NEWS: 8.7 Earthquake in Indonesia, Thousands Feared Dead

A massive 8.7 magnitude earthquake has struck in Indonesia along the same fault line that caused the deadly Christmas quake and tsunami. A tsunami warning was issued for the entire region which has since been lifted. There were some reports of a "small" tsunami at the Cocos Tide Gage. Injury and damage reports are still forthcoming; witnesses in the area have said that damage has occured. Early reports indicate that there has been loss of life numbering in the hundreds or thousands as well; the full scope is not yet known, however.



The quake was initially measured at a magnitude 8.2 but has since been upgraded to an 8.7 magnitude.




This story is still developing.

Related Information:
www.prh.noaa.gov
usgs.gov


Related News Links:
yahoo.com
msnbc.com
foxnews.com
CBS News
ABC News
USGS
SKY News
BBC

[edit on 28-3-2005 by TrickmastertricK]

[edit on 29-3-2005 by Banshee]

Thailand has issued a tsunami warning.
Source

beat ya to it - check other thread for links to USGS and others , also tsunami warning

Wow, talk about an active earthquake region. Hopefully no tsunami results.
earthquake.usgs.gov...

earthquake.usgs.gov...

"A great earthquake occurred at 16:09:37 (UTC) on Monday, March 28, 2005. The magnitude 8.2 event has been located in NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA."

earthquake.usgs.gov...

Info from MSNBC

msnbc.msn.com
A large earthquake was registered Monday off Indonesia's Sumatra Island, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, describing it as a "great earthquake" with a magnitude of 8.2 on the Richter scale.

The USGS advised officials in the area to move people inland, and Thai officials were among the first to issue a tsunami warning for the Andaman Sea.

No reports of injury or damage had been received from the region. The Dec. 26 quake that launched the massive tsunami was a 9.0, the USGS said.

A depth of 30km, what was the depth of the 26th Dec earthquake?

IRIS had the 26th Dec earthquake as 8.5 so this isn't much different. Hopefully they're more prepared this time if there is a tsunami

From Business Week
Japan's Meteorological Agency measured the quake at magnitude 8.5.

From CNN
The quake occurred at 1109 ET (1609 GMT), and is considered a "great" earthquake, the largest of seven grades. The grades are very minor, minor, light, moderate, strong, major and great.

[edit on 28-3-2005 by nibiru]

Day after Christmas, now day after Easter - the day after, when the bill comes, is too late
www.christianforums.com...

Originally posted by MattMarriott
Day after Christmas, now day after Easter - the day after, when the bill comes, is too late

This is strange...a sign of the end times? Let's see what the effects of this one prove to be.

lets hope theres nowhere near the level of destruction and loss of life as the boxing day quake/tsunami!

www.foxnews.com...
www.cbsnews.com...
abcnews.go.com...
earthquake.usgs.gov...
www.sky.com...
news.bbc.co.uk...



[edit on 28-3-2005 by TrickmastertricK]

WARNING... THIS EARTHQUAKE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE A WIDELY
DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI IN THE OCEAN OR SEAS NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE.
AUTHORITIES IN THOSE REGIONS SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS POSSIBILITY
AND TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION. THIS ACTION SHOULD INCLUDE EVACUATION
OF COASTS WITHIN A THOUSAND KILOMETERS OF THE EPICENTER AND CLOSE
MONITORING TO DETERMINE THE NEED FOR EVACUATION FURTHER AWAY.


THIS CENTER DOES NOT HAVE SEA LEVEL GAUGES OUTSIDE THE PACIFIC
SO WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DETECT OR MEASURE A TSUNAMI IF ONE WAS
GENERATED. AUTHORITIES CAN ASSUME THE DANGER HAS PASSED IF NO
TSUNAMI WAVES ARE OBSERVED IN THE REGION NEAR THE EPICENTER
WITHIN THREE HOURS OF THE EARTHQUAKE.

Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre

Several members of this forum predicted this. It's become a highly unstable area due to the daily mag 5.0s, and this will only make it worse. Sometimes earthquakes relieve pressure, especially in strike faults, but these continuing slips seem to be building to a crescendo. I don't think this is the finale.

I think there's more to come. Something changed very drastically after the Dec quake, the regions seismicity has been shockingly abnormal ever since.

Luckily death tolls should be substantially lower this time around, but I think the larger problem may actually remove several countries from the map. The larger problem is the rapid subduction going on. Not only does that take in material, it extrudes material (magma) elsewhere.

The Toba magma chambers must be just about full, what with all the activity we've been seeing. Let's wait and see.

Congrats to those ATSers who predicted this event a week or so ago. It might be a case of crying wolf often enough, but I think some of our members are quite astute in this regard.

Hopefully people are moving inland from the coastal areas in case there is any tsunami activity. An 8.2 can do enough damage on its own, has there been any reports on the destruction this quake has left?

Here is where the earthquake hit......

It's dark there.

They're never going to see this coming.

Some reports from the region of panic and power outages. There was even one report that stated the shaking went on for up to 3 minutes. That's a whole lot of movement.

ITN Reporter in Bangkok reports scenes of "Absolute Panic" in the darkness, power outages and people running around. He learned this from sources in Sumatra.

It's dark, no power, and theres panic, people are fleeing into the hills literally running for their lives.

Originally posted by MattMarriott
Day after Christmas, now day after Easter...

That was my first thought when I heard about this earthquake too!

Now, is this a pattern or what?

This may seem like a stupid question, but isn't there a super caldera similar to the one at Yellowstone in the region? I've tried googling it myself, but got no luck.

Man, This is so strange...

All we can really do now is hope for the best