Earthquake

Geologists say Tuesday's magnitude-5.8 earthquake in Central Virginia released forces that have probably been building for tens of thousands, perhaps millions, of years. And the event may not be over. "Aftershocks are always a possibility, and they're pretty common," said Jeffrey Halka, director of the Maryland Geological Survey. The Maryland Emergency Management Agency quoted geology experts saying that for 24 hours after a quake there is a 10 percent chance of an aftershock of a similar magnitude.

In the middle of an earthquake, some people might think to evacuate, or to crouch in a doorway, or to tweet a joke about where you were when THE EARTHQUAKE struck. Some bars and restaurants see a golden, God-sent even, juicy marketing opportunity. Already the Power Plant Live bars are offering earthquake drink specials. "It's Tremor Tuesday at Power Plant Live!" the Inner Harbor venue said in a tweet. "$2.50 domestics tonight at Mex..Let's shake things up a bit. " Original!

If you compare a map of this country's fracking sites with one of U.S. nuclear power plants, you will see that on both maps the area from the Great Lakes to the East Coast is the area of greatest concentration for both, and they overlap. If you then search "fracking and earthquakes" you'll see huge amounts of evidence relating the two. In the area affected by Tuesday's earthquake there are around 40 nuclear reactors, (25 of which are 30 years old or older). What's been happening over the past few years is that as nonrenewable natural gas supplies dwindle, fracking efforts have become more extreme: drilling is deeper, more fluid volume is forced in, more toxins are used.

The earthquake robbed Huguens Jean and Clifford Muse of the ability to fulfill a final promise to their grandfather. Fly to Haiti, he told the brothers as cancer ate away his health, and carry my coffin, garbed in white. The color meant something. The old man wanted them to find joy, even in the sadness that accompanies death. But the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed 230,000 and leveled Port-au-Prince made it impossible for Jean and Muse, both students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, to return for their grandfather's funeral a month after the disaster.

Another minor earthquake rattled parts of Columbia early yesterday, the 12th since March 10, experts said.The earthquake was reported about 5:10 a.m. yesterday in central Columbia registering between 1.0 and 1.5 on the Richter scale, said Emery Cleaves, director of the Maryland Geological Survey. There were no reports of damage or injuries.The epicenter, or the origin of the earthquake, hasn't been determined yet.But it did occur in the same general area as the others near Routes 29 and 32, Mr. Cleaves said.

About five minutes after Fran Mathews went to bed, she heard a boom and felt her house in northern Harford County shudder. "I was afraid enough to see if the furnace had blown up," said Mathews, 61. What rattled Mathews and others in northern Harford County yesterday was a minor earthquake at 12:04 a.m. in Lancaster County, Pa. The 3.3-magnitude quake was centered in the Salunga-Landisville area, about 40 miles north of the Pennsylvania-Maryland line,...

"I couldn't believe it," said my friend Mark, who was on the phone from Los Angeles. "A 6.6? That's all?"Both his TV sets had crashed to the floor. So had the VCRs and most of the stereo equipment. Paintings had been ripped from the walls. A closet door in the baby's room had been blown off its hinges.The post-quake decor in his house suggested early childhood. Everything was now on the floor, and much of it was broken."A 6.6?" he said. "That's very disappointing for those of us who were in it. I was thinking this had to be the Big One. If this isn't the Big One, I don't want to be anywhere near it when it comes."

QUAKE CHAT -- Faster than a 9600-baud modem, the global computer network buzzed into action after the ground stopped shaking yesterday in Southern California. And the system held up, even though the quake knocked out at least one main link.Within 20 minutes of the predawn earthquake, electronic messages flew on the Internet as computer users in the quake area described the destruction and people elsewhere asked about the fate of loved ones.In an electronic version of a ham radio network, some computer users in various parts of the country offered to relay messages to people in their areas from relatives and friends who couldn't make long-distance phone calls from the quake zone.

MOSCOW (AP) -- A strong earthquake hit Soviet Georgia yesterday, causing rock slides in mountain villages and killing about 40 people, authorities reported.It was also felt in neighboring Armenia, which was devastated by a 1988 earthquake that killed 25,000 people. There were no reports of damage or injuries in Armenia.Police spokesman Zurab Kadzhaya in the Georgian town of Kutaisi, near the epicenter, said last night that about 40 people were killed and that buildings in five mountain towns had suffered widespread damage.

When tragedies like the Japan earthquake strike, many people around the world now pluck much of the news from cyberspace.Soon after the earth stopped shaking Tuesday in Kobe, Japan, )) e-mail messages began flying over the Internet, the worldwide communications system linking computers, from people exchanging information.Two prominent Japanese institutions quickly set up what are known as World Wide Web pages loaded with information about conditions and lists of the victims.Web pages use text, pictures and graphics to provide reams of information, which the user can access by clicking a computer mouse.