the epicenter and the surrounding area
Historic earthquakes map
Seismic hazard map
Shaking map
Scientific parameters
Human impact map

Click here for examples of our “earthquake notifications (button below)”

SRC	Location	UTC Date/time	M	D	INFORMATION
IGP	Southern Peru / Northern Chile	May 14 10:00 AM	5.9	105.0	MAP	I Felt It
Arequipa - Experienced wobbling for about 4 to 5 seconds Arequipa - Very weak shaking reported
EMSC	Tarapaca, Chile	May 14 10:00 AM	6.2	104.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Tarapaca, Chile	May 14 10:00 AM	6.2	98.3	MAP	I Felt It

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QuakeSOS+ and QuakeSOS free are iPhone applications developed by Armand Vervaeck, the founder of Earthquake Report. The Application simplifies immediate group communication to friends and family members (with your exact GPS location) and is feeding the users with Earthquake Report news. The 0.99 US$ QuakeSOS+ version will support the activities of SOS Earthquakes.

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Earthquake-Report.com headlines on twitter
@OnlyQuakeNews : Get all the headlines of our earthquake-report.com articles + regular updates on ongoing events
@QuakeSOS : earthquake-report.com news + automatic earthquake notifications of USGS earthquakes of M 4.0 or higher with emphasis to earthquakes in the America’s and the Pacific Ocean sphere (4 and up) and a lot of the rest of the world (5 and up). This account was created for our QuakeSOS and QuakeSOS+ iPhone applications
@ShakingEarth : earthquake-report.com news + automatic earthquake notifications of EMSC earthquakes of M 4.0 or higher with emphasis to earthquakes in European and Asian / Middle East sphere (4 and up) and a lot of the rest of the world (5 and up). This account was originally created to stimulate our Facebook account
@QuakeMaps : earthquake-report.com news with mapping notifications of ALL earthquakes M 3.0 and higher from all over the world via EMSC and USGS. This account was created for our http://www.quake-maps.com website

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Update 15/05 – 07:43 UTC :
- The landslide blocking the important road from the capital to the east of the country, has been cleared from debris. Service personnel from the government did the job together with the local people. 114 families were totally cut off of the outside world (they had no communication neither) during a number of days.
- The local press now talks about 2 fatalities. 1 person was crashed by a collapsing wall and a second person who perished because of a heart attack directly resulting from the earthquake.
- The region is still being hampered by aftershocks.
- Seismologists in Tajikistan have said that Tajikistan has an average of 3000 earthquakes per year, the great majority of them unnoticed by people.

Landslide image courtesy asiaplus

Update 14/05 – 23:05 UTC :
- The important road which connects the central part of the country with the Eastern earthquake damaged part has been destroyed by a landslide over a distance of 150 meter. Experts and service personnel are working to make the road  passable again. The height of the landslide debris covering the road ranges from 4 to 6 meter!
- The BBC Russian news reporting 3 killed people has not been confirmed by any other news source so far.  Local and well informed Russian press is speaking about 1 killed person (also reported by us in the beginning).
- Sources close to the government have a new estimate of people made homeless : 6000!
- Tents have been send and pitched in some areas. Other areas could not be reached yet, making a clear picture of the earthquake devastation very incomplete

Epicenter area - image courtesy Sergey Bulanov

Important Update 10:00 UTC : 3 people have been killed.
Aftershocks are still occurring. Dozens have been injured and 2000 homeless have occurred.
The road connecting the Rasht Valley to the center of the country in several places has been blocked by landslides and rockfalls, hampering rescue work and complicating the delivery of humanitarian aid to affected areas.
Clearing the road will require heavy machinery. There are also no telephone services to the disaster area.
According to local authorities, the victims are in urgent need of medical and humanitarian aid.
The earthquake occurred at 04:30 local time. The epicenter of the shock was located at 152 kilometers southeast of Dushanbe, in the mountain region of Garm. According to the geophysical services, strong tremors were felt throughout the eastern region of the country.

Thousands of people are afraid to return home and try to stay on the street. People who have become homeless overnight, will spend the night in mosques, schools and homes of relatives. According to the deputy chairman of the Tavildara district, the earthquake left homeless villagers in need of tents, food and warm things.
The situation is complicated by the persistence of heavy rainfall and an incomplete damage picture.
Experts estimate the condition of many dwellings in the place of disaster and emergency as unfit for habitation.
“Looks like a blast”

“My family has remained practically on the street. My child was injured. People here are poor and cannot rebuild their homes. This is a tragedy. We spend the night on the street,” – said another local resident of Shokirjon.
The Garm group of districts is one of the poorest regions of the country with the highest percentage of unemployment in Tajikistan. Because of the distance from the center of Tajikistan and the lack of basic foodstuffs and essential commodities the cost is two times higher than in other regions of Tajikistan.
ER Remark : contrary to what is mentioned in this report, the current weather is OK. The heavy rainfall with floods as a consequence was from a couple of days ago.

Important Update 09:30 UTC : The Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defense of Tajikistan, by means of Mr. Nurov Nargis, has reported that 1 person, Mr. Tandovchi Jamoat, has been killed when a wall collapsed.
- The same agency reports that several houses have collapsed by the 7 intensity quake (epicenter).
- A landslide has further destroyed 2 houses and their ancillary buildings in the village of Kalai Surkh Jamoat Langaral Rasht. (source News.tj)
We will certainly receive more reports later today as this is an intermediate report.

Video : The “tripadvisor video” (in fact a series of pictures) below gives a better idea of the road which is mentioned in the above updates and 1 image of a village in the Tavildara district, the location of the epicenter. Sorry for the pictures from the snow leopard, but we cannot cut parts out of this video as we want to respect the copyright of the owner. The pictures are showing a rug landscape. The only villages shown at the end is build against the mountain slope. You will not need a lot of imagination to be convinced that a landslide can make huge damage.

Update 07:50 UTC :  While trying to find news from within Tajikistan, we could read that the Prime Minister has been visiting Kulob in the South of the country, where a couple of days ago, floods have destroyed a lot of houses, a lot of damage, but no fatalities.  Kulob is a city in the South-West of the country. The earthquake’s epicenter in the South-East.  A lot of rain in combination with earthquake shaking is a dangerous cocktail. The current weather in the area is fine. temperatures from 9 (min.) to 22 (Max.).

Update 07:21 UTC :  It is currently 12:21 in Tajikistan.  We are confident that eventual serious damage news may have reached the capital of Dushanbe in the meantime.  As the proverb says : no news = good news. Let us hope that the proverb is true.

Update 07:19 UTC :  Kyrgyzstan seismological sources are reporting that the intensity of the earthquake in the epicenter area was felt as 7.5 (on a scale of 0 to 12 – the scale is more or less similar than MMI). At the Kyrgyzstan side of the border intensity was 3.5.

Update 07:00 UTC :  So far we could not retrieve any added value info from inside Tajikistan. We haven’t found any damage or injuries which is a very good sign. Most reports are mentioning 1/10th of our report and are writing about a “moderate  earthquake”.  Specialized earthquake followers know that a shallow M5.7 earthquake from Turkey to China is in average not a “moderate ” earthquake but can be very dangerous .  In terms of Earthquake-Report.com, we are only convinced of the happy ending when we read direct news from de epicenter or from specialized emergency personnel. We call upon our Tajik readers to share their information with the ER readers.

Update 01:22 UTC :  Historic earthquakes in Tajikistan.
37 damaging earthquakes have been recorded so far within 100km of the present epicenter.
- 1934 and 1935 – damaging quakes quite close – about 20km away with damage in Tajikistan, province of Tovildera.
- 1949 – the magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck around 40km away in Khait, killing around 12000 people (7200-28000), nearly all due to landslides.
- 1983 – saw lots of damage in the Garm region from a M5.3 quake.
- In 2007, about 20km away 12 people were killed from a M5.2 quake – Three people killed in the Rasht region and nine killed in a related landslide in the Asht region. Felt at Dushanbe.
(CATDAT James Daniell information).

Update 01:02 UTC :  The epicenter area has an altitude of 2000 meters. The mountains in the greater area are more than 4000 meter high? We have printed a picture of the important valley where also  the M 41 highway passes.  The picture shows the kind of terrain where the earthquake occurred.

Focal Mechanism of this earthquake - Image courtesy USGS

Update 00:19 UTC :  WAPMERR, the theoretical earthquake damage calculation engine just reported that they are expecting 200 to 900 people to be injured and 30 to 200 fatalities.  The WAPMERR data are based on historical earthquakes in the area and on the reported USGS data (M5.7 at a depth of 10 km).
WAPMERR refers to 8000 people experiencing a MMI VIII severe shaking, 5000 people a very strong shaking, 15000 people a strong shaking and 135000 people a moderate MMI V shaking.

Update 00:19 UTC :  We do not expect to find a lot of news before 10 AM local time (about 5 hours from now) because of the remote mountainous area.

Update 00:19 UTC :  EMSC has further decreased the Magnitude from Mb6.0 to Mb5.7, a whole lot of difference. EMSC keeps his focal depth at 4 km which is extremely shallow. Because of the depth parameter, we maintain our opinion and continue to call this earthquake dangerous.

Update 00:12 UTC :
Less than 1000 people are living in a radius of 5 km from the epicenter
4,200 people are living within a radius if 10 km
11,000 people within a radius of 20 km.
Earthquake-Report.com calls a radius of 20 km at high risk for at least minor damage or minor injuries

Update 00:08 UTC : The nearest populated places are: Kalay-Khodzha (16km), Talbar (7km), Yezgan (7km), Tavildara (13km), Chil-Dara (17km). The closest civilian airport is Darwaz (46km).

Update 23:59 UTC : Based on the current data, Earthquake-Report.com calls this earthquake “dangerous” for the villages in the immediate vicinity of the epicenter. Especially the building style is very vulnerable.  An increasing danger factor is the fact that the earthquake occurred in the middle of the Tajik night!

Update 23:56 UTC : Following our own research Tavildara, a village with approx. 500 inhabitants is at a distance of 10 km from the epicenter. Ezgand another village is also very close to the epicenter

Shaking map of the area - courtesy USGS - Yellow color indicates the strong shaking area

Update 23:56 UTC : EMSC has changed depth again to 4 km (extremely shallow)

Update 23:50 UTC : EMSC has decreased the Magnitude to Mb6.0 at the new depth of  40 km. Data from USGS and EMSC are too different to be convincing.

Update 23:48 UTC : USGS reports a far lower Magnitude of 5.7 but at a depth of only 10 km.

Update 23:46 UTC : the epicenter seems to be located in the middle of the mountains apparently with very few villages.  We will search for more details.

An ER reader in Dushanbe (147 km from the epicenter) reported a moderate shaking.

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 6.3 5.7 (EMSC)
UTC Time : 23:28:46.0 UTC
Local time at epicenter :  local time 04:28
Depth (Hypocenter) : 30 km 4 km (EMSC)
Geo-location(s) :
55 km NE Leningradskiy (pop 11,955)
147 km E Dushanbe (pop 543,107)

Links to important maps
USGS Did You Feel It Map
Google satellite map showing the epicenter and the surrounding area
Historic earthquakes map
Seismic hazard map
Shaking map
Scientific parameters
Human impact map
GDACS earthquake report

Click here for examples of our “earthquake notifications (button below)”

SRC	Location	UTC Date/time	M	D	INFORMATION
EMSC	Tajikistan	May 12 23:28 PM	5.7	4.0	MAP	I Felt It
Dushanbe Tajikistan - @ 4:27am moderate shaking felt in Dushanbe Dushanbe - Moderate shaking indicated Chkalovsk, Tajikistan - Moderate shaking reported (ER: Chkalovsk is 185 km from the epicenter) Dushanbe - I was amazed at the regularity of the trembling, felt like sitting in a comfortable car going over a bad road (source EMSC)
USGS	Tajikistan	May 12 23:28 PM	5.7	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
Dushanbe, Tajikistan - The shaking woke me up. As a native Californian I immediately recognized the rumbling and shaking as that of an earthquake. It only lasted for several seconds. Local news reported one death outside the city, 50 houses destroyed, and 50 houses damaged.

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QuakeSOS+ and QuakeSOS free are iPhone applications developed by Armand Vervaeck, the founder of Earthquake Report. The Application simplifies immediate group communication to friends and family members (with your exact GPS location) and is feeding the users with Earthquake Report news. The 0.99 US$ QuakeSOS+ version will support the activities of SOS Earthquakes.

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Earthquake-Report.com headlines on twitter
@OnlyQuakeNews : Get all the headlines of our earthquake-report.com articles + regular updates on ongoing events
@QuakeSOS : earthquake-report.com news + automatic earthquake notifications of USGS earthquakes of M 4.0 or higher with emphasis to earthquakes in the America’s and the Pacific Ocean sphere (4 and up) and a lot of the rest of the world (5 and up). This account was created for our QuakeSOS and QuakeSOS+ iPhone applications
@ShakingEarth : earthquake-report.com news + automatic earthquake notifications of EMSC earthquakes of M 4.0 or higher with emphasis to earthquakes in European and Asian / Middle East sphere (4 and up) and a lot of the rest of the world (5 and up). This account was originally created to stimulate our Facebook account
@QuakeMaps : earthquake-report.com news with mapping notifications of ALL earthquakes M 3.0 and higher from all over the world via EMSC and USGS. This account was created for our http://www.quake-maps.com website

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The April 11, 2012, M8.6 and M8.2 earthquakes off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia, occurred as a result of strike-slip faulting within the oceanic lithosphere of the Indo-Australia plate. The quakes were located respectively 100 km and 200 km to the southwest of the major subduction zone that defines the plate boundary between the India/Australia and Sunda plates offshore Sumatra. At this location, the India/Australia plates move north-northeast with respect to the Sunda plate at a velocity of approximately 52 mm/yr.

Focal Mechanism of the Mw8.6 earthquake

Large strike-slip earthquakes are not unprecedented in the diffuse boundary region separating the India and Australia plates, southwest of the Sumatra subduction zone. Since the massive M 9.1 earthquake that ruptured a 1300 km long segment of the Sumatran mega-thrust plate boundary in December of 2004, three earlier large strike-slip events had occurred within 50 km of the first large April 11, 2012 event. These earthquakes occurred on April 19 2006 (Mw6.2), October 4 2007 (Mw6.2) and January 10, 2012 (Mw7.2).

The focal-mechanisms of the three earlier earthquakes and the two great earthquakes of April 11, 2012, are consistent in implying that each earthquake could have occurred as the result of left-lateral slip on a north-northeast striking fault or right-lateral slip on a west-northwest striking fault. The two different orientations of strike-slip faulting are both possible under the same tectonic stress field; perpendicular strike-slip faults that are both compatible with the same stress field are called “conjugate faults”.
Possibly faults of both orientation have been involved in the recent earthquake activity.

Image which we made on January 10 after a similar Mw7.2 earthquake occurred in the same area

In which countries was the earthquake felt ?
Felt in much of Sumatra, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanki. Also felt in many countries as far out as Male, Maldives to the west,  Dacca, Bangladesh; Calcutta, India; Rangoon, Myanmar; Bangkok, Thailand and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to the north.
Thirty one cm.  (peak-to-trough) tsunami at Meulaboh.

I Have Felt It map courtesy USGS

Text and some images : courtesy USGS

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Keep this page open or return regularly as we will be back with more details when they become available

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Update 13/04 – 16:04 UTC
A local Guaymas newsletter (Autónomo) reports damage to 2 schools and a house in Empalme. Empalme is more than 150 km from the epicenter !

Update 13/04 – 09:54 UTC
The staff of Civil Protection, Urban Infrastructure and SIUE (Ministry of Urban Infrastructure and Ecology) is conducting currently an inspection in the Guaymas area (150 km from the epicenter).
The local head of Civil Protection, Leon Gerardo Soto reported that home owners in the greater Guaymas area have calles the Civil Protection to report damage on their houses.
Regarding the City Hall (Palacio Municipal), he said that new cracks were found at the main entrance.

Palacia Municipal de Guaymas - Image courtesy english.realmexico.info

Update 21:12 UTC
* Cracks on walls in Guaymas, Sonora : People were calling newspapers and local media to report damages in their houses. El Palacio Municipal (Municipal Palace ,local government building) reported cracks on the principal entrance.
* Mexican Proteccion Civil has evacuated people from the beach as a precautionary measure

-  Update 17:17 UTC
* At least 60 Americans have asked their touring companies to be transferred away from their vacation location at Bahía de Kino.
* Proteccion Civil Mexico has reported that they have had NO reports of damage or injuries in Guerrero Negro.  One of the main reasons that this earthquake will have been harmless may have been the short duration of the shaking (10 seconds in Hermosilla)
- An ER reader living in Tucson, Arizona (USA) mentioned having felt the earthquake !

Strike-slip type of earthquakes

- Since the mainshock, the earthquake area has been hit by 6 aftershocks varying in strength in between M3.7 and M4.8.

- The earthquake was felt strongly. There have been 2 confirmed reports in San Luis of a VI intensity (72km from the epicenter). This means that there is the potential for VII-VIII in the epicentral area (damaging). (we are choosing to ignore a response of VII, which came 354km from the epicenter).

- Historic damaging earthquakes of similar magnitude have occurred once in the epicentral region with a M7.0 earthquake in 1954 causing no deaths and minor damage. This is a good sign for the region affected.

- Looking at the epicentral area – the location is very sparsely populated with only a few houses along the coastline apart from Santa Isabel.

- Mexican hypocenter (UNAM) is at M6.8 and 10km depth, under land.

- USGS hypocenter is at M6.9 and off the coast – there is little chance of a tsunami due to the fault mechanism.

- The area around Santa Isabel is most at risk from the USGS-based hypocenter with a possible shaking of VII. Some damage should be expected. Currently Agua de Soda and other towns closeby near the national park of Baja California are most at risk from the Mexican hypocenter which is below land.

- The Mexican Civil Defense who is responsible for Search and Rescue and first aid has reported that so far NO damage or injuries has  been recorded.

- Based on the Geofon data both earthquakes were strike-slip earthquakes (mainly lateral movement).

- The average shaking recorded in Hermosilla is MMI IV (based on 84 reports). The shaking in Guerrero Negro is MMI V (moderate).  Hermosillo is 10. km from the epicenter and Guerrero Negro 133 km. As explained before our attention goes to the immediate area of the epicenter (very shallow earthquake) – 30 to 40 km radius is at risk for eventual damage. Whether there will be damage or not will depend on how long both shakings have lasted and on the final earthquake data numbers.

- As the earthquake struck in a coastal area, NOAA has written in his latest report (for USA people mainly) : A strong earthquake has occurred, but a tsunami IS NOT expected along the California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, or Alaska coast. NO tsunami warning, watch or advisory is in effect for these areas. Based on the earthquake magnitude, location and historic tsunami records, a damaging tsunami IS NOT expected along the California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska coasts.

- So far we have no news of the epicentral area.

- The earthquake happened just after midnight. Mexican news channels haven’t picked up the news yet.  Of course it is in the middle of the night in Mexico and people seem to have been used to the many earthquakes of the last 24 hours.

- The set of earthquakes in the Gulf of California have started with a M4.7 earthquake, followed 18 minutes later by a M6.2 earthquake and another 9 minutes later with a M6.9 earthquake (the most powerful so far)

- USGS has calculated that 3000 people will have experienced a very strong shaking and that 105,000 have experienced a strong shaking. Both these areas are at risk for eventual damage, especially because 9 minutes earlier another very strong earthquake struck the same area.

- The Mexican Servico Sismologico Nacional reports a magnitude of 6.8 with an epicenter below land. These makes this earthquake the most dangerous in 24 hours !

- Although it is a ridge earthquake, the epicenter of the M6.9 quake looks to be very close to the coast which makes this earthquake (the second very strong in a matter of 9 minutes) EXTREMELY DANGEROUS for shaking damage and fatalities. Let us hope that we are too pessimistic here. The kind of shaking will depend on the focal mechanism

- Following calculations by the USGS (providing that the earthquake data are correct) a MMI VII will have been experienced on the Baja California peninsula ! This means dangerous for the coastal areas experiencing this kind of shaking.

- The whole North American continent is currently moving in such a way that the earthquakes of the last 12 hours are somehow related (Mexico Sur, Mexico Gulf of California, Utah, Oregon) . Scientists will have a lot of work in examining eventual relationships however there is no certainty at all that a relation would exist (at least for a couple of these earthquakes)

- We are talking in this case about a Ridge earthquake, this means 2 separating plates who are hanging and suddenly get away from each other. Ridge earthquakes are typical for Middle Ocean locations

- The earthquake struck just after midnight

- We are currently collecting data

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“I Have Felt It” reports as received by Earthquake-Report.com
See below for all the received Earthquake Experience reports as received by earthquake-report.com

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 6.8-6.9
UTC Time : Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 07:15:48 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 12:15:48 AM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 10.3 km
Geo-location(s) :
134 km (83 miles) NE (48°) from Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico
162 km (101 miles) W (268°) from La Doce, Sonora, Mexico

Links to important maps
USGS Did You Feel It Map
Google satellite map showing the epicenter and the surrounding area
Historic earthquakes map
Seismic hazard map
Shaking map
Focal mechanism report
Human impact map
GDACS earthquake report
NOAA tsunami report

I Have Felt this earthquake

SRC	Location	UTC Date/time	M	D	INFORMATION
EMSC	Baja California, Mexico	Apr 12 07:15 AM	6.3	60.0	MAP	I Felt It
Sonora, Hermosillo - Very weak shaking indicated Hermosillo Sonora Mexico - Light shaking indicated Hermosillo - Very weak shaking indicated Hermosillo, Sonora Mexico - My computer monitor and my fish tank were shaking and i heard a berry weard sound Bahia de Los angeles - On the coast of Bahia de Los Angeles staying in a 3 story building. Very strong shaking through both of these woke everybody up fast. Hoping this is it, not sure if this building can take more than it already got. Considering getting out for fear of another one hitting that's worse. Guaymas, Sonora - Woke up to the bed shaking lightly. Guaymas, Sonora - Very weak shaking indicated Hermosilla, Sonora - Temblor debil con vibracion de vidrios y movimiento de camas, estaba despierta por eso lo senti, mi gato no lo sintio porque estaba dormido. Bahia de Kino Viejo, Sonora - Strong shaking indicated Tucson Az. - Thought I heard someone opening doors Hermosillo, Mexico - Sitting at my laptop just past midnight felt my chair moving underneath me twice! Crazy experience didn't know what it was till I found out about the earthquake. Tucson AZ - felt house shake for a split second was absolutely crazy never experienced that before. Baja California, Mexico - Wow. Never felt anything like it in my life. Crazy shaking, thought the apartment was going to collapse (8 stories tall). Almost all of my pictures fell off the wall, fish tank broke open, and laptop fell and broke.
GEOFON	Baja California, Mexico	Apr 12 07:15 AM	7.0	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Baja California, Mexico	Apr 12 07:06 AM	6.1	10.0	MAP	I Felt It

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The map below shows the output of the Surface Currents from Diagnostic (SCUD) model, an attempt to simulate where and how that debris would disperse. Orange and red shaded areas represent parcels of water with a high probably of containing floating debris. The deeper the red color, the higher the likely concentration. The debris field stretches roughly 5,000 kilometers by 2,000 kilometers across the North Pacific.

Image courtesy Nasa Earth Observatory

The model begins with more than 678,000 “tracers” being released from various points along the northeastern coast of Japan on March 11, 2011. The initial distribution is based on the density of population and development. The still image above shows the predicted distribution of debris by April 3, 2012.

The SCUD model was developed by Nikolai Maximenko and Jan Hafner of the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) at the University of Hawaii. Using real satellite data on sea surface height and on ocean surface winds—as well as information from scientific drifting buoy networks—the IPRC team makes daily maps of surface currents. Hafner and Maximenko have also collected reports of debris sightings in the ocean, which have so far validated what the model tells them.

Debris was initially carried by the potent Kuroshio Current, which whips past eastern Japan much like the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic. The Kuroshio carries surface waters northeast, before eventually turning east in the Kuroshio Extension and then the North Pacific Current. Some debris should reach the west coast of North America within a year or two, while much of it is likely to end up in the floating debris field in the middle of the North Pacific Gyre that is referred to as “the garbage patch.”

As of April 3, 2012, there had been very few reports of debris at Midway Island and Kure Atoll. North winds have been minimal in recent months, and ocean currents have favored keeping the debris from the island. But those currents may be shifting, Hafner noted, and debris should eventually wash up with greater frequency.

Observers in Canada recently detected an abandoned 150-foot Japanese fishing vessel floating offshore of British Columbia. Other reports of debris in Washington and Hawaii came in months ago. But in most cases, the objects were larger and standing above the water line, where they could be pushed like sails at higher speeds. The model shown above tracks objects sitting at or just below the water line.

Text , pictures and video : courtesy Nasa Earth Observatory

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Structural damage in a school in Constitucion - image courtesy soychile.cl

Update 27/03 – 07:46 UTC :
- A part of the the “Liceo de Constitucion“, a school with 800 students, has been seriously damaged.  Engineers are investigating whether the damage is structural or not. There is still a chance that (some) school buildings have to be demolished.
- Subtel has concluded that the Internet ( ER ), Text messages (SMS) and social networks (Twitter and Facebook as examples) are absolutely best in case of emergencies. (ER : Subtel confirms what we have concluded ourselves since many many months).
- Chile authorities will investigate why the Marina Arauco shopping mall in Viña del Mar has not followed the ONEMI orders to follow shopping mall parking provisions (parking barriers up or down). Mall management said that it was “only” a tsunami advisory (preventive), not a tsunami alert.  The local authorities will investigate whether this was an infringement or not and will eventually advise ONEMI to further fine-tune the emergency tsunami directory.

Constitucion before the destructive earthquake from February 27 2010 - image courtesy Christian Latorre

Update 18:59 UTC :
ONEMI reports that school classes in Constitución remain suspended until every school has been inspected on possible structural damage. Some parts of Constitución are still without drinking water and electricity. All efforts are made to return to normality. (source : ONEMI situation report 12:42 local time)

Update 13:13 UTC : Miguel Ortiz, the person in charge for early alerts, made the following statement at 09:05 local time :
- An estimated 24,283 people have followed the local ONEMI advise for precautionary evacuation (between the regions of Valparaíso and Bío Bio). Of these, 14,320 people belong to the Bío Bío Region, 9360 to the Maule Region and the rest in the O’Higgins / Valparaiso Region.
- In Maule, power was lost, but has been restored now (8,000 families affected).
- 18 aftershocks have been recorded so far, luckily only 4 of them felt by the population.
- ONEMI sites worked well and were reachable at all times
- The video below has been recorded by an amateur who was filming in the shopping mall of Talca. Talca was only 27 km from the epicenter (following USGS).  Local Chile agencies have located the epicenter closer to the coast.

Update 13:00 UTC :  An earthquake during a football match. Why not simply continue the game ! The commentators are mentioning it, the camera start to wobble and even the stadium speaker announces the earthquake, but …. the game continues.  The game was played in Santiago de Chile against … Palestino. The Palestinians must have thought that the war was following them (just kidding as Palestino is a Chilean football club). Palestino won with 1-0.

Update 07:38 UTC : So far, Universidad de Chile has listed 15 aftershocks ranging from M3.1 to M 4.8

Recalculated shaking map, based on a Magnitude of 7.1 and a depth of 34.8 km - image courtesy USGS

Important Update 07:38 UTC : Some very interesting analysis on phone traffic has been given by Subtel, the chile telecommunications authority.
- only 15 to 20% of people were able to call other people during the first hours after the earthquake
- SMS (text messages) was a lot better, but due to the overheated networks, not everyone could be served neither.
- The reason : VOICE CALLS are blocking telecommunications because they are consuming far too much bandwidth vs Text messages. 1 voice call of 180 seconds uses the same bandwidth than 100 SMS’s (text messages).
Earthquake-Report.com sees this over and over again in almost every major earthquake worldwide.
The simple solution : Make legislation to oblige mobile telecommunication operators to automatically shut down voice calls (except for emergency services and people who have exceptional reasons to use it), send an SMS (text message) to all clients that explains what is done and for what reason and let them know that only SMS (text) can be used until further message. Most telecommunication software is equipped with cell broadcast.

Update 07:20 UTC : The Chilean government has canceled the preventive evacuation at 23:46 local time.

Update 07:00 UTC : During the early hours after the mainshock, seismological agencies have changed the epicenter a couple of times. USGS did locate the epicenter at first in the Pacific Ocean, approx. 25 km out of the coast. After a recalculation, the epicenter was located below land at 27 km from Talca. EMSC has reported an epicenter also to the NW of Talca. GEOFON puts the epicenter also below land and closer to Constitucion than to Talca, a difference of tens of km.
Universidad de Chile, Santiago, a local trusted seismological agency has reported the the epicenter below the coastal stretch 25 km to the NNE of Constitucion.
Calculation of the epicenter is not easy at all, as can be seen here. Every agency is reporting an error margin both horizontal and vertical.  Earthquake-Report.com is always searching for an agency who has multiple instruments installed in the earthquake epicentral region.

Update 03:20 UTC : In summary: 1 death (Heart Attack) and 6 injured from this earthquake. Minor damage has occurred in the epicentral region and some power outages were reported. The evacuated people are starting to return to their homes, but as a precautionary measure, the Chile government decision to evacuate was well founded.

Update 03:10 UTC : The copper mines in this part of Chile are operating fine, and there has been no stop to production. Life is returning to normal with the panic subsiding. The memories of the 27th February 2010 earthquake still lingers in the minds of the locals. 

Update 03:00 UTC : The heart attack was to a 74 year old by the name of José Roberto Rebolledo. He lived 2km from the epicenter in Parral. Our condolences go out to the family. He is currently the only victim of this earthquake. No major damage has been reported to houses so it is likely this will be the only death associated with this earthquake.

Update 02:50 UTC : Given that the earthquake hypocenter was below the mainland it is unlikely that a tsunami was triggered, but the preventive evacuation has gone smoothly. 7000 to 25000 people were evacuated. No movement in the sea level has been observed and it is likely the order will be lifted in the coming hours.

1 dead and 6 injured is the current toll. Minor damage has been reported from the epicentral region.

Update :  Twitter users are monitoring the Ocean level and are sharing their findings with newspapers. New reports are telling us that there are still a lot of power outages.

Update 01:17 UTC :  Maule regional office decided to evacuate the region for PREVENTIVE purposes. 
Official ONEMI message :
Domingo, Marzo 25, 2012 – 22:26
En un punto de prensa realizado desde las oficinas de ONEMI, el Ministro Secretario General de Gobierno, Andrés Chadwick, indicó que la Dirección Regional de ONEMI El Maule, determinó efectuar una evacuación preventiva en el borde costero de la región debido a la observación de recogimiento del mar en la zona. La autoridad recalcó que se trata de una medida preventiva en resguardo de la seguridad de la población.
Cabe destacar, que los Directores Regionales de ONEMI, tienen la facultad, de acuerdo al protocolo firmado con el SHOA el año pasado, de declarar evacuación preventiva en el borde costero al registrarse un sismo igual o superior a VII grados Mercalli, conforme a los antecedentes recopilados tanto a través de observación visual como otros reportes de organismos técnicos.
Update : people are calling to the radio station saying that the sea has not retreated and they will not evacuate.

Update :  The authorities in Chillan have reported that the earthquake did NOT inflicted damage or injuries, just a short congestion of phone traffic.

Update :  ADN Live Radio Chile states that the mayor of Parral, Chile has reported 1 person who didn’t survive a heart attack. The man was 70 years old.

Update :  Universidad de Chile is reporting 2 aftershocks, resp.  4.6 the first one and 3.8 the second.

Update :  No further report in the local press on damages or injuries. We counted so far 6 people with light injuries. Nu numbers on eventual damage as yet.

Important Update :  USGS has lowered the Magnitude from 7.2 to 7.1 (a big difference). Depth is now set at 34.8 km. The change in data means that now 9,000 people will have felt a very strong shaking (NO people anymore with a severe shaking). 810,000 people would have experienced a strong shaking (MMI VI) and 1,287,000 people a light shaking.

Update :  – Onemi reports 2 people with light injuries in Maipu and 1 earthquake related car accident with 1 injured person in the BioBio region. This brings the total injured to 6
- SUBTEL phone traffic is still congested between Metropolitana and Bio Bio

Update :  Many Chile twitter reports are mentioning the collapse of a part of the “Talcahuano-Concepcion” near Rancagua.

Update :  We are truly happy that we have ONLY received I AM SAFE messages from the users of our QUAKESOS iPhone application.

Update :  We are still reading reports of continued power cuts in the Talca area. It is now dark in Chile.

Update :  Chilean Vice President Hinzpeter has called for calm after the very strong to massive earthquake who struck Chile this afternoon. The Chilean President is currently on a state visit to Vietnam.

Update :  Problems are reported along the “Talcahuano-Concepcion” road. Some accidents have occurred and reports are talking about landslides

Update : Mobile communications are very difficult in Santiago but after long trying some work.

Update : Universidad de Chile Santiago has increased the Magnitude from 6.4 to 6.8 (Richter). The depth is now reported as 33.4 km. Both values are stronger than initial reports, but are a lot less severe than the data from other seismological agencies.

Update 23:47 UTC :  Chile is a very well earthquake prepared country. Building rules are very stringent and people have regular preparedness drills.

Update :  WAPMERR, the theoretical damage engine is reporting an estimate for this earthquake : 100 to max. 100 injured and 0 to 100 fatalities.

Update : ONEMI has canceled the Precautionary evacuation (for tsunami danger) as SHOA published a report that the earthquake could not generate a tsunami. Onemi Chile calls for preventive evacuations when data are coming in of an earthquake bigger than M 7.0.

Update : CNN Chile report on the earthquake in Spanish

Update : Also ONEMI still reports the Magnitude  of 6.4  and an epicenter at 24 km north-east of Constitucion (we cannot check  it at the moment as we cannot enter the overloaded server)

Update : Mobile networks are OVERLOADED in many parts, including the Metropolitan Santiago de Chile area.

Update : SHOA reports that the earthquake does NOT meet the conditions to generate a tsunami (below land and not powerful enough)

Update : Big parts of the struck area are now without electricity

Update : The server of Universidad de Chile, which we could reach soon after the earthquake and who reported a Magnitude of 6.4 is NO longer reachable since then

Update : Also ONEMI Chile is reporting MMI values up to VIII (severe shaking).  Based on this information, earthquake-report.com call this earthquake EXTREMELY DANGEROUS

Initial shaking map based on the Magnitude of 7.2

Update : MMI values based on ONEMI data for the different provinces (the RED areas are most at risk for potential damage):
Región: Valparaíso
La Ligua:              II
Valparaíso:      V
Villa Alemana : III
Zapallar:              III
Región: Metropolitana de Santiago
Melipilla:             VI
Peñaflor:             V
Puente Alto:      V
San Bernardo:   VI
Santiago:             VI
Tiltil:      VI
Región: Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins
Navidad:             VI
Paredones:        VI
Pichilemu:          VI
Rancagua:           VI
Región: Maule
VIII Cauquenes, Constitución, Pelluhue, Talca
Linares:                VII
Molina:                VII
Parral:   VII
Pelarco:               VII
Rí¬o Claro:          VII
San Javier:          VI
Villa Alegre:       VII
Región: Biobío
Bulnes:                VI
Chillán:                 VI
Cobquecura:     VII
Concepción:      V
Hualpén:             VI
Laja:      V
Penco: VI
Talcahuano:       VI
Tomé:   VI
Yumbel:               V
Región: La Araucanía
Angol:   V
Carahue:             IV
Collipulli:             IV
Loncoche:           II
Lonquimay:        III
Melipeuco:        V
Padre las Casas:               V
Pucón: IV
Purén: III
Renaico:              V
Saavedra:           IV
Temuco:              V
Teodoro Schmidt:           III
Toltén:                 V
Villarrica:             IV
Región: Los Ríos
Lanco : III
Los Lagos :          III
Mariquina :        III
Paillaco :              II
Panguipulli :       IV
Valdivia :             III
Región: Los Lagos
Puyehue:            III

Update : The Internet server from Armada de Chile (tsunami information) is currently over quota !

Important Update : The epicenter of the earthquake was recalculated and is now placed below land !  The recalculated epicenter is now at only 27 km (16 miles) NNW of Talca, Maule, Chile

Update :  USGS expect that 214,000 people will have experienced a severe MMI VIII shaking. ! Damage cannot be excluded if these values are maintained.

Update :  Armada de Chile has NOT alerted for a tsunami :
EVALUACIÓN:
LAS CARACTERÍSTICAS DEL SISMO NO REÚNEN LAS CONDICIONES NECESARIAS PARA GENERAR UN TSUNAMI EN LAS COSTAS DE CHILE.

Update :  Most agencies have now values ranging from 5.9 to 7.2.
Luckily the epicenter seems to be located in the Pacific Ocean, thus weakening the impact

Very shallow earthquake 98 km from Talca, Chile
Epicenter approx. 20 km out of the coast in the Pacific Ocean
The epicenter is about 250 km from Santiago and people are reporting moderate shaking in Santiago

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“I Have Felt It” reports as received by Earthquake-Report.com
See below for all the received Earthquake Experience reports as received by earthquake-report.com

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 7.2 (USGS) – 6.8 Richter (Universidad de Chile)
UTC Time : Sunday, March 25, 2012 at 22:37:04 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Sunday, March 25, 2012 at 06:37:04 PM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 30 km
Geo-location(s) :
27 km (16 miles) NNW of Talca, Maule, Chile
55 km (34 miles) WSW of Curico, Maule, Chile
219 km (136 miles) SSW of SANTIAGO, Region Metropolitana, Chile

Links to important maps
USGS Did You Feel It Map
Google satellite map showing the epicenter and the surrounding area
Historic earthquakes map
Seismic hazard map
Shaking map
Focal mechanism report
Human impact map
GDACS earthquake report
SNAM Chile tsunami report

I Have Felt this earthquake

SRC	Location	UTC Date/time	M	D	INFORMATION
USGS	Maule, Chile	Mar 25 22:37 PM	7.1	34.8	MAP	I Felt It
Constitución - Vivo en Constitución (Chile), el epicentro del sismo, la intensisdad se presentó de manera inmediata, sentí como si me fuera a caer al suelo. Las personas subían a los cerros, había un gran descontrol y desinformación, la telefonía celular falló al igual que el suministro eléctrico. Había alerta de tsunami. Horas después nos quedamos sin agua potable. Este sismo fue menor que el del 27F y quedamos totalmente aislados.
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Central Chile	Mar 25 22:37 PM	7.1	25.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Offshore Maule, Chile	Mar 25 22:37 PM	7.2	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
Santiago de Chile - Moderate shaking indicated Concepcion Chili - Secousse assez longue fort mouvement de l'immeuble gd ressenti surtout au 11eme étage Santiago, Chile - Seemed to last a long time, built in intensity. Could hear it and made loose items rattle. A little disquieting ... not use to earthquakes, first time living in an earthquake zone! Santiago - Lasted for 30 seconds Walls were shaking. Santiago Chile - Moderate shaking indicated Santiago Central - I am on the 13th floor of an apartment building. It was swaying form side to side approximately 15 - 20cm at the most, lasting 20 seconds. Los Andes - Was lightly napping when bed started shaking, was surprised at the duration of the quake Chile - Strong shaking indicated Vina del Mar, Chile - We were resting at 7:45pm march 26 2012 and our bed started shaking, for about a minute or so. Nothing else was noticed by is and a minute later our traveling companions called saying they felt the ssme thing. Santiago - It lasted about 10-20 seconds. not sure. It wasn't violent shaking but the building was definitely swaying side to side, not up and down Santiago, Chile - Strong shaking back a forth for a bit less than a minute. It continued to a lesser level afterwards. Valparaiso - Very weak-weak shaking. Windows rattling, that's pretty much it. Santiago,Chile - Strong shaking indicated Santiago Central - On the 25th floor the building was shaking a lot for about 30 sec Santiago Peñalolén - Felt like big horizontal moves. My wife was bathing our son: the water was moved and my wife felt sea sick. Santiago, Chile - Been traveling to Chile for work for 1.5 years. First time i felt jolts vs. rumble/swaying...strong but short in duration. Santiago - The water in the swimming pool spilled Santiago - Lots of shaking and small objects moving around. Water in the pool moved a lot. Lasted longer and was stronger than others recently. Santiago, Chile - Strong shaking indicated Santiago, Chile - Strong, felt very strongly on Level 11 apartment located in Santiago, Chile (central). Mirror fell from wall, no serious damage such as furniture falling or plates cracking. Talca, Chili - Was sterk en langdurig. Gelukkig weinig naschokken tot nu toe. Voorwerpen vielen naar beneden als fotolijsten, shampoo in badkamer etc. Talca - Here in talca, the earthquake was very long and strong, soms things felt down like photo's, cups, bottles etc. But i did not hear reports of people injured. People in the center of talca are without much light and most are in panic. With the memory of 2010 of course when we had here 8.5 richter. Viña Del Mar - Chili - Forte secousse avec grand mouvement du batiment surtout que nous sommes au 15ième étage . Nous avions du mal à marcher droit dans l'appartement , les portes de placards vibraient et les lustres se balancaient très fortement.Sensation très désagréable . Talca - Igual al del 27F pero más corto en duración Santiago Airport - Stuff falling of shelves in airport shops
EMSC	Maule, Chile	Mar 25 22:37 PM	7.1	1.0	MAP	I Felt It

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Update 13/04 – 13:32 UTC
2 serious aftershocks in Guerrero / Oaxaca, Mexico
As predicted several weeks ago, the M7.6 earthquake in Guerrero Mexico would surely lead to a lot of aftershocks including some stronger ones which will be close or greater than M6.0. What happened today (M5.4 at 10:10 UTC and M5.3 at 13:06 UTC) could be expected and will normally not cause any additional damage. Let us hope that the aftershocks will gradually winding down in strength and number.

Damage in Guerrero province - image courtesy terra.com.mx and Reforma

Update 23/03 – 16:13UTC:
- The mayor of  Cuajinicuilapa in Guerrero state, said one of the victims died from injuries caused by a wall falling on him and the other died of complications for a heart attack suffered during the quake (so he died during the earthquake and not later, they never said there was a victim until today).
- Because of the above, this earthquake receives a CATDAT RED labeling and is the 4th deadly earthquake since the beginning of the year (after the Dominican Republic, the Philippines and Japan)
- A M 5.0 aftershock shook the Guerrero / Oaxaca area again yesterday. No further damage was reported (not in Distrito Federal or in the epicenter provinces. Aftershocks will be part of almost daily life in these provinces.
- Yesterday’s M 5.0 aftershock was the 96th aftershock after the massive quake on Tuesday.
- Segob has reported that alone in Oaxaca, 6,344 buildings have been damaged.

Update 23/03 – 12:00 UTC:
Carlos Robles (ER contributor) reports :
A lot of rumors are spreading in Mexico and causing panic among the people.
Some of them are:
- a volcano is forming in Guerrero.
- a mega-quake is going to happen soon
- It was pre-planned.
Today people were saying that a big earthquake was going to happen at 4:58pm… the rumors about the volcano were because the water was at point of boiling and thats normal after a big earthquake (ER : it looks like boiling water but probably some liquefaction was seen in some areas).
Buildings were evacuated today because there were people saying these things !
Its kind of frustrating because THESE ARE ALL LIES…nobody can predict an earthquake or even make one and about the volcano.. just common we have a lot of instruments worldwide…just see El Hierro they knew a volcano was forming months BEFORE the eruption.
Well these kind of things happen worldwide but i am angry because I have family and friends there that actually believes these rumors. The only thing we should do is to be prepared with medic kits, food, water,etc and not to be scared.

Update 22/03 21:00UTC:
- The Mexican seismological agency has said that more than 80 aftershocks have been recorded since the mainshock on Tuesday

Summary Update 22/03 09:00UTC:
- In Guerrero, 30000 houses have been reported to have been damaged (it is expected many with cracks in the adobe or fallen cardboard) to some extent. Given that Guerrero is an extremely poor part of Mexico with the second lowest HDI in Mexico, the economic loss will not be significant. However, the impact to locals will be quite high. 800 houses are reported to have collapsed in Guerrero or be so severely damaged that they are uninhabitable. This is the report of the local governor. 2 people were injured in Cuajinicuilapa and Ometepec. Shelter has been provided.
20 schools and hospitals were damaged in four municipalities, including the Ometepec, where the epicenter of the quake was, and one remains without electricity at Tlacoachistlahuaca.
-In Oaxaca, 2000 homes and public buildings have been damaged to varying extents.
-In Mexico City, 250,000 people were without water service due to a pipe burst by the quake, said City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard.

A garden wall collapsed on many houses - image courtesy El Universal

Summary Update 15:25 UTC :
- Yesterday’s earthquake has been labeled by the Mexican authorities as the strongest since the devastating 1985 earthquake (see below this images of this update).
- Gradually images from the damage are published in many media (see below this update).
- 300,000 people in Mexico City have no drinking water
- Authorities are calling the population to remain calm (ER : after every earthquake some “…” people are talking about a new even more powerful earthquake. Such a rumor goes on quickly and people often start to panic, hamster, etc.)
- Line A of the Mexico City underground is still not working. 30 workers are currently trying to repair the damage after the earthquake
- In Mexico’s Chiapas province, an earthquake simulation coincided with the real earthquake !

The 1985 Mexico City earthquake, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake that struck Mexico City on the early morning of 19 September 1985 at around 7:19 am (CST), caused the deaths of at least 10,000 people and serious damage to the greater Mexico City Area. The complete seismic event consisted of four quakes. A pre-event quake of magnitude 5.2 occurred on 28 May 1985. The main and most powerful shock occurred 19 September, followed by two aftershocks: one on 20 September 1985 of magnitude 7.5 and the fourth occurring seven months later on 30 April 1986 of magnitude 7.0. The quakes were located off the Mexican Pacific coast, more than 350 km away, but due to strength of the quake and the fact that Mexico City sits on an old lake-bed, Mexico City suffered major damage. The event caused between three and four billion USD in damage as 412 buildings collapsed and another 3,124 were seriously damaged in the city. While the number is in dispute, the most-often cited number of deaths is an estimated 10,000 people but experts agreed that it could be up to 40,000 (source : Wikipedia)

Video captured by an evacuee moments after the shaking started. The epicenter of this earthquake was more than 300 km from the location where this video was recorded.

Civil Protection in assessing the damage &after the M 7.4 earthquake in Mexico

Summary  Update 06:30 UTC :
- The latest reports of damage seem to be less than previously indicated. In the town of Omotepec, a town of 3000 inhabitants, around 200 houses have fallen tiles and some collapsed walls. They are mainly built of asbestos cement, adobe and other materials. The inhabitants are currently spending the night outside for fear of aftershocks. Ceilings of laminated cardboard and asbestos also were reported to be fallen in various houses across the town.
- None died, and very few people were injured. According to the municipal authority of Omotepec, the damage was minor and the most affected community was Huajintepec. Fallen walls and debris were reported from this community but again no deaths or major injuries.
- The quake also caused the trees, rocks and soil to be strewn across the State Road linking with Cuajinicuilapa Ometepec and on roads that connect with neighboring communities Ometepec. There are many damaged houses along these roads.
- In Zacoalpan, Villas de Hidalgo, Mazapa, Huixtepec and Cochoapa also reported only a few houses with damage.
- 0 deaths have occurred, and the injured count remains at 11.
- The earthquake will remain at CATDAT Orange.

Every earthquake create a lot of dust expulsed in the air by the shaking - Image courtesy Telediario

Summary  Update 04:30 UTC :
- 0 (zero) fatalities/deaths have occurred as a result of this earthquake
- 11 (eleven) injuries have occurred.
- 800 houses are destroyed or damaged in Guerrero, with a few buildings damaged in other parts of Mexico.
- Many evacuations have occurred as a precaution.

Summary  Update 00:17 UTC :
- 70,000 households are still without power in Guerrero province.
- 2 hospitals are evacuated in Guerrero
- The central government has dispatched more Civil Protection people to help the local authorities in Guerrero with the assessment of the damage

- Update: Damage has been reported in more than 25 locations ion Oaxaca province

- Update: The head of the Civil Protection, Laura Guza, has declared that NOBODY has been reported killed so far. 2 people were injured in the capital, Mexico City. 5 people were injured in the Oaxaca  province.

- Update: Strong aftershocks are continuing to hit the greater epicenter area.

-  Update: The number of houses damaged in the epicenter region continues to grow. Up to 800 houses are reported uninhabitable in the epicentral region.

-  Update: 2 buildings in the historic center of Mexico city have also been reported damaged.

- Update: No casualties have been reported from Omotepec which is good news given the damage.

- Update:  We have reports from Mexican radio (from Carlos) that 500 houses have been severely damaged or destroyed in Guerrero. As expected Omotepec has had a lot of this damage. This was mentioned by the governor of Guerrero.

- Update: Currently only 60 houses are still being reported destroyed in the epicentral region with an extra 400 damaged.

- Update: From Carlos Robles – our US/Mexico Earthquake correspondent:- A wall collapsed leaving one with serious injuries in Mexico City. Damage has been reported in Ciudad de Mexico like cracked roads, damaged buildings, and the bridge that collapsed in a bus with no casaulties.  Damage has been reported in Oaxaca with cracked roads and damaged buildings.

Picture of the crushed bus from Twitter

In Puebla the Palacio Municipal (Municipal palace, is a government building.) there were 2 cracked walls. Fissures in churches all over Mexico have been reported. Mobile phones were suspended due to overuse. The subway was suspended. The daughter of president Obama was in Oaxaca when the earthquake hit, she only felt the earthquake and has no injuries.

- Update:  A highway in Oaxaca has had a landslide cover a small section. It only caused slight damage in the form of a small car crash. Apart from that, other roads are all clear according to authorities.

- Update: Earlier reports of a footbridge collapsing onto a bus in Mexico City were incorrect. In fact, it was the 10 meters of concrete guard rail of the footbridge which collapsed. No people were killed.

- Update : 1 person has been injured in Colonia Juarez – of a nervous breakdown. In addition a staircase collapsed in a police building and there are reports of minor injuries. Other than that only minor damage has been reported. Some bridges have been closed around Mexico as a precaution.

- Update : At least 60 houses have been destroyed in Guerrero. Most of these are expected to be old adobe houses. Omotopec is expected to have major damage. Damage will likely be in the tens of millions of US dollars.

2.5 million users have had outages in their electricity following the earthquake. After 90 minutes, 1.5 million users were restored to the grid. In the Eastern control area partial outages  in the cities of Poza Rica and Coatzacoalcos and parts of the states of Puebla, Tlaxcala and Morelos. CFE crews will continue working to restore power as quickly as possible in the affected areas.

- Update :  We notice, as expected, a lot of aftershocks, the strongest ones ranging from M 4.7  to M 5.3.

- Update :   – President Calderon has just confirmed that so far NO lives have been lost.
- Power plants are working normally
- The President has also declared that NO major damage was inflicted
- The Mexican Seismological service is maintaining a Magnitud of 7.8

- Update :  YouTube video of the shaking. The shaking we see on the video was more than 300 km from the epicenter! Swaying is more accentuated in high rise buildings.

I have felt it Map courtesy USGS

- Update :  At 13:52 local time (1 hour 50 minutes after the earthquake),  NO fatalities have been reported so far, a very good sign !

- Update :  New Intensity calculations (based on the M 7.4 Magnitude) are giving the following impact :
182,000 people MMI VII (very strong shaking)
596,000 people MMI VI (strong shaking)
2,736,000 people MMI V (moderate shaking)
32 million people MMI IV (light shaking)

- Update :  USGS has further decreased the Magnitude from 7.6 to 7.4, a lot weaker than the initially reported 7.9. The depth has been recalculated to 20 km. All this explains the lesser than originally expected intensity.

- Update :  GOOD preliminary news : Only light damage is currently reported out of the epicenter area. Based on our own experience, we think it is far too soon to have a final estimate, but after such an earthquake, we like to hear that the damage is not general.

- Update :  A concrete walkway bridge has collapsed on a microbus. No reports yet about victims. Some people have been hospitalized by a nervous breakdown.

- Update :  Everybody in the country could be found on the streets after evacuating houses and buildings. The situation on the roads of the bigger cities is simply chaotic. Everybody wants to drive back home.

- Update :  NOAA has released the following Tsunami bulletin : A DESTRUCTIVE WIDESPREAD TSUNAMI WAS NOT GENERATED BASED ON EARTHQUAKE AND HISTORICAL TSUNAMI DATA. HOWEVER, THERE IS THE  POSSIBILITY OF SOME LOCAL TSUNAMI EFFECTS.  THIS EARTHQUAKE IS LOCATED INLAND FROM THE COAST.
GDACS another agency who calculates tsunami heights has calculated that a max. tsunami wave of 0.1 meter may have occurred, nothing to be scared of.

- Update :  the closest airports to the epicenter are Pinotepa Nacional (77km) and Ta Lo De Soto (71km)

- Update :  there are NO hydrodams or NO Nuclear Plants in the vicinity of the epicenter

- Update :  GDACS reports that the nearest populated places are: Coyul (16km), Putla de Guerrero (18km), Cuitlapa (15km), Laguna (3km). The closest civilian airport is Pinotepa Nacional (77km).

- Update :  The area has currently a lot of aftershocks as could be expected. These aftershocks will go on for many hours and even days. Gradually they will get weaker but sometimes even M 6.x can be reached.  People in the epicenter area will have to spend the night on the streets out of fear for aftershocks.

- Update :  This earthquake is a subduction earthquake, which means that the Oceanic plate is gliging below the North American plate and often hangs for a while. When the accumulated energy is suddenly freed a massive earthquake is generated.

- Update :  It will take a few hours before that we will have reports of the damage and eventually casualties. Every earthquake is totally different and high Magnitudes are not necessarily creating devastating damage. So, we have to be cautious to predict the damaging potential.

- Update :  People are reporting shaking ALL OVER Mexico, which is very normal for these kind of magnitudes.

- Update :  Phone lines a-in many parts of the countries are down. An earthquake-report.com reader is trying to contact her husband in Mexico-City, but can’t get through. This happens over and over again during earthquakes. PLEASE USE ONLY TEXT MESSAGES as Voice takes much more place on communication cables and will blocl ALL communication.

- Update :  Earthquake-Report.com calls all cities at a radius of 30 km around the epicenter as HIGH RISK areas.

Shaking map courtesy USGS

- Update :  USGS reports that 278,000 people will have experienced a very strong shaking. This kind of shaking can cause severe damage in the direct epicenter.  757,000 people will have experienced a strong shaking.

- Update :  186 km (115 miles) E (96°) from Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico and 162 km (101 miles) WSW (255°) from Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico

- Update :  Comparisons in between the very strong earthquake at the end of last year are referring to a much stronger intensity now. Acapulca

- Update :  Two cities are approx. 20 km from the epicenter and are at risk during this earthquake : Ometepec and San Juan Cacahuatepec

- Update :  USGS has decreased the Magnitude from 7.9 to 7.6 at the modified depth of 17.5 km. These conditions are still VERY DAMADING

- Update :  Reports arriving at Earthquake-Report.com are mentioning a duration of the shaking in Mexico City during 20 to 30 seconds.

- Update :  We will have to wait a couple of minutes before Magnitudes and depths will be stabilized as different agencies are reporting big differences

- Update :  Preliminary data from different seismological agencies are referring to Magnitudes from 7.9 (USGS), to 7.6 (GEOFON) and only 6.4 (EMSC). Both Geofon and USGS are referring to an extremely dangerous shallow depth of 10 km. EMSC mentions a 60 km much weaker impact

-  Update :  Extremely dangerous earthquake with epicenter near Cuitiapa

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“I Have Felt It” reports as received by Earthquake-Report.com
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Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude :  7.4 (USGS), M 7.8 (Mexico)
UTC Time : Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 18:02:53 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 12:02:53 PM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 10 km
Geo-location(s) :
10 km S Xochistlahuaca (pop 3,566)
20 km E Ometepec (pop 17,801)
165 km SE Chilpancingo (pop 165,250)
193 km (120 miles) E (83°) from Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico
262 km S Puebla (pop 1,392,099)

Links to important maps
USGS Did You Feel It Map
Google satellite map showing the epicenter and the surrounding area
Historic earthquakes map
Seismic hazard map
Shaking map
Focal mechanism report
Human impact map
GDACS earthquake report

I Have Felt this earthquake

SRC	Location	UTC Date/time	M	D	INFORMATION
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 22:25 PM	4.8	54.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 22:25 PM	5.0	45.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 22:25 PM	5.0	21.3	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 21:43 PM	4.6	21.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 21:43 PM	4.6	20.9	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 21:43 PM	4.5	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 20:14 PM	5.1	40.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 20:14 PM	5.1	10.9	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 20:14 PM	4.9	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 19:34 PM	4.8	18.7	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 19:34 PM	4.8	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 19:34 PM	4.5	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 19:19 PM	4.5	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Offshore Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 19:19 PM	4.7	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Offshore Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 19:19 PM	4.7	13.1	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 19:02 PM	5.2	30.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 19:02 PM	5.1	25.9	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 19:02 PM	5.1	19.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 18:35 PM	5.0	60.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 18:35 PM	5.1	10.1	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 18:35 PM	5.0	20.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 18:22 PM	5.2	19.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 18:22 PM	5.3	18.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 18:22 PM	5.3	15.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 18:02 PM	7.9	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
Acapulco - j'étais au condo au 23 ième étage et j'ai vraiment senti le plancher valsé c'est la première fois que je vis un séisme si fort Jardines del Pedregal, Mexico City - Usually i never feel earthquakes in this part of the city, volcanic rocks on the ground are very stable but this time all my lamps were shaking it lasted about 30 seconds. Distrito federal - Ví las paredes del edificio en el que trabajo agrietándose, apareció un hueco en una de las paredes, el techo tronó, temimos por nuestras vidas realmente. Delegación Cuahutémoc D.F. Tlalpan, Mexico City - I was in south of the city, and suddenly I felt a shaking. I saw many stuffs swing, but the shaking was short.
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 18:02 PM	7.3	34.0	MAP	I Felt It
mexico - Strong shaking indicated Oaxaca de Juarex, MX - I am originally from Washington State so I know what earthquakes can do. Seemed to be more on the moderate shaking scale but not exactly sure, as it has been a while since I experienced an actual shaking earthquake as opposed to a rolling earthquake. acapulco - Strong shaking indicated Toluca,Mexico - Strong shaking indicated Mexico DF - as usual isn't an nice experince Copilco, DF, Mexico - Moderate shaking indicated Mexico City - 3rd floor of some sturdy 5-floor buildings that survived the last big one. I often don't even notice weaker quakes, but this one had very noticeable shaking, which even made me dizzy, and lasted 20-30 seconds. Mexico - Moderate shaking indicated Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca - Got me running out of the house! still felt the dirt in street moving under me for several minutes. Mexico City, Mexico - I could feel the ground shaking and see the walls moving for at least a minute. It was more severe than the earthquake on December 11, 2011. We almost immediately lost power as well. Puebla - Strong shaking indicated Mexico DF - I Have witnessed the earthquake that occured back in december. This was much more strong than before. It started out as a little one but the longer it went on it got stronger. It honestly felt like my eyes were going cross-eyed i couldnt even see straight the whole house was moving. Scary things to deal with!!! Mexico City - It was a side-to-side type shaking/waving, and definitely the strongest I've felt. I was on the 5th floor and felt it was necessary to leave the building. Many of the residents did the same, running down the stairs and waiting outside until it let up. Hidalgo - Strong shaking Cuernavaca, Mexico - The rolling got me to run out of my house with my daughter. Moderate shaking of my ceiling fans. Also, felt an aftershock about 10 minutes later. Can not get a hold of my husband who is in Mexico City. The phone lines are down. Mexico City - I am native from Mexico City. This earthquake felt very strong and with long duration. I live in the north part of the city. It seems there are no critical events, right now people is calm and everything is continuing as always. Cuernavaca, Morelos - about 30 seconds MEXICO - I am out in Atizapan de Zaragoza in the hills and I never feel earthquakes but this one I did. The hanging light pendants were swinging and the house was shaking, I almost thought the house was going to fall. I have never felt anything like it. Oaxaca - Was having a coffee with friends when it all started. Hope that was all... Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca - It felt really strong here, because it was an oscillatory movement and we are about 300km from the epicenter, thankfully no reports of people injured or constructions damaged so far (14:13 EST) Zumpango - It started moderate and finish with a violent shaking, in Mexico, D.F., people in Zumpango, Estado de México feel it to. Nuevo Vallarta - I WORK IN A RESORT MY BUILDING IS ONLY 9 FLOORS HIGH, I´M USUALLY WORKING AT THE SECOND FLOOR BUT TODAY I WAS AT THE EIGHT FLOOR EXACTLY WHEN IT HIT AND OMG I GOT SCARED WOW IT WAS STRONG ... WE HAVE LOT OF POOLS AND FROM THE BIG WINDOW WE HAVE IN OUR FLOORS I SAW HOW THE WATER FROM THE POOLS WAS MOVING WOW MY FIRST EARTHQUAKE HERE IN MEXICO.... Chilpancingo, GRO - Still moving! Mexico - While shopping at Sam's, we felt marked tremors. Cashier told us to leave, could not help but notice how calm and polite everyone was. Staff very courteous, shoppers left calmly and did not cause any pandemonium. Very professional and impressive. Earthquake a little scary but not dramatic. Light fixtures moved ceiling moved, sirens blasting México, D.F. - Me pareció similar al de 1985. Vivo en una zona al sur de la Ciudad de México donde el suelo volcánico debió de amortiguar el temblor. Pero no fue así. México D.F - Oscilatorio, muy largo. Cerca de 50 segundos. Mexico City - It began softly and in a jerk got stronger, building was making strong noises but nothing to worry to much, people was calm in general and all went good in the business center of the city (Santa Fe) lot's of people in the streets after initial shock slowly going back to work ;) Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca - I was in a small grocery store when a whiplash type motion hit, things swayed, some stuff was thrown off the shelves onto the floor. It was all over in a few seconds. Several of us crowded into the small doorway for 30-40 seconds before moving on. Went home, checked the house and found no damage. Looked for the possibility of a sea surge, but nothing happened, so I went to the beach about 3PM. Guerrero is hilly and very close, about 100 miles north. Have never heard about volcanic activity ther Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca - I was in a small grocery store when a whiplash type motion hit, things swayed, some stuff was thrown off the shelves onto the floor. It was all over in a few seconds. Several of us crowded into the small doorway for 30-40 seconds before moving on. Went home, checked the house and found no damage. Looked for the possibility of a sea surge, but nothing happened, so I went to the beach about 3PM. Guerrero is hilly and very close, about 100 miles north. Have never heard about volcanic activity ther Mexico City - Estoy al sur de la ciudad por el Estadio Azteca,se sintio fuerte pero todo en orden Mexico City - Estava em um predio, no 14 andar, e sentiamos como dentro de um barco, percebiamos claramente o predio se agitando de um lado para ao outro, tinhamos que nos apoiar em algo para nao cair. Foi terrível! México City - Movimiento rápido de norte a sur y luego de este a oeste, imposible caminar, activación de alerta sísmica, perdida de energia, no comunicaciones, desplazamiento de 50 centimetros de las lámparas. Me recordo a terremoto 1985. Tlatelolco, Mexico City. - Vivo en el piso 23 de una torre habitacional. El sismo empezó cmo otros pero tomo fuerza. Me preocupé cuando libros y otros objetos empezaron a volar alegremente. La fuerza del sismo era tal que era imposible ponerse de pie/I live on the 24th floor of a bulding in this area. The quake began slowly but began to be stronger and stronger, books and objets from shleves began to fly around. It was so intense that it was impossible to stand up. A frightening experience! Mexico City - I'm located in the Del Valle neighborhood in Mexico City. Firstly, Mexico City's Seismic Alert System went off, some 50 seconds prior to the first seismic waves hitting the building. At the beginning, the rolling movements were gentle, but after 30 seconds the ground shaking became nerves-breaking. The strong part of the earthquake lasted nearly 30 seconds, and then it went down to an almost imperceptible rolling movement that lasted almost 3.5 minutes, due to muddy soil conditions underneath.
EMSC	Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 18:02 PM	7.4	19.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 18:02 PM	7.4	20.0	MAP	I Felt It

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Read also : our main report of this earthquake : Click here

The March 20, 2012 earthquake occurred as a result of thrust-faulting on or near the plate boundary interface between the Cocos and North America plates. The focal mechanism and depth of the earthquake are consistent with its occurrence on the subduction zone interface between these plates, approximately 100 km northeast of the Middle America Trench, where the Cocos plate begins its descent into the mantle beneath Mexico. In the region of this earthquake, the Cocos plate moves approximately northeastwards at a rate of 60 mm/yr.

Image compiled by Earthquake-Report.com

Historically, there have been several significant earthquakes along the southern coast of Mexico. In 1932, a magnitude 8.4 thrust earthquake struck in the region of Jalisco, several hundred kilometers to the northwest of today’s event.

Seismic Hazard map shows the max. to expect ground acceleration along the coast - image courtesy USGS - Purple line : subduction trench / fault line, green line : transform fault

Magnitude 7 and Greater Earthquakes since 1900 - image courtesy USGS

On October 9, 1995 a magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck in the Colima-Jalisco region, killing at least 49 people and leaving 1,000 homeless.

The deadliest nearby earthquake occurred in the Michoacan region 470 km to the northwest of today’s event, on September 19, 1985. This magnitude 8.0 earthquake killed at least 9,500 people, injured about 30,000, and left 100,000 people homeless.

The 1985 Mexico City earthquake, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake that struck Mexico City on the early morning of 19 September 1985 at around 7:19 am (CST), caused the deaths of at least 10,000 people and serious damage to the greater Mexico City Area. The complete seismic event consisted of four quakes. A pre-event quake of magnitude 5.2 occurred on 28 May 1985. The main and most powerful shock occurred 19 September, followed by two aftershocks: one on 20 September 1985 of magnitude 7.5 and the fourth occurring seven months later on 30 April 1986 of magnitude 7.0. The quakes were located off the Mexican Pacific coast, more than 350 km away, but due to strength of the quake and the fact that Mexico City sits on an old lake-bed, Mexico City suffered major damage. The event caused between three and four billion USD in damage as 412 buildings collapsed and another 3,124 were seriously damaged in the city. While the number is in dispute, the most-often cited number of deaths is an estimated 10,000 people but experts agreed that it could be up to 40,000 (source : Wikipedia)

More recently, a 2003 magnitude 7.6 Colima, Mexico earthquake 640 km to the northwest of today’s event killed 29 people, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and left more than 10,000 homeless.
(text and images : courtesy USGS)

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude :  7.4 (USGS), M 7.8 (Mexico)
UTC Time : Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 18:02:53 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 12:02:53 PM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 10 km
Geo-location(s) :
10 km S Xochistlahuaca (pop 3,566)
20 km E Ometepec (pop 17,801)
165 km SE Chilpancingo (pop 165,250)
193 km (120 miles) E (83°) from Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico
262 km S Puebla (pop 1,392,099)

Links to important maps
USGS Did You Feel It Map
Google satellite map showing the epicenter and the surrounding area
Historic earthquakes map
Seismic hazard map
Shaking map
Focal mechanism report
Human impact map
GDACS earthquake report

I Have Felt this earthquake

SRC	Location	UTC Date/time	M	D	INFORMATION
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 22:25 PM	4.8	54.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 22:25 PM	5.0	45.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 22:25 PM	5.0	21.3	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 21:43 PM	4.6	21.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 21:43 PM	4.6	20.9	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 21:43 PM	4.5	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 20:14 PM	5.1	40.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 20:14 PM	5.1	10.9	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 20:14 PM	4.9	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 19:34 PM	4.8	18.7	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 19:34 PM	4.8	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 19:34 PM	4.5	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 19:19 PM	4.5	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Offshore Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 19:19 PM	4.7	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Offshore Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 19:19 PM	4.7	13.1	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 19:02 PM	5.2	30.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 19:02 PM	5.1	25.9	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 19:02 PM	5.1	19.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 18:35 PM	5.0	60.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 18:35 PM	5.1	10.1	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 18:35 PM	5.0	20.0	MAP	I Felt It
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 18:22 PM	5.2	19.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 18:22 PM	5.3	18.0	MAP	I Felt It
EMSC	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 18:22 PM	5.3	15.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 18:02 PM	7.9	10.0	MAP	I Felt It
Acapulco - j'étais au condo au 23 ième étage et j'ai vraiment senti le plancher valsé c'est la première fois que je vis un séisme si fort Jardines del Pedregal, Mexico City - Usually i never feel earthquakes in this part of the city, volcanic rocks on the ground are very stable but this time all my lamps were shaking it lasted about 30 seconds. Distrito federal - Ví las paredes del edificio en el que trabajo agrietándose, apareció un hueco en una de las paredes, el techo tronó, temimos por nuestras vidas realmente. Delegación Cuahutémoc D.F. Tlalpan, Mexico City - I was in south of the city, and suddenly I felt a shaking. I saw many stuffs swing, but the shaking was short.
GEOFON	Near Coast Of Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 18:02 PM	7.3	34.0	MAP	I Felt It
mexico - Strong shaking indicated Oaxaca de Juarex, MX - I am originally from Washington State so I know what earthquakes can do. Seemed to be more on the moderate shaking scale but not exactly sure, as it has been a while since I experienced an actual shaking earthquake as opposed to a rolling earthquake. acapulco - Strong shaking indicated Toluca,Mexico - Strong shaking indicated Mexico DF - as usual isn't an nice experince Copilco, DF, Mexico - Moderate shaking indicated Mexico City - 3rd floor of some sturdy 5-floor buildings that survived the last big one. I often don't even notice weaker quakes, but this one had very noticeable shaking, which even made me dizzy, and lasted 20-30 seconds. Mexico - Moderate shaking indicated Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca - Got me running out of the house! still felt the dirt in street moving under me for several minutes. Mexico City, Mexico - I could feel the ground shaking and see the walls moving for at least a minute. It was more severe than the earthquake on December 11, 2011. We almost immediately lost power as well. Puebla - Strong shaking indicated Mexico DF - I Have witnessed the earthquake that occured back in december. This was much more strong than before. It started out as a little one but the longer it went on it got stronger. It honestly felt like my eyes were going cross-eyed i couldnt even see straight the whole house was moving. Scary things to deal with!!! Mexico City - It was a side-to-side type shaking/waving, and definitely the strongest I've felt. I was on the 5th floor and felt it was necessary to leave the building. Many of the residents did the same, running down the stairs and waiting outside until it let up. Hidalgo - Strong shaking Cuernavaca, Mexico - The rolling got me to run out of my house with my daughter. Moderate shaking of my ceiling fans. Also, felt an aftershock about 10 minutes later. Can not get a hold of my husband who is in Mexico City. The phone lines are down. Mexico City - I am native from Mexico City. This earthquake felt very strong and with long duration. I live in the north part of the city. It seems there are no critical events, right now people is calm and everything is continuing as always. Cuernavaca, Morelos - about 30 seconds MEXICO - I am out in Atizapan de Zaragoza in the hills and I never feel earthquakes but this one I did. The hanging light pendants were swinging and the house was shaking, I almost thought the house was going to fall. I have never felt anything like it. Oaxaca - Was having a coffee with friends when it all started. Hope that was all... Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca - It felt really strong here, because it was an oscillatory movement and we are about 300km from the epicenter, thankfully no reports of people injured or constructions damaged so far (14:13 EST) Zumpango - It started moderate and finish with a violent shaking, in Mexico, D.F., people in Zumpango, Estado de México feel it to. Nuevo Vallarta - I WORK IN A RESORT MY BUILDING IS ONLY 9 FLOORS HIGH, I´M USUALLY WORKING AT THE SECOND FLOOR BUT TODAY I WAS AT THE EIGHT FLOOR EXACTLY WHEN IT HIT AND OMG I GOT SCARED WOW IT WAS STRONG ... WE HAVE LOT OF POOLS AND FROM THE BIG WINDOW WE HAVE IN OUR FLOORS I SAW HOW THE WATER FROM THE POOLS WAS MOVING WOW MY FIRST EARTHQUAKE HERE IN MEXICO.... Chilpancingo, GRO - Still moving! Mexico - While shopping at Sam's, we felt marked tremors. Cashier told us to leave, could not help but notice how calm and polite everyone was. Staff very courteous, shoppers left calmly and did not cause any pandemonium. Very professional and impressive. Earthquake a little scary but not dramatic. Light fixtures moved ceiling moved, sirens blasting México, D.F. - Me pareció similar al de 1985. Vivo en una zona al sur de la Ciudad de México donde el suelo volcánico debió de amortiguar el temblor. Pero no fue así. México D.F - Oscilatorio, muy largo. Cerca de 50 segundos. Mexico City - It began softly and in a jerk got stronger, building was making strong noises but nothing to worry to much, people was calm in general and all went good in the business center of the city (Santa Fe) lot's of people in the streets after initial shock slowly going back to work ;) Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca - I was in a small grocery store when a whiplash type motion hit, things swayed, some stuff was thrown off the shelves onto the floor. It was all over in a few seconds. Several of us crowded into the small doorway for 30-40 seconds before moving on. Went home, checked the house and found no damage. Looked for the possibility of a sea surge, but nothing happened, so I went to the beach about 3PM. Guerrero is hilly and very close, about 100 miles north. Have never heard about volcanic activity ther Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca - I was in a small grocery store when a whiplash type motion hit, things swayed, some stuff was thrown off the shelves onto the floor. It was all over in a few seconds. Several of us crowded into the small doorway for 30-40 seconds before moving on. Went home, checked the house and found no damage. Looked for the possibility of a sea surge, but nothing happened, so I went to the beach about 3PM. Guerrero is hilly and very close, about 100 miles north. Have never heard about volcanic activity ther Mexico City - Estoy al sur de la ciudad por el Estadio Azteca,se sintio fuerte pero todo en orden Mexico City - Estava em um predio, no 14 andar, e sentiamos como dentro de um barco, percebiamos claramente o predio se agitando de um lado para ao outro, tinhamos que nos apoiar em algo para nao cair. Foi terrível! México City - Movimiento rápido de norte a sur y luego de este a oeste, imposible caminar, activación de alerta sísmica, perdida de energia, no comunicaciones, desplazamiento de 50 centimetros de las lámparas. Me recordo a terremoto 1985. Tlatelolco, Mexico City. - Vivo en el piso 23 de una torre habitacional. El sismo empezó cmo otros pero tomo fuerza. Me preocupé cuando libros y otros objetos empezaron a volar alegremente. La fuerza del sismo era tal que era imposible ponerse de pie/I live on the 24th floor of a bulding in this area. The quake began slowly but began to be stronger and stronger, books and objets from shleves began to fly around. It was so intense that it was impossible to stand up. A frightening experience! Mexico City - I'm located in the Del Valle neighborhood in Mexico City. Firstly, Mexico City's Seismic Alert System went off, some 50 seconds prior to the first seismic waves hitting the building. At the beginning, the rolling movements were gentle, but after 30 seconds the ground shaking became nerves-breaking. The strong part of the earthquake lasted nearly 30 seconds, and then it went down to an almost imperceptible rolling movement that lasted almost 3.5 minutes, due to muddy soil conditions underneath.
EMSC	Guerrero, Mexico	Mar 20 18:02 PM	7.4	19.0	MAP	I Felt It
USGS	Oaxaca, Mexico	Mar 20 18:02 PM	7.4	20.0	MAP	I Felt It

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The selection of a weak Magnitude, a 24 hour delivery on a worldwide list would result in an avalanche of emails (each earthquake will generate an E-mail). A more selective Magnitude, delivery option and area of your interest will give the best result. As we have decided not to use a control panel or password, the parameters of your subscription can only be changed by canceling your subscription (link in each Email we send). To fine-tune your options, simply generate a new subscription. We will not share your E-mail with anyone else, it will be used only for earthquake alerts. Please make sure that you are white listing our emails as otherwise they may be deviated to your spam folder.
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