Quake

One of the biggest earthquakes in recorded history rocked Chile on Saturday, killing more than 300 people, toppling buildings and freeways, and setting off sirens thousands of miles away as governments scrambled to protect coastal residents from the ensuing tsunami. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet declared parts of the country "catastrophe zones" in the wake of the magnitude-8.8 quake, which was centered about 70 miles offshore from the port city of Concepcion. With images of Haiti's devastation from an earthquake last month still fresh, the world woke up to new disaster and fears of another catastrophic toll.

Baltimore's 200-year-old Basilica of the Assumption, the first cathedral in America, will be closed to many visitors over eight months as crews repair domes damaged in August's earthquake, church officials said Thursday. Repairs could cost up to $5 million and extend into next year, officials said. But the extent of the damage will remain unknown until crews can reach the cracks and test them. It is nearly 100 feet to the top of the main dome. A preliminary review suggests that the damage is limited to restored plaster that was part of the nearly $40 million renovation completed six years ago, and is not structural, said archdiocese spokesman Sean Caine.

Orioles outfielder Felix Pie said he immediately felt a deep sadness when he heard about Tuesday's catastrophic earthquake that rocked Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His emotions quickly turned to worry for his extended family, many of whom live in the Caribbean nation that is considered the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. "It's very sad, and you start, like, worrying. I know my mom has family in Haiti and my pop, too," Pie said. "But my mom called me and told me not to worry, that my family over there is OK. And my pop called me to tell me the same thing."

Don't worry, the folks who operate nuclear power plants near Baltimore told us after a Japanese earthquake caused meltdowns and large radioactivity releases there. We don't have severe earthquakes on the East Coast. That proposition got tested Aug. 23, when the 5.8-magnitude quake centered in Virginia rattled buildings as far north as Toronto. The closest nuclear plant to Baltimore is Exelon Corp.'s Peach Bottom facility on the Susquehanna River, 45 miles away. Peach Bottom is built to withstand ground movement equal to an earthquake registering 6.1 on the Richter scale, Exelon said in April, after the Japan catastrophe.

A minor earthquake was detected yesterday morning in Arbutus, but there was no damage and no reports of injuries, officials said. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that a quake measuring 1.0 on the Richter scale struck about a mile west of the southwestern Baltimore County community about 8:30 a.m. The tremor, reported on the U.S. Geological Survey's Web site, was detected at a depth of about three miles on a seismograph at the Soldiers Delight Reporting...

A strong earthquake set off tidal waves that flooded dozens of communities on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. The extent of casualities was unknown early today, but the Red Cross says there were at least 14 deaths.Details on Page 2A

KOBE, Japan -- The ancient Sumadera Temple is where those truly lost in the Great Kobe Quake can be found.Placed in pale wood coffins lined with dry ice, 13 bodies dragged from the wreckage of last week's temblor await identification in an empty wing of the sprawling 1,100-year-old temple complex.In the Buddhist tradition widely practiced in Japan, a priest normally would conduct services next to the deceased immediately after death. A second service is conducted later in the day. This is when the family has the last view of the body, and it is followed by cremation.

Trapped in the darkness of a wrecked Haitian hotel, choking on the dust of crushed concrete, Richard L. Santos wondered whether anyone would ever find him and his five colleagues, two of them badly hurt. At one point, the thump of a helicopter's swirling blades gave them hope, only to fade into silence. As he awaited rescue from the Jan. 12 earthquake that shook Port-au-Prince to its core, Santos made a vow. "We knew the whole city must be devastated, and I realized that the rebuilding of Haiti would take decades," he recalled.

When Waverly Person picks up the phone at the U.S. Geological Survey's earthquake hot line in Colorado, he's used to panicky voices from Los Angeles or Anchorage. Not Glen Burnie. But Anne Arundel residents were lighting up the switchboard yesterday after a series of rare earthquakes jostled eastern Maryland. "All they wanted to know is: `Are we gonna have a Big One?'" said the veteran geophysicist. Fear not. Seismologists say the "Big One" is not imminent. While as many as three quakes jostled the region yesterday, even the strongest -- a magnitude 2.0 at 9:22 a.m. -- barely tickled the state's lone seismometer.

MOSCOW -- At least 300 people were killed yesterday and hundreds more were feared buried under rubble after a powerful earthquake devastated a small town on Sakhalin Island in Russia's Far East just north of Japan, news reports said.The Itar-Tass news agency said 300 people were confirmed dead, and officials estimated that up to 2,500 people may have been killed or injured in the 7.5-magnitude quake off Russia's east coast.The temblor struck at 1:03 a.m. yesterday, flattening about 80 percent of the buildings in the oil-producing town of Neftegorsk, population 3,200.

In the wake of the recent earthquake ("A tremor in the psyche," Aug 24), I asked people about their initial thoughts on what caused the shaking and swaying. My father thought he was having a stroke. My mother thought it was a truck rumbling by her office. Having served four years of active duty with the U.S. Navy, stationed in the Washington Navy Yard on September 11, 2001, I thought it was a terrorist attack. These generational and location oriented responses led me to my next question, which was what are you supposed to do in an earthquake and what are you supposed to do during and after an explosion.

A day after the largest East Coast earthquake in more than 60 years, Marylanders continued to deal with the fallout, as officials assessed the effects on buildings and infrastructure, transit riders saw delays and some federal workers and public school students got an extra day off. Although the tremor lasted for just a few moments Tuesday afternoon, damage prompted a Fells Point church to relocate services. State inspectors were busy assessing roads and bridges as the region braced for the predicted weekend effects of Hurricane Irene.

It must have been the construction site across the street. Or maybe it was a tractor-trailer lumbering by, a train rumbling underground or even a pesky friend shaking one's beach chair. Everything, that is, but what it actually was: an earthquake, so rare in these parts that when one emptied offices and homes, shook merchandise off store shelves and roused lazing sunbathers on Tuesday afternoon, it wasn't the first explanation that popped into many people's heads. "Who would have thought there would be an earthquake in Baltimore?"

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.

Marylanders whose houses sustained damage from Tuesday's earthquake are about to get more bad news: Their homeowners' policies likely won't cover repairs. Insurance agents say earthquakes aren't part of the standard coverage of homeowner policies because such events are rare here. In fact, some insurance agents said they aren't even sure of the price of earthquake coverage because it's been so long since they added it to a policy. "I haven't priced it for 15 years," says Don Grauel, president of L.E. Goldsborough & Son in Towson.

Pre-quake material The New York Times had this story about the underground practicd of paying for positive reviews on Amazon, Yelp, Citysearch and Trip Advisor. The New York Times Sam Sifton gives two stars to Roberta', a "rural-urban-hippie-punk food Utopia" in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Smurfs Cake Pops on Angry Asian Creations A story in the Sidney Morning Herald (not sure where I found it) about chef's who remove a menu item only to have customers demand its return.

LOS ANGELES -- For years, 20th Century Industries earned praise from policyholders for its low-priced insurance and impressed Wall Street with its steady profits.The suburban Woodland Hills-based insurer won customers by charging among the lowest auto and homeowners premiums in the state. Investors appreciated the company's lean operations and consistent growth.But 20th Century's good standing with policyholders and investors is being tested by the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake, which presented the company with 40,000 claims at a total cost of $325 million.

YUCCA VALLEY, Calif. -- The earth continued to churn beneath the Southern California desert yesterday, destroying a commercial building, hindering repairs to disabled water systems and stoking the fears of people whose lives were jerked askew by the twin shakers that struck a day earlier.Hoping that yesterday would bring relief from the terrifying tremors, desert dwellers instead were jolted by four major aftershocks that caused three dozen injuries, sparked two fires and prompted some rattled residents to plan extended vacations.

Well, that was different. It's not every day that the Mid-Atlantic experiences a magnitude 5.8 earthquake, but that 10 seconds of shake, rattle and roll you felt this afternoon wasn't a train, a hurricane or the sound of budget negotiations in Washington. It was the real thing. By the standards of earthquake hotspots around the world, a 5.8 is a minor amusement. The earthquake that rocked Japan this year hit 9.0, meaning it released about 63,000 times as much energy. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, there are about 1,300 earthquakes a year worldwide that register between 5.0 and 5.9. The agency tracks about 50 earthquakes a day. For the East Coast, though, 5.8 was enough to overload telephone networks and send crowds pouring into the streets for fear that office buildings were in danger of imminent collapse.

Even as they discovered new scars from Tuesday's earthquake - a collapsed roof in Annapolis, broken glass at Baltimore's Port Discovery , a crumbled chimney in Catonsville - officials were most concerned about the unseen damage as they prepared to reopen Maryland buildings to the public Wednesday. Teams of inspectors were deployed throughout the state to assess the structural safety of everything from the airport to the sports stadiums, authorities said. Helicopter pilots conducted aerial surveys, structural engineers searched for fresh foundation cracks and transportation examiners pored over each county's weaker bridges.