Sichuan Earthquake Update

An Italian farmer and his family had an unbelievably close call with some house-sized boulders. You have to see the pictures to believe it. The boulders were dislodged during a landslide on January 21 in Northern Italy. One of the boulders smashed through the barn and courtyard of the farm and cut a swath through their vineyard before stopping near a boulder from some previous rockfall / landslide event. That older boulder is even bigger, about the same size as the entire farmhouse and big enough to be seen on Google Earth! See below or download the KMZ file.

More Photos

[Editor] See more after the break. [/Editor]

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Indonesia is planning to build what will be the World’s longest suspension bridge to link up its two main islands of Java and Sumatra. The total length will over 30-km with a (max?) height of 70-m so ships can pass underneath. The catch is that the bridge will be located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the boundary between the Asian and Australian tectonic plates and one of the most seismically and volcanically active areas in the world. There have been several recent earthquakes greater than magnitude 7, not to mention the earthquake that caused the 2004 tsunami. The bridge will be built to withstand a magnitude 9 earthquake. Oh, and in case the seismic concerns weren’t great enough, the bridge will pass within 50-km of the volcano Krakatoa. The estimated cost of the bridge is $12 billion ($AU?). Credit to Geology.com for the story.

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