Very Large 7.6 Earthquake in Vanuatu. Tsunami Warning

Earthquake Details

* This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Magnitude 7.6
Date-Time

* Saturday, December 25, 2010 at 13:16:38 UTC
* Sunday, December 26, 2010 at 12:16:38 AM at epicenter

Location 19.759°S, 167.974°E
Depth 24.4 km (15.2 miles)
Region VANUATU REGION
Distances 135 km (85 miles) W of Isangel, Tanna, Vanuatu
200 km (125 miles) N of Tadine, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia
225 km (140 miles) S of PORT-VILA, Efate, Vanuatu
1740 km (1090 miles) ENE of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 16.3 km (10.1 miles); depth +/- 1.4 km (0.9 miles)
Parameters NST= 68, Nph= 68, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=1.74 sec, Gp= 58°,
M-type="moment" magnitude from initial P wave (tsuboi method) (Mi/Mwp), Version=7
Source

* USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)

Event ID usc0000usf

USGS.gov

... A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT ...

A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR

VANUATU / NEW CALEDONIA / FIJI


More to come as this just occurred.

Here's the tsunami alert:

SUBJECT - TSUNAMI INFORMATION

THIS STATEMENT IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY. NO ACTION REQUIRED.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 0317 AM HST 25 DEC 2010
COORDINATES - 19.7 SOUTH 168.0 EAST
LOCATION - VANUATU ISLANDS REGION
MAGNITUDE - 7.6 MOMENT

EVALUATION

THE PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER HAS ISSUED A NON-EXPANDING
REGIONAL TSUNAMI WARNING FOR A PART OF THE PACIFIC NEAR THE
EARTHQUAKE. BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA THERE IS NO DESTRUCTIVE
TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII.

HOWEVER... SOME COASTAL AREAS IN HAWAII COULD EXPERIENCE SMALL
NON-DESTRUCTIVE SEA LEVEL CHANGES AND STRONG OR UNUSUAL CURRENTS
LASTING UP TO SEVERAL HOURS. THE ESTIMATED TIME SUCH EFFECTS
MIGHT BEGIN IS

1051 AM HST SAT 25 DEC 2010

THIS WILL BE THE ONLY STATEMENT ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS
ADDITIONAL DATA ARE RECEIVED.

www.weather.gov...

EVALUATION

IT IS NOT KNOWN THAT A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. THIS WARNING IS
BASED ONLY ON THE EARTHQUAKE EVALUATION. AN EARTHQUAKE OF THIS
SIZE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE A DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI THAT CAN
STRIKE COASTLINES IN THE REGION NEAR THE EPICENTER WITHIN MINUTES
TO HOURS. AUTHORITIES IN THE REGION SHOULD TAKE APPROPRIATE
ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS POSSIBILITY. THIS CENTER WILL MONITOR
SEA LEVEL GAUGES NEAREST THE REGION AND REPORT IF ANY TSUNAMI
WAVE ACTIVITY IS OBSERVED. THE WARNING WILL NOT EXPAND TO OTHER
AREAS OF THE PACIFIC UNLESS ADDITIONAL DATA ARE RECEIVED TO
WARRANT SUCH AN EXPANSION.

ESTIMATED INITIAL TSUNAMI WAVE ARRIVAL TIMES AT FORECAST POINTS
WITHIN THE WARNING AND WATCH AREAS ARE GIVEN BELOW. ACTUAL
ARRIVAL TIMES MAY DIFFER AND THE INITIAL WAVE MAY NOT BE THE
LARGEST. A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE TIME BETWEEN
SUCCESSIVE WAVES CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO ONE HOUR.

LOCATION FORECAST POINT COORDINATES ARRIVAL TIME
-------------------------------- ------------ ------------
VANUATU ANATOM IS. 20.2S 169.9E 1338Z 25 DEC
ESPERITU SANTO 15.1S 167.3E 1404Z 25 DEC
NEW CALEDONIA NOUMEA 22.3S 166.5E 1359Z 25 DEC
FIJI SUVA 18.5S 178.5E 1512Z 25 DEC

www.weather.gov...

This is certainily bringing back memories of just a few years ago from Indonesia and SE Asia.

This is only 1000 miles/1700 kilometers from Brisbane Australia. Lets hope this doesn't actually generate a large tsunami like the December 26th one did that hit Thailand and other areas in SE Asia.

Ha!. You just beat me to the tsunami warning Chadwickus!

yes got my xmas wish after all . a nice size 7.6

i was good all year honest ....

thank you for posting this ...

reply to post by webpirate


My thought pattern was the same as yours it seems!

Luckily it seems nothing will come of this tsunami alert.

They have apparently canceled the tsunami watch for the Indian Ocean, but as far as I can tell, the warning is still in effect for the Pacific. I'm not going to post all of the text from the Indian cancellation, but here's a good link to it: hisz.rsoe.hu...#

reply to post by alysha.angel


I thought you were looking for a 9.5!

Bumps the totals for this year though. 2010 is second in the decade for energy released.

Originally posted by PuterMan
reply to post by alysha.angel

 

I thought you were looking for a 9.5! No darlin that 9.5 is for next year . we still got a week left for 2010

Bumps the totals for this year though. 2010 is second in the decade for energy released.

at about 5:50am i had the most intense "ear tone"/ earthquake tone ive ever had, by far. it about knocked me off my feet it was so loud and sudden. it lasted about 2-3 minutes, and is less loud now but both ears still ringing like a hi pitched bell! i went straight to the laptop to check for quakes and found that this 7.6 happened about half an hour before my ear flipped out. hope people are ok there, and hope it stays on that side of the pond, cuz im in the SF bay area, and i live about 2 blocks from the hayward fault. not to mention that our house and yard started sinking recently..... sinkholes and quakes scare me, and i dont wanna go out like Lois Lane. eek.
('')

and probably unrelated, but there was a huge Lunar rainbow here the night before last, right over our house (the hayward fault). and brightly colored quake clouds on and off the last few days, same spot.

Looks like they have downgraded it some to a 7.3. Still a pretty strong quake thought.

Also, the tsunami warning in the pacific has been canceled for the Vanuatu/New Caledonia/Fiji region.

There might have been some destructive local tsunamis, but apparently nothing widespread. Hawaii might experience some slightly elevated sea levels, or strong currents in the next few hours, but it appears it will be spared any destructive tsunami.

reply to post by gemdog


Ok, when did this earthquake occur,Pacific time? I was up here, at 1 am this morning, and my house seemed to shift, it was strange, my only thinking was an earthquake was coming. Anectdotal, I know, but thought I'd share.

reply to post by SunnyDee


5:16am pacific. we thought we felt a couple slight shifts last night too, about 1 or 2am. like a small dropoff, then nothing else. hearing lots of sky rumbling last few days as well, like semi-trucks/airplanes/trains- but none of those are passing, and it lasts for several minutes.

as im typing this im getting the ear tones again suddenly, but thankfully not as loud/intense as before.

Just been reading through this info. As I was , we just had a big earthquake. Thats really spinny. I am from Christchurch New Zealand. So they have been commen since our big one on september 4th that was 7.3
Something really going on around the pacific ring of fire. Lets hope no real big quakes for a while.