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| Banda Aceh Shore, Indonesia, Before |
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| Banda Aceh Shore, Indonesia, After |
And now more on the "Great" earthquake
and tsunamis in Southeast Asia on 12/26/04...
The death toll has reached over 300,000.
Here are some of the prior postings below:
12/26.
With a force equivalent to that of 1,000 atomic bombs, a massive
"GREAT" quake of 9.2 hit off the west coast of Sumatra on 12/26, triggering deadly tsunamis throughout southeast Asian
countries. The force was enough to move the entire island of Sumatra about 100 feet to the southwest.
Kate Hutton of Cal Tech has reported that the shaking was severe enough to actually
affect the earth's rotation. Other U.S. scientists have also commented on this phenomenon:
"The deadly Asian earthquake may have permanently
accelerated the Earth's rotation -- shortening days by a fraction of a second -- and caused the planet to wobble
on its axis".
At a presentation at Cal Tech on 1/12/05 the audience
was told the quake had caused the earth to "ring like a bell" and that it is "still
ringing". One of the speakers also noted that it even caused a (minor) change in the
position of the earth's poles, (on the order of 2 cm).
Effects of this "monster" quake also
shifted water levels by at least three feet in a geologically sensitive Virginia well, about 9,600
miles away from the epicenter. The water started oscillating about an hour after the earthquake on
12/26/04. The disturbance lasted about five hours. The well is near Christianburg.
Also, it is no wonder Thomas Heaton
called this quake "a bad actor". At 30 km deep it, and at that magnitude, the fall out will likely be over large geographical
distances, and probably for at least months, if not years. And consider this: this one only ruptured about
1/3 of this overdue fault.
Now, some additional words
about the Indonesian quakes and tsunamis of 12-26-04 & recent Pacific Rim activity:
On Monday, March 28, 2005 another massive
quake of 8.7 hit off Indonesia's west coast late Monday. Near the epicenter it was 11:09 PM and many people were
sleeping. Numbers were also re-traumatized and made efforts to head for higher ground in fear of another overpowering
tsunami.
Indonesia's Vice President predicted up to 2,000 deaths. Almost all deaths
reported were on Indonesia's Nias Island where children's bodies were being pulled out of the rubble. One of the most
feared secondary effects of large quakes was present here too, as fires were reported raging through at least one local
town. A representative of the MISNA missionary news agency in Rome, Italy reported that towering flames could be easily
seen from over two miles away, and that the town was completely destroyed.
Caltech geology professor Kerry Sieh and his colleagues knew that only a quarter
of the Sunda megathrust had ruptured on 12/26/04, and had previously announced the threat of additional events on the yet
unbroken segments. The Sunda megathrust is so large it stretches over almost 3,500 miles. Sieh credited the 12/26/04
quake with priming this segment for rupture. But what of the rest of the length? Stay tuned!
Other Caltech & USGS scientists have definitely described the previous 12/26/04
event as a "bad actor". Quakes of this size are now thought to cause effects over much larger distances than ever before
believed. The deeper the quakes are, the more this is likely to be true. The Monday, 3/28/05 quake was 30 km deep,
and was felt as far away as Bangkok and Singapore. Less obvious effects of such quakes range
over large distances, far beyond the "feel-able" level.
About 340 residents of Nias Island died in the 12/26/04 quake and tsunami, and
10,000 were left homeless. One source indicated the devastation on 3/28/05 appeared far worse. In addition to
the fires, one other town lost at least 70% of all remaining structures in its market district, and hundreds of additional
buildings have been damaged or collapsed.
General factoid: Tsunami waves can travel up to
600 mph. Stay tuned for periodic updates.
What kind of things might such massive quakes mean for the coming weeks
and months? Perhaps some history and some new developments will give food for thought:
On 1-12-05 Dr. Tom Heaton from Cal Tech indicated that
the Great Alaskan quake of 1964 was part of a cluster of large magnitude quakes worldwide.
A report at the Seismological Society of the U.S.
in spring, 2004 indicated that strains on our own San Andreas appear to have been this high only twice before, and that each
time it was associated with a "spate" of earthquakes, not just a single massive event.
On December 4, 2006 geologists from Caltech and USC said that inhabitants of Sumatra's southwest coast
should prepare themselves for another tsuami equally or more devastating within the next 30 years. They called particular
attention to Padang and Bengkulu. Padang could expect waves 20 feet tall and at least a mile onshore, while Bengkulu
would be hit with waves 30 feet tall, and waters traveling more than three miles inland. A million people live
in the projected pathways of those waves. Emile Okal, a geologist with Northwestern University, said that he found the
Cal Tech and USC research results "a very credible, very reasonable study".
Pacific Rim activity has been very interesting in general lately, beginning
with the Parkfield quake on 9/28/04. Now deep tremors have been detected on the San Andreas, some lasting as long
as 20 minutes. Click on the underlined phrased immediately below for more information on this development:
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