Central Oklahoma has been hit by a 4.5-magnitude earthquake on Saturday, just weeks after the two-year anniversary of the strongest earthquake ever recorded in the Sooner state.
The earthquake was centered near Arcadia, about 14 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, and was about 5 miles deep, the US Geological Survey reported.
Central Oklahoma has been hit by a 4.5-magnitude earthquake on Saturday
Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Keli Cain said no injuries or damage were reported. The state is crisscrossed with fault lines that generate frequent small earthquakes, most too weak to be felt. But after decades of limited seismic activity in this region, earthquakes have become more common in the last several years.
The strongest earthquake on record in Oklahoma was a magnitude-5.6 earthquake on November 5, 2011. That time, the football stadium in Stillwater, about 70 miles north of Oklahoma City, started shaking just after OSU defeated No. 17 Kansas State and left ESPN anchor Kirk Herbstreit wide-eyed during a postgame telecast.
A landslide in south-western China has buried at least 19 people, 18 of them children, local officials say.
A school house and two farm houses were buried when the landslide struck a village in Yunnan province early on Thursday, the local government said.
Rescue teams were on their way to the site, the statement said.
A series of earthquakes, including one of 5.8 magnitude, hit the province on 8 September, killing dozens of people.
The landslide happened at 08:00 local time.
It buried the Youfangtai Primary School in the village of Zhenhe, in Yiliang County, Zhaotong City, according to a statement from Yiliang County officials.
Li Zhong, head of Yiliang’s education bureau, said that the students were at school during the national holiday to make up for classes suspended after the September earthquake, reports the China News Service.
A family of three people had managed to flee before the landslide hit, said state-run Xinhua news agency.
Other residents had also been moved to safer places after the landslide, it added.
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Two strong earthquakes have hit north-western Iran, leaving at least 87 people dead and 400 more injured, according to state TV.
The quakes struck near the city of Tabriz and the town of Ahar, but most of the casualties are thought to be in outlying villages.
Reports say phone lines to many villages have been cut off, making rescue efforts harder.
The US Geological Service measured the quakes at magnitude 6.4 and 6.3.
Two strong earthquakes have hit north-western Iran, leaving at least 87 people dead and 400 more injured
“The quake has created huge panic among the people,” said one resident of Tabriz.
“Everyone has rushed to the streets and the sirens of ambulances are everywhere.”
The towns of Haris and Varzaqab in East Azerbaijan province were among those that suffered casualties, Khalil Saei, local crisis committee chief, told state TV, according to the Associated Press.
Officials say at least four villages have been completely destroyed, with another 60 villages suffering damage ranging from 50% to 70%.
The two earthquakes came within minutes of each other, according to seismology experts at Tehran University.
Dozens of rescue workers have been sent to the region, but the onset of darkness has hampered relief efforts.
