Apologies for the lateness of this report

HINDU KUSH EARTHQUAKE EXPECTED TOLL - 5000, DEADLIEST HINDU KUSH EQ EVER

SUMMARY

The death toll from the Hindu Kush earthquake of Sunday has reached
2,000 and is expected to continue to rise towards a dreaded 5,000.
This would make this the earthquake which has caused the most
deaths in the region on record. An event in 1998 killed 4,000, and
the largest in Afghanistan killed 20,000 in 1905.
Most people were killed by poorly constructed brick and adobe -
type construction which is highly vulnerable in even moderate
shaking. The first step in protection from earthquake disasters
is proper construction techniques. A little advance warning
never hurt either, though. Unfortunately, war, famine and general
conditions of poverty throughout the region have made the development
of enforcable building codes a distant dream for most of the area.
The question of what, if any, affect the use of huge bombs capable
of producing craters the size of football fields has had in
bringing this earthquake about earlier than it otherwise would
have occurred in a serene setting is difficult to address under
the best circumstances. But if you keep shaking something eventually
the loose parts are going to give.
This earthquake occurred near the surface in an area where the
bombing perhaps was intense in an effort to root out Al Qaeda
terrorists who were hiding in the caves in the mountains of
Hindu Kush. It can't be proven, but the suspicion that there
was an effect is difficult to overcome.

GLOBAL

In yesterday's report, the Ms 6.5+ earthquake in the Ryukyu Islands
had just occurred and detail were not yet available. This was the
largest earthquake since the Mindanao (Mw 7.5) shock on March 5.

Other earthquakes today occurred in the Near Islands, Aleutians (Mb 4.3);
as Hindu Kush aftershocks (Many 4+), in Taiwan (Mb 4.8); in the Central
Vanuatu Islands (Mb 5.0); and on the East Pacific Rise near the
Chile Rise off the Coast of Chile (Mb 4.9). Late in the evening a minor
swarm was beginning off the west coast of Spain.

U.S./CANADA

The strongest earthquakes of the day in the region of the U.S./Canada
occurred in the Revillo Gigedo Islands off of western Mexico (Mb 4.2) and the
northern Gulf of California (Mb 4.4) and Baja region (Mb 3.5,
3.1, 3.1) along the general region from the Salton Sea to Imperial
Valley near the California-Mexico border.
Other parts of California-Nevada remained quiet today. A Ml 2.8 occurred
near Bodie, CA north of Mammoth Lakes, and another Ml 2.8 was recorded
near Mt. Shasta in northern California. Total events for California-Nevada
of Ml>=2 today were two in northern California, none in Nevada and
4 in southern California (all in the Baja/Calexico area) - a total
of only 6 for the day. Overall seismicity remained relatively low
in the region.
In the Pacific Northwest, four earthquakes of Ml>=1.9 were recorded.
No such events had been listed in the region from March 13 to 23, however
in the past 3 days, there have been 7 such earthquake in 6 different
regions, suggesting a strong regional activation has occurred in the
last three days. Today's events occurred near Olympia (Ml 1.9);
two at Tacoma (Ml 2.1, 2.4) and one at Mt. Shasta (Ml 2.5). An Ml 2.2
was also located SSW of Pt. Hardy, BC near Vancouver Island.
The strong swarm near Jackson Lake fell quiet today (at least until
about an hour ago when a Ml 2.5 occurred in that region). No other events
of Ml>=2 were listed in the Rocky mountain states nor the Eastern
U.S. nor Canada for today.
Alaska saw no events of Ml>=3 listed today, however the largest
earthquake in more than a month (Ml 3.5) was seen in western Hawaii.

NEW ZEALAND

A moderate earthquake of Ml 4.7 was recorded along southeastern
North Island, New Zealand last night. IGNS reports that this earthquake
was probably felt strongly in Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa regions.
This earthquake trace showed up strongly on the on-line seismogram
from Cannon Point, N.Z.

The IGNS on-line Seismometer can be found at:
http://www.gns.cri.nz/news/earthquakes/latest_drum.html

GEOMAGNETIC/SOLAR FIELDS

The geomagnetic field remained at quiet conditions today. There
were no M- or X-class solar flares observed.

Flare # START MAX END CLASS

For general space weather conditions see:
http://sec.noaa.gov/today.html
For Solar flare data see:
http://sec.noaa.gov/ftpdir/indices/events/20020326events.txt

TOMORROW IN EARTHQUAKE HISTORY

GLOBAL:

There was only one damaging earthquake on this date (March 27),
but watch out for March 28!!

The following events of Mw>=7 have occurred on this date in
recorded history:

MO DA HR MN SC YEAR LATIT LONGIT DEP MW LOCATION

3 27 3 45 30 1908 17.000 -101.000 60 7.2 Michoacan, Mexico
3 27 3 45 30 1908 17.000 -101.000 60 7.5 Michoacan, Mexico
This earthquake was destructive in Guerrero. A regional aftershock
of the Ms 8 on March 26, 1908.

3 27 10 48 30 1926 -9.000 157.000 60 7.2 Solomon Islands
3 27 6 34 5 1949 3.500 127.500 60 7.0 Halmahera
3 27 21 18 29 1950 -5.900 102.900 0 7.0 So. of Sumatera
3 27 12 41 36 1969 4.773 127.514 32 7.0 Halmahera
3 27 18 36 46 1970 0.400 119.300 8 7.1 Malaysia

U.S./CANADA

No damaging earthquakes occurred in the U. S. of Canada on this day
in history. All recorded events of Mb>=5 occurred in the Andreanoff Islands.

3 27 17 9 52 1971 52.515 -174.546 133 5.6 Andreanoff Islands, Aleutians
3 27 16 28 47 1974 50.109 -179.657 37 5.6 Andreanoff Islands, Aleutians
3 27 11 39 9 1979 51.823 -175.325 43 5.0 Andreanoff Islands, Aleutians
3 27 18 1 54 1984 51.300 -172.100 0 5.1 Andreanoff Islands, Aleutians
3 27 18 2 4 1984 52.011 -169.708 35 5.3 Fox Islands, Aleutians
3 27 17 10 52 1987 51.297 -178.271 33 5.1 Andreanoff Islands, Aleutians
3 27 13 23 4 1992 52.875 -173.988 182 5.3 Andreanoff Islands, Aleutians
3 27 14 56 52 1996 52.383 -168.733 33 5.0 Fox Islands, Aleutians
3 27 15 38 46 1996 52.298 -168.672 24 5.1 Fox Islands, Aleutians
3 27 15 38 46 1996 52.298 -168.672 33 5.3 Fox Islands, Aleutians