New Tsunami Alert

[Baja Margie]

Breaking News:

India state issues new tsunami alert:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4133993.stm

[aquart]

1. Oh, shit.

[Neoma]

2. yes...Shit shit!

[NYC]

3. Incredible. Excerpts:

...They said aftershocks in the Andaman and Nicobar islands were likely to cause high waves....

...Indian officials say they were warned of fresh tremors by the country's space research organisation...

[rainbow4321]

4. Cities evacuating.....

http://www.baytownsun.com/wire.lasso?report=/dynamic/stories/I/INDIA_TSUNAMI_WARNING?SITE=TXBAY&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

"We have issued an alert. There could be a wave attack in the next one hour," said Veera Shanmuga Mani, the top administrator in Nagappattinam, a coastal town in southern Tamil Nadu state where most of the deaths from the weekend tsunamis occurred.

It was unclear what sparked the warning, but two aftershocks hit islands off of India's eastern coast Thursday morning, the Indian Meteorological Department said earlier.

Mani said people living within two miles from the coastline have been asked to evacuate the area.

Thousands of residents in Nagappattinam began fleeing the town as the warning came in. Police ordered hundreds of vehicles carrying relief supplies and rescue workers not to enter the town.

[fortyfeetunder]

5. No surprise

After a 9.2 magnitude quake, I would expect aftershocks for some time to come, maybe even a year from now. It's quite unfortunate.

[rainbow4321]

12. OK seismograph still recording aftershocks/OK couple missing in Thailand

http://www.kotv.com/main/home/stories.asp?whichpage=1&id=75107

LEONARD, Okla. (AP) _ An Oklahoma Geological Survey seismograph is still recording waves created by a deadly earthquake in Indonesia.

Geophysicist Jim Lawson says the equipment in Leonard, just south of Tulsa, has recorded about 300 aftershocks. He says it will probably continue receiving information for another week despite being 97-hundred miles from the quake.

The earthquake and resulting tidal wave is now blamed for more than 76,000 deaths.

Lawson says the first wave was recorded in Leonard at 7:13 Saturday night, about 15 minutes after the quake. The largest wave was recorded at 7:36 Saturday night.
----------------------
Oklahoma Couple Missing In Thailand Following Quake And Tsunami
http://www.kotv.com/main/home/stories.asp?whichpage=1&id=75127

There's still no word from two Oklahomans who've been missing ever since that deadly tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

Sue and Phillip Shilling live and work in Thailand and have not called home to Carter, Oklahoma since the tsunami made landfall. The Shillings' daughter, Melissa Prather has tried calling and e-mailing her parents but has had no luck. She says her mom and dad were doing mission work in Thailand.

Melissa's parents had been scheduled to return home to Oklahoma for a quick visit sometime this June.

[Wabbajack]

18. Really>

That sucks.

[pacifictiger]

6. so now they're erring

on the side of caution. Can't say one can blame them. Hope it does not amount to a crying wolf scenario though. People won't know what to think in future then.
The earth is sure active right now!! Check out this list from the USGS website just over the last few days.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.html

[Newsjock]

8. even near fresno

M3.3 tonight northeast of Fresno, in an area that "never" gets even minor quakes. The news guys say this was the strongest quake on the west side of the Sierra in the region since 1975.

[intheflow]

14. Wow, that is a lot of activity.

Is it normal to have so much quake activity? I mean, obviously the 8's and 9's are high, but what about the lesser shocks? Do they happen that frequently?

[lapauvre]

17. I am a cynic at worst

an optimist at best, and my cynicism is foaming at the moment.

Like an almost unprecedented earthquake has happened. Many people have died. Many people are suffering the loss of loved ones.

Do we in the USA have to try to suck it and make it our tragedy so we can forget about what happened in another part of the world.

We have no damage here, and Oklahoma is hardly on a seacoast.

As for Californians, all of those awaiting the "big one" tremors are ever, ever present in California. I lived there for years, and cupboard doors popped open, vases of flowers were found off tables and onto the floor, mobile homes vibrated, all of that was from tremors.

Get a grip, fellas. Take a bit of time to understand that there will probably be more than a hundred thousand human lives lost from what has happened, a hundred thousand human beings who didn't speak our language, didn't look like most of us, didn't have our protections and comforts, had only their lives and their loved ones, and many who had nobody and will never be acknowledged or missed.

I am sorry. I have to get off of here, or I will be banned for saying what I want to say.

I strongly suggest you take a darned good look at your television viewing and wanting to be the first with a breaking news post. The breaking news post said the warning could not be authenticated. Nice way to get panic in the streets, isn't it.

Get a grip. Be aware, but for Pete's sake, don't whimper in panic. And please, don't be so enthusiastic about making this tragedy something that happened in America.

Sorry

[intheflow]

21. What are you talking about?

My post was neither panicky nor making this about America. Just wondering about normal global seismic activity. Geez. Get a grip. :eyes:

[fryguy]

27. don't be so smug living inland

one of the strongest earthquakes recorded in the US had an epicenter in Missouri, and the midsection of the country remains quite seismicly active: http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/states/missouri

[nookiemonster]

53. Yep, the New Madrid fault...

and we're long overdue, unfortunately. Pretty crazy when an earthquake can make the Mississippi run backwards. Yikes!

[HeeBGBz]

28. I didn't read that that way at all

Poster only mentioned that the seismic events were registered as far away as here in the midwest. I find that info interesting. Especially when I have a gut feeling that "it ain't over".

[rainbow4321]

32. The ONLY reason OK was mentioned...

was in answer to where around the world the quake and aftershocks were recorded, etc...and then I added how there is an OK couple missing over there. It's not like we all told the OK people they were about to be swallowed up by the Arkansas River or anything.

[Clarkie1]

37. This did happen here; I don't understand your thinking

You seem to think America is on a different planet, we're not.

[fryguy]

25. yes, quite common

after such a release of energy and shift in the plates, it can be expected that after-shocks, some of quite large magnitude, will continue for days and even weeks after the initial movement.....

think about it like this, an earthquake occurs after tension has built up between two (or more) plates to the point that they shift. the more energy that's built up the greater the release and higher the magnitude (this is one reason why areas of frequent activity generally produce low intensity earthquakes - think periodically releasing steam from a pressure cooker rather than letting it build up and all release at once) so once there is such a massive release and shift in the plates, the new positioning and configuration will have altered the balance of energy and tension between other plates. what follows are the aftershocks, which are, in part, the continuing adjustments to the surrounding plates that were impacted from the first shift.

[intheflow]

40. Thanks, fryguy.

Your screen name belies your eloquence and intelligence. :)

[DrGonzoLives]

31. This was a huge one

Big enough to alter the rotation of the earth by a thousandth of a second or so (yeah, that seems small, but consider how big the earth is). It's big enough that it probably will affect tectonic movement at least some all over the planet.

[pacifictiger]

41. yes,

small earthquakes that most people don't even feel happen all the time, although generally not as many as there have been in this past month. The US Geological Survey sight has lots of historical information if you're interested.

[intheflow]

45. Yeah, I knew little quakes happen all the time.

But it's one thing to know something and another to see the data splayed out in front of you! LOL

Thanks!

[Dem2theMax]

49. Here is the past week in California. And it's typical for Calif.

No big quakes, but this place never stops shaking. Being born here, I'm used to it.

http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/quakes0.htm

[mrbassman03]

42. There are earthquakes all the time!!!

The earth is active all the time, it's what allows the planet to be something other than a ball of rock. Short story: volcanoes = the oceans. Through degassing of magma during the development of earth, we get water. So earthquakes are not a big deal! It sucks that there was so much damage, but this is not some rare event seismically.

[njdemocrat106]

7. Yikes

Hopefully everyone will be OK. These tsunamis are scary!

[complain jane]

9. Oh holy shit those poor people.

How terrified and shocked they must be. What a horrible thing.

I'm amazed that an earthquake huge enough to jar the earth's orbit for a fraction of a second wasn't even felt here where I am in NJ, USA. Pretty amazing.

[benburch]

10. I believe it WAS felt in Oklahoma.

They recorded a .12 inch deflection of the earth with seismographs there.

[rainbow4321]

11. It was in Oklahoma...

But just enough to make pond water swoosh back and forth and tall buildings sway a little--at least that is what one news report said this past week.

[Baja Margie]

13. I'm scared you guys

These plates start moving around,one affects the others, & we are way overdue here for a quake - the Rose Canyon Fault line that runs down I5 into downtown San Diego is way overdue. That last one we had this past summer right out in front here off Rosarito (5.2) just shook this house and broke the waterlines under the house. I'm scared and I wish I had a million dollars to help those poor people.

[intheflow]

15. Getting people inland is good even if the tsunami reports don't pan out.

The further inland, the further away from contaminated water supplies and decomposing corpses. At least until emergency and relief workers can get the clean up done.

So sad, but true. :(

[anakie]

16. question for Californians re a tsunami warning

as an example of what happened Sunday morning. A tsunami alert is raised at 0530 and a tsunami of similar proportions to this one has an estimated time of arrival is 0730 Sunday morning.

Do you suppose cities like San Diego and Los Angeles would suffer the same amount of casualties or would a mass evacuation be organised in that 2 hour time frame?

How would you be alerted at that time of a Sunday morning and how quickly would the freeways out of town be gridlocked? A warning system may be in place but do you think it would be effective?

[tavalon]

19. No and it comes with the territory

Those who live in California know that their number will come up sometime. I live in the shadow of Mount Rainier. If it goes, even with some warning, many, many will die. We live with it and eventually people will die with it.

Right now, though, I'm with the other poster who said lets focus on the folks who are going through it right now. Our time will come soon enough, no need to dwell. There's an emergency going on around the world right now. Let's concentrate on that.

[mrbassman03]

43. Yes, but Rainier won't go...

Here is a comparison of St. Helens and Rainier...


Rainier is a dead volcano. Mt. St. Helens is not.

[Art_from_Ark]

47. Rainier is not a dead volcano, it is dormant

There are occasional steam explosions on upper slopes with many steam vents and hot rocks in the summit area. It is considered by some researchers to be the most dangerous volcano in the Cascade range.

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Rainier/description_rainier.html

[Baja Margie]

22. Oh well,

forget it. Even with a two hour warning, absolute gridlock, and how would they get the word out? It would be an absolute disaster, pandemonium. In Oregon or Washington state at least they have a public warning system where these horns go off and alert people. I shudder to think of any catastrophe in southern CA.

[Spinzonner]

23. Only the exposed coast would need to be evacuated

to some distance inland which would depend on the strength of the Tsunami. While areas furher inland would experience some flooding perhaps and there would be other health and transportation issues arising from the loss of drainage (sewers, so-called rivers which are concrete lined) and sanitation facilities, the whole city-county wouldnt need to be evacuated to escape the incoming water.

Even a very tall wave would lose a great deal of strength as it passed inland.

[Baja Margie]

48. Well

that is true, however, I have no confidence in San Diego emergency evacuation plans. I am a San Diego native. shoot, during the fires, thousands of people showed up at the stadium on a false tip that there would be a care center there. People were just waiting around in the dark for hours, and nothing happened. SD is such a joke, have you been on the streets lately? There has been a population explosion with no added infrastructure. That's WHY everyone wanted Donna Frye as Mayor. It's like LA freeways used to be 20 years ago, just on the city streets. It's a mess.

There are plenty of low lying areas, including Tijuana. North County, wiped out, the Shores, wiped out,parts of La Jolla - Windansea, Bird Rock, wiped out, Pacific Beach, wiped out, Mission Beach, wiped out, Ocean Beach, wiped out, the Cliffs, reduced to rubble, the Bay area, all major damage to and including the Harbor Island, the Wharf, Shelter Island, North Island, underwater, South Bay, major damage,Coronado Island, underwater. Hell, they better get some kind of warning system up, regardless of what the geologists say about the offshore canyons breaking the force of a tsunami, so at least they can get those nuclear subs oout of the Bay. Did I forget San Onofre, fuck me, that Nuclear Power Plant and all of Camp Pendleton, wiped out.

[EFerrari]

26. The SF Chronicle detailed a warning system being put in place

now, up and running in a month or so, if memory serves. We're two blocks from the beach. Time to get a plan in place.

[fryguy]

30. good news and bad news

good news: there already is a pacific warning system and coastal alert network

bad news: it consists of only (i think) 8 deep water sensors - and two of them don't provide daily updates. in addition, portions of the subduction zone off the northern california/oregon/washington coasts are so close to land that in the event of an underwate quake a resulting wave could make landfall in under half an hour.....

a tip - in all seriousness and I don't mean to scare anyone - if you happen to be near the water and see it rapidly receed before your eyes, START RUNNING. a wave will be coming in about 10-15 minutes. its sort of the last line of early warning.

[EFerrari]

34. Subduction zone. Yes, I remember now. That's why there are

pieces of San Diego up here in San Francisco. I went to see them with a class once.

I get shakemail but for fun. Maybe I should be keeping better track.

In the last big quake we had here, the Oakland quake, I missed being on the overpass that collapsed like a sandwich by only a few minutes and my house slid on its foundation. Ah, California.

[fryguy]

35. glad you were unscathed by Oakland quake

but, in case you're really wanting to know, the quakes in your area, and much of California, are actually caused by strike-slip faults - meaning one plate is moving laterally past the other, not subduction; hence the pieces of san diego up near you. the subduction zone is further north of you, off the coast of washington and oregon - the evidence of it being the volcanic activity up there. the heavier oceanic plate is being overrun by the lighter continental plate. as the ocean plate descends under the continental plate it melts and rises to form mt. st. helen's, mt. rainer, etc.

yes, i studied geology in college, but do not use it in every day work now. meaning i have loads of normally useless knowledge that i get to go on about at times after such events as we've seen in the past week....

[mrbassman03]

44. Hey, someone else who took geology!

Yeah! Just got done with a quarter of it... it's nice to be able to actually use it in a discussion. And you are right about all of that above.

[fryguy]

46. i studied it for 3 years

back in arizona - still surprise myself when i actually remember much of it

[Art_from_Ark]

52. The subduction zone extends down into northern California

down past Mt. Shasta to at least Lassen Peak, which was the last volcano to erupt in the Cascade volcano chain before Mt. St. Helens. And you're right, the earthquakes in Southern California up to at least the Bay Area are produced by strike-slip faults.

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Cascades/ImageMaps/CascadeRange/cascade_range.html

If you can get a chance, take a trip to Hollister, California to get a really good look at the way the Calvaras Fault is moving

[TahitiNut]

39. The enormous property damage in California would probably ...

... overwhelm the casualty figures, depending on where/when such a tsunami struck. I wouldn't want to be on Coronado Island, for example, nor anywhere near Mission Beach. Carmel and other areas sheltered within Monterey Bay would probably be somewhat safer. Given our insane obsession with permitting and supporting beach-front property owners, the enormous toll in property damage (and impact on the public coffers) would be a price we'd all be paying for years.

I repeatedly wish that we'd adopt a public policy of disallowing private property ownership within 100-200 yards of a shoreline. Clearly, there's exceptions for various kinds of facilities such as marinas, shipping, etc. But I lose patience particularly with the kind of private residential development exemplified by Malibu - an obsession with exclusive use of a national resource backed by economic subsidies in the event of foreseeable disasters. If there were an embargo on privatizing the shoreline, then those folks desirous of such ambiance (with the ability to pay) would be about as well-served by ownership of property at the boundaries. The only difference would be that they'd not be able to prevent the general public from accessing the shoreline, so it brings up the question of what's being valued: the prime location or the limits on the rights of others.

[Barkley]

50. you raise good points TahitiNut

as ususal!

Is there an issue of transferring wealth to the rich and risk to the public.

Can people owning beach front property get tsunami insurance? If not what role does the state play in recovering damaged or destroyed property?

[juajen]

20. I wonder why CNN hasn't picked up on this?

Have been waiting for an update, but nothing. I hope they are all ok over there, or as best they can be under these horrible circumstances.

[Algorem]

24. they want more dead people on video it's great for ratings!

every time I see them showing video of victims of flood and they switch back to shot of newswhore I wish it was the newswhore caught in the water

[joeunderdog]

29. But if you show dead soldiers, it's in "poor taste"

Only then can you ask "What about this man's family?"

For the very same reason that images of the Tsunami victims has shaken so many, they should show all of what's going on in Iraq. Not for ratings, but for the emotional connection. We are so distanced in our insulated lives that we don't even consider the concept of pain that others feel in less privelaged areas.

[Khephra]

33. Air America reported that this alert has been cancelled

about an hour or so ago. I didn't know people were still thinking it was on or I'd have posted earlier.

[0007]

38. I think its off

[Clarkie1]

36. This is old news, general warning was issued yesterday because there

will be aftershocks for awhile still. That is normal after an quake this size.

Quake would have to be at least 7.5. to cause a tsuami, which is unlikely. There was only one aftershock days ago that was a 7.1

[Democracy Died 2004]

51. I didnt think the magnitude mattered

just the upward thrust of the earth?