Posted on 12/30/2004 4:09:01 PM PST by topher
Diego Garcia Personnel Safe, Facilities Intact Following Tsunami
Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory – Navy personnel on board Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean are safe following the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that had devastating effects on Southeast Asia. Facilities and operations were not affected.
Favorable ocean topography minimized the tsunami’s impact on the atoll. Diego Garcia is part of the Chagos Archipelago, situated on the southernmost part of the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge. To the east lies the Chagos Trench, a 400 mile long, underwater canyon that ranges in depth from less than 1,00 meters below the surface to depths that plunge to over 5,000 meters. It is one of the deepest regions of the Indian Ocean.
Diego Garcia is located to the west of Chagos Trench, which runs north and south. The depth of the Chagos Trench and grade to the shores does not allow for tsunamis to build before passing the atoll. The result of the earthquake was seen as a tidal surge estimated at six feet.
The US Navy is indicating this is hot news.
Note that Diego Garcia had a six foot tidal surge.
It sounds like if it had been from a different angle, it might have been much, much worse.
I really doubt the Chagos trench had much to do with anything.
Looking at some of the tentative initial simulations of the waves (tsuanmi waves are strongest perpendicular to the originating trench) it appears DG was just barely south of the strongest waves.
Also, the inhabited part of DG is on the western side of a very large atoll ring with that ring surrounded by further reefs.
Someone listened to our prayers for the troops.
Long live the Navy.
This is official Navy News on what happened and why at Diego Garcia. [Apologies if you did not want to be pinged -- took list from folks interested on threads just on Diego Garcia].
Good thing we have In God We Trust on our money. God might have remembered that...
Well a 6foot high sea could do a lot of damage there, since much of the place has an elevation of only 4 feet!!
From Global Security dot org:
Initial indications are that Diego Garcia was not affected by the Andaman Tsunami of 26 December 2004. It is located south of the tip of India, well with in range of what the tsunami, with a max elevation of 22 and an average elevation of only 4 feet. Civilians monitoring shortwave radio reported on rec.radio.shortwave that a female operator, in answer to a query from an aircraft after giving weather information, reported no ill effects from the earthquake. So everything appears well on Diego Garcia.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/diego-garcia.htm
Are you saying that it hit with force or just that being 2 feet above the level of the island [4 feet] would cause significant damage?
[By hitting with force, I mean a drastic water level change in a short period of time].
How can 2 feet of water being a major threat [no sarcasm of any kind is intended -- I just don't understand].
Thanks for the post. I think the tsunami that hit Crescent City ca from the Alaska quake of 64 and killed several people and did millions in damage wasn't much more than a 6 footer...
Well if the mean elevation is 4 feet that means that more than half the island is below the 6 foot swell.
If you've ever been flooded you would know that water standing anywhere from 4 to 2 feet deep tends to mess up your whole weekend even if it doesn't break anything or kill anyone.
Vehicles, electrical wireing, Propane tanks, rugs, bedding, sheet rock, floors, sewer systems, and who knows what all gets totally messed up.
True, If waves were not breaking then not much should get swept away.
Thank's! I have been searching for new's from Garcia!
My brother was there, in the Navy.
My other one, in the Marine's.
I was Army, and our Dad Air Force. ( We were brat's)
My thought's ARE alway's with our troop's!
I had heard the good news but thanks for the ping anyway...Good news is kinda sparce in that part of the world.
Didn't take into account all the things you said.
Thanks!
As it turns out the main reason there wasn't much damage at DG was the "main beam" of the Tsunami passed barely to the north....
http://pmel.noaa.gov/tsunami/indo20041226/max.pdf
(Note; the wave heights are for when it was in the open ocean, not the runup on land. When the main part of the wave was in the open ocean, it was about 3-4 feet high.)
Thanks.
Even 400 cm is about 12 feet. 1700 cm is about 51 ft+.
I see this by going into Adobe Acrobat, and expanding up to 800% the size to see specific colors in different areas.
A picture is truly worth a million words...
Finally some good news coming from the region. Thanks.
I suggest that you stay out of gulleys during a flash flood, else you might find out the hard way.
2 feet of water, mud and debris hitting at a mere 35 mph could do a lot of damage. Likely a tsunami wave is traveling closer to 100 mph.
Try falling off of water skiis at 35 mph - at 100 mph, you'll likely not survive the initial impact.
Very interesting link. Thanks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.