Posted on 12/25/2004 9:15:48 PM PST by M. Espinola
Jakarta, Dec. 26. (AP): An earthquake measuring 8.5 on the Richter scale rocked large parts of Southeast Asia early today.
The quake reportedly caused dozens of small buildings to collapse and triggered tidal waves in northwestern Indonesia, witnesses and officials said.
Nine people were killed as a result of the undersea quake in Indonesia's northwestern province of Aceh, where most of the damage was reported, el-Shinta radio station quoted a witness as saying.
It was not possible to immediately confirm the reports.
Electricity and telephone networks in parts of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, were knocked out and dozens of shops and buildings collapsed, witnesses told el-Shinta.
"The ground was shaking for a long time," Yayan Zamzani told the station. "It must be the strongest earthquake in the last 15 years."
The quake was also felt in neighboring Thailand and Malaysia. No major damage was reported in those two countries.
A tidal wave hit the Thai tourist resort island Phuket with waves as high as five meters 5 (16 feet) after the earthquake, Thailand's meteorology department said.
The U.S. Geological Survey's Web site recorded the magnitude 8.5 earthquake off the west coast of Northern Sumatra, 1,620 kilometers (1,000 miles) northwest of Jakarta. It was centered 40 kilometers (25 miles) below the seabed, the Web site reported. The survey initially reported the quake as 8.1.
Residents in the towns of Lhokseumawe and Banda Aceh in the northwestern province of Aceh reported tidal waves had triggered flooding in coastal regions.
An Associated Press reporter in Lhokseumawe said several houses had been damaged and that water levels on main streets in the town had reached one-meter (three-feet) high. At least one house had been swept away, he said.
Hundreds of people were fleeing to higher ground, he said.
Indonesia, a country of 17,000 islands, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the margins of tectonic plates that make up the so-called the "Ring of Fire" around the Pacific Ocean basin.
The quake came just three days after an 8.1 quake struck the ocean floor between Australia and Antarctica, causing buildings to shake hundreds of miles away but no serious damage or injury.
Quakes reaching a magnitude 8 are very rare. A quake registering magnitude 8 rocked Japan's northern island of Hokkaido on Sept. 25, 2003, injuring nearly 600 people. An 8.4 magnitude tremor that stuck off the coast of Peru on June 23, 2001, killed 74.
I am of German, Austrian, Welsh and English descent I can trace my heritage from all of these countries early to mid 1800s.. My wife is from German and Bohemian (Czech) extraction as well.
It is today's politics that twists my shorts. The United States rebuilt Germany after WWII. And today the French and Germans have been disloyal to America. That was my only point.
BTW, I drive a BMW M3, Karen dives a BMW X3, and I own a Sig 9mm firearm. So, it is not as if we do not contribute to the German economy. But, somehow that will change soon in the Davis household unless Schroeder has a change of attitude.
Until that happens, if I were Rummy, I would pull all of our 30k American troops from Germany, and deploy them elsewhere; probably Poland.
Then again, I am not a political scientist, but to our family, and business; trust and loyalty are large factors in which we make decisions. IMOHO
Bali is another redoubt that appears to be falling into the hands of the barbarians.
Thank goodness for Australia!
Otherwise, a much worse fate might have befell E. Timor.
I think you are correct about the lack of underwater landslides in 1964 - at least on a large scale.
I don't follow that part of the world very much, on a professional or political level anymore. Doesn't sound good, in any case.
Aside from the humanitarian/political intervention in E. Timor and the capture of JI operational commander "Hanbali", there hasn't been much good news to report out of the region.
Update on my own post. The main shock is now calcualted to have a hypocentral focal depth of 40 kilometers - that's more like a typical subduction trench earthquake.
Use this website:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/usslav/
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The website is now stating 8.9 Magnitude. Wow!
We are going to be moving virtually all of those troops to Poland and Hungary I think.....Both of those countries look forward to our American dollars :)
yeah well you know....
Thank you!!!
I agree.
Many of the areas with hundreds killed by the Tsunami are not predominantly Muslim.
Not that facts ever got in the way of death-gloating by types such as yourself though.....
Eh, re-reading I see you actually weren't one of the many people gloating over this hitting Muslim areas....sorry about that.
It looks like they upped it. A little earlier the same site indicated 8.5.
Last heard 8.9 in Sumatra and 6.5 in Chittagong. Tsunami generated.
Who said no man could surprise her,
Pabst took a chance,
Found Schlitz in her pants,
And she's not older,
Budweiser.
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