N.O.A.A. and the U.S.G.S are reporting another quake, magintude 8.0 to 8.2 on the same fault as that which caused the December 26th tsunami. If you live within 1000 kilometers of the area and are on the coast, you might be advised to move inland or watch this story unfold closely. Any friends or family you know in the area should probably be contacted as well. Sorry I don’t know any more, major stations are starting to pick this up now so you can probably get more up to the minute info from CNN, etc. Be well.
Cnn:" “There is a potential for some wave activity,” said Julie Martinez, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center, in Golden, Colorado.
Thailand issued a warning that the quake could bring a tsunami to its southern provinces.
The warning, which was carried on national television, cautioned people in the six provinces to be careful and vigilant, but did not order evacuations.
The quake occurred at 11:09 a.m. ET (1609 GMT), and is considered a “great” earthquake, the largest of seven grades."
What in the name of flying monkeys is going on over there?
Wasn’t it only a matter of minutes before the first waves hit Sumatra?
Previously? Yes, waves can travel at 500 mph, slowing and growing as they encounter shallower water.
Here’s a report from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which isn’t responsible for (out of jurisdiction and reach) S.E. Asia but does it’s best to help make them aware…
“WARNING… THIS EARTHQUAKE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE A WIDELY
DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI IN THE OCEAN OR SEAS NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE.
AUTHORITIES IN THOSE REGIONS SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS POSSIBILITY
AND TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION. THIS ACTION SHOULD INCLUDE EVACUATION
OF COASTS WITHIN A THOUSAND KILOMETERS OF THE EPICENTER AND CLOSE
MONITORING TO DETERMINE THE NEED FOR EVACUATION FURTHER AWAY.”
Quakes are reported using a log scale. A magnitude 9 releases 10 times the energy of an 8, which is 10 times more energetic than a 7. This latest one release only 10% of the energy released back in December. Likely any resulting tsunamis will be less energetic than the killer back in then.
I hope.
Yes, Richter represents a measurement of amplitude and the driving force behind a tsunami would be volume of displacement which is likely but not guaranteed to be a somewhat linear function of that amplitude.
It should be only a fraction of the severity if it happens at all but, as was mentioned during the previous episode, these are very difficult to predict and safe rather than sorry isn’t an unwise course to follow. Japan puts the mag at 8.5.
Here’s Geotimes coverage of an article that appeared in Nature just 11 days ago warning of the continued risk of another large quake in the area. A very interesting read on the mechanics and scale involved.
I think the quake from last year ended up being a 9.3. And it’s now being reported that today’s was an 8.7, so it’s more like 1/6th of the energy.
Apparently 50 people have died on the island of Nias, near the epicenter, but only a small wave was generated by the quakereports CNN.
Regions near the “massive” quake have experienced up to 2 minutes of gentle shaking and rocking which caused widespread panic, but a wave of appreciable size would of course have passed by now.
It was bad but, as we’ve seen, it could have been so, so much worse.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Look at this: http://aslwww.cr.usgs.gov/Seismic_Data/telemetry_data/map_sta_eq.shtml
Seventeen earthquakes in the past 24 hours as of this posting, most of which were right there, and most of which were 5.0 or higher.
I’m no geologist, but… uh… isn’t this just a bit unusual?
Any reports from the area?
Scientists believe that the 12/26 quake relieved stress in one area but may have actually loaded up/ increased the stress in another, that which gave yesterday. What we’ve seen since are a large number of aftershocks, two of which were 6 or above.
If there is a positive to be seen in all this it’s that some lessons were learned from the previous disaster. The number of agencies to be contacted by the Pacific Tsunami W.C. in the event of a large quake has increased substantially to about 40,000. The affected agencies apparently were quick to spread news of the warning to their respective inhabitants with 3 or 4 island governments quickly issuing warnings. Villagers themselves were quick to react too, many of whom headed for higher ground as soon as they felt the shock.
Sadly, the shock still has the potential to cause massive destruction to buildings and, therefore, people with little to no warning. The search for an accurate way to predict quakes is intense but what subtle clues that might be indicative in one regime aren’t necessarily appropriate in another.
Nias casualties now apparently number in the hundreds, with lesser but still substantial numbers coming in from Simeulue Island.
The 8.7 quake apparently released about half the energy of the 9.0 of three months prior.