Magnitude 6.8 Quake Strikes MYANMAR

Quake May Have Caused Heavy Damage

The epicenter was located in a mountainous region of Myanmar near the borders with Thailand and Laos.

Tremors were felt in Bangkok and Hanoi.

Buildings swayed in Bangkok, about 770 kilometers south of the epicenter, AP reported.

No reports of damage as of posting; however, heavy damage could have occurred near the epicenter because buildings in the rural region are believed to be vulnerable to strong shocks.

A5.8 quake, which struck Yingjiang County in southwest China’s Yunnan Province (MYANMAR-CHINA BORDER REGION), killed at least 24 people and injured more than 200 others two weeks ago, a report said. The shock also destroyed about 1,000 buildings.

Earthquake Details

Magnitude: 6.8
Date-Time: Thursday, March 24, 2011 at 13:55:12 UTC

Location: 20.705°N, 99.949°E
Depth: 10 km (6.2 miles)
Region: MYANMAR
Distances:

• 89 km (55 miles) N of Chiang Rai, Thailand
• 168 km (104 miles) SSW of Yunjinghong, Yunnan, China
• 589 km (365 miles) NE of Rangoon, Myanmar
• 772 km (479 miles) N of BANGKOK, Thailand

Location Uncertainty: horizontal +/- 15.4 km (9.6 miles); depth +/- 5.8 km (3.6 miles)
Source:  USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)

Event ID: usc0002aes

Related Links

• Tectonics Update – March 10
• Earthquakes

Wildfires Wreaking Havoc Across the U.S.

12 Large Fires Burning Across the Country

Active fires have consumed more than 155,000 acres, with 6 new fires reported.

States currently reporting large fires:

• Arizona (1)
• Arkansas (2)
• Colorado (1)
• Hawaii (1)
• Kansas (1)
• Missouri (1)
• Oklahoma (3)
• Texas (2)

“The Rocky Mountain, Southern and Southwest areas are at a preparedness level 2, meaning that these areas have high fire danger and multiple large fires.” Said National Interagency Fire Center.

Oklahoma

Wildfires forced Oklahomans from their homes in two northeastern towns on Wednesday evening as fire threatened dozens of homes near the town of Prue, Osage County, and  scores of homes in the Oak Park area of Bartlesville, Washington County, officials said.

Big Island Hawaii

A large wildfire set off by the eruption of the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island earlier this month has consumed about 2,000 acres of national park land. The fire is burning on the volcano’s east rift in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park about 12km SE of the Kilauea Visitor Center.

The spreading wildfire was started by lava splatters at the volcano’s Kamoamoa fissure, which erupted on March 5, and is currently being fanned by strong trade winds, said a spokesman for the National Park Service. Photo Credit: Suzanne Snow.

Current Wildfires
Arizona	Fires: 1	Acres: 4,000	* New fires: 0	Fires contained: 0
Duke (Coronado National Forest): 4,000 acres at 15 percent contained. This fire is 11 miles northeast of Nogales. Structures are threatened and roads are closed.
Arkansas	Fires: 2	Acres: 832	* New fires: 0	Fires contained: 3
Queen Simmons (Arkansas Forestry Commission): 632 acres at 90 percent contained. This fire is ten miles northwest of Clinton.
Long (Arkansas Forestry Commission): 200 acres at 98 percent contained. This fire is six miles south of Canaan.
Colorado	Fires: 1	Acres: 1,162	* New fires: 0	Fires contained: 0
Indian Gulch (Jefferson County): 1,162 acres at 25 percent contained. This fire is one mile west of Golden. Muir’s IMT 1 is assigned to the incident. Residences are threanted and evacuations are in place. Information: Visit the Rocky Mountain Coordination Center.
Hawaii	Fires: 1	Acres: 2,010	* New fires: 0	Fires contained: 0
Napau (Hawaii Volcanoes National Park): 2,010 acres. This fire is nine miles west of Kalapana.
Kansas	Fires: 1	Acres: 144,000	* New fires: 1	Fires contained: 0
* Stanton County (Kansas Counties): 144,000 acres at 70 percent contained. This fire is 30 miles south of Johnson City.
Kentucky	Fires: 0	Acres: 0	* New fires: 1	Fires contained: 1
Missouri	Fires: 1	Acres: 100	* New fires: 0	Fires contained: 0
Crane Cemetary (Mark Twain National Forest): 100 acres at 40 percent contained. This fire is six miles north of Houston.
Oklahoma	Fires: 3	Acres: 1,770	* New fires: 1	Fires contained: 2
Bread Town (Oklahoma Department of Forestry): 880 acres at 75 percent contained. This fire is three miles northeast of Stringtown.
Rocky (Oklahoma Department of Forestry): 530 acres at 70 percent contained. This fire is four miles northeast of Marble City.
Trall Hollow (Oklahoma Department of Forestry): 360 acres at 85 percent contained. This fire is one mile southeast of Bell.
Texas	Fires: 2	Acres: 1,400	* New fires: 3	Fires contained: 1
* Ralph Keller Ranch (Texas Forest Service): 1,000 acres at zero percent contained. This fire started on private land 14 miles northeast of Marathon. Residences are threatened.
* Koch (Texas Forest Service): 400 acres at zero percent contained. This fire started on private land nine miles south of Andrew

Source: National Interagency Fire Center

Year-to-date statistics
Period: 2011 (1/1/11 – 3/23/11)
Acres: 588,237

9-year Average
Acres: 396,282

Related Links

• Activity at Kilauea – Satellite Images
• US Wildfires: 50-percent more fires than the 10 year average

• U-S Attacked by Continued Severe Weather
• Climate Forcing: Positive Feedback Mega Loop
• Global Climate Extremes INTENSIFYING

• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2011-2012 MegaDisasters
• Earth: Wounded and Feverish

• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• FEWW DISASTER FORECAST 2011
• 2011 Much More Disastrous
• 2011 SIX TIMES MORE DISASTROUS THAN 2010
• Megadisasters Loom
• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities

Activity at Kilauea – Satellite Images

Kilauea: The World’s Most Active Volcano

KILAUEA VOLCANO
Location: 19°25’16″N 155°17’13″W
Summit Elevation: 1,247 m
Current Volcano Alert Level: WATCH
Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE
Source: HVO

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY DAILY UPDATE
Wednesday, March 23, 2011 7:34 AM HST (Wednesday, March 23, 2011 17:34 UTC)

Activity Summary for past 24 hours

• No molten lava visible at Kilauea volcano surface
• DI deflation continues
• Lava lake crusted over very deep within the summit vent
• Summit seismicity slightly elevated
• SO2 emissions and ERZ seismicity are low at summit and East Rift ZoneS
• Sulfur dioxide emission rate about 200 tons per day ((preliminary reading on March 22, 2011)

[NOTE: DI stands for ‘deflation-inflation’ and denotes a volcanic event of uncertain significance.]

Click images to enlarge. Download larger image (571 KB, JPEG)  — captured March 18, 2011

Download larger image (436 KB, JPEG)  —  captured January 16, 2010

“In the image—which depicts mostly infrared wavelengths of light—vegetation is green, older lava flows are brown to black, and “hot” areas are red. In this case, the scorched land and fresh lava in the burn scar appears slightly red and brown, while the still-burning forest fire appears bright red. In the 2010 image, lava stands out within and near Pu’u ‘O’o.” Source: NASA-EO.

On March 5, 2011, a new fissure appeared on Kilauea, the world’s most active volcano. Fresh lava from Kamoamoa fissure spewed to a height of about 50 meters above ground, setting off a forest fire which has since consumed about 2,000 acres.

Kamoamoa fissure is located about 13km  east of the volcano summit, lying along the rift zone between Pu’u ‘O’o and Napau Crater .

The above false-color images of of the are were taken by ALI on the NASA’s EO-1 satellite captureda (top) on March 18, 2011, bottom on 16, 2010 (included for comparison).

Kilauea’s latest episode of ongoing activity began in 1983.

Related Links

• Tectonics Update – March 10
• The Fiery Line Between Life and NO LIFE!
• Kilauea SO2 emissions tops 10,000 tpd
• Heightened Activity at Kilauea Volcano
• Mount St. Helens: “The Ides of March?”
• VolcanoWatch Weekly [10 Feb 2011]