Three small earthquakes rattled parts of central Arizona, jolting people in cities 160 miles apart, including parts of the Phoenix area. There were no immediate reports of injury or major damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey said a magnitude 4.1 temblor struck at 11:29 p.m. Sunday, followed by a 4.0 quake about 20 minutes later. A smaller, magnitude-3.2 quake, hit at 9 p.m.
The USGS said all the quakes ranged from 3-6 miles in depth and were centered near Black Canyon City, about 45 miles north of Phoenix.
Black Canyon City resident Tami Barto said she woke up when one of the quakes shook her home and stirred up her dogs.
“It did worry me. It was quite a shake,” said Barto. She said she found no damage at her home or the service station where she is the manager.
Black Canyon City is located in a rural part of southeastern Yavapai County just north of the Maricopa County line.
The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office got numerous calls but had no reports of damage or injury, spokesman Dwight D’Evelyn. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office had no reports of damage, spokesman Chris Hegstrom said.
The USGS website recorded scores of responses from people in such suburban Phoenix cities as Cave Creek, Peoria, Scottsdale and Glendale who reported feeling at least one of the quakes.
Geologist Michael Conway, chief of the Geologic Extension Service of the Arizona Geological Survey, said the quakes were felt pretty widely — as far south as Casa Grande and as far north as Flagstaff.
He said it’s not a surprise that Phoenix residents would feel earthquakes centered in central Arizona. The region has numerous active and inactive faults, some as far south as Carefree in the northern fringe of the Phoenix area, Conway said.
However, there aren’t any known faults directly under Phoenix itself, Conway said from Tucson. “Certainly no young ones.”
Recent significant quakes in Arizona include a 4.7 that shook the Sedona area in north-central Arizona in November 2014. A magnitude 5.2 earthquake shook southwestern New Mexicoand southeastern Arizona in June 2014.
The Indian media is facing flak for its coverage of the earthquake disaster in Nepal with complaints in the social media that it was treating the tragedy as a “public relations exercise” on behalf of the Indian government.
As Nepal picks up pieces in the aftermath of last month’s devastating earthquake that killed over 7,000 people and injured more than 14,000, some have picked holes in the “relentless and aggressive” coverage by the Indian media.
By Sunday evening #GoHomeIndianMedia, which was created on Twitter for slamming the Indian media, was the top trending hashtag in Nepal with more than 60,000 tweets on the topic.
As grief-stricken people in Nepal took to social media in droves to complain what they called as Indian media’s “insensitive” reportage of the worst earthquake to hit the Himalayan nation in 80 years, the criticism ironically came on the occasion of the World Press Freedom day today.
At the same time, there have been critical responses to the negative reactions in the social media with comments like the Indian media coverage being “largely responsible” for how the rest of the world saw the Nepal tragedy and even driving global response.
While grateful for the aid and help in rescue efforts, some sections of the media were panned on the social media for pitching the tragedy as a “Public Relations exercise” for the Indian government.
“…Media humiliated poor Nepal in order to take credit & cheap publicity in the hour of crisis. Sad,” said one tweet.
In a blog published on CNN, Sunita Shakya of Nepali origin writes, “Your media and media personnel are acting like they are shooting some kind of family serials.”
She also goes on to describe a couple of instances where she says the reporter did not do enough to help the injured person in need.
“Thanks to tons of reporters who came to Nepal from those rescue planes of India, you took a seat where a victim could be transported to hospitals/ health camps. Thanks to you all reporters, you took a seat where a bag of food and supplies could be placed to send to those hardly hit places,” she added.
Kunda Dixit, a veteran journalist, was quoted has having said that some Nepalis, not all, feel India media is a bit patronising in their attitude and that is perhaps why such sentiments are being expressed. That is how a section of the Nepali media also feels, according to Dixit.
The Indian media was accused by the Twitterati of being insensitive to survivors, asking them irrelevant questions such as “How are you feeling?” and not rendering help to those needing immediate medical aid.
“If your media person can reach to the places where the relief supplies have not reached, at this time of crisis can’t they take a first-aid kit or some food supplies with them as well,?,” asked Shakya.
Some tweets said that Nepal is a sovereign country and not a “satellite state”.
Dear@narendramodi our Dharahara may have fallen not our sovereignty! Sinerely Nepalese #GoHomeIndianMedia, said one tweet while another sarcastically said, “Mr. @narendramodi please call your media back. They r just hurting us more.”
US Congressman Al Green at the Nepali community meeting on Monday, April 26 with (from left) Madhukar Amatya, past President of the Nepalese Association of Houston; Marty McVey, candidate for Mayor of Houston and a Director of USAID; Dr. Anjali Jain and her brother Dinker Amatya, both founding members of the NAH.
By Jawahar Malhotra
HOUSTON: Shockwaves of panic and confusion due to the earthquake in Nepal 8,500 miles away reverberated throughout the Nepali community in the Bayou City as its members tried to make sense of the unfolding events and tried to reach loved ones by phone, email or social media.
In desperation, and as usually happens in unexpected disasters and tragedies like this, many formed an informal phone/email chain to disseminate information and formulate a response to aid people in their Motherland. And, as usual, they turned to local leaders and other communities for help. The local Indian community arranged for a get-together at India House, organized by the India House Board, the India Cultural Center, Sewa International’s Houston Chapter and the Nepalese Association of Houston.
Meanwhile, the NAH arranged for a community meeting, news conference and candlelight vigil with their representative, US Congressman Al Green (D-9th Dist.) at 6776 Southwest Freeway where three Nepali businesses owned by the prominent Amatya family have their offices. The meeting was held was held in the atrium of the building with about 50 community members who rushed for the 3pm meeting on Monday, April 27.
Green showed up with three of his aides and shortly after arrived Marty McVey, who was invited by Green. McVey is a prominent businessman who announced in January that he is a candidate for Houston Mayor in the upcoming elections this Fall. He was also appointed to the six-member US Agency for International Development by President Obama in 2011 and told the gathering that he has spent a lot of time in Nepal in the past few years discussing development issues, including disaster awareness programs.
Congressman Green immediately took control of the meeting, laying out a framework for conducting it. He called for a moment of silence for prayer and admonished people who were videotaping the meeting to make sure everyone got a copy of it or not to record at all. He then related the events that he was aware of: 4 dead Americans on Mount Everest; 80 evacuated to the US Embassy and American Club; that Katmandu Airport was closed to commercial flights and that the $1 million in aid that the US Embassy had released had now been increased to $10 million. He also said that heavy plastic for building shelters had been given away to about 35,000 people.
“This tragedy allows the US to show the softer side of our military,” continued Green, as he described how two rescue teams had left for Nepal, one from Fairfax County, Virginia and the other from Los Angeles. McVey chipped in that two other planes had left from Washington, DC. Green said it was very difficult to transport goods in situations like this, that it was best to send money and later committed to donate $1,000 to the $22,000 that the NAH has already collected. McVey matched that pledge with his own for $1,000.
Green also revealed that he would file a bill the next day in Congress to allow Nepali citizens already in the US on a legal visa on April 25, 2015 to remain here for an additional 18 months and be allowed to work so that they would not have to return to an unsafe place. Such provisions have previously been made in 1998, 2001 and 2010 during other natural disasters. Green emphasized sending money over volunteerism, and even gave out his personal cell number for those wanting his help.
The current president of NAH, Jyoti Ghimirey explained that the his organization is a non-profit that is collecting donations to send to Nepal, and asked Green for his help in raising more donations. Green said he would speak with the Turkish, Chinese and Vietnamese communities with which he was meeting later, to contribute. Vishnu Nepal, Secretary of NAH, asked the Congressman for help in locating displaced or missing people in Nepal.
To donate to the earthquake relief, contact:
Nepalese Association of Houston, 6776 Southwest Freeway, Suite 450, Houston, TX 77074; 713-773-4348; www.nepaleseassociationofhouston.org
SEWA International (Houston Chapter), P.O. Box 820867 Houston, TX 77282-0867; 708-872-7392; info@sewausa.org
