Praying for all of those who may be affected...
Sharper Minds Daily...
Posted on 12/25/2004 9:15:48 PM PST by M. Espinola
I mean, I can see getting worked up over 500 km of Gujarat being decimated.
This story however, is filed under my list of news items deemed "piddly crap, which I already knew."
I know it sounds callous, but it's the truth.
Kwajalein is in the Central Pacific, many thousands of miles and a lot of intervening land away from this earthquake.
Diego Garcia is fairly close (as tsunami go) and open to a tsunami from this quake.
LOL yeah...
its the short-timer ness that is infecting me right now....
At least 162 people have been killed after a huge earthquake rocked Indonesia, unleashing tidal waves and flash floods across Asia that swamped coastal areas and displaced thousands.
The quake, which 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.
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.
"The casualties could be higher," Mr Rodrigo said.
He said the water level was going down leaving a massive trail of destruction. A large number of people were also believed to be missing.
Tsunamis in the southern Thailand resort of Phuket meanwhile left at least four foreign tourists missing after they were swept out to sea.
Indian officials also reported the deaths of two people who drowned after being swamped by a tidal wave in Agarpara in West Bengal state, about 25 kilometres from the capital city of Calcutta.
Unconfirmed radio reports said at least nine people had been killed in Indonesia.
Waves up to five metres high hit the coast of Aceh forcing hundreds to flee to higher ground.
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.
When the after affect hits CA, Feinstein, Pelossi, and Boxer will blame Rummy and President Bush. Kyoto and all that. Rush should have fun with this if it still in the news; and when when Rush returns in a few days.
Stay safe. I'm still confused about your exact location as I didn't recognize the city name on the other thread.
Global Warming strikes again! Bush did it! Wouldn't have happened it Kerry had won!
Series, I hate Jaques-Strap Chirac; and Schroeder. If I were W, I would pull ALL of our troops out of Europe and let those bastards continue to swim in their military and economic cess-pool. "Fukc 'em."
Maybe I'll get a T-shirt with that logo.
BTW, I've worked in both of those countries, so it is not as if I have not discovered their cultures and business processes on a professional basis for over a year on a Seagrams project.
Losses could be incomprehensible if such a thing hit L.A., for example.
I hope losses are minimal just the same.
There is a substantial difference between a 8.0 and a 8.5 quake.
Place this in terms of how much a house costs. If a typical $100K house is compared to a $1 million dollar house, this might be synonomous with comparing a mag 5 quake to a mag 6 quake. The mag 8.0 quake would then be a $100 mil house compared to a half billion dollar house as in a mag 8.5 quake.
The $100k house is a significant investment, but 5000 more of them aren't comparable.
The seismicity was felt half way around the globe for over 26 minutes.
PING!!!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308458/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308458/posts
The only real tie is that I was born in Germany...
Although france and Germany are not quite as big of players on the world stage as we say they are, I think that showing how totally irrelevant both are (which is different than ignoring them of course) would get them worse than actually ignoring them...
The epicentral data suggests that this quake is likely related to subduction activity along the trench south of Sumatra. I'm going to check to see what the USGS is posting about this quake. They don;t get much bigger than this one, if M=8.5 is correct.
Unfortunately, the locals don't pronounce it the way it looks.
:)
I'm not a local there he he
A magnitude {{{7.3}}} - has just rocked the Nicobar Islands in the India Region
Even though the earthquake and aftershocks that took place in Western India were measurably smaller-I think they were a magnitude of 7.9-they affected an area that was-despite its reputation for industrialization-relatively speaking, extremely underdeveloped.
While I understand why people would be concerned about this terrible situation, I don't think they should attempt to portray it as the end of the world.
The amount of people killed in Sri Lanka by this fateful event would, most likely, not pale in comparison to the average number of deaths in a typical month of their nation's over two decade-long civil war.
From my standpoint, a government whose best solution to resolving the issue of terrorism is to appease the radical Hindu fundamentalists who started this conflict in the first place, should be of more concern to the avid news-reader than a fairly prosaic "act of God."
I may be in the minority here, but that's just how I feel.
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.