Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes - Global

6.1 Earthquake hits the Santa Cruz Islands.

5.7 Earthquake Alamagan region, Mariana Islands.

5.5 Earthquake hits northern Qinghai, China.

5.5 Earthquake hits the Kuril Islands.

5.3 Earthquake hits the Sea of Okhotsk.

5.1 Earthquake hits the Big Island, Hawaii.

5.1 Earthquake hits New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

Iran Nuclear Plant Damaged by Recent Earthquakes

Tehran claimed the Bushehr nuclear facility was untouched by recent tremblers, but large cracks have apparently been seen in its structure.

Diplomats say countries monitoring Iran’s nuclear program have picked up information that the country’s only power-producing nuclear reactor was damaged by one or more recent earthquakes. Two diplomats say long cracks have appeared in at least one section of the structure. One concrete section of the structure appears to have developed cracks several meters long as a result of the quakes on April 9 and April 16.

Iran has refused to join an international nuclear safety convention, and technical problems have shut the plant for lengthy periods since it started up in September 2011 after years of construction delays. Kuwait and other Arab countries are only a few hundred kilometers (miles) away from Iran’s Bushehr reactor, on the other side of Persian Gulf coast south of Tehran, and are particularly worried about the safety of the Russian-built reactor. But Iran insists the plant is technically sound and built to withstand all but the largest earthquakes unscathed. Officials in Tehran reassured the international community after the quakes struck in April and early May that the facility was undamaged.