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

[Mr. Mojo]

Sumatra. .....near the notorious Krakatau volcano.

[cyborg]

Sometimes I'm very tempted to believe certain disasters happen becuase of the hand of God. Other times I assume it's due to natural occurances. I just pray to God to know the difference and. Whether God is issuing a cosmic switch or not, I pray for some sort of good outcome.

[Quix]

Actually, you've reminded me. There ARE STATISTICS on such things. I don't recall sufficient keywords to look the research up. Are you in touch with it enough to find it and post some here?

Certainly when church attendance goes up in an area of the USA for the last 200 years, then murders, rapes, robberies, alcoholism goes down--quite significantly.

But there's also some statistics regarding natural disasters, as I recall--related to measured apparant Godliness in a location.

[Clemenza]

"This is Rita Braber reporting from Krakatoa, East of Java."

[BIGLOOK]

There is the Richter Scale for measuring quakes. There's another, I forget the name at the moment, that deals with physical destruction and human response. 8.1 in a populated area means extreme destruction and near panic.

Anyone near this is probably all shook up.

[Quix]

I don't really feel very responsible for your assessment of the data.

I personally don't think the quake stuff has begun to show the changes it will show.

I'm not responsible for others wrong impressions and jumping to conclusions and loose speaking and writing and certainly not their lying about such things. I doubt you know the heart and facts enough to call all such lying.

Your charity and assessment skills in such matters still underwhelm me.

[Quix]

AMEN!

WELL, we know that HE WORKS ALL THINGS TOGETHER FOR GOOD

FOR THOSE WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSES; WHO LOVE HIM, ETC.

And, I pray similarly.

I actually am not at all sure that this is more than the usual for that area. HOWEVER, IF there are 3-5 more 8.+ quakes in the next 2 weeks anywhere in the world, THEN I'll adjust my thinking on it.

Thanks for your kind reply.

[ForGod'sSake]

I think you'll find the it's closer to the much larger Toba super volcano:

FGS

[commonguymd]

Is that a good thing? I mean for the folks that prey for disaster. No pun intended.

[Strategerist]

But there's also some statistics regarding natural disasters, as I recall--related to measured apparant Godliness in a location.

You've got to be kidding, I hope.

Eastern North Carolina might be the most religious - especially in terms of Born Agains, Fundivangelists, and whatnot - area in the country...and it was the area completely flooded by Hurricane Floyd, killing 50+ people.

In Hurricanes Andrew, Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne, the South Beach of Miami (noted as a center for Gay culture and as a home for decadent nightclubs) has been basically bracketed by the tracks of all of those hurricanes and left essentially undamaged; instead, in Andrew, family homes in suburbs South of Miami, and a US military base, were destroyed; Charley trashed the small homes and trailers of a lot of elderly retirees; Ivan trashed another US military base and environs.

If you look at the known earthquake history for San Franciso and Los Angeles, the number and size of damaging earthquakes DROPPED drastically after World War II, when SF became the center for gay culture in the US, and LA became the center of the American porn industry.

If one were to attempt to make a case for areas being more prone to disasters because of the morality of their inhabitants you could probably make a better case for immorality protecting an area than vice-versa.

[ForGod'sSake]

Actually, you've reminded me. There ARE STATISTICS on such things.

Sorry, I've never looked into such things. But, I believe the Bible and I believe God is still in charge. He will have His way. The only other thing I would offer is something you're likely aware of; His ways are not our ways.

Regards,

FGS

[expatguy]

I don't live in a highrise and I didn't feel a thing.

This morning I spoke to a friend who lives 20 minutes away in Kuala Lumpur on the 18th floor and he said it scared the ^&*% out of him.

Weird. In 17 years here I have never heard of earthquake being felt here.

Earthquake hits Indonesia, tremors in Malaysia, Singapore, Bangkok

[Strategerist]

http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/neis/general/increase_in_earthquakes.html

Are Earthquakes Really on the Increase?

We continue to be asked by many people throughout the world if earthquakes are on the increase. Although it may seem that we are having more earthquakes, earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater have remained fairly constant.

A partial explanation may lie in the fact that in the last twenty years, we have definitely had an increase in the number of earthquakes we have been able to locate each year. This is because of the tremendous increase in the number of seismograph stations in the world and the many improvements in global communications. In 1931, there were about 350 stations operating in the world; today, there are more that 8,000 stations and the data now comes in rapidly from these stations by electronic mail, internet and satellite. This increase in the number of stations and the more timely receipt of data has allowed us and other seismological centers to locate earthquakes more rapidly and to locate many small earthquakes which were undetected in earlier years. The NEIC now locates about 20,000 earthquakes each year or approximately 50 per day. Also, because of the improvements in communications and the increased interest in the environment and natural disasters, the public now learns about more earthquakes.

According to long-term records (since about 1900), we expect about 18 major earthquakes (7.0 - 7.9) and one great earthquake (8.0 or above) in any given year. However, let's take a look at what has happened in the past 31 years, from 1969 through 2001.

The following is a list of major and great earthquakes during this period:

Number of Earthquakes Per Year Year Major
Earthquakes Great
Earthquakes
1969 15 1
1970 20 0
1971 19 1
1972 15 0
1973 13 0
1974 14 0
1975 14 1
1976 15 2
1977 11 2
1978 16 1
1979 13 0
1980 13 1
1981 13 0
1982 10 1
1983 14 0
1984 08 0
1985 13 1
1986 05 1
1987 11 0
1988 08 0
1989 06 1
1990 18 0
1991 16 0
1992 13 0
1993 12 0
1994 11 2
1995 18 2
1996 14 1
1997 16 0
1998 11 1
1999 18 0
2000 14 1
2001 15 1


(My note: From 2002-2004 the numbers are comparable with a below-average number of mag 7+ quakes a year.)

[ForGod'sSake]

Is that a good thing? I mean for the folks that prey for disaster.

I don't have an answer for that. Each individual must answer to One that's above us all. I believe He will spare nations that follow Him and destroy them that don't. The bottom line is, God will do what He will do, our exhortations notwithstanding.

Regards,

FGS

[commonguymd]

drudge has it now.

[Quix]

For the last several years . . . I don't recall ever posting an assertion that the quakes definitely HAD already increased etc.

I don't even recall quoting others saying so.

I don't personally know. I haven't thrown my USGS data into a spread sheet or whatever to look it over very thoroughly at all.

I just know that THEY WILL INCREASE when God is ready for them to.

[commonguymd]

All I know is that Santa didn't put coal in my stocking this year, so I should be safe.

[ForGod'sSake]

All I know is that Santa didn't put coal in my stocking this year, so I should be safe.

Good to go for another year, huh?

I've been doing some googling around to find the proximity of Toba to this latest shaker, and it looks like Tobo is almost due east. That's probably not a good thing given the size of Toba. I'm not sure if Toba has any regularly recurring cycles in its history, but the one that occurred roughly 75,000 years ago was probably one of those catastrophic type events, that is, "nuclear winter" type eruptions. More searching...

FGS

[Cheetah1]

Msaaive Tsunami now reported...hundreds killed

[Cheetah1]

should read "massive"