8.9 Earthquake near Indonesia 1000's are dead

[realwtf]

This is scary. Biggest earthquake in 40 years. Caused major Tidal waves. Heard one report that a city of 300,000 is now under 4 feet of water.

Magnitude 8.9 - OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/usslav.htm)

Tidal Waves Kill More Than 3,300 in Asia (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=1&u=/ap/20041226/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_earthquake)

added links

[dr. klopek]

Link me.

[wacki]

It's on every news channel. crazy....

[dr. klopek]

[ QUOTE ]
It's on every news channel. crazy....

[/ QUOTE ]

I do not leave 2+2 unless by link.

[wacki]

Do you want me to come over and wipe your ass for you too?

This isn't even my thread.

[TimTimSalabim]

I'm amazed at how hard it is to find TV news coverage of this. I would have thought CNN for example would be doing continuous coverage, but it just gets an occasional mention.

[wacki]

It's all over Fox, has been all day.

[Popinjay]

Death toll over 11,000 (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/26/asia.quake/index.html)

/images/graemlins/frown.gif

[ThaSaltCracka]

wow.

[ThaSaltCracka]

This event is truely epic, holy [censored]. I won't be surprised if the death toll reaches 20k. What a sad sad sad day.

[Malone Brown]

Hey,
I was in Thailand during this. I has my bags all packed and was heading to the airport when we seen a huge comotion down at the beach so my girlfriend and I went down to see what was up. The water rose quite a bit and flushed away all the beach chairs etc., so we took some pictures. Soon after we seen a huge wave comming in and everyone started screaming and running. We took off throught the town trying to outrun the water. Some old Thai man was nice enough to let us hop in his pick -up truck and took us up to the mountains where we stayed for about 5 hours till the water went down.

It was an extremely scary experience to say the least. The worst thing is that watching BBC afterwards, we saw that they listed about 240 people dead in Thailand as a result. While we were still in Thailand, a Thai man was translating the local news for us and said that well over a thousand people have died, and hundreds of diving tourists were still missing. He told us that the government will probably not give out the true number of casualties because it will hurt tourism (which apparently they did not after seeing the BBC broadcast.)

It was a very frightening scene, we had our camera out before the whole thing happened so we got some pictures of the whole ordeal while we were running away, maybe I'll post them later if anyone's interested in seeing them. I was a terrible thing to happen to this beautiful country.

Malone

[fsuplayer]

That sounds awful, i cant imagine what that was like.

glad to hear you didnt get hurt however. if you ever get around to posting them, i would be interested in seeing the pictures.
I am very sorry this happened to you.

good luck to you.

fsuplayer

[BottlesOf]

Sawgrass...awesome....

[BusterStacks]

man, i hope this doesn't happen to a place that matters to the world.

[fsuplayer]

I used to be a member there, so gonores and I are playing there on tuesday, where he will get pwned (a one-time intentional misspelling) by the closing three holes.

hence the avatar and location.

[billyjex]

[ QUOTE ]
man, i hope this doesn't happen to a place that matters to the world.

[/ QUOTE ]

Me and my Dad were talking about if an earthquake that big hit off the California coast (I'm about a mile from the ocean at my dad's place in central California.)

There's so many low, heavily populated coastal beaches all up and down the state, it'd be crazy.

Is there any video of the tidal waves? I can only imagine how crazy it must have been.

[realwtf]

That earthquake shook the world. Check out this page

here is the link (http://aslwww.cr.usgs.gov/Seismic_Data/heli2.shtml)

[ChoicestHops]

This is a terrible event. I feel sorry for the lives lost.

[ QUOTE ]
It was a very frightening scene, we had our camera out before the whole thing happened so we got some pictures of the whole ordeal while we were running away, maybe I'll post them later if anyone's interested in seeing them. I was a terrible thing to happen to this beautiful country.

Malone


[/ QUOTE ]

I would like to see them.

[AngryCola]

[ QUOTE ]
man, i hope this doesn't happen to a place that matters to the world.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not one to be overly sensitive, but this strikes me as a really cruel statement. I don't know anyone who died in these events, but my heart goes out to them.

They matter to me.

EDIT- Unless you were making fun of how most Americans don't give a sh1t about these kinds of things in other parts of the world. If that's what you were getting at, my apologies for being confused.

[Legian]

[ QUOTE ]
man, i hope this doesn't happen to a place that matters to the world.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah and besides, they're not as sensitive to loss as us, are they?

India

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041227/ids_photos_wl/r1077957295.jpg

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041227/ids_photos_wl/r3553687606.jpg

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041227/ids_photos_wl/r3011621313.jpg

Indonesia

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041227/ids_photos_india_wl/ra1103372347.jpg

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041227/ids_photos_india_wl/ra1349791284.jpg

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041227/ids_photos_wl/r1703544846.jpg

Sri Lanka

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041227/ids_photos_wl/r1703891117.jpg

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041227/ids_photos_wl/r1303378051.jpg

Thailand

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041227/ids_photos_wl/r3755029834.jpg

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041227/ids_photos_wl/r4091257591.jpg

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041227/ids_photos_india_wl/ra4106366508.jpg

[plaster8]

[ QUOTE ]
That earthquake shook the world.

[/ QUOTE ]

Literally. The Associated Press story says the quake actually affected the Earth's rotation. That's insane.

[Malone Brown]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
That earthquake shook the world.

[/ QUOTE ]

Literally. The Associated Press story says the quake actually affected the Earth's rotation. That's insane.

[/ QUOTE ]

And I slept right through it

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
That earthquake shook the world. Check out this page

here is the link (http://aslwww.cr.usgs.gov/Seismic_Data/heli2.shtml)

[/ QUOTE ]

I have no idea how to read this.

[ThaSaltCracka]

Buster is a sarcastic SOB, don't mind him.

So this was what, the biggest quake since 1900 or something like that? Simply amazing in a terribly destructive way.

[wacki]

No, not 1900. It's the worst quake since 1965.

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
This event is truely epic, holy [censored]. I won't be surprised if the death toll reaches 20k. What a sad sad sad day.

[/ QUOTE ]

22,000 and growing.

[jakethebake]

I'm suprised we haven't yet seen a post in the politics forum blaming it on secret undersea nuclear testing, or a vast conspiracy between dubya and the aliens, or maybe it could be Wal-Mart's fault somehow. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm suprised we haven't yet seen a post in the politics forum blaming it on secret undersea nuclear testing, or a vast conspiracy between dubya and the aliens, or maybe it could be Wal-Mart's fault somehow. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]I think this may be the second horsemen of the apocalypse.

[BusterStacks]

[ QUOTE ]
Buster is a sarcastic SOB, don't mind him.


[/ QUOTE ]

We have a winner. Besides, without my initial comment we wouldn't have seen such awesome replies as billyjex, who doesn't even miss a beat and AngryCola, the hooker with a heart of gold.

[wacki]

Death toll nears 24,000. Many more are still missing. Anyone think it will hit 30,000?

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
Death toll nears 24,000. Many more are still missing. Anyone think it will hit 30,000?

[/ QUOTE ]it could very easily.

[Malone Brown]

Hey all,
I got some pics back but I'm not sure how to post them,I'm guessing they need to be hosted on a site first right? If I can figure it out I will post them.
Malone

[wacki]

There were a bunch of threads on this, I know http://www.photobucket.com/ is one.

There are plenty others. Just google free picture hosting.

www.villagephotos.com/ (http://www.villagephotos.com/)
www.freepichosting.com/ (http://www.freepichosting.com/)

[Malone Brown]

Here's some pics I took while my girlfried and I ran our asses off.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/krserre/40050017.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/krserre/106c132e.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/krserre/40050013.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/krserre/40050020.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/krserre/580bcb2b.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/krserre/40050001.jpg

[Malone Brown]

The sad part is, this is what Thailand looked like during the other 9 days of my trip (that's me in the middle). This is a pic of Phi Phi island, which got wipped out by the Tsunami. I personally think it's by far the most beautiful place on Earth. It's terrible the kick in the nuts this once in a life time disaster will give to tourism here

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/krserre/40030001.jpg

[krubban]

As of now there are 2000 swedish tourists missing only in Phuket, Thailand..
One of my friends and his whole family is still missing...
There's a lot of chaos and no order down there at the moment so I hope they made it even though they were in Khao Lak which had the most severe damages after the earthquake.

[AngryCola]

[ QUOTE ]
We have a winner. Besides, without my initial comment we wouldn't have seen such awesome replies as billyjex, who doesn't even miss a beat and AngryCola, the hooker with a heart of gold.

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Hey, to be fair, I made the note at the end about possibly being confused about your comment. I at least considered the possibility. It's good to know you're not entirely heartless. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Death toll nears 24,000. Many more are still missing. Anyone think it will hit 30,000?

[/ QUOTE ]it could very easily.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, 44,000!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,142692,00.html

[Cyrus]

asteroid that hit the Indian Ocean actually.

Excuse me, I gotta I answer the door, one minute.

<font color="white">. </font>

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Death toll nears 24,000. Many more are still missing. Anyone think it will hit 30,000?

[/ QUOTE ]it could very easily.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, 44,000!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,142692,00.html

[/ QUOTE ]

damn /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
I have stumbled upon top secret information that it was an

asteroid that hit the Indian Ocean actually.

Excuse me, I gotta I answer the door, one minute.

<font color="white">. </font>

[/ QUOTE ]

That's pretty funny actually. Thanks for the laugh.

In all seriousness I wonder how the M4N asteroid, if it hit the ocean, would compare to this quake.

Time to do some research....

[ThaSaltCracka]

well, what would happen if you dropped a nuke into the ocean and it exploded, smae thing right?

[wacki]

Yes, a nuke in the ocean would cause a tidal wave. I'm just curious how 1,900 megatons compares to this quake.

[ThaSaltCracka]

isn't that how big a nuke is?

[wacki]

No, not even close.

The asteroid:----1,900,000,000 tons TNT
Hiroshiman nuke:--------20,000 tons TNT

The asteroid is about 100,000 Hiroshima sized nukes. And that asteroid isn't even that big. Almost all of our "big" nukes are 1 megaton.



Interesting read:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3610953.stm

"We are suggesting picking an asteroid of about 200 metres. A 200-metre asteroid is capable of penetrating the atmosphere and striking the ground with an energy of 600 megatons. Should it land in the ocean (as is likely), it will create an enormous tsunami that could destroy coastal cities."

If 600 megatons could destroy coastal cities, I'm curious how far inland 1,900 megatons would reach. Apparently this quake was nothing when compared to an asteroid.

[ThaSaltCracka]

oh [censored]!

Thanks Mr. Wizard /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Zeno]

Krakatau erupted in 1883, in one of the largest eruptions in recent time. Krakatau is an island volcano along the Indonesian arc, between the much larger islands of Sumatra and Java (each of which has many volcanoes also along the arc). There is a very fine book about the Krakatau eruption by Tom Simkin and Richard Fiske, so if you really want to know about the eruption you should go to the nearest bookstore or library to find that.

Here are some highlights from their summary of effects:

1. The explosions were heard on Rodriguez Island, 4653 km distant across the Indian Ocean, and over 1/13th of the earth's surface.

2. Ash fell on Singapore 840 km to the N, Cocos (Keeling) Island 1155 km to the SW, and ships as far as 6076 km WNW. Darkness covered the Sunda Straits from 11 a.m. on the 27th until dawn the next day.

3. Giant waves reached heights of 40 m above sea level, devastating everything in their path and hurling ashore coral blocks weighing as much as 600 tons.

4. At least 36,417 people were killed, most by the giant sea waves, and 165 coastal villages were destroyed.

5. When the eruption ended only 1/3 of Krakatau, formerly 5x9 km, remained above sea level, and new islands of steaming pumice and ash lay to the north where the sea had been 36 m deep.

6. Every recording barograph in the world documented the passage of the airwave, some as many as 7 times as the wave bounced back and forth between the eruption site and its antipodes for 5 days after the explosion.

7. Tide gauges also recorded the sea wave's passage far from Krakatau. The wave "reached Aden in 12 hours, a distance of 3800 nautical miles, usually traversed by a good steamer in 12 days".

8. Blue and green suns were observed as fine ash and aerosol, erupted perhaps 50 km into the stratosphere, circled the equator in 13 days.

9. Three months after the eruption these products had spread to higher latitudes causing such vivid red sunset afterglows that fire engines were called out in New York, Poughkeepsie, and New Haven to quench the apparent conflagration. Unusual sunsets continued for 3 years.

10. Rafts of floating pumice-locally thick enough to support men, trees, and no doubt other biological passengers-crossed the Indian Ocean in 10 months. Others reached Melanesia, and were still afloat two years after the eruption.

11. The volcanic dust veil that created such spectacular atmospheric effects also acted as a solar radiation filter, lowering global temperatures as much as 1.2 degree C in the year after the eruption. Temperatures did not return to normal until 1888.

The book as much more information.

The 1815 eruption of Tambora A few facts on Tambora (http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/southeast_asia/indonesia/tambora.html) in Indonesia was more devastating than Karkatua even though the latter eruption is more well known.

By the way, both the above mentioned volcanic eruptions are only moderately large. A really big eruption could easily kill 100's of millions of people from primary and secondary effects.

-Zeno

[wacki]

Zeno, you need to check this out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/1999/supervolcanoes.shtml

Yellowstone Park - is one of the largest supervolcanoes in the world. Scientists have revealed that it has been on a regular eruption cycle of 600,000 years. The last eruption was 640,000 years ago... so the next is overdue.
.....
Some geneticists now believe that this had a catastrophic effect on human life, possibly reducing the population on Earth to just a few thousand people. Mankind was pushed to the edge of extinction... and it could happen again.

BTW, yellowstone is bowing up so much the lakes are moving and trees that were once on land are now a couple of feet underwater. It does appear stable, but scientists have never seen one of these explode to know for sure.

Aren't you a geologist? Maybe you can explain some of that stuff to me. There are many conflicting reports and I don't know geology.

[ThaSaltCracka]

haha, all this doomsday stuff, when will the world end? jeez.

[TimM]

[ QUOTE ]
The asteroid:----1,900,000,000 tons TNT
Hiroshiman nuke:--------20,000 tons TNT

[/ QUOTE ]

http://canterbury.cyberplace.org.nz/peace/nukenviro.html

Triggering of Landslides, Tsunamis and Earthquakes

At least one major test-related landslide and consequent Tsunami in Moruroa, on July 25, 1979. Apparently, the 120kiloton weapon, which was supposed to be lowered into a shaft of 800 meters, got stuck at a depth of 400 meters and could not be dislodged. The French authorities decided to explode the device anyway. This explosion resulted in a major underwater landslide of at least one million cubic meters of coral and rock and created a cavity, probably 140 meters in diameter. The underwater landslide produced a major tidal wave comparable to a tsunami, which spread through the Tuamotu Archipelago and injured people on the southern part of Moruroa Atoll. (27)

French authorities initially denied that any mishap had occurred and declared that the tidal wave was of natural origin, but in a publication in 1985 they did acknowledge "the accident of 25 July 1979".(28)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_testing

The largest nuclear weapon ever tested was the Tsar Bomba of the Soviet Union at Novaya Zemlya, with an estimated yield of around 57 megatons (now believed to be only 50 megatons).

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Russia/TsarBomba.html

The asteroid:----1,900,000,000 tons TNT
Tsar Bomba:---------50,000,000 tons TNT
Moruroa Test:----------120,000 tons TNT
Hiroshiman nuke:--------20,000 tons TNT

[ThaSaltCracka]

anyone know what the biggest nuclear weapon is(in megatons)?

[Zeno]

Wacki,

I worked at Yellowstone many years ago helping with surveying - a way to measure uplift. Yellowstone is always in flux, uplifting or subsiding some on a continual basis, think of it as a living and breathing hole into the earth. Anyway, the link is moderately informative but somewhat misleading. Yellowstone is associated with a 'hot spot' under the North American Plate. Also, there are many large volcanoes or Calderas in the world. Here is a link that is useful About Calderas (http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Indonesia/description_tambora_1815_eruption.html)

Note the USGS Bulletin 1855 by [Chris] Newhall and Dan Dzurisin. I have this publication (I know both Chris and Dan). The USGS is a solid place for information about Volcanoes (they have numerous Web Pages etc - just search), the risks and hazards associated with eruptions, and the possible secondary effects that accompany many eruptions (many of which can be more devastating than the eruption itself).

The USGS Bulletin 1855 is mostly 'boring facts, information, and references' listed out methodically and consists of two volumes. There is an introduction however that is very informative and useful and would clarify many of your questions. This is a public document and is available to anyone. Again, just search USGS and publications and you can probably order this and many other useful bulletins, papers, reports etc. online.

As a side note the Mammoth Lakes region in California is also an 'older' Caldera [Long Valley Caldera]. It was in a period of unrest in the early 1980s. Long Valley Caldera (http://lvo.wr.usgs.gov/)

-Zeno

[ThaSaltCracka]

Zeno, isn't Mt. Rainier the largest volcanoe in America?

[wacki]

100 megatons

" In districts hundreds of kilometers from ground zero, wooden houses were destroyed, and stone ones lost their roofs, windows and doors; and radio communications were interrupted for almost one hour. The atmospheric disturbance generated by the explosion orbited the earth three times. A gigantic mushroom cloud rose as high as 64 kilometers (210,000 ft)."

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Russia/TsarBomba.html

[ThaSaltCracka]

damn. I have one of those "Faces of Death" videos of a nuke bomb going off at a test site. It sends chills down my spine, totally frightening to see and to imagine.

[TimM]

[ QUOTE ]
100 megatons

" In districts hundreds of kilometers from ground zero, wooden houses were destroyed, and stone ones lost their roofs, windows and doors; and radio communications were interrupted for almost one hour. The atmospheric disturbance generated by the explosion orbited the earth three times. A gigantic mushroom cloud rose as high as 64 kilometers (210,000 ft)."

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Russia/TsarBomba.html

[/ QUOTE ]

This was only at half of the design yield:

"This three stage weapon was actually a 100 megaton bomb design, but the uranium fusion stage tamper of the tertiary (and possibly the secondary) stage(s) was replaced by one(s) made of lead. This reduced the yield by 50% by eliminating the fast fissioning of the uranium tamper by the fusion neutrons, and eliminated 97% of the fallout (1.5 megatons of fission, instead of 51.5), yet still proved the full yield design. The result was the "cleanest" weapon ever tested with 97% of the energy coming from fusion reactions. The effect of this bomb at full yield on global fallout would have been tremendous. It would have increased the world's total fission fallout since the invention of the atomic bomb by 25%."

[Zeno]

In terms of volume, I think Mt. Rainier is the largest Stratovolcano in America. Popocapetal in Mexico is also quite a large stratovolcano.

There are a number of ways to classify Volcanoes, shield volcanoes (Kilauea in Hawaii is an example), Stratovolcanoes [Mt Rainier] simple and complex Dome structures, monogenetic cones etc, I haven’t the time to go into details so get a book on Volcanology or a geologic dictionary or search online etc. The terminology is mostly well defined; I haven't the time to explain it all. Caldera is used both as a geomorphic term and also for some volcanoes and this can lead to some confusion.

-Zeno

PS I have been hoping for a big 'Yellowstone type' of eruption to occur somewhere in the world for a long time. This would be a great event. I hope it happens soon. The odds are it will.

[wacki]

That is scary. If a 50 megaton bomb is that powerfull.... I can't even imagine what a 100 megaton would do. Let alone the asteroid. Thanks for the correction.


News update, death toll 54,000. It's expected to double because of the rotting bodies spreading disease.

[GuyOnTilt]

News update, death toll 54,000.

Reuters has it at over 59,000. And yeah, it's expected to be over 100,000 because of lack of clean drinking water, sanitation, and disease. 100 freaking thousand people. Not cool. Sad, sad, sad week.

GoT

[ThaSaltCracka]

Thanks Zeno, I still remember most of this from my Geology 101 class, which was coincidently, one of the more enjoyable classes I have taken in college.

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
100 freaking thousand people. Not cool. Sad, sad, sad week.

[/ QUOTE ] very sad indeed /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[Zeno]

This illustrates, in a rather gruesome way, a point that I made in the posts about Volcanoes etc.---That 'Secondary' causes are more often than not the main killers in many natural disasters. This is especially true of earthquakes and large-scale volcanic eruptions.

-Zeno

[wacki]

The French are donating $136,000 for the tsunami relief aid.

Woohooo!!!

[ThaSaltCracka]

isn't the U.S. donating 4 million?

[wacki]

Last figure is 35 million cash. The money figure is expected to go up even more. We are also sending the Marines and the Army, that has a lot of value that you can't really put on paper. US citizens are also making tons of private donations.

I hope it's enough, because it doesn't sound like alot. Then again all they need is clean water and to get rid of the bodies.

[GuyOnTilt]

You can donate online to the relief fund here (https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp).

This is truly a tradegy of disastrous proportions. Here is an excerpt from www.alertnet.org (http://www.alertnet.org), part of Reuters:

The stench of decomposing corpses spread over the provincial capital Banda Aceh, where fresh water, food and fuel were in short supply. Bodies lay scattered in the streets. One of the worst hit cities was Meulaboh, about 150 km (90 miles) from the quake's epicentre. The mayor Tengku Zulkarnaen said three-quarters of his city had been washed away. About 1,000 people lay on a sports field where they were killed when the three-storey-high wall of water struck.

"My son is crying for his mother," said Bejkhajorn Saithong, 39, searching for his wife at a wrecked hotel on the beach. Body parts jutted from the wreckage. "I think this is her," he said. "I recognise her hand, but I'm not sure."

Sri Lanka reported around 19,000 dead. India's toll of 11,500 included at least 7,000 on one archipelago, the Andamans and Nicobar. On one island, the surge of water killed two-thirds of the population.

More Quotes:

"Rescuers are holding their breath while using their bare hands, axes, or shovels to dig through piles of wrecked buildings and debris at Khao Lak," the senior official in the Thai province, Chailert Piyorattanachote, said.

"There aren't heavy machines and we are mobilising equipment from nearby provinces that were not hit. We don't have enough coffins and those that we have are too small for the bloated bodies of foreigners."

"We haven't eaten for two days. We have to get out of here," said Irawan, 35, whose optician's practice was destroyed in the Indoesian provincial capital Banda Aceh.

An old woman in a devastated fishing village in southern India's Tamil Nadu state: "Why did you do this to us, God? What did we do to upset you? This is worse than death."

Lieutenant-Colonel Budi Santoso, Aceh: "Many bodies are still lying on the streets. There just aren't enough body bags".

Sri Lankan dive shop owner Y.P Wickramsinghe: "This was the worst day in our history ... I wish I had died. There is no point in living any more."

Indian resident Kolanda Velu, whose children are missing: "I hope and pray that we can at least find their bodies so that we can see them one last time and give them a decent burial.

German backpacker Jorg Dietrichs, sheltered by a Sri Lankan family for two nights: "It was incredible ... They gave us the shirts they were wearing. They gave us their slippers. They are the most beautiful people in the world."

"The enormity of the disaster is unbelievable," said Bekele Geleta, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Southeast Asia.

Seriously, this is just not cool. They need all the help over there they can get. Even have a slight chance at saving someone's life over there is infinitely more important than whatever toys or food or clothes I would've bought instead. That could just as easily have been me or anyone else looking through those eyes over there right now.

GoT

[ThaSaltCracka]

The only good news here, is that because of the magnitude of this quake, there isn't likely to be one in the area for probably hundreds of years. This was a truely amazing display of geological activity, one which (hopefully) won't be topped for a while, but I have my fears the Seattle area may be hit soon.

[wacki]

Why do you say "soon"? Any specific reason?

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
Why do you say "soon"? Any specific reason?

[/ QUOTE ]
Wishful thinking - he's been living like there's no tomorrow and there's a few debts to be paid.

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Why do you say "soon"? Any specific reason?

[/ QUOTE ]
Wishful thinking - he's been living like there's no tomorrow and there's a few debts to be paid.

[/ QUOTE ]LMAo.


Wacki,
A lot of the geologist up here have been saying we are due for an earthquake around 7.0 for a while now. But we are prepared up here, they have doing a lot of retrofiting of bridges and buildings. A few years ago there was(IIRC) a 6.3 (maybe it was less) quake here, and the damage was nominal. That same size quake would have [censored] up a 3rd world country.

Check out some of the links Zeno provided. Where I work is right above a fault line(literally), and in fact there are a few more up here. Basically all of the Cascade Mountains are dormant volcanoes, in fact the Portland metro area is surrounded by huge amount of small extinct volcanoes.

The NW is a really fascinating place geologically speaking.

[Sarge85]

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&amp;Number=1447131&amp;page=0&amp;view=colla psed&amp;sb=5&amp;o=14&amp;fpart=1

A way to help.....

Sarge/images/graemlins/diamond.gif

[ThaSaltCracka]

Wacki, I just realized I have a video of a 10 megaton hydrogen bomb being tested on my laptop. It scares the [censored] out of me.

[MelchyBeau]

Was browsing yahoo news and I found this little article

[ QUOTE ]
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's southern state of Tasmania was rocked by the world's largest earthquake in three-and-a-half years when it struck under the sea half way between Australia and Antarctica on Friday, seismologists said.


No injuries or damage were reported.


The earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale hit near Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean, more than 500 miles southeast of Tasmania, at about 2 a.m., said Geoscience Australia seismologist Cvetan Sinadinovski.


"Usually this kind of earthquake happens every three to four years in the world, it is just a part of the dynamic cycle of the earth," Sinadinovski told Reuters.


The earthquake could have caused a tsunami, but no noticeable changes in water levels had been reported in Tasmania or New Zealand, Sinadinovski said. An aftershock measuring 6.1 hit at 6.50 a.m., he said.


"The last earthquake of similar magnitude in the Macquarie Rise region was in 1924. The magnitude of that earthquake was 7.5," Sinadinovski said.


It is the largest earthquake to hit since more than 120 people were killed in Peru when an earthquake measuring 8.4 on the Richter scale struck less than 125 miles off the coast of the South American nation in June 2001.


The Richter scale measures the magnitude of an earthquake with a reading of more than 8 regarded as a "great" earthquake that can cause serious damage over several hundred kilometers and a reading of less than 2 considered micro.


Geoscience Australia said an earthquake measuring 8.6 on the Richter scale releases energy equivalent to about 10,000 atom bombs like the one that destroyed the Japanese city of Hiroshima in World War II.


[/ QUOTE ]

Source (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&amp;cid=570&amp;ncid=753&amp;e=9&amp;u=/nm/20041224/sc_nm/quake_australia_antarctica_dc)

This earthquake happened two days before the one in the indian ocean.

Geologists also believe several islands actually moved by about 20 meters.

Geophysicists also believe that the indian ocean earthquake permanently tilted the earth and has increased the speed that the earth rotates.

Melch

[CrazyEyez]

Geophysicists also believe that the indian ocean earthquake permanently tilted the earth and has increased the speed that the earth rotates.

That is insane.
I don't even know how to begin to comprehend that if it's true.

[wacki]

You don't have much reason to be afraid of nukes. If you're afraid of natural disasters the best thing you can do is plan ahead.

http://www.purwaterfilter.com/purguidpursy.html
http://www.outdoorreview.com/Water%20Filters/Katadyn/PUR/PRD_77102_2960crx.aspx

http://www.outdoorreview.com/Channels/OutdoorReview/images/products/Product_77102.jpg

One of these will give you 200 gallons of water per filter. It costs 2 cents a gallon so it's a good deal. PUR is just about the only name I recommend in water filtration. It will filter all bacteria out and the tri-iodine resin matrix will kill all viruses.

The Miox is pretty cool as well, but you have to worry about batteries and it's more expensive. It uses NASA technology to disinfect the water.
http://www.msrcorp.com/filters/miox.asp

A weeks worth of canned food/rice per person, an emergency space blanket ~$3 to $15, and you are all set. Humans are very resourceful, and you only need enough supplies to get through the adjustment period. Most of the people in Asia that are going to die are dying because they can't get clean water/food. When trying to survive all you need is these three FOOD, WATER, SHELTER.

You say you sit on the fault line. I'm no geologist, but I would think that this wouldn't cause a tsunami. If it did then all of the waves would be sent out to Japan and they would have to deal with it.

I asked a very knowledgeable friend what he would would need if the world was comming to an end due to a natural disaster. He replied "A sharp wit and a sharp stick". I agree with him, basically if you use your head you will get through it.

The only reason I start natural disaster threads is because there are dangers that are very real and many of them are so easy to avoid. $10 million a year for asteroids and yet nobody wants to spend the money. Attitudes like that sicken me. You don't have to go nuts, but it's good to be atleast a little prepared.

Besides that, the odds are in your favor. It looks like Seattle is prepared. Plus, the odds of a disaster like this happening to you are extremely remote. Just keep a weeks worth of supplies around and you will be able to breeze right through any of those "once in a 100 years" disasters.