Magnitude 9.0 Earthquake - OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA

USGS Earthquake Hazards ^ | 2004 December 26 00:58:55 UTC

[bd476]

Magnitude 8.1 - OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
2004 December 26 00:58:55 UTC

Preliminary Earthquake Report
West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center/NOAA/NWS

A great earthquake occurred at 00:58:55 (UTC) on Sunday, December 26, 2004. The magnitude 8.1 event has been located OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)

Magnitude	8.1
Date-Time	Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:55 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 6:58:55 AM = local time at epicenter
Location	3.400°N, 95.700°E
Depth	40 km (24.9 miles) set by location program
Region	OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
Distances	235 km (145 miles) S of Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia 330 km (205 miles) W of Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia 1620 km (1000 miles) NW of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia 3405 km (2120 miles) SE of NEW DELHI, Delhi, India
Location Uncertainty	Error estimate not available
Parameters	Nst=020, Nph=020, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=0.98 sec, Gp=101°, M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=1
Source	West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center/NOAA/NWS
Event ID	at00000264

Location Maps: 10-degree NEIC Maps Did you feel it? Report shaking and damage at your location. You can also view a map displaying accumulated data from your report and others. Historical Moment Tensor Solutions Seismic Hazard Map Historical Seismicity Theoretical P-Wave Travel Times Magnitude 7 and Greater Earthquakes This Year TsunamiBulletin Archive of newsworthy events

[stlnative]

The Iran (in Bam) 6.8 earthquake happened before dawn on December 26, 2004

Now this one...(death toll just from the tidal waves is up to 3200 now)

Photo Album on Yahoo News...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?g=events/wl/122604indonesiaquake&tmpl=sl&e=1

[bd476]

Whew, just returned from a Christmas gathering. Thank you for the updates on the tsunami. This is a very sad situation over there. Going to turn on C2C right now.

[bd476]

Thank you for the update Brigette. I'ts a very tragic situation right now with the tsunamis.

[stlnative]

Tidal Waves Kill More Than 3,200 in Asia (11 minutes ago)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041226/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_earthquake

JAKARTA, Indonesia - The world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years triggered massive tidal waves that slammed into villages and seaside resorts across Asia on Sunday, killing more than 3,200 people in five countries.

A police spokesman in Sri Lanka said 1,677 people were killed in that country. Officials in India reported 1,000 dead. More than 400 were reported killed in Indonesia, 158 in Thailand and 25 in Malaysia. Hundreds were reported missing, and the death toll was expected to rise.

[bd476]

Capitan, thank you for the update of the earthquake from 8.5 to 8.9.

[stlnative]

The Iran (in Bam) 6.8 earthquake happened before dawn on December 26, 2003

[BurbankKarl]

BBC reports

Sri Lanka 1650, 1 million affected
India 1000 (5000 missing)
Thailand 170
Malaysia 17
Indonesia 700 (EQ)


Maldives (1000 miles from quake) - airport closed, relief supplies destroyed by water, 3 dead (1 brit), 5 missing

[stlnative]

CNN has pictures on now

[BurbankKarl]

[India News]: Chennai, Dec 26 : The nuclear power plant at Kalpakkam near here was shut down Sunday after rising seawater entered the reactor campus in the wake of a massive earthquake in Indonesia.

"MAPS II, a 250MW unit, was shut down on Sunday morning as a precaution," said an official of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India.

There were, however, no reports of damage to the plant or radiation leak, Aajtak TV news channel said.

[BurbankKarl]

BANGKOK, Thailand -- (UPDATE) A Malaysian husband and wife were killed diving in the famous Emerald Cave off Thailand's southern coast Sunday when a huge tsunami struck the kingdom, but the remaining 80 who had been trapped were rescued, police said.

"A Malaysian couple has died but we have rescued the remaining 80 tourists who had been trapped in there from the tidal wave," a police man in Trang province told Agence France-Presse.
Authorities had dispatched emergency rescue teams to Mook Island, the site of the limestone grotto which tourists must swim underwater to reach.

The 80-metrer-long grotto, whose waters shimmer an emerald color from sunshine which filters through a hole in the top, is a popular attraction for dive enthusiasts who visit Thailand by the thousands every year.

[stlnative]

Tidal Waves Kill More Than 3,300 in Asia
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=1&u=/ap/20041226/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_earthquake

"The death toll is going up all the time. Two hours back it was 1,000, one hour back it was 1,300 and now I am told it is climbing to 1,500," said Lalith Weerathunga, secretary to the prime minister.

[stlnative]

In Thailand there are more than 100 "tourist" divers missing per Fox News this morning.

[bd476]

ABC Newsonline:

Last Update: Sunday, December 26, 2004. 6:21pm (AEDT)

Breaking News

Death toll nears 200 after quake, tsunamis strike southern Asia

A massive earthquake off northern Indonesia has unleashed giant tidal waves and flash floods across southern Asia, leaving at least 196 people dead and hundreds more missing.

The quake, which Indonesian seismologists said measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, struck in the Indian ocean south-west of Aceh province on Sumatra Island and sparked panic across the region.

Sri Lanka's eastern and southern coastline was one of the worst hit areas, with rescuers saying at least 162 people had been killed by tidal waves that battered villages.

Police in India said at least 26 people died when a wall of water caused by the the quake struck the country's south-eastern shores.

Sri Lankan relief official M.D. Rodrigo said workers found at least 150 bodies in the Muslim village of Muttur while another 10 were found in the town of Trincomalee which went under several feet of sea water.

A large number of people were also believed to be missing.

BBC reporter Roland Buerk was in southern Sri Lanka when the waves struck.

"We made our way out of the hotel through the incredible rushing waters," he said.

"First of all we climbed up into a tree for a couple of minutes, but then that began to fall down because of the water. We were swept along for a few hundred metres, tried to dodge the motorcycles and refrigerators and the cars that were coming with it and finally about 300 metres inshore we managed to get hold of a pillar which we held onto and then the waters gradually began to subside.

"But this has caused incredible devastation here, there are cars in trees, buildings destroyed."

Tsunamis in the southern Thailand resort of Phuket meanwhile left at least 10 people dead, 200 wounded and several others missing.

Western Australian MP John Hyde is holidaying in Phuket and he says the tidal waves caught people off guard.

"People are doubly stunned because at 8:00am, when the first earthquake came, a couple of people came out and talked, and people seemed to go back for breakfast or go down to the beach and then two hours later, bang, the first tidal wave came through," he said.

"Out of nowhere, suddenly the streets are awash and people just running and screaming from the beach. Our hotel is about 150 metres from the beach, and the water was lapping on the doorsteps, one metre above the road."

Mr Hyde says some people began moving inland, fearing more tidal waves to come.

He says there is widespread destruction along the coast.

"All the windows are blown-in, debris everywhere, there's a jeep wedged between two coconut trees, the main street of Patong is still under about half a metre of water," he said.

Perth man Simon Morse was in a Phuket pub watching the cricket when he saw a massive wave crash over Patong Beach.

"There were still people running away at that point in time," he said.

"People were getting swept along, still on their motorbikes on the side. There were cars that had been picked up by the storm surge and they were getting pushed down the road, taking things out as they went.

"There were also people getting swept down the middle of the road in the water."

The Australian Embassy in Bangkok says there are no reports of any Australians dead or missing on the Thai resort island of Phuket.

Unconfirmed reports said at least 15 people had been killed in Indonesia.

Waves up to five metres high hit the coast of Aceh forcing hundreds to flee to higher ground. Witnesses said the toll was expected to rise.

In Aceh, a region currently closed off to foreign media and aid agencies due to a long-running separatist conflict, there were unconfirmed reports of casualties, with buildings including a mosque and a hotel collapsing.

A reporter from the private ElShinta radio said the earthquake caused substantial damage in provincial capital Banda Aceh, including the partial collapse of Kuala Tripa hotel and several shops as well as cracks on the road.

Reports differed on the the exact location and size of the quake.

The US Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Centre put the tremor at 8.5, which would make it one of the largest in history, off the west coast of Sumatra while the Strasbourg Observatory in France said the tremor hit 8.0 and was located north of the island.

Jakarta's Meteorology and Geophysics Office put the quake at 6.8 saying it was centred in the Indian Ocean, 149 kilometres south of Meulaboh, a town on the western coast of Aceh.

The office said there were reports of tsunamis, collapsed bridges and downed powerlines. They said telephone lines were also down, making communications with the region difficult.

First Lieutenant Suyitno of Aceh's south western Sigli district police said water began to rise about 30 minutes after the quake and added that hundreds of people residing near the coast or along rivers had evacuated.

Suyitno said there were no report of casualties yet and that the depth of the flood was around one metre.

Similar conditions were also reported in the coastal town of Lhokseumawe, in North Aceh district, 216 kilometres east of Banda Aceh.

The state Antara news agency said several shops under construction in the Beurawe area of Banda Aceh collapsed and search teams were searching for possible victims -- construction workers who might have been in the buildings.

The quake was also felt in the North Sumatra province capital of Medan, sparking panic among the population. But the meteorology office in Medan said that there were no reports of any damage or casualties.

The tremors were felt as far away as the Thai capital Bangkok, 1,500 kilometres north of the epicentre, where buildings swayed but no serious damage was reported.

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 18,000 islands, lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" noted for its volcanic and seismic activity, and is one of the world's most earthquake-prone regions.

Lying at the collision point of three tectonic plates results in frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as pressure between the massive segments of the Earth's crust is released.

Last month a succession of powerful earthquakes struck Alor island in eastern Indonesia, killing 26 people.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is checking on the welfare of Australians in the region.

Concerned relatives can call DFAT's 24-hour consular emergency hotline on 1300 555 135.

- AFP

[bd476]

[bd476]

Update time = Sun Dec 26 12:04:19 UTC 2004

    MAG    DATE     UTC-TIME    LAT     LON    DEPTH    region
           y/m/d     h:m:s      deg     deg     km
   

map 2.8  2004/12/26 11:13:22  40.644 -124.225  19.1  NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 6.3  2004/12/26 11:05:01  13.542   92.877  10.0  ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP 6.2  2004/12/26 10:19:30  13.455   92.791  10.0  ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
map 2.6  2004/12/26 10:17:39  38.009 -118.715   6.7  CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 6.5  2004/12/26 09:20:01   8.867   92.382  10.0  NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP 5.8  2004/12/26 07:38:25  13.119   93.052  10.0  ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP 5.7  2004/12/26 07:07:10  10.336   93.756  10.0  ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
map 3.2  2004/12/26 06:41:32  53.058 -166.856  25.0  FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.7  2004/12/26 06:21:58  10.623   92.323  10.0  ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
map 3.2  2004/12/26 06:05:21  19.514 -155.079  24.3  ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 7.3  2004/12/26 04:21:26   6.901   92.952  10.0  NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
map 2.5  2004/12/26 03:57:59  37.970 -118.660   8.7  CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
map 3.9  2004/12/26 03:56:28  37.966 -118.660   7.8  CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
map 2.9  2004/12/26 03:47:02  63.497 -151.007   5.0  CENTRAL ALASKA
map 4.1  2004/12/26 03:29:38  53.508 -163.488  40.9  UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
map 2.7  2004/12/26 03:25:32  19.316 -155.749  29.3  ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 6.1  2004/12/26 03:08:42  13.808   92.975  10.0  ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP 5.9  2004/12/26 02:59:12   3.177   94.259  10.0  OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
MAP 6.0  2004/12/26 02:51:59  12.511   92.593  10.0  ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP 5.8  2004/12/26 02:36:06  12.139   93.010  10.0  ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP 5.8  2004/12/26 02:34:50   4.104   94.184  10.0  OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
MAP 6.0  2004/12/26 02:22:02   8.860   92.500  10.0  NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP 5.8  2004/12/26 02:15:58  12.375   92.509  10.0  ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP 5.9  2004/12/26 01:48:47   5.393   94.423  10.0  NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
MAP 8.9  2004/12/26 00:58:51   3.298   95.779  10.0  OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
map 2.7  2004/12/25 17:44:20  63.418 -145.084   1.0  CENTRAL ALASKA
map 3.1  2004/12/25 15:57:09  63.244 -151.332  10.0  CENTRAL ALASKA
map 2.5  2004/12/25 13:21:17  37.257 -117.633   4.9  CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
map 3.7  2004/12/25 09:25:08  57.527 -152.421 200.0  KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
map 2.5  2004/12/25 01:56:48  62.088 -148.185  30.0  CENTRAL ALASKA
map 2.8  2004/12/25 00:20:06  62.949 -150.439  90.0  CENTRAL ALASKA
map 4.6  2004/12/24 23:54:49  -6.554  109.301 268.7  JAVA, INDONESIA
MAP 5.3  2004/12/24 19:36:39 -19.175  167.704  32.5  VANUATU REGION
map 2.5  2004/12/24 18:32:56  35.693 -121.016   8.8  CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
map 2.7  2004/12/24 18:29:47  60.175 -152.614  90.0  SOUTHERN ALASKA
map 2.5  2004/12/24 18:02:12  60.880 -147.637  15.0  SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.1  2004/12/24 13:39:45 -20.197 -178.777 621.9  FIJI REGION
map 3.0  2004/12/24 08:47:38  59.664 -153.070 120.0  SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.5  2004/12/24 05:31:45 -50.198  161.269  10.0  NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND
map 2.8  2004/12/24 03:29:29  60.394 -151.315  60.0  KENAI PENINSULA, ALASKA
map 3.1  2004/12/24 03:14:49  32.094 -116.428   6.0  BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
map 2.6  2004/12/24 02:29:29  19.392 -155.249   3.3  ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII

[bd476]

ABC News Online:

Last Update: Sunday, December 26, 2004. 11:06pm (AEDT)

A view of the damage caused by a tsunami at Patong beach in Phuket. (Reuters)

Over 3,000 feared dead in massive Asian quake

"The world's fifth-largest quake in a century hit southern Asia today, unleashing a tsunami that crashed into Sri Lanka and India, drowning thousands and swamping tourist isles in Thailand and the Maldives.

A wall of water up to 10 metres high triggered by the 8.9 magnitude earthquake swept into Indonesia, over the coast of Sri Lanka and India and across southern Thai tourist islands, leaving up to 3,100 feared dead in seaside towns and villages.

Two-thirds of the Maldives capital, Male, was flooded and officials voiced anxiety for the fate of dozens of low-lying, palm-ringed coral atolls crowded with international tourists for the Christmas holiday season.

Sri Lanka, where officials put the death toll at 1,500, appealed for emergency international assistance, President Chandrika Kumaratunga's office said.

One million people, or 5 per cent of the population, were affected, officials said.

"The president has declared a state of national disaster due to the seriousness of the situation," her office said.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alerted the navy after 1,000 were reported dead and offered urgent help to Sri Lanka.

The earthquake of magnitude 8.9 as measured by the US Geological Survey first struck at 7:59am local time off the coast of the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra and swung north with multiple tremors into the Andaman islands.

More than 100 Western and Asian tourists on diving holidays were missing on islands off southern Thailand, about 70 of them in the famed Emeral Cave, a tourist official said.

The Government sent helicopters to Koh Phi Phi, another island popular with tourists, and other smaller islands in the Andaman Sea to assess the damage in the peak holiday season.

It ordered the evacuation of stricken areas, which included beaches on the popular resort islands of Phuket and Krabi.

"Nothing like this has ever happened in our country before," said Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The earthquake was the world's biggest since 1964, said Julie Martinez, geophysicist at the US Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado. "It is multiple earthquakes along the same faultline."

It was the fifth-largest earthquake since 1900, she said.

"These big earthquakes, when they occur in shallow water, ... basically slosh the ocean floor ... and it's as if you're rocking water in the bathtub and that wave can travel basically throughout the ocean," USGS geophysicist Bruce Presgrave told the BBC.

In Sri Lanka, thousands fled the worst tsunami in living memory, scrambling to higher ground for fear of another wave.

"The Army and the Navy have sent rescue teams; we have deployed over four choppers and half the Navy's eastern fleet to look for survivors," said military spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake.

The worst-hit area appeared to be the tourist region of the south and east where beach hotels were inundated or swept away.

"Our naval base in Trincomalee is underwater and right now we are trying to manage the situation there while rescuing people," said Navy spokesman Jayantha Perera.

In the low-lying Maldives, President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was to declare a national disaster in the archipelago whose coral atolls are a magnet for tourists from around the world, said chief government spokesman Ahmed Shaheed.

"The damage is considerable," Mr Shaheed said. "The island is only about three feet (one metre) above sea level and a wave of water four feet (1.3 metres) high swept over us."

The international airport was unusable, he said.

"It is a very bad situation. It is terrible," Mr Shaheed said.

"As you know it is the peak tourist season. We are trying to get reports from those areas. The whole of the Maldives is a tourist area so we are just hoping and praying."

The world's worst tsunami in recent history struck on July 17, 1998, when three waves ripped through Papua New Guinea's northwest coast, killing 2,500.

At least 720 people were killed on Indonesia's Sumatra island where the wave washed people out to sea and tore children from their parents' arms, officials said.

Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands, lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire where plate boundaries intersect and volcanoes regularly erupt.

To the north in Thailand, officials reported one wave 5 to 10 metres high hit hotel-lined beaches on Phuket.

At least 120 people had been killed and more than 1,000 injured, officials said.

"It happened in cycles. There would be a surge and then it would retreat and then there would be a next surge which was more violent and it went on like that," Paul Ramsbottom, a Briton on holiday in a Phuket beach bungalow, told BBC World TV.

"Then there was this one almighty surge. I mean literally this was the one which was picking up pickup trucks and motorcycles and throwing them around in front of us," he added.

One foreigner was known to be among the dead in Krabi.

Thai television showed scenes of devastation on one Phuket beach.

Store fronts were damaged and cars and motorcycles were strewn around after being tossed about by the powerful waves.

A Thai man carried one elderly Western man in swimming trunks to safety on his back, ITV showed.

At least 1,000 people have been killed along the southern Indian coast and rescuers were searching for hundreds of fishermen missing, government officials said.

About 100 people had died in Madras alone, the city's police commissioner, K Natarajan, told reporters.

"The bodies in the hospital are mostly young women and children."

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has set up a special hotline for people with relatives in South-East Asia and south Asia.

The number is 1 800 00 22 14."

-Reuters

In other developments:

• The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has set up a special hotline for people with relatives in South-East Asia and south Asia, where Tsunamis and earthquakes struck earlier today. (Full Story)
• At least 1,651 people were confirmed dead and many more missing in Sri Lanka as tsunami waves smashed into the island, Prime Minister's top aide and police told AFP. (Full Story)
• A total of 721 people have been confirmed dead in Indonesia from a powerful earthquake and tsunamis that struck the northern tip of Sumatra island today but the toll is expected to rise. (Full Story)

[CDHart]

I've been looking but can't find the info I would like. Does anyone have a list of quakes going back to when they first started recording them? Thanks for any help!

Carolyn

[Simcha7]

Shalom!

This is a Massive Earthquake...8.9, and there will be untold casualities.

No one has to Pray for disaster to strike...

Yeshua / Jesus The Messiah said..."You will hear of Wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and Kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains."

~ Matthew 24:6-8 ~

Time is running Very, Very Short.

[bd476]

Diego Garcia, Chagos Islands, Indian Ocean Network: II - Global Seismograph Network (GSN - IRIS/IDA)

[commonguymd]

Simple! Go back and read the posts. If you don't understand then, read them again. Keep repeating this procedure until you see why.