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Your phone blares, "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/big-earthquakes-can-hit-united-states-how-to-prepare-2023-2">Earthquake!</a>" The voice instructs you to duck, cover, and hold on. About 30 seconds later, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/earthquake-rattles-new-york-city-new-jersey-2024-4">the shaking starts</a>.At first, it makes the furniture sway. It's stronger than the little quakes you normally get here in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/incredibly-lonely-high-paying-tech-job-seattle-2023-9">Seattle</a>. Another 30 seconds later, the shaking suddenly intensifies.Pictures fall from the walls, objects fly across the room, and the dining table you're sheltering under begins to scoot across the floor, several inches at a time.A loud rumble fills the air. It's the sound of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cities-americans-move-cheap-homes-good-infrastructure-fewer-natural-disasters-2023-11">the city's buildings</a> swaying and creaking and all their contents shimmying, wobbling, scraping across floors, or crashing down from shelves.Seattle isn't even that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mystery-lights-seen-before-morocco-earthquake-scientists-baffled-videos-2023-9">close to the earthquake's epicenter</a>.The Olympic Mountains and about 100 miles stand between the city and the ocean. For people on the coast, the shaking is much worse. After about six minutes, the earthquake dies down, and a new countdown begins. People along the coast now have 10 to 30 minutes to reach high ground before a giant wave engulfs the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/surprising-things-about-first-van-trip-what-its-like-california-oregon-2022">Pacific Northwest</a>.Tsunami sirens wail in some towns. In others, the earthquake has knocked out alert systems.<div type="image" title="blue circular tsunami evacuation route sign with an arrow below pointing right" height="3264" width="4896" msid="114622256" hostid="261" sizebytes="562156"></div>From Northern California to Vancouver Island, a wall of water up to eight stories high surges onto the coast.Over the next hour or two, the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-tsunami-hits-tonga-after-giant-pacific-ocean-volcano-erupted-2022-1">tsunami</a> makes its way up rivers and straits and into Puget Sound. It's much smaller by the time it reaches Seattle, but it floods some streets.Between <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/largest-earthquake-ever-caused-5000-mile-long-tsunami-study-finds-2022-4">the earthquake and the tsunami</a>, 14,000 people died, many more were trapped or injured, and more than 618,000 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-photos-show-japan-earthquake-destruction-2024-1">buildings were damaged</a>. The shaking triggered landslides, fires, and spills of hazardous materials.But the disaster has just begun.<div type="image" title="person in yellow hazmat suit with water beading all over it with their face wearing glasses visible through a gas mask" height="1752" width="2838" msid="114622244" hostid="261" sizebytes="161830"></div>Eventually, the total economic losses will amount to $134 billion, placing it high among the costliest <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/natural-disaster-proof-dome-homes-houses-housing-apocalypse-bunker-2023-7">natural disasters</a> in US history.The scene above is a worst-case scenario of a megaquake striking the Pacific Northwest. Emergency managers have spent decades preparing for it. Still, they say the region isn't ready."To be fully, completely, and totally prepared is an impossibility," Robert Ezelle, the director of the emergency-management division of Washington state's Military Department, told Business Insider, "just because of the magnitude of the event."<h2 id="742db97a-1888-4a9c-9c95-09c4a12f41b8">Inside the major disaster brewing off the coast of the Pacific Northwest</h2>About 100 miles offshore from the Pacific Northwest, deep beneath the seafloor, two <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-earth-tectonic-plates-billion-years-2021-2">tectonic plates</a> are building tension that could erupt at any moment.In a region called the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-discover-cascadia-subduction-zone-most-dangerous-segment-threatens-washington-2024-6">Cascadia subduction zone</a>, the Juan de Fuca oceanic plate is sliding (or "subducting") beneath the North American plate — but its edge is stuck. As the plate keeps pushing against its locked-up edge, stress builds."It's ominously quiet," Harold Tobin, Washington's state seismologist and the director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, told BI. "The fact that it doesn't even produce little earthquakes to any significant extent makes us believe that it is completely locked up."Scientists like Tobin fear that without releasing tension through smaller earthquakes, the Cascadia subduction zone is more likely to erupt in a "megathrust" earthquake — or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/big-one-mega-earthquake-what-will-happen-california-san-andreas-2019-8">megaquake</a> for short — with a magnitude of about 9."It will be the worst natural disaster our country has ever seen," Ezelle said. That's why some call it the "Big One."On average, the Cascadia subduction zone produces an immense earthquake every 200 to 500 years. The most recent one was in 1700.<h2 id="fd9980cd-d7a5-43d2-a20d-8773726b7cbb">Just how big is the Big One?</h2><div type="image" title="ocean bean with dead tree stumps in the water and a large rock with trees on it in the distance" height="1600" width="2290" msid="114622253" hostid="261" sizebytes="570854"></div>The Richter scale, which measures earthquake magnitude, is logarithmic, not linear. That means a magnitude 9 quake releases about 32 times as much energy as a magnitude 8 but about a million times as much as a magnitude 5.The closest thing in human memory to the Big One <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-earthquake-tsunami-satellite-photos-2024-1">occurred in Japan in 2011</a>. That magnitude 9 event, called the Tohoku earthquake, also came from a subduction zone.It generated a tsunami that reached 130 feet high, inundated over 1,200 miles of coastline, and washed thousands of people out to sea. Together, the quake and tsunami killed an estimated 18,500 people.<div type="image" title="overhead view of destroyed and burned debris among small houses with a giant ship sitting in the middle" height="1500" width="2250" msid="114622263" hostid="261" sizebytes="583446"></div>It's hard to imagine the power of a magnitude 9 quake, but the <a target="_blank" class="" href="http://seismicsoundlab.github.io/">Seismic Sound Lab</a>, a group of Columbia University scientists, created a video that tries to convey it through sound.The animated video, below, shows every earthquake in Japan from 2008 through 2014, accompanied by sounds of various volumes. A normal background hum of magnitude 4, 5, and 6 quakes gives way to an intensely loud boom, the Tohoku event, about 22 seconds in. (The label saying the event occurred in 2012 is incorrect.)For years after the Tohoku event, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-aftershock-after-rare-4-8-magnitude-earthquake-2024-4">aftershocks</a> rippled across Japan, adding to the damage, including a 7.1 earthquake in 2021.Likewise, in the Pacific Northwest, aftershocks could continue for months, maybe even years, following the Big One. The first tsunami may not be the biggest.<h2 id="0132194b-2d81-4bca-bc4d-52e3486908ba">The aftermath of the Big One</h2>Scientists, Ezelle's department, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have practiced for the Big One in two "Cascadia Rising" exercises, one in 2016 and another in 2022. They've found that in the days following the megaquake, much of western Oregon and Washington may be <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-helene-slams-florida-power-outages-flooding-2024-9">without electricity</a>, internet, cell service, or drinking water.<div type="image" title="man in camo uniform walking down a dirt path lined with large army green tents with water and pine forest in the background" height="1029" width="1941" msid="114622259" hostid="261" sizebytes="140480"></div>In certain areas, it could be more than two weeks before help arrives because landslides, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sinkhole-south-dakota-mammoth-fossils-discovered-2024-8">sinkholes</a>, bridge collapses, and other damage to roads could make travel impossible.Both <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/50-earthquakes-off-oregon-coast-pose-little-threat-experts-say-2021-12">Oregon</a> and Washington advise that all residents have enough food, water, and medicine on hand to last at least two weeks."People that we're counting on to be <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/body-bags-ice-treat-summer-heat-stroke-patients-2024-6">first responders</a> may very well be victims," Ezelle said. "A lot of it is going to be neighbors taking care of neighbors."Among dozens of preparedness goals set after the last Cascadia Rising exercise, Ezelle's division is assessing the state's roadways to identify "lifelines" through the mountains — ways it might piece together surviving or quick-to-repair roads to transport critical supplies to the coast.Once those lifelines open after a megaquake, national and international aid can step in. A FEMA spokesperson told BI in an email that the agency would have teams ready to step in "almost immediately."<div type="image" title="man walking down dirt road amid plots of destroyed debris with a few houses standing in the background" height="1500" width="2333" msid="114622261" hostid="261" sizebytes="717636"></div><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/commercial-real-estate-office-outlook-fire-sales-apartment-conversions-housing-2024-10">Retrofitting old buildings</a> is also crucial since many aren't megaquake-resilient. Tobin said there wasn't much money for this "piecemeal process.""We have a really long way to go," he added.Japan has known about its risk of giant earthquakes and tsunamis for centuries. It's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-earthquake-safety-disaster-preparedness-2024-1">one of the most prepared nations on Earth</a>. And still, the 2011 subduction-zone rupture was devastating.The Pacific Northwest, by contrast, only <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-cascadia-subduction-zone-was-discovered-in-1970-2015-7">found out about the danger posed by the Cascadia subduction zone in the 1980s</a>."Preparing for this is like trying to drain an Olympic-sized swimming pool with a teaspoon," Ezelle said.<h2 id="2a642c7a-3939-4b3f-961f-07ec0a723fa9">Science could help better prepare for the Big One</h2>Ezelle said that to be "the best prepared that we could possibly be," the Pacific Northwest's roadways, buildings, airports, and other infrastructure would have to be rebuilt.A more immediate, affordable strategy to save lives is building out a system that sends early warnings to phones — which already happens for many earthquakes but isn't a guarantee.The sooner the phone warning blares, the more time people have to duck and cover. The next frontier for that, Tobin said, is laying cables with seismic instruments on the seafloor along the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/east-coast-earthquake-came-from-ancient-sleeping-fault-reactivated-2024-4">fault line</a>. That's what he's trying to do at the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network.<div type="image" title="smartphone notification earthquake emergency alert" height="721" width="1147" msid="114622246" hostid="261" sizebytes="20824"></div>In the meantime, Tobin and other researchers are working to map the fault's structure. Their latest study may have uncovered some good news: The Cascadia subduction zone could rupture in segments or smaller earthquakes rather than all at once as one giant event.But which scenario will actually happen — one Big One or multiple big-ish ones — remains unclear."I don't lose sleep over it," said Tobin, who lives in Seattle beneath the snowy peaks of the Cascades.The Cascadia subduction zone pushed those mountains up about 10 million years ago, carving the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tibet-maybe-splitting-apart-himalayan-mountains-grow-tectonic-plates-study-2024-1">mountain range</a> that makes the Pacific Northwest so stunning."The same thing that makes the earthquakes, I should say, is part of what makes it a beautiful place to live," he said.

A mega-earthquake could strike the Pacific Northwest any day — and we're not prepared

<keyword id="4741" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tokyo">Tokyo</keyword>, At least 30 people were injured after a <keyword id="505091" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="massive-earthquake">massive earthquake</keyword> measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale struck <keyword id="6355311" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="japan">Japan</keyword>'s Fukushima prefecture, authorities said on Sunday. The quake which struck late Saturday night was preliminarily measured with a magnitude of 7.1 and was later revised up to 7.3, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. The injuries were reported in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, Xinhua news agency quoted the authorities as saying. The temblor occurred at 11.08 p.m., with its epicentre at a latitude of 37.7 degrees north and a longitude of 141.8 degrees east, and at depth of 60 km, according to the JMA. So far no tsunami warning has been issued. The quake logged Upper 6 in some parts of Fukushima prefecture on the Japanese seismic <keyword id="10760158" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="intensity-scale">intensity scale</keyword> which peaks at 7. Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said about 950,000 households were left without electricity following the strong earthquake. The blackout affected 860,000 homes under the area covered by <keyword id="589499" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tokyo-Electric-Power-Company">Tokyo Electric Power Company</keyword> Holdings Inc. and 90,000 homes under Tohoku Electric Power Co., Kato said. Following the quake, the Japanese government set up a task force at the Prime Minister's Office. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga instructed the government to quickly survey the damage from the quake, conduct rescue efforts in areas necessary, and to relay information to the public as soon as possible. The quake was also felt in the capital Tokyo where an intensity scale of 4 was logged, with many reporting that their houses and furniture underwent strong shaking and some saying they felt dizzy because of the quake. Tokyo Electric Power Company said it has found no abnormalities with the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants after the quake. Meanwhile, no abnormality has been found at Japan Atomic Power Co.'s inactive Tokai No. 2 nuclear power plant in the village of Tokai in Ibaraki prefecture, according to the operator. The quake is believed to be an aftershock of the earthquake that triggered a massive tsunami in 2011 in the same area, said Kenji Satake, a professor at the University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute. "Because (the 2011 quake) was an enormous one with a magnitude of 9.0, it's not surprising to have an aftershock of this scale 10 years later," Satake said. According to the professor, although the quake was relatively large in scale with the focus off Fukushima prefecture, it was unlikely to cause tsunami because it had a deep epicentre of about 55 km below the sea surface. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/ecommerce/news/why-grofers-may-allow-an-american-blank-cheque-firm-to-buy-it-out-instead-of-fighting-ambani-and-bigbasket-for-ipo/articleshow/80874979.cms">Here’s why Grofers may allow an American “blank cheque” firm to buy it out instead of fighting Ambani and BigBasket for IPO</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/spicejet-and-indigo-stocks-take-off-as-a-2-hour-flight-could-now-cost-up-to-13000/articleshow/80873865.cms">SpiceJet and IndiGo stocks take off as a 2-hour flight could now cost up to ₹13,000</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/centre-earned-100-crores-by-sharing-vehicle-registration-data-with-companies-such-as-bmw-axis-bank-bajaj-allianz-lt-and-others/articleshow/80879638.cms">Centre earned ₹100 crores by sharing vehicle registration data with companies such as BMW, Axis Bank, Bajaj Allianz, L&amp;T and others</a>

30 people injured in massive earthquake in Japan

As if Nepal hadn’t suffer enough damage in the <keyword id="6362774" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="earthquake">earthquake</keyword> that rattled the country on April 25, another earthquake has hit the country today. 
 
This time magnitude was 7.4 as per the US Geological Survey. The epicentre was 83 km east of Kathmandu, and the depth measured on the Richter scale is 19km. 
 
Even as the death toll in the earthquake two weeks ago had crossed the 7,000 mark, this is going to be a huge worry for Nepal which is still reeling from the after effects of the devastation caused. 
 
What would be the serious cause of concern this time around would be all the buildings that had been physically rattled by the first earthquake but were still standing. While a lot of Nepal was raised to the ground in the previous earthquake that struck two weeks ago, this would only throw a darker shadow on the relief work that is ongoing as well as the thousands of people stranded out in the open, in overcrowded relief camps. 
 
Today’s earthquake could easily add a few hundreds if not more to the already overflowing relief camp of Nepal, giving the questionable safety point of the building in the country. The 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the Himalayan country on April 25, killed over 8000 people and injuring 17,800. 
 
The other major cause of concern would be deteriorating health conditions in these relief camps which are already feeling the pressure of having to cater to the thousands already residing over the last two weeks. 
 
Earlier, it was pegged that it will take 2 billion dollars to rebuild Nepal after the first earthquake had struck. Now, this could very well shoot those estimates much higher. 
 
The tremors of the earthquake were also felt in North India including West Bengal and Bihar. 
 
(Image: Reuters)

Major magnitude 7.4 earthquake rattles Nepal again. Tremors felt across North India

Fear and panic gripped people when two high intensity earthquakes struck <keyword id="12266" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nepal">Nepal</keyword> again on Tuesday. The Northern and Eastern part of <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> has felt the tremors again at around 12:35 pm. According to reports, the intensity of the quake is believed to be around 7.1 on the <keyword id="2847492" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Richters-scale">Richter's scale</keyword>. As per a Reuters report, the <keyword id="6362774" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="earthquake">earthquake</keyword> has hit 68km away from west of Namche Bazar, a town close to <keyword id="14834" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mount-Everest">Mount Everest</keyword>. 
 
However, the US Geological Survey, the intensity of the earthquake is estimated to be 7.4 Richter scale and is only 19 km deep. 
 
This was the second earthquake that rattled Nepal and the Northern part of India. Earlier in the day, another earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 on Richter's scale had rocked the region. Tremors were also felt in Bihar West Bengal, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim and other parts of India. 
 The epicenter of this earthquake today is reportedly close to the last quake. Four aftershocks were felt following the earthquake- two in Nepal, 1 in Indonesia and 1 in <keyword id="6354541" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="afghanistan">Afghanistan</keyword>. Overall, there have six major earthquakes have occurred in 45 minutes. 
 
The earthquake has also triggered three landslides in Nepal and has claimed four lives. The landslides have severely injured 12 people. Several passengers at the Kathmandu airport were seen rushing out of the airport. Back home, people were seen evacuating the building and scurrying on the roads. 
 
Following the earthquake that shook the Himalyan country and claimed over 8000 lives, geologists had predicted aftershocks and more tremors in the region. 
 
Currently, three Indian army engineering teams are still there in Nepal while Army choppers are now working to reach the remote parts of the country. The recent tremors are expected to hamper the relief works going on in Nepal massively. 
 
According to sources, an alert notification has been issued by the Indian government for rescue and relief operations in Nepal once again 
 
Updating...

Breaking News: Massive earthquake felt across Delhi NCR, Nepal is epicentre with 7.1 on Richter scale

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Mt. Nyiragongo erupted on May 22, triggering earthquakes and a chaotic evacuation of Goma - a city of 2 million in eastern <keyword id="67854" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Congo">Congo</keyword>. </li><li>Amid the exodus, hundreds of children were separated from their families, including 6-year-old Elie.</li><li>This is the story of how one family made it through a hellish series of natural disasters in one of the most vulnerable places on earth.</li></ul>When <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/a-volcano-erupted-in-eastern-congo-2021-5">Mount Nyiragongo</a> erupted in eastern Congo on May 22, there was no <a href="https://www.insider.com/drone-captured-volcanic-eruption-waste-to-a-city-in-congo-2021-6">warning</a>. On that first night, as the lava <a href="https://www.insider.com/drone-captured-volcanic-eruption-waste-to-a-city-in-congo-2021-6">flowed</a> towards the city of Goma, it covered 13 villages and wiped out 3,629 homes, before coming to a halt half a mile from the city's airport and less than two miles from one of its central markets. At least 37 people have been reported dead.Nyiragongo is one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes - it last erupted 19 years ago - and its presence 10 miles from Goma casts a perennial shadow over the city. And yet, even since the 2002 eruption, which buried large patches of Goma in volcanic rock, the city's population has swelled, largely as a consequence of the violent conflicts in the surrounding area, pushing hundreds of thousands to seek refuge in Goma. Goma, the largest city in the region, has over the last two decades become a hub for the United Nations and countless humanitarian agencies and the economic opportunities that have come with the <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> presence. The city's geographic proximity to the region's mining riches, and its location just over the border from Rwanda, made it even more attractive to the entrepreneurial. In the calm years, Nyiragongo has come to be something of a tourist draw: travelers who come to Goma on their way to see mountain gorillas in the nearby Virunga National Park sometimes include a hike up Nyiragongo as part of their itinerary. <div type="image" title="displaced kids Sake" height="3991" width="5986" msid="83291762" hostid="261"></div>Now, two weeks after the initial eruption, the immediate danger from Mount Nyiragongo seems to have passed, and Goma's residents are now faced with putting their lives back together. For one of Goma's residents, 40-year-old Moise Lukusha, it has been two weeks of misery and uncertainty. On the first night, Elie, his 6-year-old son, went missing. <h2>A frantic exodus </h2>Lukusha was downtown when he learned of the eruption; as panic overtook Goma's residents, he rushed home. Two of his children -Elie, 6, and Gedeon, 9 - had been watching television in the living room when the eruption began, and everyone started to run. They went outside and got swept away in the crowds. By the time Lukusha reached their home, Elie and Gedeon were gone. Lukusha thought they might have gone to Sake, 15 miles away. Goma sits between Lake Kivu and Congo's eastern border with Rwanda and, for those fleeing on foot, Sake was one of the only places to go. And so, Lukusha joined the thousands of people making their way to Sake.But neither boy was there. Gedeon had ended up aboard a truck taking people, free of charge, to another city, Masisi, about 50 miles northwest. There, a kind-hearted stranger took him in for three days, until she could arrange to have him ride in a car back to Goma. Back in the city, Gedeon knew his way back home. But Elie did not turn up - not at their home in Goma, not in Sake, not in any of the reunification centers that had been set up for unaccompanied children. "I lost my son and I'm still looking for him," Lukusha texted, days later. <h2>"The conditions were inhumane"</h2>When the lava flow stopped early the next morning, people, fearing that their homes might be looted, began returning to Goma. All the while, earthquakes regularly shook the city. By the morning of May 25, the Goma <keyword id="6357324" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Volcano">Volcano</keyword> Observatory had recorded 269 earthquakes since the eruption. <div type="image" title="Leaving Goma" height="4000" width="6000" msid="83291756" hostid="261"></div>The highest magnitude reached 5.2 on the Richter scale, bringing down several buildings and homes. Large cracks appeared in the ground, some snaking across main roads in central Goma. The tremors also damaged water distribution systems that had already been compromised by the lava flow, leaving 550,000 people without access to potable water. The local head of the French aid group Doctors Without Borders warned that residents were at a high risk of cholera. Worse still, there were warnings of the potential for a second volcanic eruption and the explosion of deadly methane and carbon dioxide gases from Lake Kivu, which could kill hundreds of thousands within minutes. On Thursday, May 27 - five days after the eruption - the local governor of North Kivu province ordered the mandatory evacuation of 10 of Goma's 15 neighborhoods. The announcement sparked an even bigger exodus than the first one. Over the next 24 hours, over 400,000 people - nearly a quarter of Goma's population - left the city on foot, on motos, on boats, or in cars, using the few available roads. Again, most headed towards Sake, causing a complete traffic blockage on the westbound road. Once the lava was cleared from the northbound road, others headed towards Rutshuru territory. A third flow of people went across the border to the east, into Rwanda. Yet a fourth run of people piled into boats and traversed 130 km to the southern tip of Lake Kivu, to seek refuge in Bukavu, the capital of neighboring South Kivu province.The largest portion of the exodus, in the direction of Sake, included 100 armored vehicles and military trucks transporting hundreds of UN peacekeepers that had also been ordered to evacuate their bases. A separate convoy of 53 UN trucks carrying 250 staff and 1200 of their dependents would continue past Sake, and head south to Bukabu over land. With favorable weather and a Landcruiser, the 100 km journey along dirt roads could be traversed in 7 hours. With the evacuation traffic blockade, however, it took the UN convoy 40 hours to complete.<div type="image" title="Aid distrobution Sake " height="4000" width="6000" msid="83291757" hostid="261"></div>In Sake alone, a town with a population of 70,000, over 180,000 people arrived that Friday, including Moise, his wife and six of his children. From Kinshasa - the country's capital, situated on the opposite end of the country's vast geographical stretch across the African continent, and accessible only by plane - the government's spokesman said that people fleeing to Sake should not expect more than "a minimum comfort.""Those that will go to Sake will not find the comfort they had in their homes because they are going to a zone that isn't specially arranged to receive them," Patrick Muyaya Katembwe, the spokesman, said at a press conference.Sure enough, Lukusha and his family found no aid distributions when they arrived. The family slept outside, and food and basic goods were difficult to find or afford. Marcelin, Moise's 24-year-old step-son, said corn that would normally cost between 100 and 300 francs, was selling for 1000 francs in Sake. In a report detailing the situation, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs attributed the price increases to the near halt in economic activities in Goma and the massive spike in demand. For most Congolese, 73 percent of whom live under the international poverty line of $1.90 per day, the costs in Sake were crippling. "Even to go to the toilet, we had to pay," Lukusha would later say. The fee - 1500 Congolese francs, the equivalent of nearly 1 US dollar - was exorbitant.<div type="image" title="Dad with running kids 20 " height="3000" width="4500" msid="83291765" hostid="261"></div>"The way we lived in Sake, it was a nightmare," Lukusha said. "The conditions were inhumane." Meanwhile, Lukusha was still searching for six-year-old Elie, going back and forth between Goma, Sake, and the other towns where people were seeking refuge. After days of this, he recalls sitting with his family on a soccer field in Sake amid crowds of evacuees, feeling certain that he would not see his boy again. "The little means I had, I finished it all off searching for little Elie, to go to Minova, Masisi, Bweremana, everywhere. I lost everything I had," he said. <h2>False alarms and a city on edge</h2>According to the International Organization for Migration, by Tuesday, June 1, about 160,000 of the 400,000 people displaced since the eruption of the volcano had already returned to their homes. They cited reasons that included unacceptable conditions in the refuge sites, a decrease in the magnitude and frequency of earthquakes, and fears that their abandoned homes would be looted. Families scattered in the chaos of the evacuations were also gradually reunited. Of the 1,340 children reported missing, all but 332 are back with their families,, according to UNICEF and its partners.All the while, the government continued issuing statements warning people to stay out of the "red zones," saying that earthquakes were still happening daily even if not all of them were felt. On June 1st, for example, the Goma Volcano Observatory recorded 71 tremors, the majority of which were not felt by the population. Moreover, surface deformations indicated potential movement of magma under the city of Goma itself, and possibly Lake Kivu. <div type="image" title="Diana add" height="3000" width="4500" msid="83293609" hostid="261"></div>Further confusing the general population, the Rwanda Environmental Management Authority's Lake Kivu monitoring team on Monday May 31, concluded that there is no imminent risk of gas explosions from Lake Kivu. But the local observatory was saying that lethal explosions were still a possibility. There were also false alarms, further unnerving the battered population. There were also false alarms, further unnerving the battered population. Muyaya, the spokesman from the national government in Kinshasa, tweeted - and then deleted - that there had been an eruption "of weak intensity" at Mount Nyamulagira, another nearby volcano. Aerial surveillance soon confirmed that there had not, in fact, been an eruption. It was only smoke rising from charcoal production, a very common sight in the region. Despite the ongoing evacuation order, Lukusha and his family were among those who had returned to Goma. That Sunday evening - eight days after the eruption - Lukusha was sitting in his living room when he looked up to see Elie at his doorstep, holding the hand of a stranger. He pulled the boy into his arms. And, soon enough, Lukusha finally learned what had happened to his son over their long week of separation.<h2>"Stay vigilant, stay vigilant"</h2>In the chaos that broke out on the evening of the volcanic eruption, Elie had followed the crowd heading west, towards Sake. Near Mugunga, one of the neighborhoods in the outskirts of Goma, he followed people into the hills, where he fell asleep for the night. The next morning, he continued through the wealthy neighborhood of Himbi, passing near the home that once belonged to Congo's infamous dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko. "The little one was truly tired, his feet swollen," Lukusha would say, recounting the story as he'd been able to piece it together. "He slept by the entrance to a gated property."<div type="image" title="Diana add 2" height="3000" width="4500" msid="83293610" hostid="261"></div>That's where the owner of the home found him. The man assumed that Elie was a street kid and, taking pity on him, brought him some avocados, bread and a bottle of water. The story then took a bizarre turn, according to what the man told Lukusha: the man decided he would adopt Elie. The idea, though, quickly fell apart. At church that Sunday, the man said his pastor advised him that Elie's parents were likely feeling frantic as they searched for their missing son. "This, while we were searching for the child, going up to the center of Masisi, Minova, Bweremana, everywhere," Lukusha said, incredulous. Insider was unable to confirm the details of the story, and the pastor could not immediately be reached. Lukusha said it appeared that Elie - reunited with his siblings as they played in their home in Goma - was doing well. For most of the city, this is still a time of limbo. It's not clear what the recovery will look like, or how long it will take to get back to some semblance of normalcy. <div type="image" title="ALHUGUET_034" height="3000" width="4500" msid="83291755" hostid="261"></div>There is also suspicion that the central government, 1000 miles away in Kinshasa, might be dragging out the relief effort in this long-neglected part of the country to maximize the political currency that comes with delivering help. On Saturday, June 6, just hours after Goma's international airport was reopened, the country's prime minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde touched ground with much fanfare, making a rare visit to the unstable but mineral-rich eastern part of the country. As for Goma, it's not yet clear if the city is truly safe yet. "They say the city of Goma is still in danger. We don't know if it's true," said Marcelin, Lukusha's step-son. "Really we have no idea what is happening in our city because they send us [text] messages 'stay vigilant, stay vigilant' but I don't even know if that means there was a second volcanic eruption.""Really," he said, "I have no idea."

A volcano, hundreds of earthquakes, and a missing 6-year-old: How one family survived 14 hellish days in eastern Congo

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Otto Greule Jr/Getty ImagesThe Marina district disaster zone after the 7.1 magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake on October 17, 1989.</div></div></div>Do you know how many Americans live and work in areas that could experience potentially damaging earthquakes?That is the first questions asked in "<a href="https://www.usgs.gov/news/hazard-guess-riskiest-science-quiz-you-will-ever-take">Hazard a Guess</a>," an ongoing series by the US Geological Survey (USGS). Dubbed the "riskiest <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> quiz you will ever take," the quiz series aims to raise awareness of natural hazards, including hurricanes, wildfires, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, and much more. So what is the answer? Nearly half of all Americans, according to <a href="http://earthquakespectra.org/doi/10.1193/111814EQS195M">USGS scientists</a>. This number includes 143 million people residing in the 48 contiguous states, as well as the populations living in the earthquake-prone areas of Alaska, Hawaii, and the US Territories. This estimate was published in a study in the <a href="http://earthquakespectra.org/doi/10.1193/111814EQS195M">Earthquake Spectra</a> journal and is derived from the recently updated <a href="http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/new-insight-on-the-nations-earthquake-hazards/">U.S. National Seismic Hazard Maps</a>. These maps identify where and how often earthquakes are likely to occur, as well as how strong they are likely to be. It is nearly double the <a href="http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2006/3016/">previous 2006 projections</a>, due to significant population growth in at-risk areas, as well as improvements in the science that allow for more accurate estimates. While these numbers of people at risk are startling, it is worth noting that the number of Americans in areas with the highest potential to experience damaging shaking is smaller: 28 million people. In addition, while all states have some potential for earthquakes, according to those same maps, only 16 are at high risk. All of these states have historically experienced earthquakes with a magnitude of 6 or greater, such as the California <a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1994_01_17.php">Northridge earthquake</a> (magnitude of 6.7) on January 17, 1994.The state with the highest populations exposed to very strong ground shaking levels was California. Other high-risk states, listed in descending order of risk, were Washington, Utah, and then Tennessee. Even though severe levels of shaking could lead to heavy damage and casualties, they are believed to occur relatively infrequently. The data helps researchers better understand the scale of earthquake hazards and ultimately strengthen the country's ability to protect Americans against future disasters, said Kishor Jaiswal, lead author and USGS research structural engineer in a <a href="https://www2.usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/nearly-half-of-americans-exposed-to-potentially-damaging-earthquakes/">statement</a>. But in the meantime, to help all of us understand what possible natural dangers we could face, "Hazard a Guess" will publish a new question every three weeks or so. Next up is: In what year did the United States experience the most acres burned from wildfires? <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/news/hazard-guess-riskiest-science-quiz-you-will-ever-take">Check back with the USGS</a> soon to find out the answer. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/do-not-ignore-ingrown-hairs-pimples-skincare-2016-5">Here's one type of pimple you should pay attention to</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="N1b2ZxMzE6iB_l2W7_vTKnz1OfutxStO" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

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