What's going on off the cost of Honduras? (Earthquake Thread)

If you havent heard yet there was an unbelievably large Earthquake of the coast of Honduras.

7.1
Date-Time

* Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 08:24:45 UTC
* Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 03:24:45 AM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 16.783°N, 86.166°W
Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Region OFFSHORE HONDURAS
Distances 130 km (80 miles) NNE of La Ceiba, Honduras
225 km (140 miles) N of Juticalpa, Honduras
320 km (200 miles) NNE of TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras
1170 km (730 miles) SSW of Miami, Florida
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 6.3 km (3.9 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameter NST=119, Nph=119, Dmin=323.9 km, Rmss=0.88 sec, Gp=104°,
M-type=(unknown type), Version=6
Source * USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID us2009heak

usgs.gov
USGS MAP OF LOCATION

Here's what QA had to say about this:

I was shocked to see such a large square off the coast of Honduras, this is not a seismic hazard area, people have been concerned about recently. In fact there has not been any quakes in that area as foreshocks either. There have been some 4 and 5 mags along the Pacific coast in Mexico, but not in the area this quake happened.

A local tsunami watch was issued, site: Site

I sincerely hope this does not set off the Puerto Rico trench. There have been expectations of a Huge quake happening there, which could cause a tsunami. The Puerto Rico trench has been having many quakes around the 2 and 3 mag range. They have been increasing in magnitude. Looking at the history of Puerto Rico's quakes - they were having a few years ago an average of 300 - 500 very small quakes a year. The increase has brought the area to now having over 1000 quakes a year. The trench has been loosening up, forecasters are expecting a Huge quake there some time this year, which could cause a tsunami that would affect the whole Caribbean, and the United States East Coast area.

Are we about to see more tension being let loose by the faults in the area?
This activity is very unusual...

Could this have anything to do with N.K> sending nuclear shockwaves into our fragile earth? I could not help but wonder if their irresponsible act would have longer range repercussions on our planet in the form of earthquakes and or tsunamis.

Perhaps a little off topic but check out the Yellowstone webicorders.

Pretty impressive readings.

Could the HOND. quake fire up other areas?

reply to post by antar


You make a very deep thinking thought Antar.

Where-as 99.99% of Earthquakes are natural in the eyes of the Earth, is one unnatural man made Earthquake enough to off set the system?

(Let's exclude HAARP from that question, although that is a possibility too)

Funny thing is that on 5/21 I posted about a dream I had into the volcano thread. My post was:

I had a rather vivid dream last night about a magnitude 9.1 earthquake hitting Ecuador. In the dream, I was helping my girlfriend pack because she is moving. She moves at the end of June, so that is when the dream would be taking place.

I never have accurate dreams though, so the likelihood of this actually happening is low but with this activity up in Honduras, who knows?

Another point I want to bring up is how we often see earthquakes and think of them as having a linear impact geographically. Why is that? It is like we view the earth as being flat when dealing with earthquakes when in fact we should be dealing with the quakes as a movement along a large pressurized sphere. I don't know how many times one part of the world will have a swarm only to see a large quake pop off thousands of miles away and people dismiss it as 'maybe related but unlikely'. With this in mind, I would not dismiss the NK nuke theory. In my opinion (and I am not a geophysicist) one could detonate a reasonable nuke at just the right place to cause a catastrophic event elsewhere. Why not? The key is knowing the dynamics of the plates, faults and pressure zones and hitting the nuke at just the right spot. I doubt anybody has this figured out, but I would not be shocked to find the theory is at least possible.

Originally posted by huntergatherer

Perhaps a little off topic but check out the Yellowstone webicorders.

Pretty impressive readings.

Could the HOND. quake fire up other areas?

IMO, I believe so, in some instances.. That energy has to go somewhere. Which sucks, because I have a really bad feeling about Los Angles..Like in the next few days. (Hope I'm wrong)

It's just that a 7.1's energy release is crazy-massive.. it'll shoot through the ground/faults till it can exit.

Awesome responses guys. I was trying to think of a way to word my thoughts on the earthquakes being connected, but you have done so for me.

There have been at least 4 or 5 quakes in the last day in places you dont normally see quakes.

Very interesting.

I just learned that my brother & sister-in-law, and their son, are there in Honduras on Mission Trip. Does anyone know the seriousness of the damage. Apparently, they have no cell coverage as her mom cannot get through to her? Anyone heard anything?

reply to post by 1curious1


The structural damage seems to be substantial but so far only about 6 deaths reported and 40 injuries. I just read an article about it on CNN (I think). Not as many casualties as one would expect from a quake that size so it's extremely good news!

Agreed, Been watching the quakemap this past week, and we're getting some large shakers in areas you never see them. It'll be interesting to see what happens when we have a full moon..

I would make a new topic but I am too new to do so...

However, I stumbled upon these two articles which I found very interesting related to the earthquake in the Caribbean

www.google.com...

www.examiner.com...

The quick read is that Puerto Rico and possibly other spots in the Carribean saw dramatic water level drops in a short period that were initially thought to be tsunami precursors. However no tsunami ever showed up...particularly after such a significant earthquake.

Some of the comments in the second article, (the Examiner one), were interesting implying that the inital explanation of tidal forces didnt add up, and that possibly a huge chasm had opened up to suck up the water.

Pretty frightening if that is the case. Hard to find any information on the subject, let alone get a good scientific assessment.

Anyone capable, please feel free to take this info and start a new thread because I think this definitely deserves to be investigated and of course the more eyes the better.

It is not only in the coast of Honduras. There have been a series of 5.0+ earthquakes in the western coast of Mexico (in front of Peruto Vallarta) maybe on the same ridge as the plate that affects Honduras?

I have the sense that something is beginning to shift dramatically within the Earth. Do get that sense as well?

Something is shifting, and it is IMO a natural and recurring process that we have now named 'climate change'. As oceans rise it puts pressure on the oceans floor ( more water, more weight) which puts pressure on existing faults and ridges and causes plate movement to be more intense and more often. Eventually, major damage to the west coast and south america will be the result, as the oceanic and continental plates move against each other. The Juan de Fuca plate is particuarly troublesome to the coast, here is one site, when I come on tonight I will try to find a video I watched on discovery about current findings there and their relationship to natural climate change, why they show it has happened before.

www.pnsn.org...