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Posted on 09/02/2002 3:55:45 PM PDT by 2sheep
March 2, 2002 - U.S. Drops Thermobaric Bomb on Afghan Caves
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/011222/1/268w9.htmlThe US military is about to use a powerful new weapon in the ongoing war in Afghanistan, a "thermobaric" bomb which can suck oxygen out of the cavernous hideouts where Osama bin Laden and remnants of his al-Qaeda terror network may be holed up.
The laser-guided weapons contain an explosive that can penetrate deep into caves, as the hunt for bin Laden enters a new, more perilous stage, top Pentagon officials said Friday. Officials said 10 of the newly designed bombs were being shipped to Afghanistan after a successful test last week in Nevada.
Each thermobaric bomb -- also called fuel-air explosives -- contains two explosive devices and a highly flammable chemical that sends a deadly shock wave through enclosed spaces such as caves and tunnels without collapsing them. The weapons consist of a container of fuel and two explosive charges. When the first charge detonates, the fuel is dispersed. A second charge then detonates the billowing cloud of fuel.
Experts say such bombs tend to be far more powerful than conventional high explosives, and are more likely to kill or injure people hiding in caves, bunkers and similar shelters because they can suck the air out of such places.
Earlier versions of thermobaric bombs were used in Vietnam by the United States and in Chechnya by Russia. The new version, called the BLU-1186, was developed specifically for use in the war against terrorism, officials here said. [End]
March 4, 2002 - Aid Workers Report More Than 100 Killed in Afghan Earthquake
SAMANGAN, Afghanistan (AP) - Aid workers flying in by helicopter reported 100 people dead Monday in a remote northeast Afghan village crushed in a powerful earthquake that shook a wide area of Central and South Asia, a U.N. official said. Eight others were reported dead elsewhere.March 5, 2002 - Sunday quake might have been caused by bombingThe 7.2 magnitude quake crushed 100 houses in the village of Dakhli-Ezeu, trapping victims inside, Khaled Mansour, a U.N. World Food Program spokesman, said from Islamabad, the capital of neighboring Pakistan.
"The village is under a cliff, and huge rocks fell down from the cliff, basically flattening the houses," Mansour said. [Click on above link for the rest of it]
MOSCOW, Mar 05, 2002 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- The earthquake that shook Central and South Asia last Sunday might have been triggered by super-modern weapons intensively used by the U.S. aviation in the seismically dangerous areas of Afghanistan, a source in a Moscow geo-physical research center has told Itar-Tass on condition of anonymity.He said the supposition was confirmed by the unusually strong and lengthy tremors (up to one minute) that originated in the Hindu Kush Mountains and spread onto Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India. Even old residents of Kabul do not remember an earthquake similar to the Sunday tremor that exceeded 6 points on the Richter scale.
"A possible reason for the tremor was the American's large-scale use of powerful bombs, including the ones that are capable of starting avalanches in the mountains," the expert said. [Click on above link for the rest of it]
| The Great New Madrid Earthquake |  |
The recent earthquake which struck Kobe, Japan, resulted in the loss of over 5000 lives and millions of dollars in property. However, large parts of the United States are also subject to large magnitude quakes - quakes which could be far more powerful than the Kobe quake! Although we tend to think of California and Alaska as the places where most of our earthquakes occur, the fact is that the central U.S. has been the site of some very powerful earthquakes.
In the past three centuries, major earthquakes outside of California and Alaska generally occurred in sparsely-settled areas, and damage and fatalities were largely minimal. But some took place in areas that have since been heavily built up. Among them are three earthquakes that occurred in 1811 and 1812 near New Madrid, MO. They are among the Great earthquakes of known history, affecting the topography more than any other earthquake on the North American continent. Judging from their effects, they were of a magnitude of 8.0 or higher on the Richter Scale. They were felt over the entire United States outside of the Pacific coast. Large areas sank into the earth, new lakes were formed, the course of the Mississippi River was changed, and forests were destroyed over an area of 150,000 acres. Many houses at New Madrid were thrown down. "Houses, gardens, and fields were swallowed up" one source notes. But fatalities and damage were low, because the area was sparsely settled then.
The probability for an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 or greater is significant in the near future, with a 50% chance by the year 2000 and a 90% chance by the year 2040. A quake with a magnitude equal to that of the 1811- 1812 quakes could result in great loss of life and property damage in the billions of dollars. Scientists believe we could be overdue for a large earthquake and through research and public awareness may be able to prevent such losses.
Los Angeles can expect to be mightily damaged by movement on the San Andreas Fault, or the Newport-Inglewood or other neighboring faults, most probably within the next 25 years. But the Eastern and Midwestern states also face ground shaking of colossal proportions, repetitions of such known upheavals as the 1886 Charleston, S.C., quake, the 1755 Boston quake, and the Jamaica Bay quake hundreds of years ago on New York's Long Island. The granddaddy of them all was the 1811-1812 series of three great quakes on the New Madrid Fault (halfway between St. Louis and Memphis beneath the Mississippi), which shook the entire United States. The next time the New Madrid Fault produces such a quake, it is estimated 60 percent of Memphis will be devastated, leaving $50 Billion in damage and thousands of dead in its wake. Memphis, you see - like Armenia - has looked down the barrel of a loaded seismic gun for decades, but has done virtually nothing to move out of the crosshairs.
Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
We flatter ourselves to think that our puny machinations and attempts actually have any significant long-term impacts on the global environment.
If that is the case, why then in over 50 years of testing, no similar earthquakes have been set off by nuclear tests? The tests themselves have a strong seismic signature, but I do not recall tests being blamed for a 7.2 magnitude quake.
Furthermore, I do not know the hypocentral depth of the Afghan quake, but my guess would be on the order of 15 to 25 kilometers (which is fairly shallow, as quakes go). The force released by the fuel air explosive dissipates exponentially with respect to the distance traveled and the medium through which it is propagated.
For the same reason there is NO SUCH THING as "earthquake weather," it is highly unlikely fuel-air bombs "caused" the quake. The last part of the post is just Russian propoganda.
Now let me play Devil's advocate. I suppose it is possible you had a fault just sitting a "hair trigger," all stressed up and ready to rumble, the bombs could be the "straw that broke the camel's back," if you will pardon my non-pc pun.
In the same manner as the "simultaneous jumping humans" problem earlier in the post, we could work out the forces, but it is not really worth the effort.
NEIC: Near Real Time Earthquake List
Near Real Time Earthquake List
Updated as of Tue Sep 3 20:05:13 UTC 2002.
DATE-(UTC)-TIME Latitude Longitude Depth Magnitude Q COMMENTS
yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss degrees degrees km
2002/09/02 18:21:35 43.95N 128.36W 10.0 4.7 A OFF COAST OF OREGON
2002/09/02 15:17:13 44.01N 127.92W 10.0 4.4 B OFF COAST OF OREGON
2002/09/02 13:39:17 43.94N 128.29W 19.2 5.45.7 A OFF COAST OF OREGON
2002/09/02 13:38:10 43.91N 128.39W 21.6 5.2 A OFF COAST OF OREGON
2002/09/02 06:16:53 17.32S 178.79W 500.0 4.4 B FIJI ISLANDS
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