Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

5.3 earthquake hits the Solomon Islands.

5.0 earthquake hits near the east coast of Kamchatka, Russia.

Indonesian Quake-Tsunami

More than 1,200 people are now known to have died in the quake-tsunami that smashed into Sulawesi, Indonesia said Tuesday, as police pledged to clamp down on looting by survivors taking advantage of the chaos.Almost 200,000 people are in need of urgent help, the United Nations says, among them thousands of children.

Survivors are battling thirst and hunger, with food and clean water in short supply, and local hospitals are overwhelmed by the number of injured. A particular horror in several areas in and around Palu was liquefaction, which happens when soil shaken by an earthquake behaves like a liquid. About 1 700 houses in one neighbourhood were swallowed up, with hundreds of people believed buried, the national disaster agency said. An aerial view of the liquefaction: