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).

[sissyjane]

Boy-oh-boy That island looks really flat. I'm praying for everyone on it. Anyone have any news yet?

[commonguymd]

not much to protect Deigo Garcia.

[dogbyte12]

I find it disturbing that we are getting zero info here. Just a quick, everything is ok, we got shook would be fine with me.

It is as if there is a news blackout going on about Diego Garcia.

[DollyCali]

I would rather not get into it here & divert from the title of thread. But you can check into the large one via Breaking news. I hope this one can stay on course.

[prairiebreeze]

Just mostly following along between FR and FoxNews Dolly. Here is a BBC site with first hand accounts that make for some pretty chilling reading.

[U S Army EOD]

I am going to find out if they have a web site or something.

[Cold Heart]

Thanks for pictures.

[KoRn]

Without knowing eo-science and earthquakes, I just have one question....

How in the hell do you 'revise' the severity of an earthquake? lol.

[ET(end tyranny)]

Actually, as it was a shallow earthquake, were it to happen on dry land in an unpopulated area (Sahara desert, or Antarctics- as long as the ice sheets do not slide) there would be no tsunamis and very little loss of life, as the damage would be mostly local in nature.

I read this 6 miles deep. Do you happen to know what their depth chart is like? What is considered shallow and what is considered deep?

[DollyCali]

Those are awesome statistics. I wonder how many of the tourists will be difficult to trace

[RightWhale]

Okay, that is impressive! The Good Friday quake in Anchorage was 9.3, and that shook for four minutes--in Fairbanks. Anchorage lost its deep sea anchorage, Valdez disappeared, and destruction was widespread. Even ten years later entire city blocks in Anchorage were still vacant looking like East Berlin.

[MOgirl]

Hello,

Exactly, and thank you.

Prayers to all harmed and lost, MOgirl

[jimbo123]

[DollyCali]

thanks for link. No cable here ...

[sissyjane]

Can someone please tell me where Diego Garcia is in relation to the epicenter of the earthquake?

All my maps are packed for a move in three days.

[Rebelbase]

re: Diego Garcia.

Yep. Bad news. Aside from the lives that could be lost B-1 and B-52 bombers don't take to salt water very well either.

[Yaelle]

Navy Diego Garcia website

2000 troops there? Indeed, when will the public know what's going on?

[BIGLOOK]

Or the International Red Cross fro that matter.

Been looking for you, EOD. Wanted to ask you about the "missing explosive materials" from the Iraqi arsenals. I forget their initials but aren't those types for construction (i.e. tunnels & bunkers and excavations. Their description seems to indicate they're used to be pumped into a hollow and detonated to make a bigger hollow. Appreciate any info.

[sissyjane]

I should have looked before I asked....Thanks!

[Bahbah]

Did I just hear them say on Fox that it actually affected the rotation of the earth?