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The modern news consumer ignores Weblogs and online citizen journalism at his own peril. But not everyone has the time to keep track of what's going on the Web. With this blog we hope to track the highlights of what's being discussed online so when news breaks from the Web, we're ready.

Will Femia is a Weblog enthusiast who, through good fortune and dumb luck, was introduced to the form as his position as chat producer for MSNBC.com careered into obsolescence. On any given day, Will can be found having already spent an unhealthy amount of time squinting at a computer screen.

Send a message to Will at spotter@msnbc.com



Peruvian earthquake - what I clicked

Posted: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 9:37 PM by Will Femia

It's always a challenge to find what the Web has to offer on breaking news in a country where English isn't the primary language - in this case a powerful earthquake in Peru, specifically Lima.

There's some interesting information to be found on the USGS site, with more specific details here.

I wasn't familiar with the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System but they've got a pretty fascinating page put together as well, including damage risks assessments and more maps.

Speaking of risks, this isn't directly related to the earthquake but it shows areas of concern with regard to global warming related flooding in Lima.  If the tsunami warnings come true, this is probably a fair projection of the areas of impact. (via this map site)

As far as I can tell, the best direct source for Peruvian news is a newspaper site called El Comercio. Folks are leaving comments and reactions there (in Spanish of course).  The front page has extensive coverage and a few videos and I see they're soliciting reader media so we may see some photos and video from the street. (I made the mistake of hitting the refresh page and now the site is hung up.  No doubt some heavy traffic headed their way.) ADDING: They've added a Twitter link to receive updates.  Great idea and a nice reminder to check out Twittervision. This will probably only work while the news is breaking but you can literally watch the world talking about the earthquake. Fascinating.

I'm checking this Lima blogger periodically for updates. Speaking of Peruvian bloggers, can someone explain what this one is saying about the light in the sky? "Sali a la calle y vi el cielo iluminado, como si un rayo hubiera partido la noche."

In checking YouTube I found this video of an earthquake in Peru from 1970. I'm not clear if that's real footage or some kind of dramatization, but I did find some details in Wikipedia. "Combined with a resultant landslide, it was the most catastrophic natural disaster ever recorded in the history of Peru." Comparisons will likely be forthcoming regardless of the outcome of today's event.  At the very least it put the public panic in context. ADDING: The more I poke around, the more it appears that Peru has a lot of familiarity with big earthquakes. The article on MSNBC.com now mentions, "The last time a quake of magnitude 7.0 or larger struck Peru's central coast was in 1974 when a magnitude 7.6 hit in October followed by a 7.2 a month later." And there was the one in 2005 and the one in 2001 (this model of the resulting tsunami is worth seeing).

By the way, I've been using Babelfish to help fill in on translation where my memory of Spanish class is failing.  Results are mixed.

I see Nightly News got their video from something called America TV but that video doesn't appear to have made it to their site yet.

Great coverage at Cronica Viva.

ONE MORE UPDATE: "One of the most peculiar things is that in spite of the intense movement, the connection to Internet continued working. Neither the MSN Messenger nor Skype succumbed." (That's in Bablefish's words with a tiny edit.) The blogger tells the story of talking to people in Santiago, Chile via IM who are trying to reach family in Peru and he was able to help relay their message.

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Comments

thanks for the link. i was hoping to get what little news there was out there - at least to stop my mom from worrying.

can't say i saw a light in the sky, but noticing the atmospheric conditions were the last thing on my mind.

if you are interested in seeing what an earthquake can do in peru, i suggest you visit <a href="http://www.gci275.com/peru/quake.shtml">this page</a>

abrazos!

C.J. Schexnayder, Lima, Peru (Sent Wednesday, August 15, 2007 11:19 PM)

Will -

The comment from that blogger that says "Sali a la calle y vi el cielo iluminado, como si un rayo hubiera partido la noche" refers to having felt and seen his house begin to shake, only to then go outside ("a la calle"), and see the sky all lit up ("iluminado"), as if lightning ("un rayo") had crossed the sky. It doesn't specifically say what the light was from, perhaps explosions of some kind from the collapse of the stadium roof, or the fact that the city was immediately plunged into darkness, or maybe from the fire at the local mall.  It seems like a good firsthand account of the events, even to the point of mentioning that he was writing at 8"03 pm, and that there had just then been an aftershock.  Preyyt scary stuff.  Thanks, though, for all of the links and info.  Keep up the good work.

Tom, Holden, MA (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 12:01 AM)

Translation:
I went out to the street and I saw the sky lit up as if a bolt of lightning had split the sky.

Sylvia, RPV, CA (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 12:01 AM)

"Sali a la calle y vi el cielo iluminado, como si un rayo hubiera partido la noche."

Literal Translation: "I went out to the street and I saw the sky illuminated, as if lightning had split the night."

Armando, Los Angeles, CA (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 12:11 PM)

Your comment about relaying messages to Peru reminded me of the days when New Orleans was flooded after Katrina.  People from all over the U.S. (maybe the world) were posting and reading posts on nola.com.  Some people in NOLA were able to text messages to friends elsewhere about those in need in NOLA who could not communicate. I read a message about several elderly people in a home who had a phone that could receive calls but they could not call out.  I called the number from my home in California and spoke to a nice lady who said she was hoping someone would get to them soon.  I called the National Guard in California (because couldn't get through in Louisiana), and somehow they got a message to someone in New Orleans, and called me back to let me know help was on the way.  I called the lady in NOLA back after a while and she said someone had just called her and were on their way to get them, and she and the others were to wait on the balcony.  I called back after a couple of hours and no one answered. I pray they all got out safely.  

It was pretty amazing to see how the internet helped people communicate during a disaster.

Gretchen, Windsor, CA (Sent Thursday, August 16, 2007 4:19 PM)

The light phenomenon is covered in this Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_lights. There are also some video clips of it on YouTube. Very strange!

Don Ball, Inver Grove Heights, MN (Sent Tuesday, August 21, 2007 2:28 AM)



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