common carotid artery - runs upward in the neck and divides into the external and internal carotid arteries. common carotid. arteria carotis, carotid artery - either of two major arteries of the neck and head; branches from the aorta.
The horrific earthquake that struck Nepal Saturday did not come as a surprise to experts. They knew it was coming. In fact, just last week a group of earthquake specialists gathered in Kathmandu to try to figure out how the country could prepare for the major earthquake they feared was imminent.
How does the earthquake compare with others? This was the sixth largest earthquake in the world since 1900, when seismological records began. The most devastating earthquake to strike Japan was in 1923, when a magnitude 7.9 tremor devastated Tokyo and Yokohama and killed an estimated 142,800 people. The Kobe earthquake in 1995 was a magnitude 6.9 and caused more than 5,000 deaths and injured 36,000 others. The earthquake that wrecked Christchurch in New Zealand last month was a magnitude 6.3 event. Around 30 times more energy is released as the magnitude of an earthquake increases one unit, for example from magnitude 8 to 9. Why is the area so prone to earthquakes? The Pacific plate moves fast in tectonic terms, at a rate of 9cm (3.5 inches) a year.