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The quake struck during rush hour
1989: Earthquake hits San Francisco
England have
A powerful earthquake has rocked San Francisco killing nine people and
injuring hundreds.
The number of dead is expected to rise significantly. The two tier Bay
Bridge and Nimintz freeway both partially collapsed and rescuers are waiting to
recover bodies from cars crushed by the quake.
The epicentre of the quake, which measured 6.9 on the Richter scale, is
thought to have been Loma Prieta, 10 miles north of Santa Cruz on the San
Andreas fault.
A massive rescue effort is now underway in what experts believe is the
second biggest earthquake ever to hit the United States.
Officials have reported "unbelievable damage to infrastructure" with
collapsed bridges and freeways, fires, shattered buildings, gaping cracks in
roads and land slides.
Tremors from the quake, which lasted 15 seconds, were reported 400 miles
away in Los Angeles and 200 miles away in Reno, Nevada.
The quake struck at 1704 local time (18 October, 0004 GMT), as people were
making their way home after work. Traffic was brought to a standstill and many
homes left without power.
Fans waiting to see the baseball World Series match at Candlestick Park
were also caught up in the quake. Supporters ran onto the pitch as the whole
stadium swayed.
Hospitals have been flooded with injured victims. Ambulance worker Kimberly
Kelly said: "We're getting mainly shock, cuts and shortness of breath."
Officials are said to be shocked at the amount of damage as freeways and
buildings are supposed to be earthquake-proof.
The Governor of California, George Deukmajian, said: "I had been under the
impression that the highways had been constructed to deal with any severe
earthquake and I am very surprised to see what has happened to some of
those."
"I think we are going to have some kind of inquiry to determine why they
did not survive a quake of the severity of this one."
A huge clock registered the first power to be transferred to the National
Grid
1956: Queen switches on nuclear power
Artificially 1969: FilmTheTheAA The Queen has opened the world's first
full-scale nuclear power station, at Calder Hall in Cumberland.
A crowd of several thousand people gathered to watch the opening ceremony,
which was also attended by scientists and statesmen from almost 40 different
countries.
The Lord Privy Seal, Richard Butler, described the event as
"epoch-making".
He added, "It may be that after 1965 every new power station being built
will be an atomic power station."
Sir Edwin Plowden, chairman of the Atomic Energy Authority, also stressed
the ground-breaking nature of the new power station.
"Nothing that comes after will be able to detract from the importance of
this first great step forward," he said.
Her Majesty the Queen gave her speech in the shadow of the massive chimneys
of the Windscale plant, where explosives were made for Britain's first atomic
bomb, and she gave a timely reminder of the more sinister origins of the
technology.
"This new power, which has proved itself to be such a terrifying weapon of
destruction," she said, "is harnessed for the first time for the common good of
our community."
At 1216 GMT, she pulled the lever which would direct electricity from the
power station into the National Grid for the first time.
A large clock on the wall of the power station registered the first
kilowatts of energy to be produced.
The town of Workington, 15 miles (24 km) up the Cumberland coast from
Calder Hall, became the first town in the world to receive light, heat and power
from nuclear energy.
Within four hours, the first nuclear-powered electricity was reaching
London.
The government expects to save about 40 million tons of coal by investing
in the new technology, and it is planning to supply about 10% of the country's
electricity needs from nuclear power within less than 10 years.
Calder Hall is known as a gas-cooled, graphite-moderated reactor, and uses
the nuclear reaction in uranium rods to generate power.
Two other nuclear power stations are already under construction - one
alongside the existing Calder Hall plant, to be known as Calder Hall B, and the
other at Chapel Cross in Scotland.
Vocabulary:
epicentre: the point on the Earth's surface directly above the focus of an
earthquake(震源)
sinister : threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic
developments(险恶的) |
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发表于 2016-7-9 23:22:01