USGS reports 6.6 magnitude quake Southwest of Samoa's capital, no tsunami warning issued
Synopsis A strong earthquake hit near Samoa. The US Geological Survey reported the event. It measured 6.6 in magnitude. The location was southwest of Apia. The depth was considerable. No immediate damage reports came in. A tsunami warning was not issued. Samoa is in an earthquake-prone zone. A past tsunami in 2009 caused many deaths in the region. A magnitude-6.6 earthquake struck near the island nation of Samoa on Friday, July 25, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported. The quake occurred 440 kilometers (273 miles) southwest of Samoa's capital, Apia, at a depth of 314 kilometers (195 miles).
ADVERTISEMENT There were no immediate reports of injuries or structural damage. A staff member at the Samoa Observer news website told AP they had not felt the earthquake and had not received any reports of damage.
The US Tsunami Warning System confirmed no tsunami warning was issued following the quake.
Samoa lies on the "Ring of Fire," a seismically active region that circles the Pacific Ocean. Earthquakes and volcanic activity are common in this zone.In 2009, two powerful earthquakes between Samoa and American Samoa triggered tsunamis that killed at least 192 people across Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga.
ADVERTISEMENT The US Geological Survey (USGS) is a scientific agency of the United States government responsible for studying the natural landscape, natural resources, and natural hazards of the country. It operates under the US Department of the Interior and plays a key role in monitoring earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and other geologic events around the world.The agency uses a network of sensors, satellites, and research stations to collect data and provide real-time information to the public and decision-makers.
ADVERTISEMENT When it comes to earthquakes, the USGS maintains the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC), which tracks seismic activity globally. It issues immediate reports on earthquake location, depth, and magnitude to inform emergency response and public safety. The agency also collaborates with international and regional partners to improve global earthquake monitoring and hazard assessment.
ADVERTISEMENT
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
(Catch all the US News, UK News, Canada News, International Breaking News Events, and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)
Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily International News Updates.
NEXT STORY
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Indian Express
14 hours ago
- New Indian Express
India–US ‘scientific handshake' to track disasters, climate via NISAR satellite
NEW DELHI: A couple of days ahead of the launch of the NISAR satellite, Union Minister for Space Dr Jitendra Singh on Sunday described the mission as a "scientific handshake". 'NISAR is not just a satellite; it is India's scientific handshake with the world,' Dr Singh remarked, adding that the NISAR satellite is scheduled for launch on 30 July from Sriharikota. During a media briefing, Dr Singh explained that NISAR is designed to deliver critical global data related to natural disasters, agriculture, and climate for the benefit of the entire world. Calling it a global benchmark in Indo-US scientific collaboration, he emphasised that, as the first joint Earth observation mission between ISRO and NASA, the launch will mark a significant milestone in the history of Indo-US space cooperation, as well as in ISRO's broader international engagements. He further stated that the mission will be launched aboard India's GSLV-F16 rocket. The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite will provide observations that will be made available to policymakers worldwide, aiding in the formulation of more effective responses to challenges posed by climate change. Dr Singh said the mission embodies Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of India becoming a 'Vishwa Bandhu' – a global partner contributing to the collective good of humanity. 'NISAR will not only serve India and the United States but will also provide critical data for countries around the world, especially in areas like disaster management, agriculture, and climate monitoring,' he said. A key feature of the mission, Dr Singh noted, is that all data generated by NISAR will be freely accessible within one to two days of observation, and in near real-time during emergencies. He said the mission combines the technological expertise of both space agencies. ISRO, for its part, has contributed the S-Band SAR payload, the spacecraft bus accommodating both payloads, the GSLV-F16 launch vehicle, and all associated launch services. Weighing 2,392 kg, the satellite will be placed in a sun-synchronous orbit, enabling repeat imaging of the Earth's land and ice surfaces every 12 days. 'It will allow continuous monitoring of ecosystem disturbances and help assess natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and landslides,' Dr Singh said. One of the satellite's most notable capabilities is its ability to track even subtle changes in the Earth's crust and surface movement. 'The data from the satellite will also be used for sea ice classification, ship detection, shoreline monitoring, storm tracking, crop mapping, and changes in soil moisture – all of which are vital for governments, researchers, and disaster management agencies,' he added.
NDTV
2 days ago
- NDTV
Earth Imaging Satellite NISAR Exposes NASA's Weaknesses, ISRO's Strengths
The upcoming rocket launch from Sriharikota can be aptly summed as 'NASA's envy, India's pride!' The rocket the Americans tried to kill will now launch a billion-dollar bird. The very unique Earth imaging satellite jointly made by India and US named the 'NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar' (NISAR) satellite, is a technological marvel and would be a game-changer in saving lives from impending natural disasters. That the world's oldest democracy, US, and the world's largest democracy, India, are working together on this most expensive satellite that has cost upwards of $1.3 billion. It is a testament to the growing Indo-US bonhomie and strategic ties. But this mission also exposes the double standards the US exercised on India in yesteryears and is also ironical that America's most expensive civilian Earth imaging satellite ever made will be launched using an Indian launcher - the same rocket Americans wanted to desperately scuttle and kill its development in the early nineties. ISRO persevered relentlessly for nearly two decades and succeeded so much so that now top officials from NASA will actually be present at India's space port to witness the historic liftoff on July 30. According to ISRO, the NISAR satellite weighs 2,392 kg, and it will scan the entire globe and provide all-weather, day-and-night data at a 12-day interval and enable a wide range of applications. NISAR can detect changes in the Earth's surface, such as ground deformation, ice sheet movement, and vegetation dynamics. It will be launched using the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark 2 (GSLV Mark 2), which will be powered by an indigenously developed cryogenic engine - the same technology that the US administration, especially its Bureau of Export Control, wanted to deny to India by working overtime with the then USSR. It was the 1990s and India was steadily developing its rockets and wanted to acquire the sophisticated cryogenic engine technology from the then USSR. It was under American pressure that Russia did not do technology transfer to India, but instead gave about half a dozen ready-made cryogenic engines to India. Subsequently, India struggled for nearly twenty years before mastering the complexities of cryogenic engine technology. The Americans used all the power of technology denials, sanctions at their disposal to try and make sure India did not acquire this technology. But then these tech-denials turned a blessing in disguise, and the scientists at ISRO toiled hard, and today it is the home-made cryogenic engine which will launch the NISAR satellite. Some would say this is an irony of ironies, and some would say it is egg on the face of US. Dr V Narayanan, chairman of ISRO, had helped India master the cryogenic engine, which makes it a proud moment for him to see the NISAR sticker on the payload fairing of the rocket that houses the cryogenic engine inside. At the end of the day, the US scientists have swallowed their pride and are sheepishly going to watch the launch of a satellite where they have invested nearly $ 1.15 billion. It is this exorbitant cost by NASA that should also be a reason for Americans to squirm and be uncomfortable. Wendy Edelstein, NISAR's Deputy Project Manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), asserted, "NISAR is a 50-50 partnership between NASA and ISRO. It represents the largest collaboration in space between the United States and India." Interestingly, India has spent about Rs 800 crores on the NISAR project, which works out a little less than $100 million. NASA confirmed that it included 'ISRO investment for development, launch operations, and mission operations'. NASA has contributed the L-band radar, which penetrates vegetation and soil to reveal subsurface changes, while ISRO has provided the S-band radar, optimised for detecting surface-level features like foliage and terrain. These radars are mounted on a 12-meter mesh reflector antenna, roughly the size of a school bus, allowing the satellite to scan nearly all of Earth's land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days. India has not only contributed the equivalent S-band radar, but is also providing the rocket and the launch port and launch services, so why NASA's cost is $1.1589 billion and ISRO's cost is just $100 million? Here lies the heartwarming tale of Indian frugal engineering and cost optimization: It shows the profligate approach to engineering adopted by NASA. When quizzed by the US media on the issue of costs, Nikki Fox, Associate Administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said at a briefing, "I will defer to them [ISRO] on their final costs". There are many reasons behind the huge cost incurred by NASA, one of them being that most of the development of the instruments and payloads they fly are made by huge multi-national corporations and they not only need huge profits but also need to share dividends with their share-holders. ISRO, on the other hand, being a national entity does these things in-house and has no reason to pad up the cost to share profits with share-holders. Additonally, an ISRO official said that when their scientists travel to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena in California, they would stay in shared $100 a day room while the NASA scientists when they travel to the UR Rao Satellite Center in Bengaluru would stay in an over $500 a day room. This automatically inflates the costs. Also, India usually makes only one instrument the one that will fly into space, while NASA makes an engineering model and flight model, which leads to doubling the cost. The way human power is distributed is also very different between NASA and ISRO at the Indian space agency. In the case of NISAR, which has taken over 11 years to build, the teams at ISRO working on multiple satellites and the salaries in India also turn out to be much lower when converted into dollar terms. The top manager at ISRO also pointed out that ISRO engineers are willing to put in long hours and work over weekends, while the US contract engineers are reluctant to put in long hours. The premium for insurance also adds to the costs at ISRO since the government takes the full liability and no insurance is taken, In other countries, insurance premiums can be a huge cost. Incidentally, when India launched its communication satellite using the SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket, India also took insurance. This huge difference in NASA's and ISRO's costs remains a huge enigma for the making of the NISAR satellite, which was made with an understanding of equal partnership. Not just NISAR, there are still many bitter-sweet oddities in the Indo-US space relationship. India's first rocket launched from Thumba on November 21, 1963. It was an American Nike Apache rocket and the world got its first direct-to-home television broadcast - thanks to the Satellite Instruction Television Experiment (SITE) in 1975 pioneered in rural India. Then came the era of sanctions, which ended only when the Indo-US Civilian Nuclear Deal was inked in 2008. Despite the sanctions, ISRO opened its heart out and flew two American instruments to the moon on Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 free of cost. This is contrast with the 2025 Astronaut mission of Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station using the Axiom-4 flight where India shelled out hard cash of about $70 million for this single seat to the Americans. Interestingly, when the two democracies have worked together, they have had fruitful outcomes. It was Chandrayaan-1 which discovered the presence of water on the lunar surface, opening up flood gates for the colonisation of the moon. And now, on the NISAR mission, when NASA had all but given up the making of this costly satellite as its other foreign partners had backed out, it was ISRO that stepped in in 2014 and said ,'let us forge this partnership to make the world's single most expensive civilian Earth imaging satellite'. Hence, today the $1.3 billion NISAR satellite, which is sometimes also referred to as the NISARGA satellite, has been conceived in the true spirit of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' or the 'world is one family,' concept, and sits atop the rocket ready for lift off from Sriharikota in the true spirit of 'vishwa bandhu'. The contrast in cost structures, the cultural differences in engineering ethos, and the historical ironies are a compelling story of resilience, frugality, and strategic partnership. Life, in a way, is coming full circle for US and India, as the friendship grows to explore the unknown frontiers of space. India's frugal technology development, when clubbed with the US high technology can lead to a huge cosmic leap.
Deccan Herald
2 days ago
- Deccan Herald
NISAR: Eyes wide open on Earth
The story of the world's most advanced and expensive earth observation satellite began nearly 15 years ago when the Indian Space Research Organisation turned down an offer from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to launch a radar satellite using an Indian rocket from Sriharikota spaceport. The US satellite was to use sweepSAR (sweep synthetic aperture radar) technology to provide wide area coverage and fine spatial resolution at the same time. New Delhi proposed an alternative: housing two radars in a single satellite. Both parties agreed, and an agreement was inked. The L-band radar, associated systems, and the antenna were made at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California, while the S-band radar was built at the Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad. From next week, the two synthetic aperture radars aboard NISAR will detect changes in the planet's surface down to fractions of an inch. The spacecraft will bounce microwave signals off Earth's surface and receive the return signals on a radar antenna reflector measuring 12 meters across. The satellite's ability to see through clouds and rain, day and night, will enable users to continuously monitor earthquake and landslide-prone areas and determine how quickly glaciers and ice sheets are Exploring new frontiers in space cooperation.'NISAR can detect even small changes in the Earth's surface such as ground deformation, ice sheet movement and vegetation dynamics,' ISRO says. Other applications include sea ice classification, ship detection, shoreline monitoring, storm characterisation, changes in soil moisture, mapping and monitoring of surface water resources and disaster response. 'It's a highly advanced satellite,' notes K Sivan, former ISRO chairman. Earthquakes, volcanoes, and ageing infrastructure can pose risks to lives and property. Able to see subtle changes in Earth's surface, NISAR can help with hazard-monitoring efforts and potentially give decision-makers more time to prepare for a disaster. For earthquakes, it will provide insights into which parts of a fault slowly move without producing quakes and which are locked together and could potentially slip. For the farm sector, it will help monitor the growth of crops from planting to harvest, generating crucial insights on how to time plantings and adjust irrigation schedules. The mission will have the resolution to see even small plots of farmland. The satellite's development path was a challenging one. The ISRO-NASA pact was signed in October 2014 with a target to launch the satellite by 2020. But developing the radar and antenna took more time, and the US could transfer the payload to India only in 2023-24. Unfortunately, within months, it was sent to the USA for repair. In March 2024, the radar antenna reflector of the satellite was transported back to a facility in California, where reflective tape was applied and other precautionary measures were taken to mitigate temperature increases that could have potentially affected the deployment of the reflector from its stowed configuration before beginning the science operations in space. The component returned to ISRO's clean room by October 2024, when the Indian space agency began preparation for a February launch, which didn't materialise. Ironically, a GSLV with a cryogenic engine will be used to launch the India-US satellite on July 30, even though the USA left no stone unturned for India to acquire the cryogenic technology. The mission's extraordinary capabilities come from the synthetic aperture radar. As the radar travels, its antenna continuously transmits microwave pulses and receives echoes from the surface. When the pulses hit something — a volcanic cone, for example — they scatter. The antenna receives those signals that echo back to the instrument, which measures their strength, change in frequency, how long they took to return, and if they bounced off of multiple surfaces, such as buildings. 'This mission packs in a wide range of science toward a common goal of studying our changing planet and the impacts of natural hazards,' says Deepak Putrevu, co-lead of the ISRO science team at the Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad.
