UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, October 5, 1994
9A
Quake beneath the sea rattles Japan, Russia
The Associated Press
TOKYO — A major undersea earthquake killed at least 16 people in Russia's remote Kuril Islands late yesterday, jolted Japan and triggered fears of tidal waves on both sides of the Pacific.
By early today, about 40 small tsunami waves had been observed in Japan. Most were less than 3 feet high, although one was 6 feet. There were no reports of any damage.
A quake with a preliminary magnitude of at least 7.9 hit near the sparsely populated Kuril Island chain north of Japan. At least 176 people in northern Japan were injured by broken glass and falling objects, but only three of the injuries were considered serious.
Hawaii closed its public schools and beaches early yesterday and ordered residents of coastal areas to evacuate. But the waves reached only 18 inches and the tsunami warning was lifted about six hours later.
A 6.0 magnitude aftershock was felt early today in the same area. There were no immediate reports of additional damage or injuries.
The first quake sent 10-foot-high tidal waves smashing into the Kurils, destroying moorings and hurling small boats onto land. But the waves were smaller and less destructive farther from the epicenter.
In Moscow, Russia's Ministry for Emergency Situations said the bodies of at least 16 people were found on three islands in the Kurl chain. Most were killed by falling debris, ministry representative Anatoly Streltsov said.
sad.
In some parts of the Kurils, 18-inch cracks were visible in the earth after the quake, Streltsov said.
Viktor Sankov, spokesman for Russia's regional government on Sakhalin Island, said all of the dead were believed to be Russian military. About 50,000 Russians, including several thousand troops, live in the southern Kurils.
Knight-Ridder Tribune
Three large cargo planes carrying rescue workers and equipment were headed for the disaster area from Moscow and Siberia, Sankov said.
Japanese authorities said an air force plane sent to survey damage was missing with two pilots aboard.
The initial quake — which lasted more than a minute — was centered 13 miles beneath the Pacific Ocean floor, near the southern end of the Kuril chain, Japan's Central Meteorological Agency estimated the quake's preliminary magnitude at 7.9, making it the strongest to hit the region in 26 years.
The National Earthquake Center in Golden, Colo., estimated the quake at 8.2. It is common for preliminary estimates of an earthquake's magnitude
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a tidal wave warning for all Pacific islands and coastal areas, including the west coast of the United States and Canada.
to differ.
Tsunami: Deadly wave
But the waves dissipated as they crossed the Pacific.
A 1-foot tsumiwave was spotted yesterday afternoon in the western Aleutians, about 1,000 miles east of Hokkaido, said Paul Whitmore, a geophysicist at the Alaska Tsuniwarm Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska.
SOURCES: Life Nature Library; The Sea, Time-Life Now Things Work; Oceans, World Book Encyclopedia of Science; research by BERNNA SCHNAN
Knight-Ridder Tribune
The wave receded as it moved east and was not considered dangerous. Tsunamis are generally not considered threatening to coastal areas until they reach 3 feet, Whitmore said.
Dutch Harbor, low-lying island villages off Alaska's western peninsula. The Coast Guard moved a cutter into deep water at Kodaki and sent some of its planes into the air from Air Station Kodiak as a precaution, said Coast Guard Lt. Ray Massey in
Some precautionary evacuations had been made from Sand Point and
Demonstators mark the anniversery of revolt at Russian White House
The Associated Press
and soldiers to end the rebellion over his disbanding of parliament. The demonstrators dispersed peacefully after observing a minute of silence in memory of the more than 140 people who died in the violence.
Yeltsin, too, paid tribute to the dead,
"regardless of which side they were on,
and asked the new parliament to cast aside "hurt feelings and petty disputes."
Yeltsin said that the election of a new parliament and the slowing of inflation showed that there was "a kind of trust and confidence in Russia quite different from a year ago. Therefore, we completely rule out any major change in policy, at least until 1996 when a new president is elected."
His speech at the Kremlin came a day before Russia's new parliament opened its second session.
MOSCOW — As demonstrators circled the old parliament building to commemorate the anniversary of a crushed rebellion, President Boris Yeltsin said yesterday that Russia is stronger and more confident because that second October Revolution failed.
Over the past year, Russia has changed a lot," Yeltsin said. "We cut the Gordian Knot. We have created a new constitution, which has allowed social peace."
About 1,500 Communist supporters formed a human chain around Russia's White House, the old parliament building, a year after Yeltsin in tanks
"The unionists are my people," Adams said in a speech to the National Press Club. "I may not agree with them, but they are my people."
Among the signs of progress Yeltsin
The decree says the president can appoint or dismiss regional administrators, but a representative in Yeltsin's office yesterday said that applies only to appointed, not elected, officials.
boasted of are better relations between Moscow and Russia's far-flung regions. He moved to tighten those ties this week with a decree spelling out local leaders' duty to obey the constitution and federal government decrees.
Immediately after the Press Club speech, Adams went to the State Department for a meeting with John Kornblum, deputy assistant secretary of state for European Affairs, Leon Feurth, Vice President Al Gore's national security adviser, and Nancy Soderberg, staff director of the National Security Council.
At the same time, Adams, who is bidding for political and economic support from the Clinton administration, was conciliatory toward Irish unionists, who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom.
Irish leader says cease-fire issue only 'semantics' The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Irish nationalist leader Gerry Adams sidestepped questions yesterday about his refusal to declare that the cease-fire in Northern Ireland should be permanent. He called the issue "semantics by the British government."
In his speech Adams was sharply critical of the British for curtailing democratic rights.
Adams' refusal to endorse a permanent cease-fire was a factor in the decision of the Clinton administration to reject his request to meet with officials at the White House.
Adams said the question of permanence was "one of semantics as far as the British government is concerned."
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