Puerto Rico, which has been experiencing seismic activity since late December, was rocked Jan. 6 and 7 when a pair of strong earthquakes took down buildings and caused widespread power outages, according to news reports.
A magnitude 7.1 temblor struck northeast of Los Angeles on Friday, July 5 at 8:19 p.m., a day after a 6.4 magnitude rocked the same area, knocking out power to thousands and prompting questions on proper calibration of a recently introduced earthquake early-warning system.
The magnitudes 7.0 and 5.7 earthquakes that struck Anchorage, Alaska, on Nov. 30 shook buildings and shattered highways, but caused limited structural damage and no reported loss of life, mostly due to the depth and location of the quake’s epicenter, as well as the city and state’s stringent building requirements.
More than failed tsunami warning systems, earthquake experts condemn a lack of public understanding of the risk as a fatal contributor to the more than 1,400 deaths in a 7.5-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that hit Palu Bay in Sulawesi, Indonesia, on Sept. 29.
Gov. Jerry Brown (D) in late September vetoed a bill that would have directed California municipalities to create a database of structures that would be at risk of collapse as a result of seismic events.
A magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurred on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido on Sept. 6, leaving at least seven dead and damaging buildings and structures in the region, including a 1,650MW coal-fired thermal power plant that was taken offline.
A bill to help communities identify buildings at risk of failure in an earthquake is headed to the California Senate for a final vote; the Assembly approved it on May 31.
Hundreds of low-intensity earthquakes near the surface of a northern coastal region of the Netherlands have prompted the government to consider scaling back gas extraction, likely by several billion cubic meters a year.