Front Page of the Day

Astronomy vs. the earthquake

Posted by Joel Martinsen on Monday, June 2, 2008 at 3:17 PM

Beijing Daily Messenger
June 2, 2008

Like many newspapers today, Beijing Daily Messenger leads with a headline concerning the search to find a rescue helicopter that crashed Saturday afternoon.

More than 4,000 people have spread out in the mountainous area near Yingxiu in an effort to locate the crash site and rescue the five crew members and nineteen evacuees aboard. The subhead notes that rough terrain and thick forests complicate the search.

The main photo shows one of two miners who were rescued yesterday, twenty days after they earthquake.

Most of the other major headlines are quake-related as well. Engineers working to dig a channel to solve the problem of the "quake lake" at Tangjiashan have left the area. The lake is expected to start draining on its own sometime tomorrow.

And the paper clears up yet another rumor about botched earthquake prediction by asking Wang Sichao, an expert from the Purple Mountain Astronomical Observatory in Nanjing, to explain why the moon has nothing to do with earthquakes:

The post circulating online claimed: "The Wenchuan earthquake occurred precisely at the first quarter of the moon (the eighth day of the fourth lunar month). On that day, the time of the first quarter was 11:47. On the day of a first quarter moon, gravity acts on the Earth from two different directions, and this gravity can create an unusual or resonant effect in certain plates in the Earth's crust." The post also said that other earthquakes throughout history had occurred at times when the moon was in its first or last quarter.
...
Wang Sichao explained that out of the sixteen most significant earthquakes in the world over the past two decades, five had occurred within two days of the moon's first and last quarters, while eight had occurred within two days of the new and full moon. Three had taken place at other times during the month, including the major earthquake that hit Taiwan on 21 September, 1999 (the 12th day of the lunar month). So this does not support the idea that there's a relationship between the quarters of the moon and earthquakes.

For other rumors, see The Dream And Reality Of Earthquake Prediction at ESWN.

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There are currently 4 Comments for Astronomy vs. the earthquake.

Comments on Astronomy vs. the earthquake

Science Earthquake Prediction here: http://earthquake.hit.bg

The moon makes the earthquakes...

Posted by: Boyko Iliev | June 3, 2008 12:06 AM

Sirs,

The relation Moon-Earth is direct and affects indeed the timing of major catastrophes on our Planet, and this approach suppose another understanding of our Environment which as the true Geology teaches is ruled by something which I call the UPL or Universal Pressure Law. In this light there is NO attraction or repulsion but differentiasl of Pressure, and you may see that all systems on the Earth, including biological, are related to Hydraulic, Pneumatic approach.

This is of course a new kind of approach to understanding the Earth and opportunity to warn of coming Quakes. In this light I have developed and experimented a new system to protect buildings of "S" waves destruction and implemented the system on my house. I would be pleased to give the system to China, if some people are interested, and eventually since I have Chinese friends in France, photos can be added to the documentation with comments in Chinese ... as well, concerning that new understanding of Earth movements, where faults are not causes but consequences indeed, I know there is a easy way to release tensions in the Crust, but by anticipation only, since the implementations requires in all cases at least A Full Month of planning.
Last but not least, please accept my sympathy for the Chinese victims and definitive consideration at the way China led by Mr Wen Jiabao managed to save probably a million lives by acting with the most admirable & efficient way it did. Congratulations to China & its concern for all its people.

Yours sincerely

Jean-Paul Turcaud
Australia Mining Pioneer
Discoverer of Telfer, Nifty & Kintyre Mines in the Great Sandy Desert
Exploration Geologist & Offshore Consultant
Bus ph + 33 6 50 17 14 64
Founder of the True Geology

~ Ignorance is the Cosmic Sin, the One never Forgiven ~

for background info.
http://www.tnet.com.au/~warrigal/grule.html
http://users.indigo.net.au/don/tel/index.html
http://users.indigo.net.au/don/tel/nac.html
http://members.iimetro.com.au/~hubbca/turcaud.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/stories/s28534.htm

Posted by: Jean-Paul Turcaud, Australia Mining Pioneer | June 3, 2008 3:24 PM

wow, the loonies are really coming out of the woodwork. . .

Posted by: bocaj | June 3, 2008 6:30 PM

Considering the magnitude and diversity of phenomena involved in generating an earthquake, looking into the heavens can't seriously be expected to be of any use by itself. It is like looking for the moon to explain why the Himmalayan mountains are still growing. Do they grow more during a full moon than a quarter? No doubt some correlation could be established if we could study it closely enough, but it would be so miniscule it would constitute a fetish to care about it.

Posted by: dennis hägglund | June 28, 2008 5:57 PM

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