Mapping the Pakistani Earthquake

Speaking of Kathryn Cramer, she’s also put together a useful Google Maps mashup of earthquake data that allows us to see, quite precisely, where the quakes and aftershocks have hit in northern Pakistan. She notes:

One interesting result I obtain from my Community Walk earthquake site is that a small area, under 600 sq. kilometers, is getting creamed by the “aftershocks,” most over 5.0 on the Richter scale, one about 6.3. There were nineteen earthquakes in this small area over the course of a day and a half, some with epicenters walking distance apart (at least as the crow flies). They average 5.45.

Meanwhile, I haven’t seen a map from the news services that doesn’t show Pakistan as the size of thumbtack, but then I haven’t been looking very much. Has someone put out a map of this disaster that’s worth looking at?

Update, 10/11 at 9:15 AM: From the UN’s ReliefWeb Map Centre, a situation map of the region (direct link to PDF file). Via Cartography.

Posted on Monday, October 10, 2005 at 2:11 PM
Categories: Current Events, Hacks & Mashups

« Previous Entry | October 2005 | Next Entry »

Comments

Hi;

I’ve mapped 15 quakes in that region using Google Earth with reports from BigQuake. Most at a Z of 10km. A 7.6, 6.3 and the rest in the fives. Need a map? I map all seismic activity on the globe with this method.

Using “Eye of the Storm”, I also keep on top of hurricane plots. They’re rather dynamic and I can retrieve any significant storm data on record.

Wayne Bjorken

Wayne Bjorken | 10/10/2005 at 8:25 PM | #

Check out “www.springdivers.com” for the plot.

Wayne Bjorken | 10/10/2005 at 8:44 PM | #

Wayne: Some lists of quakes are longer than others.I don’t know why that is. I was initially using the Wilber II list and switched to the USGS list because it had 9 more quakes on it than the Wilber list, and some of those were in the mid-5s. (I have all those from the USGS site on my Communiuty Walk site with accessible GPS coordinates and such.)

Regarding the UN situation map, it seems to me that the shaded area labelled as “the most affected area” is a really strange shape, especially where the edges of the effect run along political boundaries. Perhaps those boudaries track geological features. I’m really curious how they came up with it.

Kathryn Cramer | 10/11/2005 at 2:28 PM | #

Following the above comment I just made, I went to have a look at the USGS page and I see something alarming emerging:

6.0 2005/10/11 15:05:40 4.796 95.088 30.0 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.5 2005/10/11 03:37:59 10.946 92.395 30.0 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
During the Pakistan quakes there were also quakes off indonesia around the plate associated w/ the tsunami and it looked to me like related activity.

Kathryn Cramer | 10/11/2005 at 2:42 PM | #

Yes. I’ve recorded seven events in that region over the last month. Most with a Z of 30 to 40km. The 6.0 event was at 30km. There’s a nice trench/fault that runs along the event track. I’d like to share the kml file with anyone that is interested.

I’ll put it on my web site in the next day or so.

www.springdivers.com

Wayne Bjorken | 10/11/2005 at 4:07 PM | #

Hi Kathryn;

These plots are quite interesting. I don’t about the boundaries that you describe. I look at the plate activity in general. My data is young and over long periods the plates should all move: albeit without noticeable effects. But as you know plate inactivity is the causes of these horrific events. Sooner or later something snaps and the big slip occurs: hence Pakistan.

Wayne Bjorken | 10/11/2005 at 4:33 PM | #

Kathryn;

I compared another map of the region and the lines/boundaries I see seem to provincial boarders.
I could be wrong though.

Wayne Bjorken | 10/11/2005 at 4:39 PM | #

This entry is more than 30 days old and is closed to new comments.

Comments on all entries are available via RSS.