Another big quake

[asian1]

>Not newsworthy

At least 2000 people are killed on Nias Island and Simeleu Island near the epicentrum of the earthquake. Thousand of buildings had collapsed. Several thousands people are injured and trapped under the rubble. 80% of buildings on Gunung Sitoli city is destroyed.

On Cocos Island (Indian Ocean, south of Sumatra Island), there is a mini tsunami.

Millions of people are evacuated from their home in Sumatra, Srilanka, India, Thailand, and Malaysia because of Tsunami warnings.

There was a massive landslide at the bottom of the sea (December 26, 2004):

http://www.phschool.com/science/planetdiary/archive05/eart1021905.html

"The photos show an area on the seafloor where there's been a huge landslide that's more than 300-feet (100-meters) high and 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) long. The slide happened as the India and Burma plates collided to trigger the quake. A section of a deep sea ridge buckled and forced sea water violently upwards. This motion spawned the deadly tsunami that's been blamed for about 290,000 deaths worldwide."

Fortunately there is no landslide today.

There is something strange:
The first strong earthquake (9.0 Richter scale) occur one day after Christmas (Dec. 26, 2004).
The second strong earthquake (8.7 RS) occur one day after Easter (March 28, 2004). Is this just a coincidence?

[asian1]

There is a warning about major earthquake on the region from British scientist. The warning was published 2 weeks ago in National Geographics and Nature:

http://www.ngnews.com/news/2005/03/0316_050316_sumatra.html

McCloskey and colleagues found that the so-called Sumatra-Andaman earthquake increased the stress on adjacent sections of the Sunda trench and the nearby Sumatra fault, which runs the length of Sumatra.
The team cannot predict when another earthquake will occur. But they say the increased stress, combined with historical evidence, raises the likelihood of another big quake in the region. History, they say, shows that one earthquake tends to follow another in the same region.
"People believe lightning never strikes twice in the same place," McCloskey said. "Earthquakes do. Earthquakes cluster in space and time. When you get an earthquake, you are more likely to get another, and our calculations show the stress interaction [in South Asia] is very high."
The greatest risk, the scientists say, is for a magnitude 7.5 earthquake on the Sumatra fault near the already devastated town of Banda Aceh. The town is northeast of the epicenter of the December 26 earthquake.

[asian1]

>Super volcano - Prof Dr Ray Cas (Monash University)

This news is published on April 1, 2005, and most likely an April Fools / joke.

[asian1]

A baby and a hotel employee were killed when a hotel collapsed after a strong aftershock on Monday, April 4, 2005.

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From TheJakartaPost.com:

A five-story hotel in the Kisaran area of Medan, North Sumatra, collapsed on Monday morning, leaving five people seriously injured. There were no deaths reported as of Monday afternoon, but there are fear that people may still be trapped under the rubble of the building.  The hotel collapse also damaged five nearby houses.  Eyewitnesses said the Wisata Hotel, the largest hotel on Jl. Imam Bonjol here, collapsed at about 8:30 a.m.
"The hotel had been leaning for a long time, but the owner ignored it. It should have been renovated," said N. Simangunsong, whose house was among the five damaged in the incident.  Asahan Police detectives chief Adj. Comr. Sandi Nugroho said rescuers had found five injured people and were still looking for more victims. Two of the injured are hotel employees, while the remaining three are local residents whose houses are located next to the hotel.  Officer Sandi said hotel employees saw signs that the hotel was in danger of collapse and rushed to evacuate guests and warn other employees inside the building.  The officer said the police were looking for the hotel's owner for questioning.

[asian1]

On April 10, 2005, there was a strong 7.3 Richter scake aftershock in Padang.

4 people were killed: 2 people were killed by traffic accident during the chaos, an old woman had a fatal heart attack, 1 people was killed by a nassive landslide at Sianok valley.

[asian1]

>129 active volcanoes

Today there are 2 eruptions at Mt Tangkuban and Mt Child of Krakatoa. Mt Child of Krakatoa is the remains of the massive Mt Krakato that erupted in 1883. There was a massive landslide and tsunami after massive eruption.
The sound of this powerful eruption can be heard in Darwin, Australia.

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The Jakarta Post:

Scientists raised the alert level on two more Indonesian volcanoes on Wednesday. Sensors on the slopes of the two mountains - Anak Krakatoa on the southern tip of Sumatra Island and Tangkuban Prahu in Java - picked up an increase in volcanic activity and a build up of gases, said government volcanologist Syamsul Rizal. Rizal said it was possible the increased volcanic activity could be linked to a series of recent earthquakes that have rocked Sumatra Island, including one on March 28 that killed 600 people on the outlying island of Nias.
"Maybe it is a kind of domino effect," Rizal said.
Anak Krakatoa and Tangkuban Prahu - which regularly spew gas and rumble - were declared off-limits to hikers, but authorities were not evacuating villagers living on their slopes.

[asian1]

>Domino Effect

Today (April 17) there are 3 eruptions in North Celebes / North Sulawesi province (near Philipines) :

1. Mt Lokon (Tomohon area).
2. Mt Soputan (Minahasa area)
3. Mt Karangetang (Sangir Talaud Island).