New York Earthquake: City of the Sixth Seal (Revelation 6:12)

New York earthquake: City at risk of ‚dangerous shaking from far away‘
Joshua Nevett
Published 30th April 2018
SOME of New York City’s tallest skyscrapers are at risk of being shaken by seismic waves triggered by powerful earthquakes from miles outside the city, a natural disaster expert has warned.
Researchers believe that a powerful earthquake, magnitude 5 or greater, could cause significant damage to large swathes of NYC, a densely populated area dominated by tall buildings.
A series of large fault lines that run underneath NYC’s five boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island, are capable of triggering large earthquakes.
Some experts have suggested that NYC is susceptible to at least a magnitude 5 earthquake once every 100 years.
The last major earthquake measuring over magnitude 5.0 struck NYC in 1884 – meaning another one of equal size is “overdue” by 34 years, according their prediction model.
Natural disaster researcher Simon Day, of University College London, agrees with the conclusion that NYC may be more at risk from earthquakes than is usually thought.
EARTHQUAKE RISK: New York is susceptible to seismic shaking from far-away tremors
But the idea of NYC being “overdue” for an earthquake is “invalid”, not least because the “very large number of faults” in the city have individually low rates of activity, he said.
The model that predicts strong earthquakes based on timescale and stress build-up on a given fault has been “discredited”, he said.
What scientists should be focusing on, he said, is the threat of large and potentially destructive earthquakes from “much greater distances”.
The dangerous effects of powerful earthquakes from further away should be an “important feature” of any seismic risk assessment of NYC, Dr Day said.

GETTY
THE BIG APPLE: An aerial view of Lower Manhattan at dusk in New York City

USGS
RISK: A seismic hazard map of New York produced by USGS
“New York is susceptible to seismic shaking from earthquakes at much greater distances” Dr Simon Day, natural disaster researcher
This is because the bedrock underneath parts of NYC, including Long Island and Staten Island, cannot effectively absorb the seismic waves produced by earthquakes.
“An important feature of the central and eastern United States is, because the crust there is old and cold, and contains few recent fractures that can absorb seismic waves, the rate of seismic reduction is low.
Central regions of NYC, including Manhattan, are built upon solid granite bedrock; therefore the amplification of seismic waves that can shake buildings is low.
But more peripheral areas, such as Staten Island and Long Island, are formed by weak sediments, meaning seismic hazard in these areas is “very likely to be higher”, Dr Day said.
“Thus, like other cities in the eastern US, New York is susceptible to seismic shaking from earthquakes at much greater distances than is the case for cities on plate boundaries such as Tokyo or San Francisco, where the crustal rocks are more fractured and absorb seismic waves more efficiently over long distances,” Dr Day said.
In the event of a large earthquake, dozens of skyscrapers, including Chrysler Building, the Woolworth Building and 40 Wall Street, could be at risk of shaking.
“The felt shaking in New York from the Virginia earthquake in 2011 is one example,” Dr Day said.
On that occasion, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake centered 340 miles south of New York sent thousands of people running out of swaying office buildings.

USGS
FISSURES: Fault lines in New York City have low rates of activity, Dr Day said
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city was “lucky to avoid any major harm” as a result of the quake, whose epicenter was near Louisa, Virginia, about 40 miles from Richmond.
“But an even more impressive one is the felt shaking from the 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes in the central Mississippi valley, which was felt in many places across a region, including cities as far apart as Detroit, Washington DC and New Orleans, and in a few places even further afield including,” Dr Day added.
“So, if one was to attempt to do a proper seismic hazard assessment for NYC, one would have to include potential earthquake sources over a wide region, including at least the Appalachian mountains to the southwest and the St Lawrence valley to the north and east.”

Iranian Horn’s Nukes Are Nearly Ready: Daniel 8

Iran denies it is conducting enrichment at weapons-grade levels

Iranian uranium enrichment reportedly dangerously close to nuclear bomb capability

All Arab News Staff | February 20, 2023

A number of new generation Iranian centrifuges are seen on display during Iran’s National Nuclear Energy Day in Tehran, Iran April 10, 2021. (Photo: Iranian Presidency Office/WANA/Handout via REUTERS)

Atomic agency inspectors from the United Nations reportedly learned last week that Iran’s uranium enrichment has reached 84% purity, according to Bloomberg on Sunday. 

This is dangerously close to the 90% enrichment level required for producing a nuclear weapon. 

If the report holds true, Iran’s enrichment level would constitute a dramatic escalation from the regime’s previously known 60% enrichment level. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is reportedly in talks with Iran’s ayatollah regime concerning its uranium enrichment violations. 

“The IAEA is aware of recent media reports relating to uranium enrichment levels in Iran,” the U.N. nuclear watchdog stated on Sunday. “The IAEA is discussing with Iran the results of recent agency verification activities and will inform the IAEA Board of Governors as appropriate.”

Iran on Monday denied that it is conducting enrichment at weapons-grade levels. 

“So far, we have not made any attempt to enrich above 60%. The presence of particles above 60% enrichment does not mean production with an enrichment above 60%,” said Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesperson for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. 

Iran has consistently denied that it is seeking nuclear weapons, with the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei claiming that Islam forbids nuclear weapons. 

“Although we could have taken steps on this path, based on Islamic ruling, we firmly and bravely said we won’t take this path,” Khamenei stated in 2019. 

“Both building and stockpiling it is wrong, as using it is haram,” Khamenei wrote on social media. “If we had a nuclear weapon, it would have been obvious that it would have been impossible for us to use [it] anywhere.”

The Iranian regime insists that its nuclear program is designed only for peaceful civilian purposes.

Much of the Arab world, however, is concerned about Iran’s nuclear program, including those who fear that a nuclear-armed Iran would trigger a dangerous nuclear arms race in the already combustible Middle East. Israel is particularly concerned, as the ayatollah regime has repeatedly stated its goal of wiping the Jewish state off the map. 

In a candid 2002 sermon, former Iranian President Ali Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said the regime believes that most of Israel can be destroyed with only one nuclear weapon due to the country’s minuscule size. 

“If, one day, the world of Islam comes to possess the [nuclear] weapons currently in Israel’s possession – on that day, this method of global arrogance would come to a dead end,” Rafsanjani stated. This would be because “the use of a nuclear bomb in Israel will leave nothing on the ground, whereas it will only damage the world of Islam.” 

Iran is a vast country, approximately 100 times larger than Israel and far larger than the combined territory of Germany, France and Britain. 

For years, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to prevent the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons. Netanyahu stressed that Israel ultimately would use military force against Iran if the nation did not stop its nuclear program. 

In November, the Likud party’s Tzachi Hanegbi, a close Netanyahu ally and former minister, told Israeli media that Netanyahu is prepared to order a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities if the Biden administration does not stop Tehran’s quest for nuclear weapons. 

“Israel will, for the first time, be facing a regime with nuclear weapons,” Hanegbi said, stating that Netanyahu “will not be reconciled with a nuclear Iran.”

“In my assessment, he’ll have no choice: This is the story of 1981 –[Menachem] Begin, 2007 – [Ehud] Olmert, 2022 …” Hanegbi added, with a reference to Israel’s previous strikes against nuclear plants in Iraq and Syria. 

The Antichrist asks MBC Group to withdraw series on Umayyad caliph

Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr asks MBC Group to withdraw series on Umayyad caliph

 by Staff Reporter

 February 16, 2023

in News

The series is written by Egyptian journalist Khaled Salah and directed by Palestinian-American Tarek Al-Arian.

Moqtada Al-Sadr, an Iraqi cleric, has urged MBC Group to cancel plans to broadcast a TV series about Umayyad caliph Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan, which is scheduled to run during Ramadan.

Muawiyah, which explores the life of the 7th-century ruler, Umayyad caliph Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan.

Al-Sadr tweeted: “Broadcasting such series contradicts the new, moderate policies pursued by the brotherly country Saudi Arabia.” “There is no need to hurt the feelings of your Muslim brothers in the east and west of the earth.”

Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan is played by Syrian actor Loujain Ismail, after Palestinian artist Ali Suleiman withdrew from the role.

Other actors in the production include Asma Jalal, Aisha bin Ahmed, Jamila Chihi and Iyad Nassar, who has been cast as Imam Ali bin Abi Talib.

According to the media reports, the series has reportedly cost about $75m to produce, making it one of the most expensive series in the history of Arab drama.

The show marks the directorial TV debut of Palestinian-Egyptian director Tariq Al Arian and is scripted by journalist Khaled Salah.

Production began in July in the Tunisian city of Hammamet with other scenes filmed in Kairouan, also in Tunisia.

The Umayyad Caliphate ruled a large part of what is now the Middle East from 660 to 750 and was ruled under the first caliph Muawiyah. His son Yazid bin Muawiyah ruled as the second Umayyad caliph — the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson, Imam Hussein, protested against his caliphate.

Iran is Nearly at Full Nuclear Capability: Daniel 8

IAEA finds uranium enriched to 84% in Iran, near bomb-grade

The UN nuclear watchdog has found uranium enriched to 84% in Iran – very close to weapons grade

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF

Published: FEBRUARY 19, 2023 20:59

Updated: FEBRUARY 20, 2023 11

Atomic symbol and Iranian flag are seen in this illustration taken September 8, 2022.

(photo credit: REUTERS/DADO RUVIC/ILLUSTRATION)

International atomic monitors in Iran last week detected uranium enriched to levels nearly high enough for a nuclear weapon, according to a Bloomberg News report based on the testimony of two senior diplomats. 

This development, emphasized by the monitors, represents the significant risk that the country’s unrestrained atomic activity could bring about a global crisis. 

Inspectors need, according to Bloomberg, to determine whether Iran intentionally produced the enriched uranium or if the concentration was the result of an unintended buildup within the network of pipes connecting the hundreds of fast-spinning centrifuges used to separate isotopes. Top Articles

Past instances of monitors clashing with Iran’s nuclear facilities 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) criticized Iran on Wednesday, February 1 for making an undeclared change to the interconnection between the two clusters of advanced machines enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to weapons grade, at its Fordow plant.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi gestures during a news conference at an IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, September 13, 2021. (credit: REUTERS/LEONHARD FOEGER)

The production of high-enriched uranium by Iran at Fordow carries significant proliferation-related risks and is without any credible civilian justification, the joint statement said, adding Iran has not offered a credible answer yet to the IAEA’s outstanding questions as part of its safeguards investigation.

Fordow is so sensitive that the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers banned enrichment there. Since the United States pulled out of the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions against Iran, the Islamic Republic has breached many of the deal’s restrictions on its nuclear activities.

Israeli Strike Kills 15 Outside the Temple Walls: Revelation 11

Two young girls stand in front of a building hit by a reported Israeli missile strike in Damascus, on February 19, 2023LOUAI BESHARA

Israeli Strike Kills 15 In Syrian Capital: War Monitor

By Rouba El Husseini with Maher Al-Mounes in Damascus

February 19, 2023

ADDS Observatory details

An Israeli air strike killed early Sunday 15 people including two Syrian civilians and badly damaged a building in a Damascus district housing state security agencies, a war monitor said.

The strike targeted a meeting that included Syrian regime officers and was “the deadliest Israeli attack in the Syrian capital” since the civil war began, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The overnight strike cratered a road and wrecked the adjacent 10-storey building in the Kafr Sousa district, which is home to senior state officials and Syrian intelligence headquarters, said the Britain-based Observatory.

A woman was also killed in the Mazraa district, possibly hit when Syrian anti-aircraft munitions crashed down, it added.

It was not immediately clear who was the intended target of the strike, which AFP correspondents reported shook Damascus and left a gaping hole in the street.

Other missiles overnight hit a warehouse used by pro-regime Iranian and Hezbollah fighters near Damascus, said the Observatory, which relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria.

Iranian news agency Tasnim said “no Iranian was harmed”, adding that the strikes hit “exactly the spot” where Hezbollah’s top commander Imad Mughniyeh was killed in a 2008 car bombing that the Lebanese Shiite group blamed on Israel.

The overnight strike destroyed a building in a Damascus neighbourhood home to much of Syria’s security apparatus, a war monitoring group saidLouai BESHARA

Syria’s defence ministry gave an initial death toll of five, including one soldier, and 15 wounded civilians, some in critical condition.

Shortly after midnight “the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights targeting several areas in Damascus and its vicinity, including residential neighbourhoods”, a statement said.

Defence forces “shot down several missiles”, it added.

Historic buildings near the medieval Damascus citadel were also “severely damaged”, said the head of the Syrian antiquities department, Nazir Awad, blaming “an Israeli missile”.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said Sunday that the strike was “a crime against humanity, especially as Syria races against time to face the disastrous consequences of the devastating earthquake”.

Syria is currently seeking to recover from the February 6 earthquake, which did not affect Damascus but killed more than 44,000 people across the country’s north and west, and southern Turkey.

An Israeli military spokesperson said: “Israel does not comment on reports in foreign media.”

Syrian government ally Russia condemned the strike, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also urging Israel “to put an end to armed provocations” against Damascus that could endanger “the entire region”.

SyriaErin CONROY

Israel, during more than a decade of war in Syria, has carried out hundreds of air strikes against its neighbour, primarily targeting the army, Iranian forces and Hezbollah, allies of the Damascus regime.

“We will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons and we will not allow it to entrench on our northern border,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Sunday’s cabinet meeting, without referring directly to the Damascus strike.

In Tehran, foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani “strongly condemned the attacks of the Zionist regime against targets in Damascus and its suburbs, including against certain residential buildings”.

The raids had left “a number of innocent Syrian citizens” dead and injured, he said.

The Gaza-based Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad also denounced the strikes.

An Islamic Jihad official told AFP that none of its members in Damascus were killed or wounded, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The Syrian conflict started in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful protests, and escalated to pull in multiple foreign powers and global jihadists.

A man sweeps debris from the damage caused by a reported Israeli missile strike in DamascusLOUAI BESHARA

Nearly half a million people have been killed, and the conflict has forced around half of Syria’s pre-war population from their homes.

President Bashar al-Assad’s regime receives military support from Russia as well as from Iran and Tehran-allied armed Shiite groups, including Hezbollah, which are declared enemies of Israel.

Sunday’s attack comes more than a month after an Israeli missile strike hit Damascus International Airport, killing four people, including two soldiers.

The January 2 strike hit positions of Hezbollah and pro-Iranian groups, including a weapons warehouse, the Observatory said.

China Horn is Supplying the Russian Nuclear Horn

China may be on brink of supplying arms to Russia, says Blinken

US secretary of state meets with top Chinese diplomat, Wang Yi, and warns of ‘serious problem for us’ if Beijing supplies weaponry to Vladimir Putin

Patrick Wintour in MunichSun 19 Feb 2023 10.05 EST

The US has said it believes China may be about to provide lethal aid to help Russia in the war in Ukraine, prompting a direct warning against doing so from the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to China’s top diplomat.

Blinken made the warning to the Chinese state councillor Wang Yi on Saturday evening at a meeting on the sidelines of the Munich security conference during which he also rebuked China over the use of an alleged spy balloon over US soil.

In a blunt meeting he also urged China to stop helping Russia evade the impact of sanctions. China’s trade with Russia is increasing and it has been buying Russian oil, but probably below the US$60 per barrel price cap imposed by the EU and G7 group of states.

Blinken told US networks that the US had information China was considering whether to give Russia assistance, possibly including guns and weapons, for the Ukraine war.

“The concern that we have now is, based on information we have, that they’re considering providing lethal support,” Blinken told CBS’s Face the Nation shortly after he met with Wang. “And we’ve made very clear to them that that could cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship.”

Blinken told NBC’s Meet the Press that China has not yet crossed the line of providing lethal assistance but he would be putting out evidence soon to show how Beijing was seriously considering providing Russia with equipment including weapons

He said of his meeting with Wang there was no apology from China about the spy balloon over US soil. “This was an opportunity to speak very clearly and very directly about the fact that China sent a surveillance balloon over our territory, violating our sovereignty, violating international law. And I told him quite simply that that was unacceptable and can never happen again.”

The US believes China may already be providing some surveillance information to the Wagner group, the mercenary wing that works alongside the Russian army.

Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, in her speech to the security conference warned China against providing lethal equipment to a country that she said the US had judged was committing crimes against humanity. But Harris in her remarks did not assert that such lethal aid was about to be provided.

The US warnings about China’s intentions come in the context of a Chinese proposal to reveal a peace plan for Ukraine in a speech by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, coinciding with the 24 February anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Wang revealed the intention to launch the plan in his speech to the security conference on Saturday, and has been briefing leaders from France, Germany and Italy on China’s intentions, possibly in a bid to drive a wedge between EU states and the US.

The US has indicated it believes the plan is likely to be a vague assertion of the value of peaceful dialogue, territorial integrity and sovereignty, but without going into any details. European diplomats briefed on the plans also seemed sceptical about the value of a broad enunciation of vague principles, questioning whether China was really prepared to distance itself from its close partner Russia.

On the other hand, China is probably the only external actor that could put effective diplomatic pressure on the Russian president, Vladimiir Putin, to rethink his strategy.

Expressing the west’s scepticism, the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said: “China has not been able to condemn the invasion,” adding the plan “is quite vague”. Peace was only possible if Russia respected Ukraine’s sovereignty, he said.

The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dymytro Kuleba, was due to meet Wang on Sunday and expressed hope that China’s foreign policy principles would drive Beijing to accept the Ukrainian case. “We believe that compliance with the principle of territorial integrity is China’s fundamental interest in the international arena. And that commitment to the observance and protection of this principle is a driving force for China, greater than other arguments offered by Ukraine, the United States, or any other country,” he said.

Some fear the plan may be designed to head off support in the so-called global south for any resolution to the UN general assembly asserting support for Ukraine. Such a resolution either at the general assembly or to the smaller UN security council has been under discussion to mark the anniversary.

he last time the issue was addressed by the general assembly, Ukraine received the support of 141 states, and it may be hard to increase that level of support.

The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, welcomed any effort by China to use its influence with Moscow, telling reporters she had “talked intensively” with Wang during a bilateral meeting on Friday about “what a just peace means: not rewarding the attacker, the aggressor, but standing up for international law and for those who have been attacked”.

“A just peace,” she added, “presupposes that the party that has violated territorial integrity – meaning Russia – withdraws its troops from the occupied country.”

In the speeches of both the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, there was no support for early peace talks, with both men saying the west may have to endure a long conflict.

Wang in his speech suggested there was a chance Europe was more eager to settle than the US. He said: “We need to think calmly, especially our friends in Europe, about what efforts should be made to stop the warfare; what framework should there be to bring lasting peace to Europe; what role should Europe play to manifest its strategic autonomy.”

There were other sentiments in Wang’s outline plan that the west can welcome, including its opposition to the use of threats of nuclear war, or attacks on civilian nuclear power stations. The references to the UN charter and territorial integrity may also be helpful to the west, but it was coupled with a reference to Russia having legitimate security concerns. Some diplomats welcomed the acknowledgment that China could no longer simply treat the war as a strictly European matter.

Ukraine Official Warns World Russia’s Nuclear Weapons Will ‘Touch Everyone On Our Planet’: Revelation 16

AFP

Ukraine Official Warns World Russia’s Nuclear Weapons Will ‘Touch Everyone On Our Planet’

Danielle Ong02/19/23 AT 10:17 PM EST

A top Ukrainian official has warned that Russia’s nuclear war would impact people across the world as the invasion of Ukraine nears its one-year mark.

Speaking in an interview on CTV’s Question Period aired Sunday, the mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko stressed that it is a “huge mistake” for people living outside of Ukraine to think Russia’s invasion does not affect them.

“Please don’t forget, we’re talking about nuclear weapons,” he said in the interview. “An explosion could touch everyone on our planet, and that is why we have to do everything we can to stop this war.”

Klitschko also said Ukraine is not just fighting against Russia to defend itself, adding that it is also fighting for every country that shares its democratic values. To do so, Klistscho said they need more weapons to fight against Russian forces and stop the war. He further said that how quickly they can end the conflict depends on the support they receive from other countries.

“We need the help. We need much more weapons,” the Kyiv mayor said.

Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, in what Russian President Vladimir Putincalled a “special military operation” with the aim of “demilitarizing” and “de-Nazifying” Kyiv. Since then, at least 7,199 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, including 438 children, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

In addition to the deaths, at least 11,756 Ukrainian civilians have been wounded throughout the 12-month conflict. The OHCHR noted that the actual figures are likely considerably higher as reporting is delayed in areas where there are intense hostilities.

Ukraine is currently preparing for a new offensive from Russia, which according to some experts, has already begun in the eastern part of Ukraine as tens of thousands of Moscow’s conscripts arrive in the country.

“The reality is we have seen the start [of a Russian offensive] already because we see now what Russia does now — President Putin does now — is to send thousands and thousands more troops, accepting a very high rate of casualty,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last week.

Some experts argue that the recent waves of Russian conscripts are not the full-scale offensive expected of Russia, adding that the operation is likely still in its early phase.

AFP