A powerful earthquake of magnitude 8.8 struck central region of Chile during the early hours of Saturday, killing around 47 people. The quake near Conception took place at 3.34 a.m., when most of the citizens were asleep. Conception, second largest city of Chile, is 221 miles from Santiago, capital of Chile and has a population of over 200,000 people.

Death toll may rise, says Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, who urges people to stay calm. However, according to the US weather department, Chile, along with Ecuador and Peru, faces immediate threat of Tsunami. The department later added few areas of Colombia, Central America, and Antarctica to the list. Japan too warned major regions of Pacific about the impending tsunami to Costa Rica and Panama.

The increased sea level indicates that a minor tsunami was generated during the quake. The event could have been more disparaging and coast could have witnessed major destruction; however, the level did not rise further.

Few buildings collapsed in Santiago and there was no power in some portion of the city. Phone likes were down as well, which created more chaos and confusion among people. A new channels confirmed tremors in Argentina as well.

None of the weather department around the world is expecting a tsunami on the eastern coast of US and Canada.

However, they are constantly monitoring the situation.

Lethal tsunami hit South Pacific island of Samoa and American Samoa killing not less than 85 people including US territory. It has washed away local villages and holiday resorts and thousands of people are been left dispossessed and missing in that terrain.

An earthquake with the magnitude between 8.0 and 8.3 set off creating tsunami waves up to the height of 20- 15 feet high in the shore of Samoa and some areas of the island including American Samoa. Samoa islands encompass of two separate unit, the nation of Samoa and a US territory named American Samoa with the total population of not less than 250,000 people. As per the recent report, around 65 people are killed and 145 injured mentioned general manager of health service. Barack Obama US president stated it as major tragedy for American Samoa and permitting for federal financial support for the victims made accessible. US military aircraft will be send to Honolulu for providing aids to the victims of South Pacific islands. Damage in property was rigorous; cars floating everywhere, waves wiped away the low-lying areas in Samoan islands said Mr. Faleomavaega. He added saying tsunami hit within minutes sending off no time for people to escape and there was no acceptable warning given to the people. Victims are supposed to rise as people arriving from other coastal areas said Dr Lemalu Fiu. Quite a few foreign tourists counting from Australia and New Zealand believed to be amongst the dead. Secretary General Talutala Mauala reported during her visit of south coast that many were wounded, damage in full extent, dead bodies everywhere, and reports of missing bodies to be found as most of the houses were swept by sea.

According to the latest reports the Taiwanese president confirmed that the total number of casualties caused by the flood and mudslides could cross 500. Out of the total 500 people killed, 400 are from a single village. The village of Hsiaolin was hit by a massive mudslide that leveled all but two houses. One can only realized the magnitude of the damage that has happened in Hsiaolin after visiting the place. The village has been converted into a river bed with no structure standing. The entire village has been engulfed by a mud avalanche and is expected to be 20-30 meters deep. It is expected that nearly 400 people are still buried under the mud at the village site. The mud avalanche was so strong that it took with it a 17 meter bridge. The rescue teams reaching the site have a mammoth task ahead for them, they have not got a single clue on where to start digging. Even if they would have reached the site in time, they still would have not been able to do much.

In the last few days thousands of people have been moved to safer shelters by airlift, yesterday alone 2000 people were airlifted to safer locations. Most of the effected areas are in the mountains and the only way to reach them is by helicopters. As the weather is clearing the authorities are speeding up the rescue process. Most of the roads and bridges connecting these locations have been totally destroyed. As many as 34 bridges and 253 sections of road have been destroyed by flooding and it will take a minimum of three years to rebuild them.

Typhoon Morakot caused damages worth US $ 910 million and the reconstruction cost could well exceed US$ 3.65 billion. As the Typhoon passed over the island nation it unleashed more then 200 cm of rain which caused massive flooding and mud avalanches.

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck Tokyo and other parts of central Japan injuring 43 people. The main impact of the earthquake was on transport systems as it stopped Shinkansen bullet train service and also authorities had to close a motorway in Makinohara which was damaged due to a landslide caused by the quake. Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant in Shizuoka was shut down after the quake. The power plants two reactors were shut down to check the impact of the quake.

Although a tsunami alert was raised but was cancelled later. Japan is one of the most seismically active zones on earth and geologists have warned that Tokyo could be hit by a major earth quake in next 50 years. The quake hit Japan at 2007 hrs GMT on Monday and had its epicenter 170 kilometers south west of the capital.

Another earthquake stuck off the coast of Andaman Islands. The quake was of 7.6 magnitude and its epicenter was in the Indian Ocean, 257 kilometers not the Aandaman capital Port Blair. There was a tsunami warning issued post the quake for the costal areas of India, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh and Andaman Islands. But it was later on cancelled.

The first of the four earthquakes had its epicenter about 343 miles southeast of the border city of Tijuana and measured 5.8 on the Richter scale. The tremors of the quake were felt as far as Phoenix in Arizona State. The earthquake happened at 10:55 am. The next and the most powerful of the four happened at 10:59 am and measured 6.9 on the Richter scale. This was followed by two subsequent earthquakes of 5.0 magnitude on the Richter scale at 11:33 am and 5.9 magnitude on the Richter scale at 11:40 am.

As per the latest reports there has been no damage to property or injuries. Fire department personal are looking for possible building cracks and leakage in gas and water lines. There have been no distress or damage report calls on 911 till now.

Mexico is one of the most seismically active regions on the planet as the North American plate moves against the Cocos Plate. There have been many earthquakes in the past due to the movement of these tectonic plates.

Some say it is a bad omen, but astronomers wait for them. On 22nd July 2009, India will wake-up to an extended night, a night that can not be missed, and an opportunity of a life time. A total solar eclipse in India will last for 3 min and 44 seconds. The next total solar eclipse will happen in 13th June 2152. This is the longest solar eclipse of the century and is of a magnitude 1.080 and would be visible from a narrow corridor with passes through India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Mayanmar, China and then moves off land into Pacific Ocean. The shadow will be at it peak in the pacific where the eclipse will last for 6 minutes. The best spot to watch the eclipse in India are Surat and Taregana. The total solar eclipse will be visible in many large cities on the corridor that includes Surat, Vadodara, Bhopal, Varanasi, Patna, Dinajpur, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Hefei, Hangzhou and Shanghai.

Kurakshetra is a holy city and pilgrims visit the city especially during eclipse to have a holly dip in the Brahma Sarovar and this time is expected to have 3 to 5 million visitors.

It is believed that a dip in the Brahma Sarovar during the solar eclipse washes one of all sins.

A major earthquake hit the west coast of the Southern Island of New Zealand. The earthquake was of very high magnitude and measured 7.8 on the Richter scale. A tsunami warning has been issue post the earthquake. The earthquake happened at 20:22 hrs local time and the epicenter of the quake was 161 kilometers west of the Invercargill. The info was release by the United States Geological Survey a monitoring body that measures earthquakes around the world.

As of now there have been no confirmed reports that the earthquake created a tsunami and thus the warning as of now only applies for New Zealand. The tremors of the earthquake were felt in the city of Queenstown as the buildings shook violently. There was also an aftershock and it happened twenty minutes post the quake and measured 5.2 on the Richter scale. There have been no casualties but has downed power and phone lines in the region.

If we look at past history, there have been Tsunami’s as a result of offshore earthquakes including the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake which created a devastating tsunami and caused major loss of life and property and is one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. The main impact of the Tsunami was in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.

A moderate 6.0 magnitude quake on the Richter scale struck the scenic hilly Yunnan province in China at 11:19 GMT on Thursday at a 10 kilometres depth.

The quake has claimed one life with hundreds being injured and razing to the ground 18,000 and above homes in south-west China. Massive evacuation of more than 4,00,000 people was undertaken  by thousands of soldiers and police personnel, with necessary supplies like marquee, blankets amongst other provisions being made available.

More than 75,000 houses have faced severe damage in six districts of Yunnan with nearly 30 people afflicted with grave injuries. In the Yao’an district of Yunnan, close to 328 are injured with one dead.

The epicentre of the quake was on a region that has a rather sparse populace in the east-northeast area of Dali city than spans 98kms. There were eight post-tremors that ensued creating utter chaos amongst the residents who rushed outside to avert any major harm.

The governor of Yunnan, Qin Guangrong has bailed out 2.9 million dollars towards calamity assistance. The assessment of the mass destruction is reported to cause a dent of 2.5 billion yuan to the local economy.

A huge 8.0 scale quake struck Sichuan province last year had claimed the lives of 87,000 people, many of whom went missing.