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).

[nhoward14]

It shouldn't be that difficult to find out if tourists are safe or not with the hotels and customs departments knowing who was in the country and who was checked in.

[GOP_Proud]

I understand that DG is only 22 ft above sea level.

Seeing all those trucks washed away makes me wonder if any bombers on the ground could have been washed out to sea. Anybody know if there was any warning time?

[stlnative]

Huge picture of Diego Garcia...

http://www.imagesatintl.com/orderimagery/imagegallery/diego_garcia_high.jpg


Lots of Military Planes and such in the picture. It is odd we have not heard anything yet.

[nuconvert]

Gotcha. Thanks

[sissyjane]

Sorry-hubbie in control of the television, so I'm getting my news here.

[Rebelbase]

RE: Diego Garcia. Open this link and expand the map. Diego Garcia is right in the middle of the Indian Ocean midway between Sumatra and East Africa.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/islands_oceans_poles/indianoceanarea.jpg

[commonguymd]

Are those bombers outfitted for nuclear? Someone said that they were in another thread, but I doubt it. Perhaps that is why the silence though.

[commonguymd]

Nice map - thanks.

[U S Army EOD]

I just sent the Diego Garcia FAO and email. Lets cross our fingers.

[E Rocc]

Diego is most likely just fine. The structures are designed to survive a nuke strike....more applicably in this case a nuke near miss as well. With plenty of warning I suspect the damage was minimal. Plus, if I'm not mistaken it's surrounded by very deep water. A tsumani in the deep ocean is more like a ripple than a wave. It's when it hits a shallow coastal shelf that it becomes hugh and series.

-Eric

[Darnright]

My husband was stationed on Diego Garcia years ago. We've been wondering if it's still there. Would you mind pinging me if you hear anything about it?

[dob]

Seems things are still uncertain - those casualty figures are bound to rise. Here in Sweden just one tour operator (Fritidsresor) is still missing 800 of its travellers in Thailand.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

The San Fransico earthquake of 89 was like 300,000 tons of dynamite, this one was like 3 BILLION tons.

Whew doggie!

[ProudVet77]

I just sent a few emails to the websites for Navy facilities on Diego Garcia. I'll let you know if I hear anything.

[jimbo123]

Diego Garcia circled in red.

[U S Army EOD]

Yes you did, if it is dark where you are now, you better buy a lot of batteries because you will need them for a long time.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Hate to say it, but California is way over due for a big-one. The last large quake (by their standards was in the desert and felt more in Arizona and Nevada, but the last really big one was 11 years ago this January in the San Fernando Valley and the last one on the San Andreas??? -- pressure on the San Andreas must be huge by now...

Been having a lot of medium quakes; which can be good, but still. Remember Loma Prieta was actually miles and miles from San Francisco but did the most damage in SF itself.

[sissyjane]

So,obviously if the Seychelles and east coast of Africa felt the effects of the tsunami, then Diego Garcia would have had to as well. It's in the direct line.

If anyone hears anything could you please ping me.

[U S Army EOD]

You can use slurry explosives which are commercial in nature or pump acetylene in and set it off like we did in Vietnam. Worked great.

[deaconjim]

Anyone know if Diego Garcia naval base is in that area?