NEWS: 8.7 Earthquake in Indonesia, Thousands Feared Dead

Was just looking at the USGS site, and we only average 1 8.0+ magnitude quake a year since 1900. We have had what 3+ in the last 4 months?

Descriptor Magnitude Average Annually
Great 8 and higher 1 ¹
Major 7 - 7.9 17 ²
Strong 6 - 6.9 134 ²
Moderate 5 - 5.9 1319 ²
Light 4 - 4.9 13,000
(estimated)
Minor 3 - 3.9 130,000
(estimated)
Very Minor 2 - 2.9 1,300,000
(estimated)
¹ Based on observations since 1900.
² Based on onservations since 1990.
wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov...


[edit on 3/28/05 by FredT]

According to scientists the area will probably continue to feel large aftershocks/quakes for a few months to come.

Scientists Debate Whether New Sumatra Quake Is a Cataclysm or Mere Aftershock

One thing is certain: Monday's disaster was no coincidence.

One prominent study published in the journal Nature on March 17 suggested with remarkable accuracy that stresses were accumulating on adjacent portions of the Sumatra Trench. Something like this was likely to occur - perhaps within weeks, predicted John McCloskey and his partners at the University of Ulster-Coleraine in Northern Ireland.

If anything, they underestimated how wild things are getting off the coast of Sumatra, where several plates of the Earth's crust grind and dive beneath each other in a geologic wrestling match that researchers call a subduction zone.

"Subduction zone earthquakes are often coupled," McCloskey reported. "An earthquake of magnitude 7-7.5 would seem to represent the greatest immediate threat."

Geophysicists for the U.S. Geological Survey and other laboratories initially described Monday's disaster as an aftershock, and for good reason.

Aftershocks are additional, smaller earthquakes that occur after the main shock and in the same geographic area. They can rattle a region for months or years. Generally, the larger the main shock, the more intense the aftershocks will be and the longer they will persist.

Since Dec. 26, Sumatra has been rattled by powerful aftershocks regularly. Residents probably should expect them to continue for months at least.

I have a friend of mine who is currently vacationing in Thailand, a fellow ATSer, raven2012, I'm going to see if I can get ahold of him and find out more about what's going on here.

Unfortunatly, or fortunatly, I've moved into Cambodia but will try and contact a friend in Bangkok and check out the situation there.

Thanks for your concern though!

-raven

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid
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.

I just started reading this after being away from ATS, but it's Krakatoa, in Indonesia, and it's erupted violently several times, notably in 1883 and 535.
link

Toba and Krakatoa are both discussed here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 28-3-2005 by DontTreadOnMe]

Originally posted by worldwatcher
According to scientists the area will probably continue to feel large aftershocks/quakes for a few months to come.

............

WW, i am not sure yet, but if we continue seeing earthquakes in that area around 4-6 in magnitude, you can be certain that there will be other major eathquakes again. I don't think this is going to stop anytime soon, unfortunately.

Another place to watch is actually in the United States, along the Californian coast up to Mexico. We have also been having some unusual earthquakes in Central America and in some areas in the United States. But the most unstable area is still in the SE Asian peninsula.

[edit on 28-3-2005 by Muaddib]

What was it, last week? I think it was last week there were two 2 magnitude 6 and above earthquakes in Argentina. Seemed to me to be an odd place for such large earthquakes.

EDIT: It was on 21 Mar 05

Originally posted by baaronhaile in the Quake watch thread
2005/03/21 19:07:40 12.73N 90.27W 31.5 [4.9] OFF THE COAST OF EL SALVADOR
2005/03/21 17:06:16 24.96S 177.60W 159.1 [5.5] SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
2005/03/21 16:14:36 1.16S 24.56W 10.0 [5.5] CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
2005/03/21 14:14:09 12.35N 92.59E 22.9 [5.1] ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
2005/03/21 12:43:11 24.68S 63.43W 561.6 [6.4] SALTA, ARGENTINA
2005/03/21 12:23:52 24.93S 63.36W 557.8 [6.9] SALTA, ARGENTINA
2005/03/21 04:04:55 24.03S 66.92W 194.9 [4.9] SALTA, ARGENTINA
2005/03/21 00:27:53 37.08N 88.85W 12.4 [2.0] WESTERN KENTUCKY

There was a 6.9, a 6.4 and a 4.9 within a span of 3.5 hours. Weird damn place for an earthquake.

[edit on 3/28/2005 by phreak_of_nature]

Indonesia's Vice President, Jusuf Kalla, says up to 2,000 people are feared dead in collapsed buildings on the island of Nias.

Witnesses on the island say the ocean rose about 30 metres, higher than in December.

It is reported that there are no buildings left intact in the main town in southern Nias, Teluk Dalam.

I don't think I have the nerves to handle living in an area in which the ground keeps moving like it is there in Indonesia.

Look at all these sizeable aftershocks what a day!!!
earthquake.usgs.gov...

[edit on 3-28-2005 by worldwatcher]

i really hate seeing a repeat of hell for that area of the world.there still cleaning up after that last huge mess.a heartless world we live in and this is just the start of many bad things to come.my worst fears are alive and well.the earth is mad and we will see her wrath.the time is now to seek higher ground before global flooding starts.it will only get worst for low lying areas.

The Australian - Three-metre wave hits Indonesia

From correspondents in Banda Aceh
March 29, 2005
A THREE-metre wave smashed into the Indonesian island of Simeuleu, off the coast of Sumatra, causing extensive damage shortly after a massive earthquake, a military official said.

More to come

I heard on the radio that the original large quake and the aftershocks produced tsunamies, some reaching some islands. Luckily they were not the same as the December 26th tsunami, neither was the earthquake, althou it was close.

I think it's a mistake to classify these as aftershocks. They appear to be independant of the earthquake in Dec. That's certainly what touched it off, but I think it opened an underground magma chamber, and now the hot magma is touching off explosions whenever it breaks through and contacts the cold sea water. If that's the case, and the sumatran trench is actually split and 'bleeding' this won't stop, for a long while. Maybe never.

I don't know. There are some vessels in the area that are probably looking into this, hopefully they will send word back in the next couple of weeks.

And then there's the matter of earthquake swarms off the coast of Oregon.

And there's the New Madrid fault. And of course the San Andreas. Not to mention Turkey and Iran which have been steadily building in magnitude.

I think the shaking will only get worse, across the world.

(posted by phreak_of_nature)
What was it, last week? I think it was last week there were two 2 magnitude 6 and above earthquakes in Argentina. Seemed to me to be an odd place for such large earthquakes. (...) Weird damn place for an earthquake.

Not at all. Salta is one of the Andean provinces of Argentina, on the northwestern corner of the country, right next to both Bolivia and Chile, so it's rather close to the (dreaded) Ring of Fire of the Pacific. That's prime earthquake territory.
*

Originally posted by Macrento
Not at all. Salta is one of the Andean provinces of Argentina, on the northwestern corner of the country, right next to both Bolivia and Chile, so it's rather close to the (dreaded) Ring of Fire of the Pacific. That's prime earthquake territory.
*

Thanks for making that clearer. I guess I just assumed that the faults were closer to the shore then that.

Scientists puzzled at absence of tsunami:

A magnitude 8.7 quake shook Indonesia's west coast, killing hundreds of people and spreading panic that another devastating tsunami was on the way. There was no tsunami, but a small wave was detected by a tide gauge on Cocos Island near Australia, about 1,500 miles south of the epicenter, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center on Oahu.

``I'm baffled an earthquake this size didn't trigger a tsunami near the epicenter,'' said Robert Cessaro, a geophysicist at the center, which is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It is responsible for monitoring seismic and ocean conditions in the Pacific and alerting Pacific Rim nations and U.S. agencies,
source

[edit on 29-3-2005 by picard_is_actually_a_grey]

The Australian: Staff flee quake hospital

STAFF at the main hospital on the quake-ravaged Indonesian island of Nias had fled, leaving scores of injured with no one to treat them, aid agency SurfAid International said today.

They did not say why they fled...