Monster Quake & Tsunami off Sumatra

[coquina]

Over 3,500 confirmed dead as of this point.

 

USGS Earthquake Hazards site:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/usslav/

 

Drudge report:

http://www.drudgereport.com/

 

A/P wire:

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBVC24673E.html

 

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INDONESIA_EARTHQUAKE?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

 

Sky news:

http://www.sky.com/skynews/home

 

Update: Over 120,000 reported dead.

[Gilded]

A tragedy indeed. And it's not only the locals that are suffering, there are even thousands of Finnish tourists (and probably plenty more from other countries) there having a holiday.

[Artorius]

8000 dead and counting up todate 4.25pm GMT

[ecoli]

Do you the news link for that figure? I want to read an article.

[YT2095]

Ecoli, it`s still more or less all over the TV on every news chan

 

if you`ve no access to one (at work or whatever) maybe a Radio news broadcast?

[coquina]

Look at this image:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4125481.stm#map

 

When an earthquake like this occurs, is only one huge tsunami generated, or are there several, like ripples formed when you throw a rock in a pond. If the latter is the case, the tsnuamis must have piled up one on top of the other, because the water had no where to go.

[YT2095]

and oddly enough, as phenomenon would have it, the ones a little futher out in the water didn`t even notice!

 

apparently a boat will rise and fall (as it should) and tsunami is NOT a wall of water as some think, but as the shelf angle desreases closer to land, the wall THEN forms, and that`s how it seems to gain Power (

 

10 metres heave upwards underwater caused the dispacement and many kilometers long, the Seismic center in Edinborough(sp?) gave the figure, and then changed it, so I`m not sure of the length?

[ecoli]

Ecoli' date=' it`s still more or less all over the TV on every news chan

 

if you`ve no access to one (at work or whatever) maybe a Radio news broadcast?[/quote']

 

Unfortunately I don't have cable access, and my TV is in my basement, so it blocks out all signals. I'll listen to the news, that map/article that coquina posted seems to be the most up-to-date.

 

I know people who have family in the targeted areas. I hope they're ok.

[bloodhound]

sky news reportin upto 11500 dead

[Coral Rhedd]

Sandi, thank you for letting us know this. I have internet friends in Malaysia and India and am a little worried for them.

[TimeTraveler]

Very sad day indeed.

[mattd]

The death toll from this continues to climb. Please, if you have some extra cash laying around, donate to the red cross.

 

It's nearing year end for us amuricans, and it'll count as a tax deduction (if you itemize) for 2004.

[bloodhound]

sky news reporting upto 23,500 dead

[Gilded]

"sky news reporting upto 23,500 dead"

 

And there are regions where only rough, probably below the real amount estimates have been made. I read somewhere that this destructive quake-caused tsunamis happen like once in 700 years, that's one of the reasons they didn't have a "warning network" that would've saved a lot of lives.

[Ophiolite]

Approaching Opinion Warning:

 

The old military aphorism that we prepare to fight, through development of technology, tactics and strategy, the last war, not the war we must actually face, seems to be applicable to much of human endeavour.

Humans, for the most part, are a short-sighted species. Those who do gaze into the future, and there identify dangers, are generally condemned as dreamers, tree-huggers, fools, liberals, doomsayers, idealists, panic-mongers, or any other label that allows them, and their views, to be ignored.

An improved warning system will be put in place. It will save lifes in the future.

Meanwhile, complacent in our own Western comfort, we will ignore the less spectacular river of death that flows through our planet on a daily basis. Annually millions will die from dirty water, poor sanitation, malnutrition, inadequate shelter, non-existent medicines, absent medical support.

So, sad as this event is, I shall reserve the bulk of my concerns for the less dramatic, yet insidious happenings that gnaw away at humanity, and for the more dramatic events whose reality is disputed (e.g. global warming), or improbable (e.g. bolide impact). If you disagree with this viewpoint, just remember I’m a dreaming, tree-hugging, foolish, liberal, doomsaying, idealistic, panic-monger, and can therefore be disregarded.

[Top Boy]

The 9.0 that we got to receive some media about yesterday was directly proportionate to the devastation witnessed. Check out some of the tracking relevance for the last 10-days of earthquake spectaculars. It began not far from Australia on Dec. 23, with 8.1 scale reading at MacQuerie Island off the ice shelf of Antartica, followed by Alaska 5.1, and then about six others rippling up the coasts of Australia to the Java Trench, Indonesia, before the 9.0 yesterday. There could have been at least a phone call giving some warning that a rippling of quakes (over days) was moving towards populated areas. We need not a better system, but a common belief in "doing right by one-another". The rationale is the aftermath that will undoubtedly cross culture by way of dis-ease; albeit decay, bacteria, and onward developmental phases that are affluent with massive death tolls in a grossly lower socio-economic arenas.

[coquina]

I don't know that an early warning system would have made much difference in this situation - but if one is implemented it must be accompanied by drills and education so that the populace knows what evacuation route to take.

 

I live in an area that is subject to being hit by hurricanes - we have days to prepare to evacuate, and yet still, the roads are hopelessly clogged.

 

With only twenty minutes or so of warning, I'm afraid as many people would have been trampled to death as were drowned.

 

I have seen some programs about tsunami prone cities in Japan that have built extensive sea walls and flood gate systems - I don't know that any of them have every been put to the test.

[Gilded]

This all feels quite distant to me, as Finland never has tsunamis, major earthquakes (I think the record is 3.2 Richter) or volcanic activity, hurricanes or tornadoes (except for the little ones that can barely turn over a couple of trees). Floods, low temperatures and minor storms is quite right all we have to go through. Still, I of course wish people could protect themselves better against natural disasters. :<

[Ophiolite]

There could have been at least a phone call giving some warning that a rippling of quakes (over days) was moving towards populated areas. We need not a better system, but a common belief in "doing right by one-another".

Are you suggesting that the pattern of quakes allowed prediction that a large quake in a populated area was imminent? That would be quite a leap to make.

Who should have phoned who? The USGS conveniently makes the data available for everyone who wants to consider it. The problem lies in interpretation.

[Gilded]

Now that I recall a certain mumbo-jumbo earthquake thread...

 

http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showpost.php?p=113987

 

If the place was correct, and the time was about 4 hours later or so, I'd be a *little* scared by now.

[ecoli]

Still It's the right day and right part of the world, wow, that's freaky

[Ophiolite]

You've got my attention Gilded. But it does show how these things work. Without the Sumatra quake nobody, including yourself, would have remembered it. We remember the hits.

[Top Boy]

one human life deserves quite more than a single excuse from another person whom might reflect they could have had the opportunity to source the information...that isn't or never will be acceptable for me to agree.

 

i lived in saudi arabia for two years, and worked in a war room for the US President's forward commanding officer of Air Defense Artillery for the Kindgom of Saudi Arabia. I was an attache from the Pentagon for this officer during the first gulf war. I know our technologies have advanced since then, but I do want to offer my backdrop of understanding in tracking systematic expressions of agressive behavior. During the stance before, during, and after the climax of The Gulf War (#1), each indication of launch of ballistic missiles by Sadaam inbound towards troops, our very capable war room officers immediately backtracked and reverse calculated every possible target in relevance. Within 2-minutes those calculations were strategically outlined and implemented for attack routine suggestions. With the erratic display of experiences the planet projected over the past ten days, we could have at least spent those same 2-minutes to calculate some ideas, rather than spend several million-billion taxpayer dollars to help bury 30,000 people and reduce the amount of dis-ease which could spread back our direction. Our ignorance and disbelief in our capability to excel, in these simple areas of life are rather boring, when we find ourselves reactive vs. altruistic PROACTIVE.

 

Land of the Free (we seem to have lost that), Home of the Brave (we seem to easily give that up). I am proud to consider myself a life-long member of the United States Army, even though I am in the public sector of life, and am not suiting a uniform, I will always consider the oath to protect my country as a duty of valor; which I extend in help to any culture or person that can benefit from its truth. America and its resounding virture was instilled by its founding fathers, not as an attitude or pretension; rather the virtue that could be easily recognized and upheld by the promise to extend a reach in the presence of hardship where people were thought to be in harms way. For the preamble ends, "...by the people, for the people..."

[Gilded]

"You've got my attention Gilded. But it does show how these things work. Without the Sumatra quake nobody, including yourself, would have remembered it. We remember the hits."

 

You couldn't be more right. I'd prefer choosing winning scratch tickets for a change more than guessing earthquake days correctly, though.

[Ophiolite]

one human life deserves quite more than a single excuse from another person whom might reflect they could have had the opportunity to source the information...that isn't or never will be acceptable for me to agree.

I'll try stating this more bluntly' date=' not in oder to be antagonistic, but as a gesture of respect for your clear strength of feeling in the matter.

[b']The Sumatra quake was unpredictable. Earthquakes are currently unpredictable. Earthquakes may never be trully predictable. Earthquakes are governed by Chaos, not linear equations. [/b]

 

Those are the facts. Unpalatable, undesired, unwished for, unvarnished facts.

 

Your description of modern technology as applied in the first Gulf War was interesting. It is regretable that equivalent technology was not available for other facets of the war. In that case we British might not have lost more troops to friendly US fire than we did to the Iraquis. No, it is never simple.