Another big quake

[FluffyMcDeath]

8.2. Obviously much much less than the 9, but still, pretty big as quakes go.
Story

iris seismic monitor

This bit of the planet is still pretty wobbly, it seems.

[cecilia]

it's normal to have lots of aftershocks during the first year after a large quake. I'll bet there have been hundreds already - it's just that many may have been small enough to be very local (on the scale: 1 to 5ish) - and not very "newsworthy"

of course, these days, alot of dumb things are considered "newsworthy" :-(

[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?

[Karlos]

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

Thank goodness for that, I say. If only this had happened the first time.

[gizz72]

Greetings,

I think they've already lifted the tsunami alert. What a relief. Feel sorry for the ppl who lost their homes. :-(
Just not sure if this quake has had some adverse effect on the earth's 'wobbly'ness. Hope no more aftershocks as well. :-(

Regards,

GiZz72

[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.

[blobrana]

Hum,
it seems that the likelihood that the Sumatran super-volcano Toba, will erupt has increased significantly due to geological stresses generated by the recent quakes.

"These super-volcanoes are potentially the greatest hazard on Earth, the only greater threat being an asteroid impact from space." - Ray Cas, volcanologists from Monash University in Melbourne.

< edit - For similar devastation, the supervolcanos are 5 x more likely >

The supervolcano, similar to the yellowstone caldera, sits directly atop the fault line running down the spine of Sumatra, where seismologists say a third quake might strike.

If it does erupt, the blast will throw hundreds of thousands of cubic kilometres of rock and ash into the atmosphere, dwarfing the eruptions of Krakatoa, Mount St Helens, Pinatubo and any conventional volcanic explosion of the past tens of thousands of years.

[odin]

Cool. Does that mean we'll finally get a nuclear winter and I'll be able to ski here?
:-D

[asian1]

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

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

[blobrana]

Hum,
Yeah could be...

But then again.

It seems quite plausible. Toba isn’t extinct. The tectonic stress would move long the fault line, and if it did occur under toba then it would release any pressure there (like a bottle of fizzy wine)...


(he/she who laughs last, laughs into extinction)

[asian1]

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

====================================
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.

[blobrana]

Hum,
it seems that up to 25,000 villagers have been evacuated from the slopes of Mount Talang, a rumbling volcano nearby Padang.
The 2,599 metre mountain spewed ash 500 metres into the air at 3:42am (local time) April 12th, though on Monday the ash reached twice as high. Scientists predict the eruption is calming down.


Talang is about 901 km northwest of Jakarta, and among at least 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia. It forms a twin volcano with the extinct Pasar Arbaa volcano. No historical eruptions have occurred from the summit of the volcano, which lacks a crater.

[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.

==========================================================
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).