Quake

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. -- Happily secluded from the metropolis 30 miles away, residents of this picturesque desert valley north of Los Angeles are finding themselves trapped in their own paradise.Many of them had fled up the Golden State Freeway over the last decade in search of a spot where the streets were safer and the air clear enough for a view of the encircling San Gabriel, Santa Susana and Tehachapi Mountains.Their entire outlook changed at 4:31 a.m. on Jan. 17.When the 6.6-magnitude earthquake dropped the Golden State Freeway like it was made of toy blocks, people in the Santa Clarita Valley realized how tenuous and how important their sole concrete connection to the big city really was.Suddenly, half of those in the valley's work force found that, instead of their usual 30- to 40-minute commute, they had to endure five-hour, bumper-to-bumper trips on side roads.

For some, it was a big deal. For others, it was nothing earthshaking.A small earthquake in Cecil County yesterday rattled windows and some nerves but caused no injuries or reports of significant damage. Authorities said the 7: 43 a.m. tremor registered 2.5 on the Richter scale and was felt in eastern Harford, western Cecil and southeastern Lancaster, Pa., counties.Residents in those areas couldn't stop talking about it."We've had everything this year -- floods, blizzards and now an earthquake," said Ruth Clower, a floral designer who lives on Main Street in Port Deposit.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- United Nations and private aid workers said yesterday that the pressing need to shelter up to 3 million Pakistani earthquake survivors before the harsh Himalayan winter sets in is threatening to become one of the greatest human disasters the world has ever faced. Compounding the problems posed by the sheer number of people displaced - three times as many as were affected by the Indian Ocean tsunamis in December - are the mountainous terrain and the onset of a winter that is likely to arrive in less than three weeks and sever the stricken mountain hamlets of the north from the rest of the country until spring.

With more than 700 people reported dead, rescuers smashed through fallen walls and sawed into rubble Sunday in an urgent push to find survivors of the massive earthquake that roared through Chile a day earlier. Some 2 million were said to be displaced, injured or otherwise impaired by the disaster. Untold numbers remained missing. Government forces struggled to contain looting in some of the most heavily damaged areas, dispatching the army to the task in Concepcion, Chile's second-largest city.

Towson resident Nikhil Talati might have been among the first in America to learn of the powerful earthquake that devastated northwestern India and killed thousands nine days ago. Within minutes of the 7.7 temblor, he was getting an eyewitness account from his wife - by phone. Yesterday, Neha Talati shared her experience with about 200 worshippers who gathered at the Greater Baltimore Temple in Finksburg to pray and to raise money for earthquake victims. By the end of the day, members of the Hindu temple had raised more than $53,000, organizers said.

Two New York scientists headed to Maryland late yesterday hoping to make detailed measurements of any shocks that might follow Sunday's small earthquake, the third and most powerful to hit the Columbia area in the past week.A colleague estimated that there is a 50-50 chance that another small quake will occur. Other researchers said there is no reason to believe that the recent tremors are the prelude to a larger, destructive earthquake.Over the next few days, the research geologists from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory will bury orange crate-size seismometers in foot-deep holes scattered around the Howard County city.

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Thousands of terrified Indonesians were searching for shelter yesterday after an earthquake killed at least 70 people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings on Sumatra island. The 6.3-magnitude quake was centered 30 miles northeast of Padang in West Sumatra and struck at 10:49 a.m. yesterday local time, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Hundreds were injured, most by falling rubble. Many survivors escaped more serious injury because they fled buildings when the tremors struck and were outside two hours later when a powerful aftershock toppled scores of buildings, said Gusmal, a district official in Solok, the hardest-hit area.

If you think the shaky economy, layoffs and the flat job market are more than you can cope with, brace yourself for age-quake.Not exactly a household word yet, age-quake is a term that gerontologists use to describe the demographic change looming in the 21st century, when an increasingly larger proportion of the population is expected to survive to old age. Experts predict a dramatic impact on things such as health care, housing, social services, business, labor...

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Scrambling to gain control of a disjointed relief effort, the government requisitioned all private construction equipment, hearses and heavy trucks yesterday to speed removal of the dead and the wreckage left by the earthquake in Turkey.The order came as the confirmed death toll reached 12,018 and governors of three of the nine quake-stricken provinces called off the search for survivors under thousands of collapsed buildings.If enforced, the order would challenge a vast but chaotic effort by private volunteers stepping forward -- some with forklifts and cranes -- to save or assist victims of Tuesday's quake who felt abandoned by the authorities.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Laurence Kornfield's favorite San Francisco bar is a wood-framed tavern with floor-to-ceiling windows wrapped around a street corner in the South of Market neighborhood, with apartments stacked on top of it. It's a typical San Francisco streetscape, one that gives the city much of its flavor - and much of its risk in case of a serious earthquake. "The lower floor would be squished," Kornfield, chief building inspector for this city of 740,000, said as he looked at the bar. With the city set to commemorate in April the 100th anniversary of the devastating earthquake and fire of 1906, seismic experts and structural engineers say that San Francisco could be devastated again by a major temblor despite a century of improved building design and firefighting expertise.