Free Republic

Special temporary U.S. residency issued to thousands of Central Americans is due to expire in the coming months, and with the debate over immigration increasingly fierce, many of the immigrants fear they will be sent home. The temporary status granted to Nicaraguans and Hondurans after Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and to Salvadorans following a devastating earthquake in 2001 has been renewed repeatedly with little public debate, but opposition is growing. Critics say the program was never meant to be permanent and that it's time for the more than 300,000 people it protects to return home. Immigrants and their advocates say...

When a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck central Croatia in 2020, it caused extensive damage to the city of Sisak's town hall—and led to a fortuitous archaeological discovery, The Miami Herald reports. During renovation and repair work to the building, construction crews encountered long forgotten and well-preserved Roman ruins buried just beneath the modern structure’s basement. Archaeologists determined that they belonged to a small theater or odeon, measuring around 65 feet in diameter, which would have once held musical performances and political gatherings. Croatian authorities described the unexpected find as “extremely valuable” and one that helps provide a deeper glimpse into the...

Actor Danny Glover has taken on a new role - as international statesman. The "Lethal Weapon" star traveled to South Africa late Wednesday to escort exiled former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide back home. Aristide has been issued a diplomatic passport after seven years in exile but has encountered resistance to his return to Haiti before a presidential run-off election on Sunday. Glover questioned why former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier would be allowed to return, but the twice-elected Aristide would not. "People of good conscience cannot be idle while a former dictator is able to return unhindered while a democratic leader...

On March 28th, 2025, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck Myanmar, causing a rupture in about 460 kilometers (290 miles) of the Sagaing fault line that runs through most of the country, causing shaking of at least intensity X on the Modified Mercalli scale. As heavy shaking was felt throughout much of Myanmar as well as other neighboring countries, the fault line moved side-to-side by as much 6 meters (20 feet) in some places, a movement which was captured by the camera in this video. This is the first (and currently only) known instance of a fault line motion being captured...

A Mag 4.1 earthquake just a few miles south of Knoxville TN at 9:00 EDT 10 May 2025 shook the geological region around between Knoxville and Atlanta GA this morning. No nationally reported reports of damage or injuries, but a low magnitude earthquake less than 5.0 seldom causes much damage. Hillside rock falls and tree falls in the already wet soil after several days of rain are likely the closer to the epicenter one goes. Unlike California's very broken earth and rocks, where small magnitude earthquakes are not felt very distance from the epicenter, the very large, very rigid Eastern...

2025-05-10 13:04:20 (UTC)... 25.0 km depth

The Cascadia fault, a 600-mile-long collision between two chunks of the earth's crust off the Pacific Northwest coast, has been quiet for a long time, and that is not a comforting fact. Major earthquakes occur somewhere in the world every year or two. Catastrophic tsunamis - giant waves generated by undersea earthquakes or landslides - strike less often, and some of the largest of tsunamis originate in places that do not, at first glance, appear particularly treacherous. The devastating tsunamis created Dec. 26 by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake that killed as many as 150,000 people on the shores of the...

Chile has issued a tsunami warning and said people should evacuate coastal areas in the south of country after a large earthquake. The warning was issued for the remote Magallanes region on the country's southern tip and parts of the Chilean Antarctic Territory. It comes after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck 219km (136 miles) off the coast of the city of Ushuaia, in neighbouring Argentina, on Friday, according to the United States Geological Survey. The earthquake was also felt in Ushuaia, local media reports, and aftershocks have been reported in the region. In a post on X, Chilean President Gabriel...

During the recent earthquake in Thailand, one woman found herself struggling to evacuate, not because of the disaster, but because her dog, blissfully unaware of the mayhem around it, was determined to sleep through it. An 18-second clip of the viral incident was posted to TikTok on Saturday (March 29), showing a woman desperately trying to wake her dog while pulling on its front paw. Despite the chaos, the samoyed, named Echo, refuses to budge, completely unbothered by its owner's desperate pleas. At one point, the woman even tried pulling both of Echo's paws but didn't get anywhere. Shortly after,...

African Elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park instinctively created an "alert circle" during the earthquake. The action was caught on camera, as seen below. The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says elephants circle to protect the young and the entire herd from threats. "Elephants have the ability to feel sound through their feet," The SDZWA said. "This video demonstrates the strong social family structure in elephant herds." The herd consists of Ndlula, Umngani, Khosi, and youngsters Zuli and Mkhaya, who went back to normal after about 4 minutes, though they did stay close to one another, the zoo...

According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the quake hit at 10:08 am local time and was centered 2.5 miles south of Julian in San Diego County. Notable shaking was felt across San Diego, Orange and Riverside counties. No immediate damage or injuries reported. People posted videos of the quake to social media. WATCH:

Bangkok -- Search teams in Myanmar recovered more bodies from the ruins of buildings on Friday, a week after a massive earthquake killed more than 3,100 people, as the focus turns toward the urgent humanitarian needs in a country already devastated by a continuing civil war. United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher, who is also the emergency relief coordinator, will visit the area on Friday in an effort to spur action following the March 28 quake. Ahead of the visit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to the international community to immediately step up funding for quake victims “to match the...

Myanmar's military opened fire at a Chinese Red Cross convoy carrying earthquake relief supplies on Tuesday night. The Ta'ang National Liberation Army, an armed rebel group, said that military troops shot at the convoy of nine vehicles with machine guns in eastern Shan State. Myanmar's junta, which said it was investigating the incident, denied shooting directly at the vehicles and said troops fired shots into the air after the convoy did not stop, despite it being signalled to do so. Myanmar has been gripped by violence amid a civil war between the junta, which seized power in a 2021 coup...

Myanmar's military junta has continued to bomb parts of the war-torn country following the major earthquake there, which has killed more than 1,600 people. The UN has described the attacks as "completely outrageous and unacceptable". Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews told the BBC that it was "nothing short of incredible" that the military was continuing to "drop bombs when you are trying to rescue people" after the earthquake. He called on the military regime, which seized power in a coup nearly four years ago to stop all military operations. "Anyone who has influence on the military needs to step up the...

The Telegraph via Yahoo News Chinese company investigated after Bangkok skyscraper collapses in earthquake Sarah Newey Sat, 29 March 2025 at 1:03 pm GMT-4 A Chinese-backed contractor is facing an investigation over the collapse of a 33-floor skyscraper in Bangkok in Friday’s earthquake. The unfinished building’s glass facade tumbled to the ground in a heap of smoke and dust, trapping dozens of people in the rubble, when a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit central Myanmar, some 800 miles from the Thai capital. But despite the skyline of the megacity being dotted with cranes, no other construction site reported similar collapses. Eight...

TOKYO (AP) — A strong 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit near Tonga, prompting a tsunami warning for the Pacific island country. The U.S. Geological Survey said the temblor hit about 100 kilometers (62 miles) northeast of the main island in the early morning hours of Monday local time. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an alert saying hazardous waves could be possible cor coasts located within 300 kilometers (185 miles) of the epicenter. No reports of damage were immediately available.

Video shows many scenes including two high rise buildings that collapsed.

Bangkok experienced an earthquake, slow and rocking, back and forth, long time. No damage.

An earthquake rattled Los Angeles hours after the 2025 Academy Awards ceremony wrapped up in Hollywood, according to multiple reports. The 3.9-magnitude tremor struck North Hollywood at around 10:13 p.m. on Sunday, according to the United States Geological Survey. Shaking was reported to be felt miles across LA, including in Pasadena, Long Beach, San Fernando Valley, Torrance, Redondo Beach and Glendale, NBC Los Angeles reported. There have been no immediate reports of injuries or damages, according to ABC 7. The Los Angeles Fire Department posted on X that they would not enter “earthquake Mode” following the quake.

Santorini has been hit by a powerful, shallow 5.3 magnitude earthquake, which is the strongest to strike the Greek island during recent seismic activity in the area. The tremors were felt in Athens on Monday evening and measured a focal depth of 17km (10.6 miles). ... The tourist hotspot has been rocked by seismic activity since January and more than 12,800 quakes have been detected by the University of Athens' Seismological Laboratory. ... Landslides have occurred in many parts of Santorini due to the frequency and intensity of the tremors and experts have not ruled out a major earthquake. Seismologists...