Posted on 12/26/2004 1:18:45 AM PST by sully777
36 minutes ago JAKARTA, Indonesia - The world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years rocked northern Indonesia on Sunday and launched tidal waves that swamped villages and seaside resorts across Asia, killing more than 700 people in five countries.
Some 300 were reported killed in Sri Lanka, 286 in India, 94 in Indonesia, 61 in Thailand and seven in Malaysia. Hundreds were reported missing, and the death toll was expected to rise.
The U.S. Geological Survey ( news -web sites ) said a magnitude-8.9 quake — one capable of massive damage — struck off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra at 8 a.m. Sunday. The USGS ( news -web sites ) revised the quake's size upward from magnitude-8.5.
Soon after it hit, immense waves or tsunamis crashed into several countries, and aftershocks in the magnitude-7 range were seen, the USGS said, raising the possibility of a catastrophic regional death toll.
Waves crashed into coastal villages over a wide area of Sri Lanka — some 1,000 miles west of the quake's epicenter — killing some 300 people and displacing thousands of others, said military spokesman Brig. Daya Ratnayake.
Parts of the northeastern districts of Muttur and Trincomalee were inundated by waves as high as 20 feet...Officials at the USGS, based in Golden, Colo., blamed the tidal waves on the quake...[geophysicist Julie] Martinez...said the quake was the world's fifth-largest since 1900 and the largest since a 9.2 quake hit Prince William Sound Alaska in 1964...The Indonesian quake struck just three days after an 8.1 quake struck the ocean floor between Australia and Antarctica, causing buildings to shake hundreds of miles away but no serious damage or injury.
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.yahoo.com ...
The latest reports here(in India) put the toll in SriLanka at over a thousand & 350+ in 2 Indian states.
I'm so very sorry. Sri Lanka does not need this at all.
Let's pray the numbers don't go much higher!
The following site says quakes don't get bigger than 8.8-8.9.
Maldives under media black out as per this FR link http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308548/posts
Casualties reported but nothing about deaths. Wonder if Perth, Australia is in danger, as well as all of West Africa, especially South Africa and Madagascar
"7-point aftershocks."
Wow.
There are other measurement schemes , for example the Great Alaska Quake of 1964 was magnitude 9.2 (Moment Magnitude)!
I recall reading the threads after the Japanese tsunami alerts that earthquakes have an echo effect on the other side of the globe. Don't know if its true but I would imagine this type of constant intense quaking for the past three days will cause something to change such as oil reserve deviations in Indonesia, volcanic eruptions along the ring of fire, and new thermals in the oceans and on land.
After living through a 7.1, I can't imagine the impact of an 8.9 -- almost 100 times as strong as a 7.1 (according to the other thread.)
Inconceivable.
Actually CNN has mentioned it in each report they've done (and they have been live off and on...CNN International) and articles are mentioning it with close to the amount of specifics that are known from anywhere else. I'm not sure where that title came from...It doesn't appear to be the actual article title, perhaps more the OP opinion? The title on the page is: Maldives flooded after tidal waves, reports of casualties but no figures
I think the bigger issue is that MANY of these areas have a HUGE lack of communication capabilities right now...and some are just so cut off becuase of damage that it's simply lack of real specifics because of the damage.
Just my two cents...
I have Indian friends with family near a bay. Can't recall at all the name of the bay except that it has dramatic tides. They all went back to India for a winter wedding. They said the bay would disappear and all that was left was sand, estuaries and sticking fish.
Sure hope their family is high and dry!
There are so many fishermen and their families living on the water/beaches. It is horrible. There is no way of guessing how many are dead -- 4000KM Diameter area potentially effected -- I don't know wat directions have the waves have gone.
My neighbors are crying at the tragedy -- me too. Thai news is mostly reporting Thai problems but I can imagine it is far more devistating in Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives (so low lying), etc.
Thanks. This seems to be getting worse and worse.
At the outset, tsunamis are not like the run-of-the-mill street flooding in a Tennessee town. This tsunami reached 20 feet in Sri Lanka. And the wave is really the land becoming the ocean. People can be knocked off their feet in just a few inches of rushing water/imagine the forces created by these monsters!
The link I used linked ultimately to an AFP story used in the Khaleej Times http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2004/December/theworld_December685.xml§ion=theworld
Maldives flooded after tidal waves, reports of casualties but no figures
(AFP) 26 December 2004
COLOMBO - The Indian Ocean tourist paradise of the Maldives was hit by tidal waves that flooded two thirds of the capital island, Male, and shut the international airport, the government said.
A statement from the Maldivian government said there were reports of casualties, but gave no figures. The tidal waves were triggered by a powerful earthquake that struck an island off Indonesia.
However, the government said two thirds of the capital was under about four feet (1.2 meters) of water in some areas. About a third of the country’s 330,000 population live in the highly congested capital island.
“From about 9:00 am (0400 GMT) in the morning, the capital, Male, and other parts of the country have been flooded by the tsunami caused by the earthquakes in the eastern Indian ocean,” the statement said.
Sri Lanka’s international airport said they were told by the authorities in the Maldives that tidal waves had flooded the Hululle airport island and the runway was closed indefinitely, cutting off air transport to the Maldives.
Maldives is a cluster of 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered some 800 kilometres (500 miles) across the equator and is vulnerable to any rise in sea levels.
The fate of tens of thousands of tourists in the Maldives was not immediately known.
only two hotels left (out of at least 15).
I know! I'm sorry...was just trying to clarify if people go to that thread the title was changed and wasn't the article title (the one it was linked to...as in the article)...the thread title and article title were very different.
Sorry I wasn't clear! Having spent time there and having friends and family in the area, I'm afraid this is going to get WAY worse (details wise)........
Again, sorry I wasn't clear! :-)
I heard about 1000 killed only in India.
And it's sounding like from the various regions of Sri Lanka mentioned (CNN Int'l TV) that it's already near 2000 there. :-(
I copy. Thought I was going to bed until I read all this news. Excuse my french but I'm wondering out loud as I read:
What the hell is going on???
There's quakes all over. I didn't realize the number of big quakes in the last three weeks. But this is a big big BIG BIG ONE!
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