Planetary Tremors: Precursors To The Sinking Of Indonesia - 6.7 Magnitude Quake Strikes Off The South coast of Java, Indonesia! UPDATE: Second Major Earthquake Strikes Indonesia In 2 Days?!

A 6.7-magnitude earthquake jolted Indonesia early Monday, sending people fleeing to higher ground in fear of a tsunami, officials said. A tsunami warning issued immediately after the 3 a.m. quake was later called off, The Jakarta Post reported. The U.S. Geological Survey said its monitors placed the epicenter of the quake 14.9 miles deep 149 miles east-northeast of Christmas Island, 172 miles south of Tasikmalaya, 318 miles south of Bandung and 256 miles south-southeast of Jakarta.

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.7 struck in the Indian Ocean south of Indonesia's island of Java early Monday morning, prompting authorities to briefly issue a tsunami warning that sent thousands fleeing their homes in panic. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damages. The quake occurred about 412 kilometres south-southeast of Jakarta at 3:06 a.m. local time at a depth of 24 kilometres, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The temblor prompted Indonesian seismologists to issue a tsunami warning. Thousands of people in the town of Cilacap poured into the streets and ran to higher ground, many gathering in mosques, witnesses told El Shinta radio. Ninety minutes later, when the threat of a tsunami had passed, they were told to go home. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said that a destructive widespread tsunami threat doesn't exist based on historical earthquake and tsunami data. Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the so-called Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. A 9.1-magnitude quake with a subsequent tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004, killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen nations, nearly three-quarters of them in western Indonesia. - CBC News. 

UPDATE: Second Major Earthquake Strikes Indonesia In Just 2 Days?!

Just two days from the 6.7 earthquake that hit Java, a 6.0 magnitude earthquake has just hit Kepulauan Talaud in Indonesia. More signs of the imminent sinking of the country.

A 6.0 earthquake has struck Kepulauan Talud, Indonesia at the fairly shallow depth of 17 km. The quake is the latest in an on-going series of seismic disturbances plaguing the Indonesian region. Cautionary tsunami watches have been issued. The quake, which hit at 3.06am local time (6.06am AEST), was felt across Java including in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, where buildings shook for more than 30 seconds, as well as in Denpasar on the island of Bali. A tsunami alert was issued but later cancelled by Indonesian authorities who reported a magnitude-7.1 quake at a depth of 10 kilometres, with its epicentre in the Indian Ocean 293km southwest of Cilacap in central Java. The US Geological Survey, however, registered the quake at magnitude-6.7, reporting it struck at a depth of 24km, 277 kilometres south of Tasikmalaya in West Java and 241km east-north-east of Christmas Island. - Herald Sun.

Planetary Tremors: Pennsylvania Residents Fear Sinkhole Danger?!

Sinkholes are an undermining fact of life in the Lehigh Valley – a region where rainwater relentlessly wears away limestone. But residents who keep a close eye on gaps in the ground say recent heavy rains have made the problem visibly worse.

Some fear for the safety of youngsters, who might meet danger in places like Tatamy, where a 40-foot sinkhole (known locally as the “Forty Footer”) yawns about a mile from Trisha Street. “With all of this rain, it has been playing havoc on the ground,” said Linda Iudicello, a Palmer Township resident. A sinkhole - about 10 feet wide and 4.5 feet deep – on her property dropped another foot and a half after a significant rainfall this winter. After more rain on March 10, the hole dropped another foot, according to the wary homeowner. She says the expanding sinkhole in her backyard is one of 458 such holes found along the Bushkill Creek since 1999. The creek is a popular warm-weather destination for kids. Iudicello is a founding member of the Brookwood Group, a community action organization formed in 1999. The group is made up of Palmer Township homeowners who lost their homes on Babbling Brook Road to chronic sinkhole issues. The group represents 21 families, she said. They work to raise public awareness of sinkhole dangers. The sinkhole problem became widely evident five years after the group’s formation. In 2004, a sinkhole damaged a northbound Route 33 bridge, which cost $3.5 million to replace. PennDOT workers survey the two Route 33 bridges and approaches over the Bushkill Creek once every two weeks, said Ron Young, district press officer. “An inspection of the key components on both bridges is done once per month,” Young said in an e-mail to Patch. The monitoring is to ensure no significant movement in the bridges poses any hazardous driving conditions, according to Young. “Basically, over the last year, there have been very minor movements,” he said. “Keep in mind that all bridges are designed to allow for movement, and all bridges do have movement. If at any time [PennDOT] felt there was any danger to motorists, the bridge[s] would be closed.” When it comes to Tatamy’s closed Bushkill Street bridge, also known as the State Route 2017 Bridge, there are no plans for replacement, according to Young. “As far as the Department knows, local officials do not want a replacement,” Young said. “We would not pursue utilizing taxpayer dollars to build a bridge where it is not wanted.” According to Young, the bridge was closed when “a sinkhole opened beneath the relatively shallow foundations of the old Route 33 North bridge, causing it to sink lower than the Route 33 roadway. The new bridges have much deeper foundations, which limit the effect potential sinkholes could have on the two structures.” Pennsylvania is one of seven states that suffer the most damage from sinkholes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The other states are Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. Iudicello said one reassuring thing about local sinkholes is that they follow a pattern. She has had 3-D imaging used on her property to show exactly where the trouble spots are. “You don’t get totally comfortable with it, but [the sinkholes] are not cropping up in new places,” she explained. “[The sinkholes] are cropping up in the same places they’ve always been. It’s the same fractures in the Earth. I’d be nervous if one cropped up in my back yard on virgin soil.” - UpperSauconPatch.