Thousands Injured/Killed In Massive Earthquakes In Ecuador and Japan

Riggs 4/18/2016 3:20 PM


Muisne, Ecuador, April 16th — 7.8 magnitude earthquake

BBC — The number of people killed in a powerful earthquake that struck Ecuador over the weekend has risen to about 350, the government has said.
There have been desperate scenes as rescuers and family members searched for survivors, often with bare hands.
Teams from Switzerland, Spain and several Latin American countries have arrived to join the search effort.
More than 2,000 people were injured in the quake, Ecuador’s most powerful in decades, which hit its Pacific coast.

Kumamoto, Japan, April 16th — 7.0 magnitude earthquake

BBC – Japan is struggling to restore services in the south-western island of Kyushu after it was hit by two powerful earthquakes.

Some 180,000 people are set to spend a third night in temporary shelters, including cars and tents.

More than 62,000 homes remain without electricity and 300,000 homes have no water, Japanese media report.

At least 11 people are still missing following the quakes which killed 41 people and wounded hundreds.

Kumamoto, Japan, April 14th — 6.2 magnitude foreshock

Source — At least 9 people lost their lives and approximately 1000 more were injured. By April 16, more than 44,000 people were evacuated from the hardest-hit areas.

 

 

 

Several quakes, foreshocks and aftershocks have struck Japan and now Ecuador in the last week. Damage is great. Loss is high. Recovery is slow.

Ecuador’s 7.8’er was MASSIVE. One planetary geosciences professor deemed it “probably about 20 times greater” than the 7.0 Japan quake (Ecuador quake just occurred much deeper underground). For comparison, the infamous 1906 San Francisco earthquake was also a 7.8-magnitude quake; it left at least 3,000 dead and destroyed 80% of the city.

Ecuador has significantly less stringent construction codes. This plus more powerful quake = greater destruction and loss of life.

No one deserves to experience this type of destruction. However, living in certain geological locations bares certain risks. If you live near a volcano, you might get sprayed with molten rock. If you live in a flood plain, you might get soaked. If you live at the intersection of two giant tectonic plates, your house might shake. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles:

(Plotting of all documented major quakes from 1900-1999)

Hate earthquakes? Maybe pack up shop and try your luck dodging twisters in Oklahoma or hurricanes in Florida.

Simply reading about these events hardly does them justice. Therefore, to properly digest the carnage, I’ve decided to wrap up by consolidating for you an arsenal of the most wow’ing visuals. Mother nature is NOT to be fucked with:

 

Ecuador 2016

Japan 2016

California 2015

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