Posted on 12/27/2004 5:12:33 PM PST by topher
Deigo Garcia military base unaffected by tsunamis
This is an article by ABC News Australia.
Key lines are:
Diego Garcia, a British territory about 1,500 kilometres south of India, hosts about 3,200 US military personnel and civilian contractors and many US long-range bombers and Navy ships.The only problem is that it sounds like the tsunami or tsunamis may have hit there.Lieutenant Colonel Bill Bigelow, a spokesman for US Pacific Command in Hawaii told the [Washtington Post] newspaper the US base was apparently safe.
"There are no reports of any damage there," Lt Col Bigelow said.
The terminology of apparently safe and the quote of the Lt Col of "no reports of any damage" is not the same as coming flat out and saying: the base was hit by a tsunami, but there was no damage and no problems from it. It is just a more definitive statement and doesn't sound wishy-washy.
I wish the military would say flat out -- "The tsunami hit Diego Garcia. There was no damage and no casulties and no people unaccounted for."
I have no doubt the military commanders would sortie aircraft and ships in a very timely manner.
More a question of getting all personnel on ships/aircraft that bothers me.
On the other hand, I ran across may obtuse military document on the meterology stuff on the island, and some of that stuff is scattered all over the island. So might other military stuff -- so it might take a couple of days to check all the gear.
Everything you always wanted to know about Diego Garcia but were afraid to ask (well, almost everything):
http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/links.html
BUMP!
http://www.asc-india.org/gq/krakatoa.htm
has info on Diego Garcia but also on the 1883 Tsunami created by the volcanic eruption of Krakatoa.
In the case of the Tsunami by one of the most powerful natural explosions in the last 200 years, there was a warship that was pushed 10 kilometers inland.
It is an interesting website to read.
The weird part:
Krakatoa blew up in 1883, Diego Garcia had its earthquake in 1983 [and is a former volcano]. Additionally, Krakatoa is in the area where the 9.0 earthquake went off in mid-ocean last weekend.
So maybe Krakatoa tales may be pertinent to current events -- the explosion of Krakatoa was heard in Diego Garcia -- which was only 3647 kilometres away. The people of Diego Garcia thought a ship was in distress, and went to various points of the island to scan the horizon. This was back in 1883 -- before the Marconi instrument -- radio. The Titanic was the first to use the Marconi instrument with the then new SOS code -- though the Marconi device was in service for a while when the Titanic went down...
Note that 3647 kilometres is more than 2000 miles away...
There was a 7.5 quake very close to the 9.0 less then 4 hours later...
ping
http://www.nbc5i.com/news/4025469/detail.html
[The following is an excerpt about Diego Garcia]
A Navy official said three P-3 Orion aircraft have been deployed to Thailand from Diego Garcia, an island base in the Indian Ocean. The aircraft are geared for survey work. The spokesman said they don't engage directly in search and rescue operations, but they are an invaluable resource for such missions. Their crews can spot people stranded in the tidal wave area and can even drop life rafts to them.
when exactly was your sister there? my husband & i were there in early 90's also. we may know each other. i have been searching feverishly for info on whether or not diego (dodge) was affected.
I wonder if "Hector", the 20ft hammerhead is still around.
I'll get her dates when she was at DG: ETCS(SW) Mary Madden.
>> Being in deep water actually increases, not decreases, tsunami risk. Hawaii, Japan, etc. typically have steeply sloping sea bottom just offshore to deep water.
Diego Garcia differs from Hawaii and Japan in that the island is shaped like a chimney. There is no slope. The origial mountain sunk, while the coral kept growing. When you reach the edge of the reef, the island literally drops straight down. I fished the reef several times in one of the Navy harbor boats, trolling large lures. We would zig-zag over the edge of the reef, from shallow water to deep blue water. One minute we would catch snapper and grouper, the next everyone on the boat would be hooked-up to yellowfin tuna.
As I was looking at the aerial photo of Diego Garcia I was wondering if anyone in the military there goes shark fishing.
It looks like you wouldn't have to go very far. -Tom
There is a barge available for deep sea fishing. Many take the occasion to spend the entire day drinking beer and pretending to be fishing; most of them, especially newcomers and TDYer, end up with severe sunburns.
There is "sharks cove" on the island where you can see many types of sharks, naturally you don't want to be in the water there.
It is a very interesting place, but as the T-shirts sold at the terminal say: Happiness is seeing D.G. on the rear view mirror.
I was not stationed there, but would go 3-4 times/yr.
Jay
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