Haite quake: the shaking reached a 10. Wow.

[Control-Z]

From KNBC channel 4 news: "Although the earthquake was a 7.0, the shaking reached a 10 - that's the highest on the scale, and lasted a full minute."

No link yet. Looking. But I've never heard that actual number used in any quake event. Ever. Those poor people. They will suffer for a long time to come from this disaster.

If only wishes and hope could actually make a difference. That is all I am able to offer at this point. :cry:

[FrenchieCat]

1. A minute that must have been an eternity......

I can't even imagine, and I live in the Bay Area; the capital of earthquakes.

[Control-Z]

4. I know. I live in So Cal.

That is why I'm shocked by the number 10. What that had to feel like? 30 seconds is an eternity even at a 6. I hope our rescue teams and aid will help many.

[Javaman]

26. Northridge was a trip.

I was on an overnight shoot when it hit. I'm glad I wasn't asleep. That would have been terrifying.

[Control-Z]

35. I've been

asleep I think 3 times when large quakes have hit. Very unnerving and disorienting, though I can't say any more or less frightening than being awake when one hits. There is something about feeling it start and then being aware that it will build. Feeling it accelerate - waiting to see how bad it will get - how long it will last. Those few seconds seem to last forever. They're just plain scary.

[Javaman]

51. I was on an overnight shoot in a town east of LA when it hit...

(I was living in Burbank at the time)

We were shooting in an old drive-in.

It was really really strange.

When the quake first hit, it shorted out the electrical system in the valley and as that system trying to reroute power, it would fail, resulting in blown transformers.

So as a result, we started seeing these blue flashes on the horizon, they started getting bigger and closer. The transformers that were blowing, rolled over us like a wave. Boom, boom, boom, flash, flash, flash.

For about a millionth of a second, everyone looked at each other with that, "WTF" type expression, then it hit. Car alarms started going off everywhere.

The ground started shaking back and forth like crazy, to the point I had to grab the camera and hold it down. It was on a tripod and dancing around like water on a hot griddle. The director flipped the camera on. (I don't know if he got any footage).

The shaking stopped then the rolling began. That was a serious mind f*ck. I watched as the ground rolled like an open sea. The huge drive-in screen roiled like a sheet flicked across a bed.

We were using a crane for one of our large lights. That teetered back and forth like a huge metronome.

Then it stopped.

I was about 40 miles from ground zero.

The shoot was called and as I raced home, I heard on the radio that some sections of freeway had collapsed. I slowed down.

As I crested the hill from the 134 to the 5, I saw the SF valley spread out before me. No lights, only fires.

[roguevalley]

43. alaska was 9.2 at the time and some have raised it to 10.6 with

new data now.

[roguevalley]

42. the Alaska earthquake in 1964 lasted for nearly five minutes.

A friend was in their car and it raised the ground eight feet and dropped it over and over. It was like being in a terrible sea and the ground liquified.
Bless the people of Haiti. I cannot imagine what would have happened if it had lasted longer. :(

[NYC_SKP]

2. A 10 has never been recorded, would be 1,000 times more powerful than a 7.0.

I don't know what they're talking about, but they're probably just uninformed talking news heads.

[Control-Z]

5. I hope you're right.

Shocking to hear, though. Still looking for a link.

[laundry_queen]

7. Maybe they're referring to the depth?

This was a relatively shallow quakes and shallow quakes are known for 'feeling stronger' (I know real scientific). Shallow quakes are also felt further away than deep quakes. There was an 8-point-something in Alaska a few years back when I was in Northern BC, and we felt it pretty strong for at least 1-2 minutes. I remember them saying we felt it so strongly because it was so shallow. I don't know why they would refer to it as feeling like a 10 though. Perhaps this just points out the deficiencies with the Richter scale.

[lapfog_1]

8. A "10" would be so violent that

hills would be leveled onto the valleys below. No building would be left even partially intact. Miami and Havana would have major damage. This is talking heads... with their heads stuffed up their behinds so they can talk out of their ass.

Damage would extend for 1000s of miles in all directions. The equivalent of 1 Teraton (1000 Megaton) explosion.

And, by the way, not the top of the scale (there is no top).

Never been recorded or evidence found that one has ever happened.


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

Edit to add: I was in the South Bay for Loma Prieta. A 7.2, it THAT lasted for well over a minute. And it's something that I wouldn't wish on our worst enemies.

[grantcart]

10. video aftermath

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IySBl2aq-A

[lapfog_1]

14. yes, very sad.

made worse by

a) building codes that probably didn't have much about earthquake safety in them (if anything).

b) the propensity (from what I'm hearing) to build with concrete block construction, including concrete block roofs.

and

c) the quake was only 6 miles deep. That's pretty shallow (not to mention that the epicenter was very near Port-au-Prince).

Well, on the bright side, perhaps they will get a massive infusion of foreign aid, hire a lot of local workers and rebuild to better standards. Who knows, since they are more or less starting over from scratch, perhaps they can "go green" at the same time (like that town in Kansas that was wiped off the map by a Tornado). Probably not, but ya never know.

[sandnsea]

17. Here's another video

2 million people in Port au Prince. My heavens this is going to be horrifying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl2Ncn4NYXo

[Maine-ah]

24. read any of the comments on that video?

[GliderGuider]

25. Makes you lose a bit of faith in humanity, doesn't it? nt

[Control-Z]

50. I didn't see any comments

but saw this: 'Adding comments has been disabled for this video.' With good reason, I would imagine.

[Control-Z]

11. That was a quote

from the news program.

"Although the earthquake was a 7.0, the shaking reached a 10 - that's the highest on the scale, and lasted a full minute."

I wouldn't presume to claim any scientific knowledge regarding this quake. Just passing along a news story that I found shocking for more than one reason.

[roguevalley]

44. the good friday earthquake up here lasted five minutes and was

9.2. upgrading puts it at about 10.6

[malaise]

20. It hardly matters - thousands are dead

This is a catastrophe of epic proportions

[NYC_SKP]

29. Tragic and very sad, indeed.

But misinformation spread by careless news media can't be helpful in times like these, that was my only concern with the numbers.

Take care there, malaise.

:hug:

[TwilightGardener]

27. Yep--the magnitude increases exponentially as the scale goes up--

a 9 or 10 isn't just a little bit stronger than a 6 or 7. It's many times stronger. THAT much I remember from college geology. What I didn't know was that Haiti was prone to earthquakes. That is news to me.

[MilesColtrane]

52. Yeah, I think they're just trying to be "sciencey".

A 10 on the Richter scale would be the energy equivalent of over 45 million Nagasaki bombs.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. A minute is especially long...

When you don't know when it will end.

:scared:

[Control-Z]

6. And, as I'm sure you know (living in So Cal),

in that minute it usually gets stronger and scarier before it ends.

[SoCalDem]

18. And the type of quake is important too

We've had the "BOOM--shake shake" kind, and the "slip 'n slide" shakers and the "rollers"..

The rollers are the scariest..

Oddly, some of the poorest there may be the safest. they live in very open-air style homes, and many do not even have beams, so if they can get outside and can avoid being hit by the falling tin, they may be homeless, but they will be alive..

The ones who live in tall buildings or perched on deforested hillsides will bear the brunt..

I've been to Haiti a few times & love the place.. Those people are so kind and warm..It breaks my heart to see such a poor place having such a terrible thing happening...and so soon after that season of hurricanes they had a while back:(

[hlthe2b]

19. Your mamma kitty with her kits expresses what I'd like for these

people... The warmth of loving, comforting embrace and safety.... May help reach them soon! I feel so helpless and sad.

[roguevalley]

45. we get earthquakes everyday up here. I've been in rollers. your

stomach is trounced. I hate them the worst.

[Quantess]

9. This is going to be terrible devastation.

No words, but my heart goes out to the people of Haiti and their loved ones here in the states.

[Skittles]

12. :(

:cry:

[Electric Monk]

13. It was bad, but it did not reach a 10. Someone is talking out of their ass.

7 is 10x 6, 8 is 10x 7, 9 is 10x 8, and a 10 would be 10x a 9.

[Quantess]

16. That's nice for intellectualization.

Not so good for the people of Haiti.

[Cleita]

39. A ten is known as complete destruction. Nothing survives.

How many earthquakes have you been through that not only scare the shit out of you, but did a lot of damage and killed people besides? I don't think you would be so cavalier in your figures if you had been.

[DCBob]

15. Seismologist: quake was a 9 on a 1-to-10 scale (not Richter) that measures ground shaking

Victor Tsai, a seismologist at the National Earthquake Information Center of the United States Geological Survey, said the depth of Tuesday’s earthquake was only about six miles and the quake was a 9 on a 1-to-10 scale that measures ground shaking.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/world/americas/14haiti.html

[tekisui]

21. Thanks for the clarification.

That info squares it all.

[hlthe2b]

22. thanks for clearing that up.... I figured it must be a different scale

How incredibly frightening.

[greenbird]

23. Here's a link that explains the different ways of measuring quakes:

http://scign.jpl.nasa.gov/learn/eq8.htm


The Richter scale is a measure of magnitude. Ground shaking falls under intensity . . . different scales.

[Control-Z]

30. Yes, thank you for the clarification.

It looked there, for a while, like I had inadvertently started a war. I was only concerned about the Haitians and what terror they must be feeling.

[earth mom]

28. Wow, that's sad.

:cry:

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. If you can spare five bucks, they will go a long way

in getting the work done. I know it does not sound like it, but they do.

Oh and I have no clue what they are talking about, unless they are talking of the depth, since it was very shallow.

[winyanstaz]

32. That is even worse news....

I predict another series of large quakes further around that plate.

[Control-Z]

33. I heard one report that compared

that area to California and the San Andres fault. I've never worried about the big one hitting. When you live here you can't go around worried about it all the time, but now I'm thinking about it a bit more.

Seems to me that more large quakes in Haiti would come at a later time. Or another quake might occur on the same fault but probably at a different location of the fault. That's how it seems to work in California - and we are due for an event. It's been a while since we had a real shaker in So Cal.

The Haitians have suffered enough. I hope things settle down for them.

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. Use this reminder from mother nature

to check on your quake supplies, and replenish what needs replenishing

[arthritisR_US]

36. OMG, those poor people.

:cry:

[Cleita]

37. The length of the shaking is really key.

Having been through several destructive earthquakes in my lifetime, the most destructive ones were the ones that lasted for 30 seconds or more even if the richter scale wasn't as high as others that were shorter in duration. Although most of California has been retrofitted to withstand a high richter scale quake, I don't think we will fare very well with a 7.0 that lasts a minute or more.

[Cleita]

38. In addition, our local nuclear plant El Diablo is built to withstand

an earthquake of 7.5 on the Richter scale. I'm not feeling really secure about this.

[Capers]

40. BS

[SheilaT]

41. The Good Friday Earthquake in Alaska

in 1964 was at least an 8.4, and that shaking lasted for five full minutes.

[roguevalley]

47. some useful information on the shaking, etc.

Not "On the Richter Scale"

Although "on the Richter Scale" is still a commonly used expression, the scale, developed by Charles F. Richter of California Institute of Technology in 1935, is no longer the most commonly used magnitude measurement. One of its flaws is its imprecision in measuring the biggest earthquakes, those in the range of 8 or 9.


Different methods of measuring magnitude have superseded the Richter Scale, including surface-wave magnitude, which measures the seismic waves crackling around Earth's surface, and moment magnitude, the newest method, which is based on the size of the fault on which an earthquake occurs and the amount the Earth slips. Moment magnitude is the most uniformly applicable scale.

Intensity versus Magnitude

Floods, Avalanches, and Tidal Waves

Quiz: Disasters
These two terms are often confused: intensity is based on the observed effects of an earthquake on its surroundings, whereas magnitude measures the amount of seismic energy released.

The Modified Mercalli (MM) Intensity Scale measures 12 increasing levels of intensity (each designated by a Roman numeral) from imperceptible shaking to catastrophic destruction. More subjective and less scientific than magnitude, intensity is nevertheless a meaningful way of capturing the terror and destruction of an earthquake. It is the intensity of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that is remembered, not its magnitude.

The Twentieth Century's Largest Earthquake

Three of the ten largest earthquakes of the twentieth century occurred in Alaska, striking in 1957, 1964, and 1965. The strongest of these (magnitude: 9.2) took place on Good Friday in 1964, hitting 80 miles east of Anchorage. The biggest earthquake of the century struck Chile on May 22, 1960. Its magnitude, the highest ever recorded, was 9.5.

The deadliest earthquake of all time is believed to have occurred on Jan. 24, 1556, in Shaanxi (Shensi) Province, China — 830,000 were killed.

Tsunami

The Alaskan Good Friday earthquake was followed by tsunami, or tidal waves, that reached 50 feet high and traveled a phenomenal 8,445 miles at 450 miles per hour. Tsunami is a Japanese term (tsu, port; nami, waves) presumably referring to the rising height of tsunami as they approach shore.

Breaking on land, these tremendous waves can cause enormous destruction. The deadliest tsunami ever occurred on Dec, 26, 2004, killing more than 225,000 people and leaving millions homeless.

In addition to earthquakes, volcanoes can cause tsunami—after the eruption of Krakatoa on August 27, 1883, more than 36,000 people were killed by the tsunami alone.

[slampoet]

46. That Reporter is full of Shit. I can't believe they spread their ignorance and call it NEWS.

[Raster]

48. And how is that reporter full of shit?

[Codeine]

49. By not clarifying what he meant by "10."

He was using a 1-10 scale to describe the severity of shaking. This is entirely separate from the Richter measurement of 7.3 (or 6.0, whatever it was) but without that distinction being clearly made it certainly sounds as if the reporter is describing a quake reaching a 10 on the Richter scale. Such a quake has never been recorded.

[slampoet]

53. Also to add to your comment, Reporters seem to be unable to do algorithmic math either.

Someone here said that a 10 on the Richter Scale was 1000 times as powerful as a 7.

But to this reporter the difference between the number 10 and 7 was only three.



I don't deal with Richter Math but as a sound expert i have had to fight reporters tooth and mail to get them to understand the Decibel scale for audio.

The difference between the Who performing at 114 decibels and ZZ Top performing at 120 Decibels is a DOUBLING of the sound pressure levels. But i have had to argue with many ignorant people who just think that the difference is a few percentage points.