I’ve experienced several earthquakes during my years in Costa Rica. I think the strongest was the Cinchona quake. At the time it hit, I was having lunch at a restaurant. The quake came on slowly, laterally, and went on for some time. I remember looking out the trembling window and seeing parked cars bouncing back and forth on their shocks.
Even though it killed dozens of people and displaced an entire town, to me it felt like a curiosity. That quake was 6.1 on the Richter scale. I said to myself, “Not so bad.”
So compared to that experience, when another earthquake hit Costa Rica on Friday night, I thought for sure it was a 6, or at least a 5.5. It only lasted six seconds, but it felt like a truck hit the building. Everything jumped. There was a low roar. It scared the bejesus out of me.
Everyone likes to talk about the Richter scale, partly because journalists love numbers, so that’s how quakes are reported. But how an earthquake really feels depends on much more than a number.
Also important is the distance you are from the source of the earthquake, both its depth and the map location of the epicenter. And there’s the rub. The epicenter of the 6.1 Cinchona quake from last year was 30km away. However, my dinky 4.4 from Friday night was basically right underneath me, and only about 7km deep.
That changed everything. And it helps explain why the Chile quake was less destructive than the Haiti quake. The Chile quake was 21 miles deep and 200 miles from Santiago. But put it 16 miles outside of town and only 8 miles underground, like the Haiti quake, and I don’t care what kind of building codes you’ve got, you’re gonna have a catastrophe.
The Nation has a long, wonky, wonderful article on Mexican maize cultivation, the effects of NAFTA, and the dangers of genetically-modified seeds. Author Peter Canby backs up his excellent writing with piles and piles of meticulous research. Not to be missed. [link, via SM] (Image from Joel Penner.)
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Hitmen have assassinated the PRI candidate for governor of Tamaulipas State, Rodolfo Torre Cantú. Torre was gunned down along with six others at about 10:30 this morning on a highway on the way to a campaign event. Drug mafias are assumed to be responsible. [link]
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Two Brazilian ranchers were sentenced to 30 years in prison apiece for ordering the killing of an environmentalist nun: "Prosecutors said the pair offered to pay a gunman $25,000 to kill the 73-year-old [Dorothy] Stang because she had prevented them from stealing a piece of land that the government had granted to a group of poor farmers." [link]
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Some cruise lines will cease traveling to Antarctica after this cruise season, as a ban on the use and carriage of heavy fuel oil goes into effect next year. The ban came after a 2007 incident when a Gap Adventures ship got punctured by ice and sank, causing a mess. [link]
The Nation has a long, wonky, wonderful article on Mexican maize cultivation, the effects of NAFTA, and the dangers of genetically-modified seeds. Author Peter Canby backs up his excellent writing with piles and piles of meticulous research. Not to be missed. [link, via SM] (Image from Joel Penner.)
Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas ended his hunger strike yesterday after 134 days. Farinas decided to end his strike after the Cuban government said it would release political prisoners rounded up in the "Black Spring" crackdown of 2003. Get well soon. [link]
The Uruguayan selection, which has made it to the quarter finals of the World Cup, just received a shipment of half a ton of fine cuts of beef for the mother of all asados in preparation for a contest against Ghana on Friday: "450 kilos of lomo, 200 of entrecot, 75 of vacío, 75 of colita de cuadril, 150 of ojo de bife and 50 kg of picaña." [link]
Hitmen have assassinated the PRI candidate for governor of Tamaulipas State, Rodolfo Torre Cantú. Torre was gunned down along with six others at about 10:30 this morning on a highway on the way to a campaign event. Drug mafias are assumed to be responsible. [link]
From the days when coups were something of a regional sport, new documents detail a famous British ballerina's role in a plot to topple the government of Panama. The plan was to use her yacht to gather men and arms, then "land somewhere and collect in the hills." It didn't work. [link]
Mexico's Attorney General's Office has posted on its web site irrefutable evidence that gold-plated AR-15s and diamond-studded pistol grips are not nearly as cool-looking as they sound. The deadly knick-knack collection is said to belong to Valencia Cartel leader El Lobo. [link]
Two Brazilian ranchers were sentenced to 30 years in prison apiece for ordering the killing of an environmentalist nun: "Prosecutors said the pair offered to pay a gunman $25,000 to kill the 73-year-old [Dorothy] Stang because she had prevented them from stealing a piece of land that the government had granted to a group of poor farmers." [link]
The Economist takes a peak at the Mockus phenomenon in Colombia: "His moustacheless beard gives him the air of a Baltic pastor... He is financing his campaign with a bank overdraft. His supporters rely on Facebook and make their own posters; street vendors sell unofficial campaign T-shirts." [link]
Some cruise lines will cease traveling to Antarctica after this cruise season, as a ban on the use and carriage of heavy fuel oil goes into effect next year. The ban came after a 2007 incident when a Gap Adventures ship got punctured by ice and sank, causing a mess. [link]
Location, location, location
Even though it killed dozens of people and displaced an entire town, to me it felt like a curiosity. That quake was 6.1 on the Richter scale. I said to myself, “Not so bad.”
So compared to that experience, when another earthquake hit Costa Rica on Friday night, I thought for sure it was a 6, or at least a 5.5. It only lasted six seconds, but it felt like a truck hit the building. Everything jumped. There was a low roar. It scared the bejesus out of me.
Come to find out, it was only a measly 4.4. So why so scary?
Everyone likes to talk about the Richter scale, partly because journalists love numbers, so that’s how quakes are reported. But how an earthquake really feels depends on much more than a number.
There are all different kinds of faults, and each produces different motions. A strike-slip fault will produce side-to-side motion, which is devastating for buildings. A thrust fault produces up-and-down motion, which causes wicked tsunamis. (Incidentally, Haiti’s earthquake was caused by the former, Chile’s the latter.)
Also important is the distance you are from the source of the earthquake, both its depth and the map location of the epicenter. And there’s the rub. The epicenter of the 6.1 Cinchona quake from last year was 30km away. However, my dinky 4.4 from Friday night was basically right underneath me, and only about 7km deep.
That changed everything. And it helps explain why the Chile quake was less destructive than the Haiti quake. The Chile quake was 21 miles deep and 200 miles from Santiago. But put it 16 miles outside of town and only 8 miles underground, like the Haiti quake, and I don’t care what kind of building codes you’ve got, you’re gonna have a catastrophe.
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