SUMATRA QUAKE REVISED TO 9.0 MAG

usgs ^

[Brian Mosely]

Magnitude 9.0 - OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
2004 December 26 00:58:50 UTC

Preliminary Earthquake Report
U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver

A great earthquake occurred at 00:58:50 (UTC) on Sunday, December 26, 2004. The magnitude 9.0 event has been located OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)

Magnitude		9.0
Date-Time	Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:50 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 6:58:50 AM = local time at epicenter
Location	3.298°N, 95.779°E
Depth	10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Region		OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
Distances	250 km (155 miles) SSE of Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia 320 km (200 miles) W of Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia 1260 km (780 miles) SSW of BANGKOK, Thailand 1605 km (1000 miles) NW of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia
	Location Uncertainty	horizontal +/- 9.2 km (5.7 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters	Nst=157, Nph=157, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=1.35 sec, Gp= 29°, M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=9
Source	USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
	Event ID	usslav
Felt Reports	At least 3,000 people killed in Sri Lanka, 2,300 in India, 2,000 in Indonesia, 289 in Thailand, 42 in Malaysia, 8 in Somalia and 2 in Bangladesh by tsunamis. Tsunamis also occurred on the coasts of Maldives and Cocos Island. At least 200 people killed, buildings destroyed or damaged in the Banda Aceh area, Sumatra. Felt widely in Sumatra. Also felt in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand. This is now the fourth largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and is the largest since the 1964 Prince William Sound, Alaska earthquake.

Today's shallow, thrust-type earthquake occurred off the west coast of northern Sumatra at the interface between the India and Burma plates. In this region, the Burma plate is characterized by significant strain partitioning due to oblique convergence of the India and Australia plates to the west and the Sunda and Eurasian plates to the east. Off the west coast of northern Sumatra, the India plate is moving in a northeastward direction at about 5 cm per year relative to the Burma plate. Preliminary locations of larger aftershocks following today's earthquake show that approximately 1000 km of the plate boundary slipped as a result of the earthquake. Aftershocks are distributed along much of the shallow plate boundary between northern Sumatra (approximately 3 degrees north) to near Andaman Island (at about 14 degrees north).

[SierraWasp]

Why... You little Druid, you!!!

Not even a loin cloth, or grape leaf???

[Issaquahking]

Because at that time you have the maximum gravitational pull on the this planet.

[snopercod]

Hey, I didn't say nuttin' about huggin' no trees!

[SierraWasp]

Nuthin could be finer, than to be in Caroliner, in the mor-hor-hor-nin!!!

[SierraWasp]

After all the years of tidal/gravitational pulling and stressing "on the this planet," one would be justified in thinking the old globe's skin just might be getting wrinkled and occasionally snap, crackle and pop!!!

[RightWhale]

Stresses are always building as the aftermath of the original moon creation event gradually subside. Come the full moon, as the Wolfman knows, something will snap. This will continue until the moon has finally escaped altogether, and even then the earth will continue to churn at a slower pace for a few billion years until the sun becomes a red giant and eats the inner planets.

[CLRGuy]

It seems that.. there is news about Diego Garcia.. and it is all good news.

http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=2736548

HTH.. Google News Search to the rescue :)

[Bruenor]

I was just recently stationed on Diego Garcia for nearly the past year and a half; so for those of you that are interested in hearing news on how they endured the tsunami i was able to contact some friends currently on the island and hear news back.

Fortunately, D-Gar weathered the tsunami well. According to my friend, they did feel some of the effects on the island, but no major damage occured. When i asked whether any flooding occured i was told that they recieved nothing more than some major swells...no flooding though.

Two major geographical features played a major factor in protecting the island's residents. If you look at the previously posted picture in this thread, the eastern part of the island (shown on the left side of the picture since it is upsidedown) is uninhabited and was able to absorb any of the major incoming waves. The second feature, and probably the most significant, of the island is that it is build like an underwater skyscaper with 300 to 1000 ft cliffs just off the shores which did not allow for any large waves to form, overtaking the island like many of the other islands in the maldives.

At this time no damage surveys have been conducted on the eastern portion of the island; however, i did recieve information that the plantation took a bit of a hit resulting in nothing more that excessive erosion on the beach there.


Hope this information eases your concerns, especially if you currently have friends or family on DG.


--- Brue

[Bruenor]

Your correct, DG was once a volcano, now extinct.

As a result the whole island is build like an underwater skyscaper with 300 to 1000 ft cliffs just off the shores. The drop off is quite impressive. Technically no one is allowed to venture out past wading depth on the ocean side due to the danger of wicked undertoe; however some of us have just to check it out. :)

--- Brue

[MEG33]

#308 and 309 All is well in Diego Garcia

[Heatseeker]

Much obliged! I've wondered about DGAR for awhile now.

Anyone interested can read of new Freeper margieelisabeth's son's messages to her (he's stationed there and emailed her) on this thread.

[leftyposter]

See http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=26265

Coral reefs supposedly dissipated the waves of this island 1000 miles closer in to the quake than Somalia.

[MobCat40]

Diego Garcia has been unaffected by the Tsunami
http://www.diegogarcianews.com/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1273118.htm

[navy mom too]

i talked to my son navy masn stationed at diego. he said he'd been sleeping and didn't feel a thing. all's well and that is good.

[DollyCali]

Hey, Welcome to FRee Republic and thanks for your post.

are you there now? On one of the threads on Sunday there were some beautiful photos of DG. is there a decent coral reef for skin diving? I am thinking of the bowl part. It this a big drop off also

[DollyCali]

thanks MC40