Spoke to relatives in South America who felt it. It freaked them out, since earthquakes aren't very common in the region. Personally this freaks me
out too.... if that was shallower and caused a tsunami it would have been absolute devastation in the islands.
btw there was a 5.1 Aftershock in the martinque area today.
I hear you, Worldwatcher -- this seems like more then active quakes for this time of the year. And the South Americans ones could pre-cursor the
150-year overdue, southern Andreas fault sooner then...
I recall reading somewhere that a lot more Quakes happen as the Earth passes closest to the Sun in it's orbit - That point in Jan 3rd. I think I
read this in relation to the boxing day tsunami but I may be wrong on this - it could even be at the furthest point in the orbit.
It does kinda make sense though - if a quake is about to happen some time, the straw that breaks the camels back could be the change in gravity that
the planet is subjected to. Does any one else know what i'm on about??
I've also heard the theory that sun spots and solar flares correlate with earthquake activity. We had a solar research thread in which we were
trying to keep track of those events, and while I haven't lost the interest, I just don't have the time to keep up with it... but yes it does seem
that there is a correlation between solar activity and geomagnetic activity that causes earthquakes.
...judging from this SOHO image of the sun over the last 11 years -- it looks like the cycle is about to enter an increased activity period.
Obviously, peaking in 2011/12.
I'm wondering as to why there were no aftershocks actually from it, it seems a bit big not to have any.
There was no tsunami warning, and it was very deep, so that probably explains the lack of media coverage.
PETALING JAYA:
A weak 3.5 magnitude earthquake occurred in Bukit Tinggi, Pahang, at 8.55pm last night.
According to the Meteorological Department, the incident triggered off slight tremors.
There was no cause for concern, it said in a statement.
Experts had said on Friday there was no reason to worry over the rare but minor earthquake that first occurred in Bukit Tinggi on Nov 30, as the
tremors were weakening by the day.
The tremors, which first measured 3.9 on the Richter scale on Nov 30, had weakened to 3.0 on Wednesday and to 2.7 on Thursday.
Meteorological Services Department director-general Dr Yap Kok Seng had said there was a very old fault line near Bukit Tinggi that had been
dormant for more than 1.6 million years.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
Does this happen often? I mean old fault lines reawakening?
Beachcoma -- did you feel that small one though? Seems like Earth is headed into 'severe' weather soon -- the solar cycle begins its 'heavy'
period 2008-12.
No, I didn't. It was too far away from where I live -- 100+ km -- but I called up some friends who live near the area and they did feel a slight
tremor. They thought it was a landslide -- it happens quite often there whenever the rainy season begins. The meteorological service said it wasn't a
landslide, though. According to the weather service, the fault was revived after the 2004 Acheh Tsunami. Makes sense, but it's still surreal. It's
like the tornado that happened last year -- that hasn't happened around here for as long as anyone can remember, too. Also like the cyclone that hit
last year -- these things don't happen in Malaysia, but it's happening anyway. Very strange.